bsa bantam d1 125

We are looking to rehome our beloved d1 bsa bantam we have owned her for a year with all intention of giving her a new lease of life. but dew to many projects she has taken a back seat in the living room. she is a running project and very much unmolested other then updating  the electrics she is all there. cash on collection. buyer pick up or arrange pick up. History[edit]

Despite the Bantam being considered the archetypal 'truly British' lightweight motorcycle[citation needed] outselling all others. it was in fact based on a German design. The Bantam was based on the DKW RT 125. a design that was received as war reparations. with the Bantam as a mirror image so the gearbox was on the right side as with other British motorcycles of the period. [1] The same design went into production in at least two. and perhaps four. other countries. Harley-Davidson started producing their Model 125 in late 1947 (several months before BSA) and the occupiers of East Germany. the U. S. S. R. began building the £££££?° (Moskva) M1A model even earlier. c. 1946. [citation needed] In East Germany the machine was made at the original DKW factory by IFA. which later became MZ[citation needed] and Japan also produced copies. [citation needed]

The BSA designers made the design a mirror image with right hand side controls with Imperial fixings for manufacture in Birmingham. This original Bantam. the D1. was released in October 1948 and continued in production for several years. It had telescopic forks. a rigid rear end. direct electrics. shovel front-mudguard and fishtail silencer. was available only in "mist green" and sold for £60 plus tax. Although the frame changed out of recognition (beginning with conversion to plunger and then swinging fork rear suspension). the engine remained a recognizable development of the original for the entire 23 years of production.

The engine is a unit construction (engine and gearbox of one piece) single cylinder 2 stroke. The barrel is cast iron while the head is alloy. The gearbox was initially three speeds. later versions went to four. fed through a "wet" clutch. Ignition was of two types: a Lucas battery-powered coil in earlier machines. or a magneto by Wipac. The magneto was on a composite assembly sitting within the flywheel with its magnet inserts; windings gave power either directly to the lights (with a dry cell for when the engine was stopped) or through a rectifier into a lead acid battery. The early D1s had "fish tail" styled exhausts but this was replaced with the more conventional cylindrical silencer. High-level exhausts were made for the trials and off-road models. in which the only electrics are the magneto-powered ignition.

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