Fanticpost 1

We have a new project on the go......

I had been thinking about a twinshock for a while and was thinking about the common Majesty or TLR 250 route, however the prices seem to be getting silly for a tatty bike, let alone the 3-4K that sorted bikes seem to be fetching.

So I asked around and there seemed to be a general feeling that the 240 Fantic was still sensible money for an investment and were quite well sorted in standard trim.

I looked at a few and finally settled on this one off ebay. Although it looks a little tatty, this is merely cosmetic and the engine actually runs very well with no rattles and knocks and has bags of power (in fact, I think it may need some work doing to actually soften it down a little as it feels like riding a motocross bike after the docile engine in the Sprite)

So, of course my dad has something to do now to keep him off the streets and it's already stripped down and work has started on the restoration along with the odd jobs that I wanted doing like moving the footrest position, altering the bar clamps on the top yokes etc etc...

I had thought of making it look very different with an alloy tank, small seat and different coloured frame etc. but I think that it should really have the original appearance to retain it's value so it will be restored to original appearance wherever possible.

Will keep the site updated as the bike takes shape..

Eventpost 15 - Ombersley BMCA

Not such a great weekend last week. I helped to put on the BMCA trial at Ombersley and we felt that we had marked a good trial out with some good use of the banks, cambers and roots at the venue.

The trial started well with a solid dab on section 1 after seeing Steve Hay take a 3, however finding neutral on section 2 when I attempted to change from 2nd to 1st after the initial steep entrance to the section left me with a 2. Still more was to go wrong when I got hung up on a root in section 3 leaving me in the wrong place for the steep climb at the end of the section and a 5 was on the card..

The rest of the lap went without further loss, however when I again misjudged the climb in section 3 on the second lap and had to bail out. Unfortunately I twisted my knee on landing and had to run back down the bank causing further aggrevation to the knee that I recently had the operation on.

This meant an early bath and a spot of observing. I am now sat here 1 week later and still have some swelling so I have decided to take a couple of weeks off to give it a chance to settle down.

Eventpost 14 - Peplow BMCA

First time out on the 'new' Sprite today and definately off to a good start....

Todays BMCA trial was at Peplow near Market Drayton, the ground was generally very dry and loose amongst the trees, making the sections quite tricky on the first lap until the lines appeared, then with the loose earth pushed to the sides or the sections it meant that as soon as you got off line the grip went and it became easy to loose the odd mark as the grip soon vanished.

After a good first lap with no marks lost whilst the sections were at their hardest I once again had a couple of lapses of concentration on the 2nd and 3rd laps including a 3 on section five when I just got off the line and needed to work hard to get it to the ends markers. After a few more careless marks I ended on 6 for the day, but felt that I could be in with a shout on that as marks were easily lost and many riders were losing odd marks here and there.

The bike was fantastic and I really feel that I have it how I want it. I sold the cub this week and now only have the Sprite for classic events so I am really pleased that it performed so well. It is noticably lighter now and it shows in the sections as it's much more flickable.

The pics are from todays trial and the results for the expert route are as follows; I did manage the win on furthest cleans from Pete Reed

Class A (2 Strokes)

1. Dave Dawson 6 (Most Cleans)

2. Dave Jones 12

3. Nathan Jones 13

4. Jim Pickering 13

5. Mick Parkes 18

Class B (Unit Construction)

1. Gary Hawkins 9

2. Alan Borton 16

3. Nigel Randall 17

4. Lawrence Alden 25

5. Keith Gardner 34

Class C (Pre Unit Construction)

1. Pete Reed 6

Spritepost 25

Believe it or not, 2 days after receiving the frame back and its ready to go ..... Personally I think it looks superb, even though I am biased!!!

Cant thank Dad enough for the time he has put in to getting it ready for this weekend. There will be one or two cosmetic finishing touches left to do like paint on the tank but I am really pleased with the outcome and can't wait for Sunday to see how it performs in anger.

Spritepost 24

Here are some pics of the bike in various stages of the build today..

Spritepost 23

The frame has returned from the powder coaters and it's looking great.

The build starts tomorrow and should be in one piece by the weekend!!!

Spritepost 22

A quick update on the progress of the Sprite...

The relevant lugs and brackets for the coil, side stand, chain tensioner, lock stops, chain guard and footrests have all now been added and the frame is going to the Powder Coaters this wednesday and the seat is going away for covering.

It is quite possible that the bike will be built ready to ride in this weekend's 2nd round of the BMCA championship.

I will post pics as the bike is being built this week and update the site as it comes together

Cubpost 8

I have finally decided that 4 stokes are not for me......

After building the Sprite I think that the nature of the 2 stroke engine suits my riding style more than the 4 stroke. Having spent some time thinking about this for some time I have decided to take one of two options;

1. Sell the Cub....... With the money spent to date I would need to get at least 5K for it and I dont know if there are many people out there willing to part with that sort of money, no matter how good the bike is.

2, Sell the engine and replace it with a 2 stroke engine.

Having looked around and weighed up the options, the best fit for my frame will be to have a BSA Bantam engine built to slot into it. I have decided that once the Cub engine is sold, I will get an engine built by Jim Pickering and after having ridden Jim's bike this weekend I have no reservations about the capability of the engine to do the job.

I have put my engine on E Bay - Item Number 230173872104 and already it has quite a lot of interest. When it sells next Sunday I will place the order for the Bantam engine and will update the progress on this site.

Incase you have forgotten, the pictures show the engine that's for sale

Eventpost 13 - Bromsgrove BMCA

Yesterday was the 1st round of the BMCA championship, held at Bromsgrove. As my Dad had put the trial on, we spent Saturday marking out the sections and found a good mix of sections ranging from tight, twisty turns in the woods over roots to natural banks and finally some challenging rocky sections in an area that was being used as landfill. The pictures show the variation in the sections.

I learnt a valuable lesson yesterday, as a potential good ride was spoilt by one incident where I listened to an observer in relaton to the route that a section was taking rather than actually looking at the route for myself. As you can probably guess I took the wrong route and has a soft 5 which I then allowed to get to my head and after throwing my teddy out of the pram I proceeded to have another 5.

This loss of concentration put paid to my day and more loose marks went by the wayside eventually clminating in a 3rd five and a total of over 20 and a finish right down the results.

Not a good start to the season but probably a good lesson for me.

Steve Hay won the trial as expected. I will update the results as soon as I have them.

Dadpost 2

He gets a lot of credit on this site for building and maintaining my bikes, in fact I am pretty useless at anything more than basic maintenance. Here is a pic of my Dad in his usual position - working on my bike for me!! Thanks Dad..