Fantom – the new low cost trials bike A proposed new budget bike has broken cover in Spain. It’s based on a Chinese-built, horizontal-cylinder four-stroke engine, as used extensively in ‘Pit Bikes’.
Barcelona-based Fantom Motors is a new company that has the backing of several Catalan institutions and is looking to create a market for beginners, youths and riders just looking for a low-cost, basic trials bike.The Fantom features a steel tube space frame similar to that used by Vertigo. It appears that the front forks are basic Showa while the rear suspension is a monoshock linkless for simplicity.
Ancillary components, it is presumed, will be based on price.
This isn’t a new idea and there are a few home-built examples around the British scene, pioneered by the fertile mind and practical skills of Cotswold Motorcycles Jon Bliss. The Bliss machines are actually much simpler based on a large diameter spine that doubles as the fuel tank. The Chinese engines are available in capacity sizes from 50cc to 225 cc but Fantom say they are looking at a capacity between 140cc and 200cc.
The basic idea is sound, to create a replacement for the long out of production TY175 Yamaha, a machine that got a generation of young riders into trials.
