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/126048
"-._ . By Jody Weisel hen a major manufacturer releases a new model onto an ecstatic and fickJed marketplace everybody goes wild. This new bombshell makes all the competitors, and whatever came before, look old and cratered, even that manufacturer's earlier efforts. This is as it should be and we all want to see that special something new, unless we are stuck with something old. New always replaces old and snakes shed their skin every fall, but if you are budget racing and have about 400 more payments. to go on last year's now obsolete super scoot you probably wish that snake would bite you instead. Well friend, you're in luck today ! But only if you happen to be the possessor of any of the fine line of Bultaco Pursangs just shot down by the new 1976 Pursangs. In 1974 the Bultaco 250/360 Pursangs were the wonder-bikes with gobs of mid-range power, generous and soft suspension, and forgiving handling. The best that the Bulto's and Pomeroy 's could give, but just' . recently replaced by a totally new and correspondingly better machine. There exist two solutions to the problems of staying ahead of the Spaniard next door; sell the wife to white slavers and latch onto a new Bul; or make do with the old 'Sang till your ship comes in. For those of you who have been standing down at the dock all your life watching the ships go by we have news for you. Macdonald Cycle Engineering manufactures a line of 24 Bultaco parts that will update your old 125, 250 or 360 to sano standards. To test this out we took a 1975 250 Pursang that has been motocrossed every week for the past year and a Macdonald swingarm, posi-shifter, and up-pipe and retreated into the recesses of the garage for a little R&R. What goes up Bultaco's major problem in the age of long travel suspensions is its down pipe. No matter how tightly, snuggly or carefully the welder tucks the pipe into the frame cradle Mother Nature or some evil promoter has laid out an obstacle guaranteed to smash it. The solution is a simple one. Wha t goes up does not ground. Macdonald Cycle Engineering up-pipe fits neatly and protectively. We bolted the pipe on in ten minutes, counting the time it took to take a rather bruised stock model off. We used a GP tank which eased our problems, but the stock tank can be used if you mount a shorter petcock, or remove the petcock, from the right side . The pipe fits over the cylinder head and exits at a downward angle behind the engine. The bike became a full jet size richer on the top end, but ran as good stock. The MCE pipe didn't produce any startling performance changes, which is good because we like our Bultaco power as is; meaty, beefy and mean. Arm and hammer Bultaco was one of the last companies to change from mounting their shocks in a vertical position to cantilever. Without going into the pros and cons of suspension mods , many vertically . shocked Bultacos suffered swingarm failures directly in front of the shock mount. The tubing simply gave into the tremendous pressures being exerted by high speeds and rough terrain. MCE builds a rectangular steel swingarm wi tha full length chrome moly gusset. The shock mount can be placed anywhere on the arm that the customer desires. Our test swingarm was set up in stock configuration and was a simple bolt on item. All the Bultaco anchor arms, chain adjusters, and paraphenalia fits. It took us eight houri to get the MCE swingarm on to our Pursang. Seven and one-half hours to get the old one off and 30 minutes to put the new one on. Swingarms need to be removed and checked every couple of races. If they are not maintained properly the swingarm bolt could seize inside the frame. If this happens it will take at least seven hours and a large hammer to remove it. Believe us. The new swingarrn is strong and rigid . It would even be possible to have the bottom shock mounts placed near the same position as the 1976 Pursang to bring your oldie-but-goodie around to new specs. Don't give me that shift The MCE shifter was the invention that we thought would provide the silver lining to the dark cloud of poor shifting that follows our Pursang. The MCE shifter is an ingenious device that attempts to out-lever the Bultaco