History behind the low profile casting reel...

Reels are the hottest topic for TackleTour. Everyone wants to know what the latest and greatest is and how they compare to the old guard. What's the best for light stuff, or what's your suggestion for heavy cover. Do we really need different retrieve ratios? It's all in here.
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Oktayne the Red
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Re: History behind the low profile casting reel...

Post by Oktayne the Red » Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:51 am

That was a great article. Lots of fuzzy-warm nostalgia. I remember those ads in Florida Sportsman mag. I was 9 and just starting to pay (too much?) attention to, and learning about, the gear I was fishing with. The original Bantam was certainly to blame for that. All shiny and silver sitting in the display case at the grocery store (Yup, a Winn-Dixie with a tackle section) my Mom went to. She knew if I wandered off, I'd be found drooling at reels at the service counter. I loved (at the time) the wood handles and all the fancy engraved scrollwork on the sides. Good ole days.

I still have an enthusiasm for those old reels. I don't have, never did, one of the silver ones, but I had a couple 10s (regular and Mag), a 250 Mag-Plus (like the one in JohnG's post) and the last one I had was a Magnumlite Speedmaster in the mid-late 80s. Still have a 10 and the 250. The Magnumlite, which was a 2200W without that "Fighting Star" crap, got stolen in the Keys out of our car while we were snorkeling. I had it less than a year. 5 different rods, gone. Most devastating tackle theft I ever went through. Police mostly laughed at the idea that I'd ever seen them again outside a pawn shop.

I don't know if this should be it's own post, it's somewhat on topic-

I'd love to see Shimano do a "re-issue" of the original Bantam. Visually the same, but with all the modern engineering inside. Modern cut gears, bearings, materials, etc. Looks like a vintage Bantam, feels/performs like a Conquest. There'd be some re-engineering needed, like a one-way bearing and higher gear ratio without changing the original outside styling, but if anyone could figure it out, it would be Shimano. I'd be in that line, shouting "take my money". I bet a lot of folks would.

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Re: History behind the low profile casting reel...

Post by John G » Wed May 24, 2023 8:30 pm

Oktayne the Red wrote:
Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:51 am

I don't know if this should be it's own post, it's somewhat on topic-

I'd love to see Shimano do a "re-issue" of the original Bantam. Visually the same, but with all the modern engineering inside. Modern cut gears, bearings, materials, etc. Looks like a vintage Bantam, feels/performs like a Conquest. There'd be some re-engineering needed, like a one-way bearing and higher gear ratio without changing the original outside styling, but if anyone could figure it out, it would be Shimano. I'd be in that line, shouting "take my money". I bet a lot of folks would.
I would definitely be in line saying take my money and I would be ok with the OG gear ratio.

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Re: History behind the low profile casting reel...

Post by Bantam1 » Fri Sep 01, 2023 8:07 am

It would be difficult to make an old reel with all the new tech inside. We would be able to make it look like the old reel, but it would just be that, a look alike. The tolerances required for the Conquest run around +/- .0002" for proper gear alignment alone. You also need a rigid frame and side plate to maintain that alignment under a load. Going to the roller bearing would require a significant change to the side plate. There are so many little things going on with Conquest to refine the feel of the reel it would require a lot of work and cost to make the "old" reel feel like it.

While it sounds cool they simply wouldn't sell enough to make up for the development costs more than likely. It would also be really expensive due to low demand and sales numbers.

Any of the modern low profile reels are essentially improved versions of the Bantam. I recently restored an old BB-1 for a coworker. The clutch mechanism is very complex and basically non repairable due to most of it being riveted together. The frame is multipiece like many of the reels from that era. The reel still had the ball point type oiling ports like reels made in the 1940's.
There had to been a lot of hand performed labor involved with parts fitment and assembly.

It was interesting to see how much progression there was over the years. There were many things that changed in a short amount of time to simplify manufacturing and function. I will say it was cool to see some of the design and manufacturing tech used in the BB-1 reel carried over to different models like the Triton series reels of the time amongst others.

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Re: History behind the low profile casting reel...

Post by Slazmo » Sat Sep 02, 2023 4:34 pm

A proper reproduction of an old model wouldn't be that hard, most surfaces inside are flat and external sides are stamped, wouldn't be that hard other than stamping dies and tooling which could be used across multiple platforms (which is already done today).

The old Bantam models IMHO were bare bones basic and worked extremely well even in today's terms, just have their inherent limitations compared to today's reels as broad spectrum usage they are.

I see a decent market for older reproduction reels with DNA backward bred into them, lighter spools withal modern day alloys, better alloys used throughout to mitigate corrosion and provide strength, HEG gears, modernised yolk for the clutch, a tapered line guide, longer 95mm handle and throw in a AR (ABU did it easily) and make it 5+1 bearing 3 spool 2 handle knob and the AR.

And most importantly it must have the Shimano crests with the gold inlay.

A legacy line-up would make a decent business proposition to the higher up desk jockies.

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Re: History behind the low profile casting reel...

Post by dragon1 » Wed Nov 08, 2023 5:26 am

SALUTE to Ken Duke and Terry Battisti!

For your work to bring to light and give deserving credit, to Mary Alice Hurt Taylor, for her record Idaho largemouth catch...it was with the evidence archived in the 1949 Outdoor Life Magazine Contest Records.

https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/det ... ss-record/
"It is like a finger pointing away to the Moon...don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of that heavenly glory."

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