Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

STEST Montm 3lI By Len Weed e "I'm just h appy it's red, it's Mont esa, and th ey're still ma kin g them." The spea ker, Martin Belai r, who's been riding the Spanish bikes for more th an 20 years. Now he's one of three pa rtners impo rting Mon tesa's latest trials mo unt to the U.S. The new model marks a significant leap by Mont esa into modern tria ls techno logy. The water-cooled, alu m;;::::: in urn fram ed 311 repl aces th e air~ cooled, tubular steel 310 model. 0. Currentl y, the Montesa n am e ap pears on the 311, a trail version of the old 310, and a youth trialer built by the Italian manufacturer. Honda, in th eir on ly joint-manufacturing operation , is Montesa 's majority owner. Local ownership all ows Honda to build and sell Honda models in Spain mi nus that nation 's stiff import duties. Montesa is the oldest of th e th ree Spanish factori es (Bu ltaco and Ossa exp ired in the '80s) that spearheaded the swit ch to two-stroke techn ology in trial s. They won World Ch ampionshi ps in 1969 (Don Smith) and in 1980 (Ulf Karlson ). H ere, Montesa's last National Champion was Scott Head in 1984. His win on a 242 ma rked th e first American cha mpionship on a su b300cc bike. Today, 300cc model s have van ished from the sport. . The 311 reflects a coordination of Spanish trial s deve lopment philosophy and Honda standards for quality. Compon en ts come from several nations. The wheels and cra nkcases are made in Spai n. The fans and radiat ors are produced in J apan. Most of the other pieces arrive from Italy, includ, in g the press-stamped extruded aluminum fram e, fabricat ed by Verlicc hi . T his compa ny produces fra mes for a num ber of motorcycle manufacturers includin g Beta. Cosmopolita n Motor s, wh ich has im ported Montesas since 1975, does not pl an to bring in any 311s. Accordin g to Larr y Wise of Cosm o, th e factory 's req uest for product liab ili ty in su rance for the U.S. market makes th e cost of importi ng factory-direct un its prohibitive. T he new 311 is avai lable through Euro Motor Sports, a Denver sho p special izing in o ff-road p re p for endu ro, motocross, and tria ls. Owners Bill Bur gener and David Burke team ed with Cal ifornian Martin Belai r to set up the distribution network. This tri o of tria ls veterans, now in their 30s, are committed to importing bikes and su p p ortin g riders with parts and technical information. Burke's career included a National win in 1979. Belair, who rode for Team Montesa in the '70s, is the son of Fred Belair, a driving force behind EI Trial de Espana. Tht event, launched in 1971, allowed numerous southern California riders to compete in Europe. Sin ce Euro Sport Motors buys from a Spanish deal er, rather th an the factory, they don't face th e same in surance obstacle. In the small American trials market, such dealer -sourced impo rts are not un ique. Before becomin g the Aprilia distributor , the T ryals Shoppe imported small quantities of variou s brands pu rchased from foreign dealers. Burke and Bur gener, who have both bronzed and silvered in th e ISDE , started th eir sho p in th e Denver area four years ago. Before launching Euro Sport, Burgener was active in sellin g trials accessories under the business nam e: Budget Bogwheeler. Speaking of Euro Sport, Bur ke exp lained, "We specialize in competition preparati on, 30 enduro mods , motocross. We're heav- <' ~ . ily into trials, and hav e been for years. We're th e exclusive di stributor s for the AXO trials li ne. And we've always been involved with tria ls. We were a Fa ntic dealer, and we still sell Betas and Aprilias." Martin Belair explains how th e partnership developed : " I went to the U te Cu p last summer. Bill Burgener won on a 310 and tha t's what go t it started. tI Fat e helped Burgener, a two-time Colorado champ ion who no longer co m pe tes regul arl y. Nationa l con tender Mark Manniko was ou t with injury. Four-tim e Nation al Cha mpion Ryan Young lost hi s loop card the first day. On the second day, Young, riding although he was excl uded from th e official results, dropped 10 points while Burgener lost just II , a remarkable accomplishment. . Belair continues: "I told Billy I' d fax welded, diamond-type extru ded alumin um fram e (Veriicch i); with forged aluminu m steering head : all new, red & bl a ck , 7-p ort 258cc , si x-speed, primary ki ckstarting engine; larg er clutch , easier operation; spoke nippl es position ed on the spoke itself (an industry first); easy-off clutch cover (no need to remo ve skid pl ate); easy access holes for carbur etor air screw, shock damping adj ustme nt; pl asti c mag cover an d chain guard; inverted forks , externally adj usta ble damping; progressive rate rear suspension , externally adjustable; handlebar- operated cho ke lever; wider pegs; easy access to two- materi al elem ent air box ; easily rem oved plastic gas tank slips down. between th e frame spars; traditional Co ta red body work; and availability of an aftermarket spark arrester by Spa rky. The test bike , the first unit in the feels smaller, but th e wheelbase is about the sam e as a Beta or Aprilia. I think it 's the best looking bike out th ere. It 's holding up reall y well , wor king good, no problem. It's an easy bike to rid e. It has more power no w that it's broken in. Bel a ir , n o t a totall y unb ias ed observer, was equally impressed with th e 31 J. "I rode Kevin 's bik e in a local trial. I had some app rehension about th e from end being steep, for someon e like me or for a newer rider, bu t th at disappeared as soon as I rode th e bik e in a rea l trial. The th ing works grea t. I really feel con fiden t about it now. "T he power isn't concentra ted on the bottom end. I pulled myself out of bad situat ions with that bik e. It let me do things I couldn't do on other bikes . I was going, 'Wow, that was pretty good.' I had never hopped both wheels before . I was reall y excited. The Spanish Montesa 311 Cota trials machine is a comp il ation of Italian, J apan ese and Spanish parts. Spain and tell them he won thi s big event. The factory sent Billy a congra tulatory fax and that go t the in terest going. "The guys got all hyped. They tried to get b ikes from Co sm opolitan Moto rs, but cou ldn 't. The seed, the whol e thing, ge rminated i n their minds. Davey (David Burk e) called me and sa id: ' I can't ge t bik es from anybody. What if we just go over there and get th em ourselves. Nobody 's doing it . . . I spea k Spanish , I have some connections over there.' So we decided to go to Spa in and do it ourselves." Belair's passion for Montesa motor cycles is obviou s. " The brand loyalty, it's in my blood. I can' t ride any thi ng else. I've been a Montesa rid er since I was a kid. If Bultaco was still in bu siness , Schreiber woul d ride one. I feel fortunate that Mon tesa's in ther e sluggin g. I think it 's tre me n dous the y'r e still in business, thanks to Honda, and now we've got a modern Mon tesa." So much for the p layers, let's switch ' focu s to the machine itself. Notable features include: liquid-coolin g; T IG - U.S., was provided by Kevin Norton, an ATA (sou thern California) tria ls rider since 1978. Norton 's expertise in trial s isn 't restricted to motorcycles. He was 1985 and 1986 NO RBA nati onal bicycle trials champion and the first American to ride in World Championshi p b icycle trials competition in Europe. Kevin, a pit crew technician for All American Racers (AAR ), Dan Gurney' s Sa n ta An a , California-based racin g company that field s T oyotas in sports car competition, is sponsored by hi s employer. H e's known the au to raci ng great and hi s son since he was a you th. Gurney's inte rest in trials isn 't recent. With a partner, he imported Montesas in the U.S. in the '60s before the factor y took over distribution here. After two months on the bike Norton offered the following comment s: " It feels better than anything I've ridden before. It feels a lot lighter th an my Fantic. I like the way it turns, espe cially in rocks. The floater turns are easier too, and the nose wheelies. " Everything works good. The clutch and brakes are right there. It has p lenty of pow er. The balance feels perfect. It "The motor is great . It happened lik e they told me in Spain. A 150 kilometer break-in. It lacked oomph at first, because it was tight. At the trial , they had a third gear hill climb. Getting up speed for th e climb impressed me. I had so much po wer on the climb, I had to shut off halfway up. There's real good mid-range. You give it som e throttle and it gets going in a hurry. I was real pleased with the motor. " O nce again, I th ink Montesa is making the best bike. For awhile there they were lagging behind a bi t. With th e 310, they caught up a lot and wit h this bike they're right on the cu tting edge. They put a huge effort into thi s." Belair's partner, Dave Burke, who compe ted on Bultacos in hi s prim e, offered th e following evalua tion: "The bike is easy to move. It's high quality. There's a lot of a Honda influence, it's really well finished. Everything works good, is well designed a n d p u t together. The motor's smoo th down low and ha s exp losive top end power. "Compared to a . Beta, the 'po wer down low is smoother, more predictable and more tractable, but it still ~ . n .. · O

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