My first motorcycle at 16 was a BSA Bantam 125cc. I paid £5 for it and it included a helmet and gloves. I loved that bike, it gave me the freedom to go anywhere. Not the most powerful of motorcycles but it got me where I wanted to go. Happy days!
Mine too. I wasn't legal at the time as I was too young (only 14). But we lived in the northern English countryside back then and I used to take the back roads to the village fish and chip shop to get supper for my Mum and me and my two brothers. I could get fish and chips for four of us with a few pickled onions for fifty pence back then. I'd shove the newpaper parcel of fish and chipes down the front of my jacket and ride home with the heat of the food keeping me warm and that wonderful smell. happy days indeed. Now the world has gone to shit!
@@nacholibre1962 I lived in Northumberland and when I first started riding motorcycles there was more freedom on the roads. Insurance £1.ten shillings, road tax 10 shillings, petrol 4 gallons for a pound and 2 shillings change. I had a great many motorcycles as you could pick up a CS 2 Norton for £5 each, I had three. Driving now is not as enjoyable in this BIG BROTHER STATE. I feel sorry for young people just starting to drive, they need a mortgage to get insurance.
@@nacholibre1962 I loved my Bantam, it was a 125cc engine. It didn't have much power but it got me around and gave me newfound freedom. I was once going down a steep hill and I wanted to turn left. The problem was there was loads of gravel on the road and I fell off, bouncing down the road on my backside. The bike kept going down the hill and when I tried to start it the clutch corks had fallen out and I had to push it 5 miles to my home. Over the years I had many classic motorcycles. In the 60s you could pick up old bikes for around £5. Those were the days. Insurance £4.10 shillings, Road tax 10 shillings, petrol 4 gallons for a pound and 2 shillings change. However, the bike I most remember was my BSA Bantam.
Great stuff.....I ride a 1967 D7 with the pudding basin helmet and goggles//It certainly makes people laugh if nought else//Keep on rocking mate//Lovely bike//
I bought one of these for £5 in the early 70s, I knew nothing back then and all it really wanted was a second gear cog, but I never had any money I dont even know what I did with it, it was in this condition and the same color, the little bantam pigeon on the side, I would love it today, it was a little work of art
I had a 1952 BSA Bantam 125cc that I bought for 12 Rand (at that time about 3 £) from a teacher in 1972 in South Africa. We pushed it home, cleaned the spark plug and the points, set the timing, then with a little petrol in the tank, pushed it round the garden - peng! peng! peng! . . . . We rode it round for a couple of months then stripped it down an rechromed and repainted it. Rode it daily for 4 years during university, then 500km up to Johannesburg, and again daily for 2 years to work before I left SA. It was so reliable! What memories ! ! !
hi i really would love one of those bikes they look very vintage , i only want to go through a cbt training course so i can have one , im 6ft tall can someone tell me if im too big for this bike?? as i have not seen one of these in the flesh so to speak thanks
What a lovely little bike. It makes me smile! I would trade my 2021 Yamaha TW200 for that in a hearbeat! Did you restore it yourself? I keep expecting an old lady to come out fro one of those houses with a boorm and tell you to "sod off with that noise!" :-)
I'm nearly 17 and I'm planning on ditching my beloved moped and getting a bigger 125cc bike. I'm thinking about getting a bantam but I am torn between getting a nice classic bantam, or getting a new practical bike e.g. Honda CG 125, and was just wondering, how practical of a bike would a bantam to use regularly, to get to friends houses or just get around on etc? I am worried about losing the practical side of things I have had with my 4 stroke moped.
hardly like you tested it .. 4 k revs took me amin to work out if its was a n old fecker on a 4 strk or a timid fecker on a 2 stroke shame on you..... you know what i mean !
Авто/Мото
My first motorcycle at 16 was a BSA Bantam 125cc. I paid £5 for it and it included a helmet and gloves. I loved that bike, it gave me the freedom to go anywhere. Not the most powerful of motorcycles but it got me where I wanted to go. Happy days!
Mine too. I wasn't legal at the time as I was too young (only 14). But we lived in the northern English countryside back then and I used to take the back roads to the village fish and chip shop to get supper for my Mum and me and my two brothers. I could get fish and chips for four of us with a few pickled onions for fifty pence back then. I'd shove the newpaper parcel of fish and chipes down the front of my jacket and ride home with the heat of the food keeping me warm and that wonderful smell. happy days indeed. Now the world has gone to shit!
