01-02-2022, 07:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-02-2022, 07:15 PM by Tony Griffiths.)
(01-02-2022, 02:17 PM)Duncan Grimmond Wrote: My girlfriend ( now wife) and I spent a summer in Cornwall 1974, living in a tiny ridge tent near Padstow making silver rings in the evenings and riding to Newquay on my Bantam to sell them on the beach. Admittedly it was a a 150 but it never let us down over four months with minimal servicing. It had the luxury of a swinging arm and dual seat, a definite step up from my old rigid frame model.
Eeh, in them thar days you could take a motorcycle in the guard’s van on BR trains and with a student rail card the return fare was about £11.00 from Birmingham New Street. The bike was half-fare at £5.50. Happy days?
Eee Duncan - you wild, entrepreneurial capitalist! And he's me thinking you'd have been giving away copies of the Socialist Worker. I can remember - so vividly - the first time I engaged the clutch of a powered vehicle - yes, a friend's 125 bantam - and rode away under power; absolute power it felt, for five minutes. Under-age, no licence, no tax, no insurance. Hell, what did it matter? It was the late 1950s and sexual intercourse was just about to be invented.
(01-02-2022, 05:53 PM)Duncan Grimmond Wrote: Having had a quick google I found an early D1 frame on ebay showing a rigid frame, only £400.00.00 and rising....
And here's a pic of a complete one. I believe that BSA pinched pretty much the entire design from DKW just after the end of WWII, perhaps reparations?
It's true; the engine was a mirror-image copy to get the gear lever on the "correct" side.