Finally, after trying for half a year to get a new rim for my front wheel from BAS Motor in Sweden, my good "Bantam-friend" Tony gave me a tip to try Central Wheel in England. And wooooooooopsyy, after three days a van from FedEx showed up with a new rim.
Another problem was the engine; the crank was completely worn out. But again with good help from "Mr. Bantam" from Australia, I found a workshop in England that rebuilt the crank. It took a while, but the work T&G Motorcycles did was excellent. Tank’s for a good job Peter !!
Then the cylinder needed a bore. With some good help from one of my customers (at work), I found an engine workshop in Trondheim (Norway), that both did all the work (including a glass-blast) and fixed a new piston (from the UK) in ONE WEEK. Need a bore? Here's their site: http://www.cylmo.no/ (their page can be displayed in English as well)
Frontwheel comes on
Jan 2005
Engine before re-asambling
...almost in one piece...
Engine gets in the frame (March 2005)
A day in April 2005 the bike finally became a MOTOR-bike again. I had recieved the last parts for the engine, and could install it in the frame. Still there was some things left to be done, like getting all the electrical work properly, but I WAS REALLY GETTING THERE !!!!!
This summer I actually was going to RIDE THE BIKE !!!!!
Parcel holder
Comment entry 3rd September 2007.
Some of you may have noticed the "parcel-holder" on my Bantam, and that it's not the original one from BSA. I have no idea when this was fitted on the bike, but when I started the restoration it had even another second one mounted on top of this one (definitive home-made). I know that it was very common in Norway to fit the Norwegian made "Tempo" luggage holder to a lot of motor-bikes. This continued up to the late 70's as well (my first motor-bike a 1975 model Suzuki AC50 also had one !!). The reason for this, i assume, was the need for a proper and solid parcel-holder made for those bumpy Norwegian roads, and also to give the possibility to carry more load on the bike. For many Norwegians these small motor-bikes was their only transportation, (so for my Mother and Father in law) so they needed it to carry two people plus a lot of luggage. An extra seat was fitted on the parcel-holder (i still have this seat, though I haven't mounted it back on the bike), and, as mentioned, another extra big parcel-holder was fitted as well to carry the entire luggage. My Mother an Father i law even went on several trips to Denmark on this bike, a rather remarkable journey back in 1958 considering the condition of the roads at this time.