@@nacholibre1962 I lived in Northumberland and when I first started riding motorcycles there was more freedom on the roads. Insurance £1.ten shillings, road tax 10 shillings, petrol 4 gallons for a pound and 2 shillings change. I had a great many motorcycles as you could pick up a CS 2 Norton for £5 each, I had three.
Driving now is not as enjoyable in this BIG BROTHER STATE. I feel sorry for young people just starting to drive, they need a mortgage to get insurance.
@@nacholibre1962 I loved my Bantam, it was a 125cc engine. It didn't have much power but it got me around and gave me newfound freedom. I was once going down a steep hill and I wanted to turn left. The problem was there was loads of gravel on the road and I fell off, bouncing down the road on my backside. The bike kept going down the hill and when I tried to start it the clutch corks had fallen out and I had to push it 5 miles to my home. Over the years I had many classic motorcycles. In the 60s you could pick up old bikes for around £5. Those were the days. Insurance £4.10 shillings, Road tax 10 shillings, petrol 4 gallons for a pound and 2 shillings change. However, the bike I most remember was my BSA Bantam.
Great stuff.....I ride a 1967 D7 with the pudding basin helmet and goggles//It certainly makes people laugh if nought else//Keep on rocking mate//Lovely bike//
Strange beauty of this bike.. all steel, nothing extraneous ,lovely geometry and balance.
Also my very first bike ,my one was Black and cream but a D1 1951 / 2 loved it to bits.
It's a very nice little bike, pops right off and sounds like a healthy engine.
I bought one of these for £5 in the early 70s, I knew nothing back then and all it really wanted was a second gear cog, but I never had any money I dont even know what I did with it, it was in this condition and the same color, the little bantam pigeon on the side, I would love it today, it was a little work of art
Not a pigeon.
I restored a 1952 D1 when I was still in school, back in the mid 1960's. It was my first motorcycle. I loved it.
I had a 1952 BSA Bantam 125cc that I bought for 12 Rand (at that time
about 3 £) from a teacher in 1972 in South Africa. We pushed it home,
cleaned the spark plug and the points, set the timing, then with a
little petrol in the tank, pushed it round the garden - peng! peng!
peng! . . . . We rode it round for a couple of months then stripped it
down an rechromed and repainted it. Rode it daily for 4 years during
university, then 500km up to Johannesburg, and again daily for 2 years
to work before I left SA. It was so reliable! What memories ! ! !
my wife has one in our living room . a 1951 rigid frame . also a James Captain 197 cc Villiers engine the other end of the living room .
It look very cute...I want one.
Had one cost me £2 .10/- in 1969
Same colour and it had the leg shields (which i took off)
Great little bikes! Had one some 50 odd years ago. Almond green. Do you remember the the GPO telegram boys on their red machines?
i use my bantam everyday for work, just like they where ment to be used !
I would like saddle bags and a tool box and a horn.
nice bike, engine sounds great. Shame about wearing all the 'right gear', pudding bowl all the way!
hi i really would love one of those bikes they look very vintage , i only want to go through a cbt training course so i can have one , im 6ft tall can someone tell me if im too big for this bike?? as i have not seen one of these in the flesh so to speak thanks
I bet your neighbours love you.
Of course they do ,who wouldn,t love a BSA BANTAM?. As sweet as the song of a lark!
2021
What a lovely little bike. It makes me smile! I would trade my 2021 Yamaha TW200 for that in a hearbeat! Did you restore it yourself? I keep expecting an old lady to come out fro one of those houses with a boorm and tell you to "sod off with that noise!" :-)
Where did you get the bags from on the back of the bantam as I am looking for some
Me too. Any luck?
army serplus online .
I'm nearly 17 and I'm planning on ditching my beloved moped and getting a bigger 125cc bike. I'm thinking about getting a bantam but I am torn between getting a nice classic bantam, or getting a new practical bike e.g. Honda CG 125, and was just wondering, how practical of a bike would a bantam to use regularly, to get to friends houses or just get around on etc? I am worried about losing the practical side of things I have had with my 4 stroke moped.
You 27 now)))
Hello. Where could I get those satchels and a hooter. Please.
Me too
does the plunger rear suspension make a diference ride quality wise to a non plunger bantam?
Yes.
got a D1, i'm tuning it for racing, weight reduction,rear set foot pegs e.t.c maybe even get fairings eventually
hardly like you tested it .. 4 k revs
took me amin to work out if its was a n old fecker on a 4 strk or a timid fecker on a 2 stroke
shame on you..... you know what i mean !
Calm down))