The Phantom Manufacturing Co.

Not many people know this, but Erasmus Thump, founder of The Phantom Manufacturing Company, used to drive an automobile from time to time. Of course, a man so enamoured of sporting machines, and two-wheeled ones at that, no average automobile would do. So Erasmus, with Titus' help, constructed a machine of his own design. He managed to enlist Vivian Prestwich of JAP to produce an engine that was made up of four V-twin JAP motors connected together. Of course the end result turned out to be something rather special.

the Phantom EG has also appeared in 100% Bikers in the UK, and Sideburn. Copies of these magazines can be found on their relevant website thingies. We are also happy to announce that we have launched a small shop through which we might offer for sale some Phantom merchandise in an effort to bolster Mrs. Ramsbottom's bingo fund. Do have a look and order some of our fine shirts for your loved ones -- supplies are limited...until we make some more of course.

I must admit that there is nothing like a week of miserable weather at the Isle of Man to make one thankful to be a ghost! High winds and driving rain plagued the Manx GP and associated events for almost the entire week. Regardless of this, the lads took the Phantom out for a variety of rides to events across the island over the course of the GP week. On the plus side, the public response was once again extremely positive. On the negative side, the lads got extremely wet and miserable on an almost daily basis. And the damp weather made riding on the public roads slow going by their standards.

But there were exceptions of course. For instance, on one morning the sun came out and the wind decreased and Frosty took Phantom EG 001 up the mountain and gave it a good thrashing in the rare, clear air of that day. It turned into a day the likes of which I will never forget, the day I met a spectral motorbike...

Pardon me if I am not as eloquent as is Erasmus or Enoch, my writing experience is little to none. But after describing my experience of having some bits made up recently I was ordered by Erasmus to immediately put pen to paper...such as it is.

I have been working on the hand position of the Phantom EG as well as differing exhaust tubes to see how they might affect performance. We have been bending both exhaust and handlebar tubes much as we have always done -- fill the tube with sand, heat the tube up and bend slowly around something harder than the hot tube! The sand in the tube keeps it from buckling, but this has proved very time consuming and we needed some help. I had heard of two chaps up near Lincoln who are highly regarded and went to pay a visit with the EG in tow.

This seems to be the most frequently asked question in our email boxes these days. Well, the answers is not a simple one, or at least not a short one. The main reason for this is, we are not completely sure of the answer ourselves.

For those of you we met at the Festival of Speed, thank you very much for visiting! We met so many wonderful people. Your flattering comments and intelligent questions were a tonic for the troops. Many asked if we were going to run the EG at the event but, alas, we did not approach the organisers in anywhere near a reasonable time for them to consider such a possibility. We hope to find a venue where people can see and hear the EG in action soon as so many people did say they would love to witness such a thing.

For those of you who might be curious, 'Frostie,' our lad who was designated the task of manning the pitch, collapsed in a parts box at the back of the works upoin returning late sunday night with the EG. Mrs. Ramsbottom thought it best to leave him and simply put a blanket over his feet. We believe he will be recovered in a few days' time.

If you were there and did not get your comments out or your questions answered, simply drop Mrs' Ramsbottom  a note at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .