
Stock basket on left, BRE lightened basket on right
I am offering lightened clutch baskets built on your core basket. Send me your clutch basket and I will lighten it by removing one of the drive gears from the back and shortening/modifying the cush drive to suit. This takes a 3 pound 10 ounce basket down to 2 pounds 9 ounces. Highly recommended - removes over a pound of rotating weight from your engine. Development riders report noticable improvements in acceleration. This product has been in the field for two years now and has been holding up just fine. I also offer a gear spacer to replace the one unused gear on the crankshaft. This spacer could I suppose be used to eliminate the friction of the extra gear without the expense of basket modification, but without the advantage of weight loss. In combination with the lightened basket it is completely unneccessary but definitely cool looking.
The 160/175/200 family use two drive gears 1/2 tooth apart to drive the clutch basket as it is significantly quieter than a single straight cut gear drive, and more efficient than a helical drive gear. We don't care about quiet, and we don't make much horsepower, so we can cut back to one gear. Reduced rotating weight and reduced friction.
Tested in both 160s and 175s up to 18.5hp. So far no reliability problems at all.
Undercut Transmissions - $65
I am offering hand undercut transmissions - a service done to your transmission. Mail your transmission to me and i'll return it to you undercut. These are done by hand, not in a machine and jig like a "Fast by Gast" or "APE" undercut job, but they are perfectly adequate for the hp that we put out and are significantly cheaper. There are several out there right now, and my "development riders" reports much more positive shifts. This is an expansion on the mild transmission work described on the Group W Racing website. A great improvement for the 175 transmission, but a leap forward improvement for the 160 transmission. Will greatly reduce shift fork wear, bent shift forks and missed shifts. You'll be able to upshift without the clutch, which will save significant time on a lap if you are not able to consistantly upshift without the clutch now.
Rebuilt shift detent rollers
One of the problems 160s have is bad, sloppy, draggy detent rollers. Sometimes all you really need to improve shifting a bunch is a rebuilt detent roller. I can rebuild it with a ball bearing if desired for an "ultra-jiggy" detent roller, guaranteed to strike fear in the hearts of everyone who sees it (though it's hidden inside your motor, so not much fear is likely to be stricken really). I can also work over your detent plate a little bit if desired to try and reduce the amount of "flat spot" between 3rd and 4th gears.
Rebuilt cam chain tensioners

