BUlTACO
METRAllA
MI. II
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• By Georce Martin
Most Bultacos one sees are bounding
along on scrambles tracks or zipping
around tight turns on road race courses
at faster than the average speed.
The Spanish two-stroke builders'
latest creation is billed as a street machine, but only slightly beneath its sleek
skin is the pounding pulse of a racer
and a large dose of the competition-bred
pizazz that will magically change the
humdrum ride to work and back into an
adventure of the first water for the machine's lucky owner.
The Metral1a Mark II looks from a
distance like, perhaps, an overbored
200cc Mark I, but as one gets closer a
great many differences become apparent.
The engine, for instance, is completely new. Instead of the previous hard-toget-at studs and nuts to hold the barrel
on, and more nuts to hold the head on,
the Mk II has long studs which run
through the barrel and the head into the
crankcase.
The barrel spigots deeply into the
crankcase for strength, and the whole
thing is fed by a 27mm Spanish Amal
carburetor. With a bore/stroke of 72x60
mm, the engine is nicely oversquare and
displaces 244.29cc. Claimed horsepower
is 27 .6.
The transmission is a new five-speed
unit, wi th gears selected by a drum arrangement rather than the previous cam
plate. The loud ·clank- of some earlier
Bultaco transmissions is gone witb this
unit. Getting into low gear is easy every
time, even when the macbine is standing
still.
When low gear is engaged, only a
soft· snick- is beard. and this very soft
sound is all you hear as you go up and
down the 5 speeds. A good positi ve
nudge with th.e toe, and you almost feel
the gears engage tbrough the sole of
your shoe.
Anotber area where the race track has
spawned a new development in the Bultaco street machine is the brakes. The
front stopper in particular is worthy of
mention. It is a douhle-leading shoe unit.
with a swept area of11.480 square millimeters. A large alr scoop is cast onto
tbe backing plate and protected by a
gravel screen.
To test the brake, I took the Metralla
out into the country where a road bas
recently been built around a newlycreated reservoir. Several long. hilly
stretches of one
