BSA Bantam D14/4 A friend of mine knew I had an interest in older bikes and was looking for something to restore. He had got the Bantam locally but had done little with it, his intention was to put a full width drum brake on the front, an expansion chamber and a close ratio box in it for racing. Lucky for me he was offered a ready to race Bantam and needed some cash. This is where I come into its life.

	It was built in 1968 and registered for the road in 1969. The little plate on the back below the number plate shows the supplying dealer was Cundels of Liverpool. The log book dates back to 1978 when it belonged to a lady in Ormskirk. I think it was stripped down for possible work or storage in 1978 as a tax disk of this date was found in one of the boxes, the Speedo shows a believable 16879 miles. It had been well prepared for something as all of the small parts were in polythene bags or envelops and labelled. The cylinder head had been removed, greased and wrapped up. The crank was swimming in oil, and the general feeling you got was it was stripped down with thought. Some parts were inevitably lost!!! But as most of it was there, we shook hands on £120, a bargain me thinks! We will wait and see.  It Lives, a bit of hand strangling the carb to get it to draw fuel and bang!! away she went, smoke filled the air and my garage. Twenty years and a bit of determination. Now the carb is all set up and the starting procedure is in place I will usually go on the 3rd or 4th kick! Lost parts UpdateIgnition switch: Bought 2 new ones £32.00All control cables: £15.00Battery: Dead easy £12.50The seat cover: £18.00Coil: The guy I bought it from found it in his shedEngine retaining plates (rear): In local press someone was selling a complete frame. When I phoned him the frame had gone but he had a pair just lying around !!! what luck £8.00Rear exhaust cone: Now found, it had been pushed up the rear of the exhaust. I tried to remove what I thought was the baffles and guess what popped out!!Done Today 14/9/99 the MOT was passed.