The "Burian" Trial’s Machines…

Now this is one rare trials bike. One of only two ever built.

(Maybe three there is rumoured to have been a BSA Victor engined version later)...Victor photos now at bottom of this page...

 These were the creation of international world class scrambles works rider from the sixties  John Banks.

 John built the two machines in his workshop in Bury-St-Edmunds in Suffolk in 1965.

05/03/2022...

The Burian now completely rebuilt by owner Simon Hatcliffe

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The bikes name Burian (Berry-un) came from the name of the town Bury-St-Edmunds where you were classed as a “Burian” if you lived there, and more so if you went to the King Edward VI grammer school at the time...

The Old Burian's in tune?

John Banks built the two bikes, one with the Villiers engine that Simon Hatcliffe is now the proud owner, and knowing that he will do a first class job of restoring the bike.

 The other was built for star trials rider Doug Theobald, this bike had a BSA Bantam engine fitted.

Simon asked me what I thought the frame was about a month ago, I said it looked a lot like a Cheney creation but did not think it was.

Then Simon placed the same photos of the bike onto a well known trials page on Facebook, and Bingo the bike got recognised by our old friend Trevor Kemp of BSA fame……. Who was at the time working on his own trials bike from the John Banks garage, has was the next owner of the machine Alan Garrett. The engine was somewhat special and made from parts that were selected to build a superior Villiers trials engine. And Alan Garrett proved this later with the results he got. The BSA Bantam engined machine also worked very well for Doug Theobald, with a stream of results at the time.

 I would think that John Banks commitments to his Moto-Cross career stopped him building any more machines… But with shear luck  the Villiers engined machine has fallen into the right hands, and will now be brought back to life by the dedicated Simon Hatcliffe.

We will follow the rebuild with dedication too… 

Photo Courtesy Alan Garrett...

Alan Garrett aboard the "Burian" trials machine.

Photo Simon Hatcliffe.

The "Burian" Simon now has to restore.

Tail-end details...

Nice use of the tube-bender on this machine...

and in 1965....

Another fine shot of Alan Garrett ploughing on through the stream on the

John Banks built "Burian-Villiers" machine.

Photo Courtesy Deryk Wylde...

Doug Theobald tests the front alloy conical brake as he enters the section.

Doug had great success riding the little Bantam engined "Burian" in 1965-6...

If you remember one of Doug's later machines was a BSA Otter from Ally Clift.

Photo Courtesy David Cordle...and Simon...

Here the late Dave Bickers aboard the Bantam engined "Burian"...

Alan Garrett...

That is correct, Trevor Kemp and myself spent many hours with John Banks while he made this bike in his garage. We were working on our own bikes at the time. I went on to own the Burian-Villiers from John.

Point of interest, John is clever at engineering and loved making bikes that were different. The Burian had a 36A bottom end, Greeves Challenger barrel (re-shaped), ignition was one set of points running two coils, two condensers and two plugs that were machined into the Challenger cylinder head.

Chain adjustment is by a concentric clamped spacer with what looks like three wheel spindle positioning holes, later copied by another frame builder.

Another shot of the neat bent seat tubes holding the spindle and footrest plates...

A very tidy frame for a "Two"off... and in 1965...

The later owner of the Burian was Trevor Andrews, and he may have fitted the later 1980's folding footrests...

15/08/2021...

Just got the update from Simon on the rebuild of the little bike, and he is doing a splended job on it..

Simon...

Hi Charlie, hope you are keeping well... Update on Burian I have cleaned up the frame and it looks good, checked swing arm bearings and fitted new headstock bearings. Rebuilt the Ceriani forks, new seals and polished sliders. I have tried to keep as many original parts as possible.

What a change, you can see the work Simon has put into this re-build.

Looking good and the effort well spent...

The new back units, footrests, and new tyres nudge the bike into 2021...

When you are working on a "One-Off" must make the work all the more sweeter...

The small battle scars on the rims portray the Burians past history...

Well done Simon...

A better photo of the footrests, and a few more battle scars on the frame...

The original Villiers 36A engine bottom end, and piston that is to be replaced because of the rebore.

And the Electrex-World ignition that is to replace the period one set of points and two condensers and coils set up, to make it more reliable and bring the Burian into 2021..

Simon has now fitted the trimmed down Challenger cylinder head to match the barrel, and also the Electrex-World ignition...

What a super job you are doing Simon... Looking good... 

Hi Charlie hope you are well, update on Burian. I have had barrel rebored and new piston, cut down the Challenger head to match barrel and fitted Electrex-World ignition, and fitted the engine into frame. Now I am going to get one of the Amal superlight premier carbs and sort out exhaust system .
Regards Simon.......

Hi Charlie hope all is well, update on the Burian now complete.

Had a few issues with forks and gearbox but now sorted .

The top yoke on the forks had a crack where it clamps the fork leg, the forks are 32mm Ceriani as fitted to the Greeves Pathfinder and are very hard to find. I tried all the people I know with no luck I then tried Kenny Sykes ( the Greeves man in US) and he came up with the correct one for £70 and is now fitted.

The gearbox would only select 2nd and 3rd so pinch the rebuilt one I had in the Greeves TFS, will sort out problem and fit back in TFS .

Had to sort exhaust and silencers as I wanted to keep as original but was a bit noisy as fitted second one from a TY not easy to fit as no bracket and did not want to weld one to frame so made one that bolts under mudguard .

Had to get some alloy right angle tube weld to silencer as not much room.

It was not easy to fit chain tensioner and guard to bike as only one bracket...

The Burian is quite a small bike it has a 50" wheel base and weighs only 80kgs 176 lbs wet how John Banks rode and did not break it I will never know as he was a big guy and very hard rider.

I will be riding it at the Somerton Classic club 2 day trial in June at Priddy.

I have sent loads of photos and will keep you updated

Bike now runs really nice now with Electrex-World ignition and Amal premier carb.

The reg number on the back DCF72C is the original number but unfortunately I cannot reclaim it, tried DVLA and it is not on their system and I don't know frame number😥

 All the best Simon...

21/08/2022.....

 

New photos sent to me in May that I forgot to put onto the page...after format problem...

Hi Charlie, some photos of John Banks, Doug Theobald and Alan Garrett riding the Burian Trials bikes sent to me by David Cordle.

Regards Simon...

 

Photos Courtesy David Cordle...

John Banks aboard the Burian... Villiers...

 

 

The Bantam version...

 

 

Alan Garrett Aboard...?

 

 

Another shot of John Banks aboard the Burian Villiers...

 

 

John Banks again riding the Bantam engined bike...

 

There you go Simon got them on in the end, the web site did not like the format of the photos for some reason...

                                          Just a start to this page.

You know how they grow now...

The "Burian Victor"...

01/03/2023...

Simon has now had a couple of photos sent to him by Ben Chaplin of the later Burian with  the BSA Victor engine... we may get more information about this bike later...

Photo Courtesy Ben Chaplin...

John Banks aboard the "Burian Victor" BSA machine...

Photo Courtesy Ben Chaplin...

And a bit clearer photo of John Banks riding a section on the Victor engined Burian...

More later...

Updat2023...03...