Phil’s bikes and opinions
In OBM440 Phil Bannister recounted his experience with a Mercury Dolphin (with its coat of green paint, courtesy of his mum!). Now he tells us what came next…
Iwas offered the opportunity to purchase a Bantam from a work colleague of my father’s for the sum of £8. Wow – that was two weeks’ wages! “Ah,” thought I. “The girlfriend’s brother needs transport. Maybe he would like to buy the Mercury Dolphin…” Yes, he did, so I became the owner of a Bantam and I even made a profit on the transaction.
Well, the Bantam arrived and, much to my surprise, it didn’t have a Wipac ignition but was Joseph Lucas Prince of Darkness-equipped with AC generator and an ignition key. At last a real motorbike that I had to throw a leg over and kick-start it. Did I say ‘start’? It would offer a little splutter and a cloud of smoke then stop. All the usual things were checked and the carb stripped and cleaned. Off with the head and a decoke, silencer and exhaust cleaned out (big cork and caustic). Timing and points set before head went back to check BTC. Fingers crossed… and it fired up and ran okay. Now I was a real biker!
It ran all right and I used it to go to work across Manchester from the north west to the south. The first real problem was when the throttle cable broke on the way to work. So, remembering a tip from the weekly mag, I decided to disconnect the front brake and connect the throttle cable to the brake lever. It was not a good tip when travelling in the rush hour, even back in 1960, with only the rear brake and iffy throttle control. Anyway, I survived that one.
The main problems were with the ignition system – i.e., no charge and then intermittent charge. I eventually found a crack across the base of the multipurpose combined ignition/ lighting switch. New switch? No chance! I eventually came across a similar Bantam at JAXS spares in Openshaw. What good luck! Ah, but I had to buy the complete headlamp shell. The switch was badly corroded so I managed to remove the base and rebuild a workable switch. That went fine. Then I went out wearing my Sunday best and, after arriving at my destination, realised I had an irritation on my leg. I looked down and there was a hole in my lovely cavalry twill trousers and my leg was sore. The rectifier had gone faulty and had boiled the battery which then sprayed acid on my leg.
I eventually passed my test on the Bantam and then came the words I dreaded: “I’ve found you a bike at Chick’s. He’s bringing it tomorrow.” Dad had done it again!
Will I survive the next episode?