Rebuilt cam chain tensioner
I am currently rebuilding cam chain tensioners, replacing the upper rubber roller with a sprocket from the starter. This is a development part and is currently under testing. Price TBD - contact me for details. This will be a service to your tensioner - I won't have built tensioners for sale.
One of the problems that our racers have is chunking of the cam chain tensioner rollers - especially the upper roller and especially if it's not brand new. The starter sprocket I'm using is metal which is an advantage, but is not quite as big around as the stock roller, so may or may not work for those of you who've decked your head more than about .020" due to the way the tensioner mechanism works. Center rollers seem to hold up okay if they're in good shape. I can sometimes get new racing center rollers made from a much more durable material with a ball bearing, but lead times on those rollers can sometimes be months.
The ultimate solution I think is a slipper tensioner setup that will eliminate all the rollers and really improve cam chain control. It is being worked on now, but development is slow. I wouldn't expect them to be ready for testing before next season.
Camshaft Measurement - $40
I am offering a camshaft measuring service. I will measure each lobe of your cam at 5 crank degree intervals, inputing it into a computer program which allows comparison of lobes to each other, determination of gross lift, valve acceleration, etc. It is most useful to ensure that the lobes are phased correctly, have similar lift and duration to each other, are at the lobe separation you expect, as well as determining wear on the cam. I will include a comparision to the best cam I have measured to date to see how your cam stacks up against the others. It is also useful for identifying unknown camshafts. This is a bit labor intensive right now as I have to measure the cam in an assembled engine, inputing the data by hand. I will eventually be fully automating this process and making a jig to measure the cam out of the engine but it will be pretty expensive to step up to that level as the electronic sensors to do so are not cheap.
Cylinder head work
I have valve tools now so I am doing cylinder head work. I am doing valve jobs, light porting work, head casting flash removal, head milling, etc. I can also replace valve guides if necessary, and I'm a Kibblewhite dealer so I can order valves/springs/etc for you as well.
Piston work
I've made myself a custom piston vise, so I can now offer piston flycutting services. I can cut valve pockets to any radius and any depth you desire on pistons up to 56mm (or a bit larger if I modify my vise).
Brake Services
I am currently offering brake tuning for 160 and 350 brakes. I can help you mount your brake properly, manufacture spacers, machine backplates for fork spacing, arc shoes, etc. I am shopping for a used brake lathe in order to be able to turn drums, and I'm shopping about for alternate sources for brake relining.
I can also help you set up your brake - if I'm at the track I can probably help you adjust your brake for much better performance than you are getting now.
I am in the process of sending out brake shoes for relining with a special race compound. This compound is highly recommended by Bateman Racing. It is well proven, fade free, progressive and not nearly as temperature sensitive as some other full race compounds. Shoes will go out in batches and there will be quite a long lead time for them to return, so if you're interested contact me right away.
I also have sources for 305/450 brakes that are the absolute bomb if you really want to have great brakes. Contact me for details.
I expect to be expanding this portion of the business in the next few years.
Other Services
Other services like welding (steel, stainless and aluminum), minor fabrication, some machine work like case boring, etc may be available depending on workload - email me and ask.
Future/Development Race Parts
Here at Bateman Racing I have lots of ideas and am always pursuing new products and services. Here are some of the things I'm currently working on:
Replacement shift plates -
The shift detent plate on the end of the shift drum on the 160 is not particularly sophisticated or well designed. I am considering having a short run of shift detent plates made to a better design. This probably won't happen particularly quickly.
Cheap Clipons
I'm working on jigging up to make cheaper, one-piece clipons. These will be welded steel clipons, very light weight. Not replaceable bars, if you crash and bend them you'll need to replace the whole thing. Will be available in your choice of droop and forward push. They won't look as nice as Rick's clipons (see below), but will be flexible in design.
Close ratio transmissions -
At some point in your motor development you will find that your super hotrod motor that makes spanky peak power numbers does not make a wide enough spread of power for the streetbike transmission ratios in your stock transmission. At that point you will need a close ration transmission. I am currently working on developing a close ratio 4th and 5th gear set for the 175 transmission. It may end up being too expensive to be practical. We'll see though - I figure it's at least worth finding out.
160 to 175 conversions -
Like the look of the sloper? Want to keep the sloper chassis but run with the big dogs at the front of the pack? Your 160 can be converted to a 175, including the 5 speed transmission if desired. You can even use a cylinder head from the much more plentiful vertical 175. Contact me for details - I may be offering parts and services to assist with this conversion.
Note especially to 160 racers: If you want to stick with a 160 I highly recommend holding tight to the Fowler Formula. A true Fowler Formula spec racer is cheap and reliable, and a lot of fun where you've got other racers with similar steeds to battle valiantly with. It takes a lot of skill and balls of steel to excel on a true Fowler Formula racer, and you know you've really accomplished something when you can beat other similarly skilled racers on a similar Fowler formula racer. They will be making 13-14 hp when carefully assembled and be a complete gas to race.
I only advocate modification to 175 or more cc for the 160 if you want to run with what I'd call the F-175 racer or full 250 vintage bike - and that is a slippery and potentially expensive slope. However - if you do want to go down that path I'd be happy to assist you - including case boring to accomodate the larger cylinder spigots of the 175 cylinder, conversion to 5 speed transmission, alternative ignitions, head development, special intake manifolds and exhausts to work with vert heads on sloper cases, etc. But be warned - it is not a cheap way to go and is not a bolt-together affair - there is a lot of development and careful planning that needs to be done. It is not too hard to build your way to a pretty slow expensive bike if you aren't careful.
Out of Stock Parts/Services
The following parts and services are either out of stock or in development - watch here for availability. Email me and let me know if you're interested in one of these products.
Modified shift drums -
I have modified several shift drums to lighten them. It is a labor intensive job that is hard on tools and destroys a carbide end mills. It does however remove a couple of ounces from a critical part making for much more reliable shifting. I may offer this service again in the future if there is enough call for it.
Other sources for race parts
Les Barker - The Vintage Advantage/Little Engine Service - lots of parts, racing valves, racing valve spring sets, Titanium valve retainers, racing clutch spring sets, modified oil pumps, modified chain tensioners, cylinder boring, cylinder head services, etc. 360-699-4964 Les has been serving the vintage racing community for years. Please let him know I sent you.
MotoBits - Brent Prindle's company - Rearsets for 160 and 175. Fellow racer.
Vicious Cycle - Portland, OR m/c shop with lots of parts and services especially for the 160/175 racer - Everyone there is an enthusiast or racer. Joe Pithoud (the owner) is a fellow 160 racer.
Rick Perreault - Perreault Performance Products - clip-ons
Rick Perreault is a fellow racer and makes these really nice clipons for 160s (30mm) and 175s (31mm). The most recent pricing information I have from him is that they're $125/set, plus shipping, plus tax in Washington state. He also makes larger versions for bigger bikes on a case by case basis. Email Rick for details and pricing.
Email Rick
Click here to see clipons on the Bonneville Raffle Bike
Fiberglass Bodywork
Glass From the Past - Brett Edwards sells very nice bodywork and such for vintage motorcycles - bellypans, fairings, fuel tanks, etc.
Aluminum Bodywork
Stephen Gillen Aluminum race tank for Honda 160

Stephen Gillen Aluminum race tank for Honda 160

Stephen Gillen Aluminum race tank and seat for Honda 160
Stephen Gillen in Arizona is hand fabricating aluminum fuel tanks and tail sections for Honda 160 racers. He's doing a nice job and every one that builds is nicer than the last one.
Contact Stephen at: giltec at hotmail dot com
Copper Gaskets Unlimited - copper head and base gaskets
Bobby Hawbaker - Oil seal retainer
Email Bobby
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