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/127650
Montesa Cota 314R 44S ay, what kinda motor sickle is that there?" The gas sta. : tion attendant in q uired while pointing to the Montesa Cota 314R in the back of my truck. "I've never seen such a funn y looking bike. 1 used to have a Yamaha YZSO, you know. It was po rted and polished and had a boost bo ttle. It could do over 90 mph." 110..... "Wow," I said, before paying for my gas and leaving in a hurry. Needless to say, I d idn't feet the urge to engage in a deep and meaningful conve rsation about the finer points of weekend scrambling. Nor was I willing to spend what would surely have been a great deal of time trying to explain to him both the spo rt of trials, and the ma chine itself. Besides, I was anxious to get to my d estination and th row a leg over the bike! It's not everyday that you get a (Left) AMA National Championship Observed Trials Series competitor John Clark jo ined us during the fi rst day of our tesL The Alabaman was Impressed with t he all-new Montesa, and will part with his famili ar Ap ri lia In favor of the Cota.. chance to ride what ma y very well be one of the trickest production motorcycles in existence. First produced in 1968, the Montesa Cota is the oldest trials motorcycle still in production, and this yea r features parts and technology from no less than three different countries. Though it is technically a Spanish motorcycle, the Montesa Cota is actua lly the product of a worldwide effort. The Mon tesa Cota captured its firs t an d only World Ch ampions hip title in 1980 with Swede Ulf Karlsson. In 1985, the then 40-year-old Montesa factory foun d itself struggling. Sales were down, an d it looked as if the Span ish marque w ould soon cease to exist. Enter the Japa n ese Honda factory . Seeing a n opportunity, Honda bough t 80% of the Spanish comp-any, but the Spanish government ruled tha t th e Spani ards be allowed to function as they had been for five more ye ars before Honda co uld intervene. Odd ly enough, however, it wasn't until '93 that Honda saw fit to enter the picture. After all, Montesa had begun to enjoy a resurgence in sales. For the past few years, Honda ha s produced th e TLM250, an a ir-cooled two-stroke trials machine that is av ailable only in Japan. Though trials is quite popular in the land of the rising su n, the Japanese machine wasn 't quite up to par with the more-advanced Spanish and Italian offer ings. Few - if any - of the TLMs could be found in competition at the World Championship level. Determined to build a Detter machine, Ho nda chose to make use of its European resources . The combination of Japanese technolo gy and the Spaniards' hands-on experience would surely result in a truly wo rld-class motorcycl e. Through out the '93 World Championship season, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) and Montesa engineers des igned an all-new Cota that was tested and proven by Spaniard Amos Bilbao, the Montesa factory's sole team rid er. Bilbao finished the series a s.!"ong fourth overall and, in the process, helped develop what is basically the ' 94 Montesa Cota 314R Ironically, while the Spanish machine shows much influence from the Japanese HRC factory, over 90% of the machine is made in Italy . The all-new single-cylinder, water-cooled 261.3cc engine is produced in Honda's Italian manufacturing plant, and the Verlicchi frame is manufactured in Italy, as well. The Paoli sus-