Bantam Trialler Petroil Mix

[sameagle]

I've just acquired a Bantam trialler, with a view to replacing the SY250 heap of engineering sh*te that I got the other week.

The new steed is a 1969 D14/4, I understand, a bit heavier, like me, but at least the plug can be changed without removing the tank and radiator, and the float bowl removed without the prior removal of tank, rear mudguard, air filter/box, muffler, aluminium spreader plate, and gas shock.

The frogs must be taking the pus.

Back to the plot - I don't know what petroil mix to feed the Rooster on.

I was using Morris' "Sport Action 2" synthetic oil in the sulking frog, but that is a lot different to the "Gloopy" stuff that we used to have 40 years ago.

Can anyone give guidance on what ratio to use, please?

I'm due for my next "Beginners falling off" session this Wednesday!

Thanks in advance

John

Edited July 6, 2010 by sameagle

[monty_jon]

I use Maxima Castor 927 in my old bikes. It seems good quality oil, better than Castrol R but smells the same

(I get it of FeeBay)

I also use TTS without any problems

[1oldbanjo]

In my vintage 2 strokes I use a good quality synthetic oil mixed at 50:1.

[andy m]

Did you buy the bike that was in the classifieds on here.

[sameagle]

Thanks for the replies, I'll go with 50:1 with the synthetic oil.

And no, I don't think that this Beeza was advertised on here, I found it on a BSA site.

[alan_nc]

Good on ya. Should be a fun ride. I rode a '59 Bantam for a couple of years. Always used a good synthetic with mix ratio what it tells you on the container.

Problems I had with the Bantam:

Lack of power

Bad brakes

Tended to overheat - then was hard to start

Always had a bad rider

I've got a '69 Bushman in the shed that is my next restore project.

Alan

[sameagle]

Took the Bantam out for it's first run last night, petroil mix OK, thanks very much.

Lack of power - yes, but it's elderly, like me, and only 175cc.

Bad brakes? They probably were on the original Bantams, but this one's got Franny Barnett hubs and brakes; they're not bad, they're terrible!

As far as overheating is concerned, I did notice a certain "Glowing Warmth" wafting up from beneath the tank; ignore it and press on, I say!

This was only my fourth time out on a trials bike, and it's the first time that I've not fallen off - I just had an "unscheduled dis-mount", when a tree decided to trot into my path, and loomed up on my left - they look so firmly planted when you walk along the course.

I need to get a folding kick-start lever, it only has the stock model fitted at the moment, but I love it; it might be a bit boring for you younger sprogs, but for me, starting trials later in life, it's suits me fine.

I must have got on OK, I ache all over, today!

Thanks for all your help and comments....

John

[3896]

50:1 is not enough if u are using it for trials it wants to be 32:1 at least I use my bushman and bantam on 20:1 /25:1

[bashplate]

50:1 is not enough if u are using it for trials it wants to be 32:1 at least I use my bushman and bantam on 20:1 /25:1

hi, as far as i understand it, the quality of the synthetic 2 stroke oil is so much better than the old sh*te we used to use years ago, that 50:1 was the recomendation........i may have been missinformed? got to be lots of you using modern oil in old smokers, what do you recon?

[old trials fanatic]

hi, as far as i understand it, the quality of the synthetic 2 stroke oil is so much better than the old sh*te we used to use years ago, that 50:1 was the recomendation........i may have been missinformed? got to be lots of you using modern oil in old smokers, what do you recon?

50:1 in villiers. No problems.

[3896]

No it needs to be mixed right with a bantam or it will soon seize.when the bantam first came out they said use 32:1 with the oil mix but that was for road use if u are at a trial and giving it a bit of stick then u need to run it lean at least at 25:1 the mix is about 45 mls of 2 stroke oil to one litre of petrol also use the right plug other wise it will carbon up it wants to be a 5-7 plug if it has these numbers in the coding it will b ok

[charlie prescott]

Hi Guy's.

A Very good friend of mine, who knows about the subject of oil ratios for two-strokes,has just sent me this e-mail.

I have posted it. as I think it may help you understand the subject a bit better.

Hi Charlie

I notice yet more "myths" recently posted on TC about fuel/oil ratios...................and I get the feeling that if this sort of nonsense is repeated often enough it tends to be regarded as wholly accurate fact! In reality any A/C 2T trials motor in good condition is quite happy running on 70:1, but many people dont understand that there is a difference between 2T "synthetic" oils intended for road bike oil injection systems (TTS is one of these), which are diluted by up to 20% with kerosene, so the viscosity is low enough for use in oil injection systems.

This has the knock on effect of those who are running ratios such as 100:1 in modern bikes using road type oils, being a lot leaner than whats intended! Seems very strange that a subject as important as this generates so little interest, and that other than my own, none of the trials related web sites provide any sort of accurate info regarding 2T lubrication issues! Obviously its in the commercial interests of the oil manufacturers to keep quiet about the road bike oils not being entirely suitable for pre-mix bikes, but as proper competition oils are available (Castrol XR77 is one) it seems very silly not to use one.

Seems a real shame that the net seems to have become somewhere where half truths can become fact so very easily, and once these "facts" have become established, that nothing much is likely to be able to alter them in any way!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope it help in keeping your two stroke running.

Regards Charlie.

[totalshell]

i run muy mild villiers 32/37a on 70/80 ml of PJ1 silver fireper 5 litre can. i had occasion to have the thing in bits recently and the bottom end had more oil lubing the bottom end than any i have ever seen. the bike runs clean the plug is spot on everytime and i've changed the rings once in 3 years of trialling 3 weekends each month.

Edited April 26, 2011 by totalshell

[3896]

I can garantie that your bantam will sieze or throw the con rod out the bottom if you use week mixtures and parts ain't easy to come across now so put up with a bit of smoke and your engine will last forever.

[bashplate]

I can garantie that your bantam will sieze or throw the con rod out the bottom if you use week mixtures and parts ain't easy to come across now so put up with a bit of smoke and your engine will last forever.

think your missing the point here.....a clue in what you said earlyer...."when the bike first came out, 32:1 was reccomended". there ya go dude,65 million years ago when the bantam first came out, the sh*te oil was reccomended at 32:1....but now with SYNTHETIC OIL you can use much leaner oil mix. i do agree however, that if you still want to use oil of dubious quality, then you need more in the mix.

Edited May 2, 2011 by bashplate