http://www.ebay.com/itm/282340983425?ul_noapp=true
Very rare bike in original condition.
Ron Carbaugh
What is that long screw sticking out by the counter shaft sprocket? Also, that pipe looks like a Husky pipe, and the chain tensioner looks like one from an Bultaco Alpina. Are they stock items for this bike?
1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1982 Suzuki PE 175
1976 Penton 175 XC
1985 20' Hi Point trailer
Good questions.
What is that long screw sticking out by the counter shaft sprocket? If you look closer you will see that it is actually a chain oiler that is feed by putting oil in the frame. Most of the time this part is missing,
Also, that pipe looks like a Husky pipe, and the chain tensioner looks like one from an Bultaco Alpina. The pipe was manufactured by Penton for the Mudlark conversion and the chain tensioner is a stock Wassell/Mudlark tensioner.
Are they stock for this bike. Yes.
Ron Carbaugh
Ron,
From what I understand, the pipe is a Husky pipe that was a leftover from days gone by. I imagine the header pipe was altered to fit the exhaust port and to give the proper bend.
Skiracer,
In what I think is the eighteenth picture a small knob is quite visible just in front of the gas tank, that is where the oil was poured in for the chain oilier.
Beautiful machine.
Paul
Ron and Paul, thanks for the responses and answers! Love all the knowledge that is shared on this site....
1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1982 Suzuki PE 175
1976 Penton 175 XC
1985 20' Hi Point trailer
In the service storage area at Penton brothers Honda in the mid seventies, there was probably 50 n.o.s.husky pipes hanging along the north wall.
Correct Paul. They had a jig to make the pipe and it was Husky. They had to manufacture the header because of the square exhaust from the Cast Iron Cylinder. Good point on the oil filler cap.
Ron Carbaugh
That bike is very original, have restored a few and if someone is looking for a nice original one, that is it. A last ditch effort made from Wassell parts, Husky parts and Preston Petty stuff. Wasn't worth 10 cents when made but now very collectable. Good luck to the new owner, nice bike for a museum indeed:)
The pipe is not just any old Husky...but from the first 2 years production of the 125 Husky.
As mentioned, with the header section modified to match up to the Sachs exhaust port.
Pretty neat!
Richard Colahan
1969 V1225
Upper Black Eddy PA
Agree with Kip Kern.
Ron Carbaugh
It is interesting to note in picture 4 the unused hole opposite to where the chain oiler is attached. When these machines were first designed Ted Wassell had intended to use the BSA Bantam engine for the power plant. When it became apparent that the supply of those engines was not suitable for his intended production, he switched over to the Sachs engine.
The BSA drive chain is on the left side and that hole surely could be for attaching the chain oiler for the BSA engine. There are a few of these out there with their original BSA Bantam engines in them and it would be interesting look at one of those early original jobs and see if there is a hole in the frame for the oiler to be mounted on the right side......
Joe Barker did some of the conversions on these machines and next time I talk with him I will see if he has any specific remembrances of piecing them together.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bsa+bantam&biw=1024&bih=639&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiF19-DkerRAhUHqFQKHXyICssQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=2IEb8a1_bq0BoM%3A
Paul
Paul I have never seen one with the Bantam powered one in person. Have you? Thanks.
Ron Carbaugh
Quotequote:Originally posted by Paul Danik
In what I think is the eighteenth picture a small knob is quite visible just in front of the gas tank, that is where the oil was poured in for the chain oilier.
Or ... you could do what I do and put fuel in there instead of oil.
I had and may still have a write up showing the Bantam powered Wassell at an Industry Trade show many years ago, the Industry Trade Show was not in the states from what I remember.
"Back in the day" when Augie and I were campaigning the AHRMA Trials series I met a fellow rider by the name of Bob Ginder who was also riding the series. When Bob saw my Sachs powered Wassell he took the time to tell me about his BSA Bantam powered unit.
I just now got off the phone with Bob and he explained that he restored the bike and then sold it to the Barber Museum, who at that time had planned on doing a Trials display.
From what Bob knows they never did that display, and quite possibly the Bantam powered Wassell Trials is stored away at Barber.
I do not know how many were built with BSA power, but back in the cobwebs of my mind I can recall helping an Englishman find a few items he needed for his, and I also think there was a link to one on eBay in England many years ago.
Question is....do the BSA powered ones have two oiler holes, or only the one on the left side..:) Might need to give Brian at Barber a call.
Paul
I haven't seen a Bantam Woodsman but I did see a Wassell/Bantam trials bike at Mid-Ohio one year. It looked cool. Don't know how the power was for trials.
Lew Mayer
This is as close as I could find.
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I found the article on the history of Ted Wassell's entrance into the world of motorcycle production.
The Wassell Trials machines that were designed to be BSA Bantam powered were sold as a rolling chassis only, or what is often referred to as a kit bike. The reason being that the folks at BSA had no interest in selling Ted new Bantam engines right off their assembly line. A rider would simply buy the Wassell trials rolling chassis and then source his own BSA Bantam engine, which according to the article, were fairly plentiful. The article states that 50 of these units were produced in 1971.
Ted Wassell still wanted to build and sell a complete motorcycle and in November of 1971 he visited the Milan Show and liked what he saw in the latest Sachs engine. An order was eventually placed and the Sachs powered Wassell Trials machines were then built. Soon John Penton entered the picture....and we know most of that story :)
Paul