Drayton Bantam Buying Advice

[trialsrfun]

I have a 1961 Greeves 24 TDS points ignition, Villiers carb, imperial bolts a genuine Pre 65 bike but ineligible for the Talmag Trial.

How can that one event be considered representative of trials held in past days?

[jon v8]

... and all of this is why I have been concentrating on classic scrambles, you just don't get all this nonsense.

 

Turn up, ride, fall off, ride. Just enter the class and get on with it, simples

You - fall off Ken, not sure I can believe that ! 

BTW you missed a cracking trial last night,Fred really did us proud.

[davetom]

Well thanks again TTspud, despite you only doing a few trials every few years and never organising any, it's great that you take time to rant on here to those that DO ride and DO organise regularly, and tell them where they are going wrong.

If I had been lucky enough to inherit an ex-works big 4 stroke, I think I'd just take any opportunity to ride it, rather than waste time posting spiteful rhetoric to anyone who dares poke their head up while you're 'on one'. I presume it'll be just ex-works bikes you wish to compete against though?With your highly sensitive sense of fair play I'm sure even you would admit that riding it against over the counter bikes wouldn't be fair ? My old dead standard HT weighed a ton with all the correct steel bits on it.

This thread ought to be deleted as I'm sure you're discouraging more than encouraging prospective ' pre-65/Britshock ' riders. Pre-65 has evolved fairly democratically to where it is now, from bikes that were only a few years old to the point now where original genuine competition bikes are worth a fortune anyway, so there is no dirt cheap answer. My mate though has just bought his first 'pre-65' ish bike, a nicely modded C15 for not much over £2.5k. And he'll be doing what you should, Spud, and just getting out and riding the bloody thing regularly

[ttspud]

Hi Dave, do you still ride your standard HT?  Standard it weighed 275lbs about 30lbs less than the AJ, so it weighs nothing at all.  Get it out, ride it, enjoy it, as I have done.  Of course people arent going to worry about comments on here, why should they?  Most people to get into pre65 investing that much will go to a club.  As Wallo says, it is all nonsense anyway.

 

Bit of nostalgia for Wallo from 2012...  So much fun, not a plastic mudguard in sight...!!  Bet you are in there somewhere!!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuvlkvCFvZg

 

[davetom]

The HT weighs around 300lb when Don Morley weighed them all. The figures are in the Classic British Four Stroke Trials bike book. No I sold it thanks.

The clue was in the thread title ' Drayton Bantam Buying Advice', not 'Please Rant Your Views On The State Of Pre-65 Trials'. A request was even made for it not to descend into arguments, a request you chose to ignore.

[ttspud]

Hi Dave,  well, yes, but all is well now, our ranting days in this thread are happily behind us.  Stewart has his bike, he is happy.  We all came out of it unscathed and happy.  So all to the good.  Good bit of debate is good for the soul.  Ah, a shame you sold it, they are a lot fun.  Weight, means nothing to me, I'll ride it.  All the best, TTSpud

[ttspud]

Hi Dave, thought I would check those numbers, you're right, the HT5 was heavier than I said (132kg dry), 300lbs wet, but here is the kicker which i also got wrong, the AJS was originally more like 150kg presumably dry, 340lbs wet, apparently, so I was almost right in saying the AJ is heavier, it is, and by in the realms of 40lbs heavier.  The modern ht5 is said to be 90kg these days with the new frames and no doubt the smaller 2-strokes they also contend with, a lot less than that, which is a lot less than my 90s Gas Gas which is over 90kg dry.  A completely buff standard AJS would be giving away 63kg to a modern pre65!! if those figures are true.  Mine I reckon is conservatively more like 130kg though it could well be more than that judging by those figures.  It has alloy rims which must save a bit, but still has the original frame, steel tank, original hubs, mag ignition, original seat, and so on.  Anyway, here is the info I found:  

 

http://www.twnclub.c...Ariel/ariel.htm

 

Peace in the land of pre65.  TTSpud

[laird387]

Hi ttspud,

 

My HT5, dry, weighed exactly 275 lbs on the local weighbridge in 1957;  in 1964 my AJS 16C weighed 308 lbs, same weighbridge, same conditions.

[old trials fanatic]

... and all of this is why I have been concentrating on classic scrambles, you just don't get all this nonsense.

Turn up, ride, fall off, ride. Just enter the class and get on with it, simples

Hi Ken I know in trials when you ride out through the section markers and back into the section again it's a 5 what happens in classic scrambles? 

Edited May 26, 2016 by old trials fanatic

[ttspud]

Hi Deryk

 

Yes, I remember you saying that earlier and that is I think why I quoted (almost got it right) the first numbers above.  I pretty much reckon you would know the figures best of any of us with your experience.

 

Do you recognise the other figures from the link at all..?  I mean is there an obvious way to explain the difference between the 132kg from the link and the 125kg (275lbs), is the 132 just wrong, or are there any differences between the machines being weighed, exhaust routing, rims maybe?  Same for the AJ?

 

I ask because I ought to weight my bike properly, I am intrigued to know how heavy it is now, given the possibilities!

 

Thanks, TTSpud

[davetom]

Was Deryks bike standard with all the steel stuff still on ? Ariels sales literature quotes 290lb dry for the 500 and 285lb for the 350, (and I doubt they'd over estimate ?)which compares to Morleys wet figures, so I'll stick with those thanks

[johnnyboxer]

... and all of this is why I have been concentrating on classic scrambles, you just don't get all this nonsense.

 

Turn up, ride, fall off, ride. Just enter the class and get on with it, simples

Indeed

 

Reading all of this stuff, certainly puts me off as a younger rider........... to the Pre65/Britshock scene as it's a minefield

 

On a modern bike, you just turn up and ride

[italianstallion]

Sorry to drift off topic (well it is sort of related...), who do you guys use for insurance? I dont have a road bike licence thus will only need fire and theft - it looks like this is known as "Laid Up Insurance". What concerns me mainly is how do you classify a Drayton Bantam? Is it a D14 with every modification disclosed or is there some other way round defining the bike? I'm guessing the insurer is unlikey to have 'Drayton' listed...

Thanks in advance

 

Stewart

[wallo]

Hi Ken I know in trials when you ride out through the section markers and back into the section again it's a 5 what happens in classic scrambles?

I wonder who you have been speaking with? It took me ages to to remove that tape from the wheels.

As long as you don't get any advantage from leaving the track, you can rejoin without any penalty, all I can say is you try staying on the track on an adverse corner down hill in the pouring rain.

Edited May 27, 2016 by wallo

[jon v8]

Indeed

 

Reading all of this stuff, certainly puts me off as a younger rider........... to the Pre65/Britshock scene as it's a minefield

 

On a modern bike, you just turn up and ride

Funny thing is, it just isn't like that. Without exception ALL the  Pre65 or Classic trials I have ever ridden have been friendly and a bloody good laugh. This thread does not represent the fun that is had every weekend of the year on old bangers.