What’s the collective noun for Bantams? A brood? Dunno, ask Dave Lewis...
From D1s to D14/4s and Drayton trails specials, Dave Lewis has them all – and he can’t stop himself adding to his brood of Bantams... or his stash of spares
There are collectors, and then there are truly obsessive collectors. As Dave Lewis shows us around his home it’s pretty apparent, from his outbursts of giggles as he introduces us to his bikes, that even he accepts he’s one of the latter. We’re talking three Bantams in the front room, a Flying Flea in the hall, a trials bike in the kitchen, another Bantam in the laundry room, another in his bedroom, a loft full of spares, a trials bikes being assembled on the bench in the garage, two engines and some frame parts for another Bantam awaiting a rebuild... and that’s not all.
“There’s also ten bikes up at the village hall… and then there’s all the stuff in the sheds,” he explains sheepishly, opening a couple of kitchen cabinet doors to reveal piles of Bantam-related literature in one and special tooling in another.
Dave is one of the stalwarts of the BSA Bantam Club and his collection covers most of the multitude of models BSA produced. But he’s also an off-road enthusiast and has assembled an enviable collection of trials irons in recent years.
“I’ve got to be honest, I used to do Triumph Cubs. I had a TR20 trials bike when I was at school. We used
‘THERE’S TEN BIKES UP AT THE VILLAGE HALL… THEN THERE’S ALL THE STUFF IN THE SHEDS’
to buy bikes for a tenner, ride them in the field for a while and then sell them on to buy something else. Well, the other lads did. I was always a bit different. I’d still move on and buy something else like the others, but I’d keep the older bikes as well.
“Everyone around here was into bikes – off-road bikes. There were plenty of Bantams and Cubs, but also ’crossers like Greeves Griffons. Dad’s parents had a small-holding and we used to tear around the land there on bikes. My dad was always into bikes and his dad had a 1937 ES2 Norton with a sidecar.”
Turns out the Flying Flea (or Royal Enfield RE125, to give it its proper name) in the hallway is a family heirloom. “My grandfather bought it from Grooms Garage in Powys in 1946. My dad rode it to work. Then I learned to ride on it. It’s still in original condition. It’s never been restored and never will be. It would be wrong to do that to a bike with so much family history attached to it.”
Dave had a Fantic Turismo on the road at 16, then a DT175 on which he passed his test, progressing to a Honda Superdream 250 before taking up trials with a 250 Bultaco. A further succession of Bultacos and a Fantic finally led to him getting sponsorship and an Aprilia from Wylie and Holland in Shrewsbury.
“I used to get some good results, but I packed up for years once I had a wife and family to consider,” he says. “I got back into riding trials occasionally, initially with a four-stroke Montesa 4RT, which I rode for several years, but now I’m restoring and collecting trials bikes. It’s something different from the Bantams I’ve been doing for a while!”
Ah yes, the Bantams – how on earth did that obsession start?
“I got into Bantams in 1991. My uncle Pete worked at the council and did some work at a bloke’s house. The bloke had a 1959 Bantam D7 for sale and my uncle told me about it. I looked it over and bought it. I restored it from the ground up and used to take it to shows. The tank recently got damaged, so I stripped it down and I’m currently restoring it again.
“It’s amazing how differently I do things now. The bikes are much better finished. For example, back then I used chrome nuts and bolts so the bolts weren’t always
to the correct length. Of course, if you cut them to length, you wreck the plating. Now all the fasteners are stainless, so cutting them to length isn’t a big issue.” Dave’s next bike was an FS1-E that he bought from his ex-wife’s brother – it’s still in the shed awaiting restoration! “Buying bikes just gathered pace from there, I suppose,” Dave confesses. “I bought more Bantams and ended up joining the club. Dad was a member anyway, so I used to go to meetings and shows with him, but eventually I became a paid-up member.
“The Bantam club helped fuel my passion. I do lots of shows with them – and because I’ve built so many, I get a lot of questions fired my way. I’d hate to think how many Stafford shows I’ve done now – or how many shows in total. I still really enjoy them, because I get to meet so many people. People want bits and I want bits,
‘IT’S A PASSION OF MINE AND I DON’T SMOKE OR DRINK, SO WHY NOT DO THIS?’
so set-up day on Friday is perfect when you’re working on a stand. I always take a list of parts I need to look for – and end up buying them and piles of other stuff that might come in handy. Fridays is a day for wheeling and dealing before the crowd arrives on Saturday!”
Dave is also an ebay fiend. “I spend a lot of time on there,” he admits. “I buy a lot of my bikes off there, but also new-old stock or repro parts. Repro parts, to be fair, are often better than original parts these days. I’ve also got mates who run their own businesses making spares, so getting the right stuff is never a problem.
“It’s amazing what you can still buy brand new, though. I bought a headlight for my 1953 D1 from Bantam John [renowned Bantam specialist, see CB March 2016]. It was the only one he had, and 1953 was when BSA bought Lucas electrics as well as Wico Pacy. The ’53 Lucas headlight incorporates an ammeter and pilot light under the headlight, as well as an internal resistor. It cost me £275, but what likelihood was there of me ever finding another brand new one, still in its brown paper wrapping?”
We grab cups of tea to continue our tour around the favela of sheds in the huge garden that’s dominated by a central grassed area – inhabited not by Bantams, but by runner ducks (real ones, pictured below).
No livestock in the sheds, though – they’re rammed with bike stuff. One contains the previously-mentioned Fizzie and also houses Dave’s D1 rigid and a rare D13 (both restoration projects that he has planned), along with a D7 barn find someone has asked Dave to restore.
“I’ve built the D1 engine for it,’ he says, adding: “The D1 has a D3 engine in it at present; I’ll get around to do the full restoration one day. They only made 672 of the D13. The D10 was a three-speed; what should have been the D12 is four-speed – but it produced 13bhp, hence BSA called it the D13. Then the BSA management, in their wisdom, got all superstitious and felt 13 was unlucky, so they changed the designation to D14. There’s no difference between a D13 and a D14! They started the D13 production numbers d13101 and this is d13173, so it’s the 72nd one off the production line.”
It’s worth pointing out at this juncture that Dave only does bikes in his spare time. He’s an aircraft engineer by trade, having served his apprenticeship at Rolls-royce, and has been at his current workplace for 40 years.
Back in the sheds, one of them contains a grey D3, surrounded by racks of spares; another is full to the roof with spares. Even the large greenhouse is rammed with spares, the range of mudguards inside adding a splash of colour to the otherwise drab grey of engine parts.
Dave reckons he can find any particular part he needs from the huge stash of spares spread all over his place – but he’s currently thinking of thinning out the stock.
“I’m not selling anything I’ve restored, but I’m getting rid of those bikes that need to be restored. Even Bantams cost a fortune to restore, but it’s a passion of mine and