B40 or b14

[Steeley]

 

Hi my name is Charlie, I am from Bournemouth and 50 something 

Looking to buy a bike not sure wether to go b40 or bantam b14/4

i am a beginner rider and concerned that the b40 may be to heavy to learn and gain experience on 

i am looking to build up a road bike to trials spec as a project for the winter months 

i know people will say it’s a money pit, but I am not trying to win anything and am just doing it for fun and to keep me busy during the winter months, not to bothered about what it costs but obviously don’t want to waste money and it doesn’t need to be competitive 

i rebuilt a Gp2 beach buggy a couple of years ago and I have just finished a fast road spec classic mini and looking for another project, can’t be another car as I have run out of space 

Any advice would be good thanks 

[Nishijin]

9 minutes ago, Steeley said:

i am looking to build up a road bike to trials spec as a project for the winter months

I suppose that if you were looking for some kind of pre-60’s scrambler-cum-rock-dodger it would be a worthwhile exercise. For example the Royal Enfield Trials Replica:

https://gvbikes.co.uk/product/royal-enfield/bullet-range/bullet-500-trials-edition/

It would be capable of gentle green lanes but too heavy to do anything serious. I don’t like picking up a DR350 (or a CRF250) on a muddy track, I wouldn’t dare try lift something like a Bullet. 
 

I had a GN125 that I used on green lanes all summer last year, with road tyres. In some ways it would have been a great base to convert into a trials-ish bike. It ended up a kind of tracker build, with wide bars, sump guard, fork protectors and stiff suspension, which could survive the mild lanes. It could handle gentle green lanes, but not much else. It wasn’t a trials bike, it was a road bike with some compromises to use on green lanes. 

Have you done research into what trials is?

Have you looked at what the bikes are, how they evolved, and what their purpose is?

 

If have a plan to do any actual skills practice, then you can do it on any bike… but you cannot truly practice trials on anything other than a trials bike. This may be a contentious statement.

 

Personally I wouldn’t be building a BSA to learn how to ride.

 

 

[stpauls]

The B40 is far too heavy.  A Bantam is much lighter and easier to handle.  Why not buy a Bantam trials bike that just needs tidying up?  Even better advice would be to buy a modern 125cc trials bike and learn to ride that, rather than ruining an old British bike.

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by stpauls