Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125985
BULlAeo MK VIII 360 A fine weapon whose edge must be honed before each battle By John Huerter - -- 30 On o ne of those all too ty pi cal Belgian aft ernoons t hat alt ernated between co ld drizzle and damp o verc ast, J im Pomeroy, Mar cel Wiertz and o ne or two other r ide rs and h angers-on were standing in the doorway of Marcel's garage debating which bikes to prepare for the fo llowin g Sunday's Belgian i n t e rn a t i o n a l m o t o cro ss. Jim was undecided whether to go wit h the well -proven 3 26 cc engine in the 5 00 class o r the faster , more-powerful 4 00 prototype ' which still had it s share of development bugs . Jim has a morb id fear o f being outpo were d and had j ust abo ut .deci de d on th e 400 but then again , if it broke .. . About th is point, Mar cel turns t o me with that mis chievous gleam in hi s eyes, flashes a wide, gold-flecked grin and says, "Moi - three-feefty-two! " then tur ns and ma rches b a ck to his workbench where he c o n t i n u e s assem bling t he prototype Bultaco 35 2cc engine with all the care and precision o f a se rio us watchmaker. Marcel's no du mmy. He knew wh ere it was at. The Bultaco 352 engine was the best balanced co m b in at io n of light weight, high dependability, and everywhere power that Bultaco came up with in d o ing their R&D on the inte rna tio nal circuit . An d th at is a very dece n t co mbinatio n for a production en gine in the 500 class . During the T rans AMA series th at fall , J im rode th at en gine in a fr am e with suspension geo metry modified by Sk ip Kreps an d Bul ta co factory me ch an ic, Arnie Beam on, wo rking out of Sk ip 's West Los An geles Bultaco sh op . With t he sh ocks moved fo rw ard on th e swingarm to a near vertical po sit ion , an o ther in ch of front suspe nsio n tra vel was called fo r, an d so the co m pensati ng mods conti n ued. The definitive fra me an d susp ension geo metry fo r th e Mk V II I production 360 Pur san g, when figured out by the factory en gineers, was within a quart er -in ch of the Americans' torch work . _ The first ti me I rode one was in April of last year. Two o f them had been built for th e Barcelo na Auto-l\loto Sa lon wh ich is a pre -preview of the ne x t year's goodies. With typi cal en th usiasm, Jim prevailed upon " Paco ," chief 0 f Bultaco engine develo pmen t, to let me rid e o ne. "Th e y' re b i t c h i n '; " J im exclaims. " He re, " as h e hauls o ne o f the two o ut of t he test room , "just go o ut and gas it. But try no t to crash it." Why shoul d he say anything like that ? He 'd ne ver see n m e ride befo re . The im p ression made by flat silver frame and glist ening re d fiberglass is pure racer. It comes to life on the second kick and riding it feels terrible and awkward. I feel like I'm 12 fe et up in the air bo uncing aro und over the melon-sized rocks an d rim -b en ding p o th o les . Then, acq ui ring the confidence to make clean, c o o r di na t ed shifts for a complet e circu it , the thro ttl e is twisted o n. The rocks move out o f the way or get sp ewed from the re ar 4. 5 0 Pirell i as it gets an d ke ep s traction. Th e p o t holes dis appear . My relati o nsh ip with the motorcycle impro ves ab o ut 100% as it responds, even anticipates , eve ry time you want something to happen. There is much h ard, impelling power from very low in the RPM range t o about 6000 RPM . You quickly feel racer-Iy and very, very quick in both go and stop m odes. Now. n ea rly 10 months later wit h 360 Pursangs inevitably ap pearing in the ,win colums if not do m inating their class co m ple te ly, it becomes very clear th at the machine is desi gned to th at measure first hinted at th at d ay in Bar celo na . It handles with an ex cellenc e t hat will b e unmat ch ed fo r some, an d accep ta ble to just abo ut every one, when yo u go fast . And sto p fas t. And d on't mess aro und getting fa miliar with th e grooves in th e ' comer. An d go fast aga in. Th at is th e way it works best. If y o u go slowly, the fe eling o f being t oo high for effective weight t ra nsfer or c o rn e ri n g co nfidence return s. The suspensio n feels too hard. The front end hunts and . while never going away , doe sn 't mak e yo u lik e it. The rear en d kic ks up in co mers li ke somebody ran into the back t ire o r something. The so lu tio n is basic : Don 't ride it slowly . If yo u wan t to rid e it slo wly . yo u sh ould not ha ve p aid S1600 o r so fo r thi s two -wheeled we apon in the first place. The Mk VIII Bultaco may be , as we he ad in t o 19 75, the right weapon for th e 5 0 Occ class in m ot o cross. Displ acement has been enlarged to a hair over 3 62cc via th e bore , rear ax le travel is a nom inal six inc hes with the front almo st seven an d a half, an d the wet weig h t can easily be maintained under 2 10 po unds, ready to race a m o t o . Th e wi n ni ng sec ret l ie s