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/126286
(Above) Bailey's baby-blue 370 Bul. The engine (below) features '78 porting. reed valve. pre-production up pipe. ups ide-down chain tensioner and a reworked shifter. Bailey's Buls - ,19 7 8 preview By Jim Gianatsis It wasn't difficult to figure out that Bultaco, which only five years ago was one of the best dirt bikes imported into America, was having problems. The first signs of it came when the Pursang motocross lineup began picking up a reputation for unli bl . d b re ia e engines an gear oxes a couple of years ago . Then, 28 when the lon g travel sus pen sion re voluti on standardi zed itsel f on cantilever rear suspension ,. Bultaco staye d with shock absorbers mounted in th e old perpendicular position. It wasn 't long before better des igns from other manufacturers began pulling away sales from Bultaco and thi s past year Bultaco resorted to selling off its bikes at ne ar distributor cost to keep from losing too much money. An advert ising campaign st r es sin g Bultaco quality a nd attacking the cred ibilit y of mote -journalists who reported honestly about Bultaco's problems, failed to foo l the publi c. This fall Bultaco sales turned into a trickle , for ciJ?g th e distributor t ~ la y ?ff m~ny of Its people and termmate ItS racmg effort. Ga ry Bailey was quite disturb ed over the situation Bu ltaco had gotten itself in t o . Th e " Profe ssor of Motocross" has had a close rel a tionship with th e Spanish marque 'since th ey first began spo nsoring him and h is motocro ss scho ols some eight years ago. He also understands the . problems Bultaco dealers wer e having since his shop , Ga ry Ba iley's Cycle Barn in Axton , Virginia, is an exclusive Bultaco dealership . Ea rlier thi s year Gary offered his servi ces to Bultaco Internat ional to ac t as motocross team manager to try and ' solve th e problem s th e team was having. Bultaco cou ld n't pay him much for .the job and it took Gary away from his schools, but for Gary who loved Bultacos and had a close rel ationship with Senor Bulto , it was a way of helping ou t Bultac o for th e thi ngs th ey had done for him. " Bu ltaco had a good bike back in th e early I 970's ,!' explai ned Ga ry , " b ut the y go t a little lazy wh en it came to keeping up with th e latest trends. Ther e was a desire to use ea sily ava ila b le Spanish accessory p arts like Betor sho cks ยท to keep th e cost of th e bik es low, ra th er than go shopping for the best qu ality ad d -on parts which would also rais e th e price of th e bik es. "The en gines do have problems , but th ey can be fixed . I try a nd solve all of th em be fore I ever even let a new bik e ou t the door of m y sho p. T he Sp anish tim in g chai ns are going to break a nd need to be re pla ced by a good q ua lity ch a in like Diamond. Last yea r's first shipment of 200 bikes into th e sta tes had ne w ro lle r cages for the rod's lower end. Bultaco went from al um inu m to steel in th e cages , but kep t th e same set-up tolera nces which ca used the rods to seize. Now tha t the specs h ave been ch anged th ere's no mor e problems. "T he 1977 models are no w fairly good. T he on ly problem is with the fourth gear dogs in th e tra nsmi ssion , a nd this is only a problem with the 370 Pursang being used by a hot motocross rid er. Banging gea rs hard , co m bine d with th e extra torque of th e big en gine can cause fou rth ge ar to fa il. This usually isn't a problem with th e 250 Pursang. Next year's 1978 models will hav e a n a ll-new gearbox starting from scr at ch , rather than try to patch up th e problem s of th e old on es. " Gary's 250 and 370 Pursangs Bultaco will come out with a complete re-design of its motocross bikes for 1978 which will, hopefully, put the staggering Spanish marque back on a firm ' footing in the com peti ti ve motocross and end uro bik e market. Until the new bikes arrive th ough , Ga r y's been m odify ing Bultacos at his shop to proposed 1978 spe cificat ions. His own personal 250 and 370 Pursangs which he uses in h is schools are beautiful exam ples of th e work he and son David do at Cycle Barn. The most noticeable change on Gary's bikes, and to be incorporated on th e new 1978 models, .is the cant ilever rear suspension. "Bultaco ne ver figured out which way to go with its rear suspension in th e past. They were getting too much input from too many different people. That's why each year the rear suspension would always be different. Jim Pomeroy liked the way his GP Bultacos handled with the rear shocks mounted perpendicular on the swingarm, so Bultaco didn't make any radical changes away from that design for the production bikes." . . In order to change present frames .over to laydown rear suspension , Gary has to cu t off the entire rear portion of th e fr ame assem bly and rebuild it from scratch for th e cantilever system. He has a frame jig at his shop just for th is purpose. When completed, the reworked frame and swingarm provides lOlA.! to 11 inches of travel d epending on the rear shocks. Production 1978 Bultacos will come equipped with S&W gas freon shocks wh ich are good quality units for most competition a p plica tions. Pro riders m ay want to switch to Fox AirShoxs which are no w the standard for Nation al caliber competition. Gary uses gas charged Koni GPs on his bikes for 11 inches of travel, but without reservoirs sin ce he no longer .has to dice it out in 45-minute motos. On his 370 Pursang Gary uses Simons lOlA.! inch air forks m ounted in 1976 Bultaco 38m m triple clamps which the Simons tubes fit perfectly. The 1977 model Buls have 35mm clamps wh ich either need to b e ma chined out to fit the larger diameter Sim ons fork tubes, or a complete Simons fork assem b ly with triple cla m ps can be ordered. Gary manufactures his own solid mount handlebar clamps to use with the Simons forks in the Bultaco triple clamps. If th e Bultaco fra m e is modified for lon g travel laydown rea r suspen sion a nd Sim on s forks are not used , th e stock Bet or forks ne ed to be lowered in th e tr ipl e clamps as far as possibl e - as Gary has don e with his 250cc bik e - so th at " steering rake won 't be too steep a nd adversel y affect handl ing. Gary's modified bik es have a 57inch wheelb a se . Production 1978 versions will hav e a on e inch longer swingarm whi ch could possibly increase th e wh eelbase to 58 in ches, ei the r of which is right in the ball park for a good handling motocrosser these days. The on ly thing Gary isn't too sure of is the type of forks the new producti on Bu ls will come with . They'll cert ainly be le ading ax le Betors, but th e amount of travel and whe ther or not th ey'll use air with springs has not been final ized yet. In th e en gin e depa rtment , Ga ry ports his cylin ders for a G .E .M. reed valve assem bly usin g two V-blocks of six petals eac h . The new engines will come with reed valves. along with th e up pipe th at is used ' on Gary's 370. Ca rburet ion is a 36m m Bing on both bik es. rather than the Amals of years past. The Bin gs need to be rejetted by each dealer for their particular location sa ys Gary , since poor carburet ion is one of the reasons that have helped to give Bultacos their recent poor reputation. As th e bik es come from the factory th ey aren't jetted properly. Other modifications Gary ha s made to his bikes include taller sea ts , and rewo rking th e airbox so filter access is from under the seat and sealing from d irt and water is improved . 1978 models should also incorporate these ch an ges. The shift lever has been modified so it doesn't rub against a rider's boot and hamper shifting. Gary also reworks a chain guide from the swingarm and mounts it upside down near the drive sp rocket so the chain doesn't drag on the swingarm or bounce up against the bottom of th e airbox. The most stri kin g th ing about Bailey's Bultacos are they are completely finished off in Bultaco's