douglas bantam

[ERIC BAYLISS]

  Have just been reading about the douglas bantam from 20004. does any one know how many were made,and more importantly how many are left.I would like somthing like that instead of my mk5 engined mk3 sports.Im sure its going to prove to be to heavy for me as I shall be76 this year, but dont want to give up riding just yet.

[Chris]

Hi Eric
   I don't know how many were originally produced but relatively few have survived. I am only aware of a handful actually running and several under restoration. I have to say that it was not a great success. It was to be Douglas' idea of a cheap light weight commuter machine. However, with 8" brakes and full engine enclosure it was not light weight and did not have a good performance. Its first year of production using the Villiers engine was prone to overheating and unreliable. The later production using a modified engine made in house was better but struggles to maintain 40mph. It took a lot of work and a complete revision of the carburation to get mine to run well and reliably. But everyone agrees that it is a very pretty little machine. It completed the 70 plus mile International west Kent Run in 2011 with no problems.
Chris