1933 Model 5X1 Bantam

[Dave]

In 2015, 'mart' began the restoration of his rare Bantam - 1933 Model 5X1 Bantam.

He writes:

So, today i started with the restoration. These bikes seems to be incredibly rare, so there is not much info available. I see that there are 2 members that have/had a Bantam and so it would be much appreciated if I could get some information to help with my rebuild. The bike has been stored for many years and and seems to have had very little use. I bought the bike 6 weeks ago and now i think i may have stumbled upon a bit of a gem. The paint on the front forks and the rims seems to be its original paint and is in remarkably good condition for the age. But the panels have had a poor respray many years ago.

I started with a full tear down, going through every thing, and the rear brake pad is like new, and based on the fiber in the pad it seems very old, so this makes me think that this bike has hardly been ridden.

The other interesting thing about the strip down was that this bike has the Villiers motor, and not the later douglas copy. This bike has the horizontal cooling fins on the engine so this must be a very early bike.

My plan it so clean it all up, and keep it all original. Ill keep the paint on the frame, rims, and fork as it currently is. But the panels and tank needs a respray. I'm not sure what i want yet, so i may rebuild it and then decide if i even want the tank resprayed since its so easy to pull it off later.

And he achieved a fine result.



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