BSA Bantam D1 Restoration

The bike was mostly complete, the toolbox being the most obvious ommision. The previous owner has sprayed it black for some reason. The tyres were rather perished, the tank had a dented side, there was some corrosion on the mudguards, understandable as these were original.

Stripping the Bantam down was the easiest part of the job. The smaller parts were labelled and bagged. After removing the dent in the tank, I used small grit inside the tank to remover the crud and corrosion. A good bit of shaking around and the inside was nice and clean. I then used a resin mixture to seal the inside of the tank.

Each piece of metal work was taken back to bright metal then primered. Inside the front brake hub was an area of original Mist Green paint as fresh as the day it was first painted. I used that to get an exact match made for the final spray painting. I had the wheels re-laced by a specialist wheel company.

Having got the paint made to my sample I found a superb spray paint near to my home and drip-fed him the parts as I have them prepared for painting. In the meantime I had items such as the tank cap chromed and the headlight reflector re-silvered.