Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

o N & rf. .t's N e-, en en' N ii u.. ~ the w Z W ...J () >o threeye ENGINE O ne cylin der-t wo st rok e Bore and stroke 7 2 x 60mm Displacement 244.2 9cc Com pression ratio .. •. .. .. ••.. • 10:1 Brake horsepower .. 28 bhp @ 7 0 0 0 rp m CARBURETOR •• ••• Am . 1 9 3 2 .3 2 m m con cen t ric I G N I T IO N . . .. . •. . . .FEMSA e lectron cap , discharge G E AR Rat ios . . 1st : 0 .287 . 2nd: 0 .442, 3'd , 0.625 , 4t h, 0.82 1, 5t h, 1.0 to 1 CLUTCH ..• • ...• Multi pl e stee l pla tes i n all bath FRON T S U SP ENSION . Te lescop,ic w ith n ucea uuc damp ing (7 . tra vel) Rear shock ab sorb ers .•S·way ad justa ble hY draulic da mp in g TIRES Front . . . • • . . • • • . 3 .00 x 21" K no b by Rear . . . . . • . . . . .. 4 .0 0 x 18 " K n ob bY B RAK ES . . ..I n ternal ex pan ding , single leading shoe fron t an d rear G EN E RAL Ga s tank ca pacity 2 1M U.s . gal. Wheelbase • • • . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • . • ..54 " Overall length • . . . . . . . . • . . . . .. 79 .3 " Sa d dle heig h t . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . • .31" Gr ou nd c lea rance . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 9 11." F oo trest h eigh t . . . . . • . . . . • • . . . 1 2 *" Weight .•. . . . . •.2 7 0 lb s.1I2 tan k of gas S ta ndard eQuipmen t: Fr ont wheel speedometer driv e 1/10 resettable, fo rwa rd or baCkwa rd, speedometer Magn ify ing clock holder Brush guards on foot controls Dust covers on levers Comprened air bottle NYlon linea cables Totally enclosed rear chain Enduro lig htin g ki t Unbreakable n umber plat e This shro ud keeps water and sand off the carb.lNhich isn't a bad idea. The Bultaco Matador, like all fine enduro machines. is a conglom erate of compromises and street-legal junk. But the unmistakable fact is that the Matador is a dirt bike prepared for occasional street use. and not vice-versa. By Ron Schneiders . Suppose yo u consid er yo urself to b e a serious enduro rider and th at you like th e 250 class. What bikes are available to y ou th at are close to ready to race as they come ? If y o u think about it , you'll reali ze th at there aren't many. There are a lo t of Japanese bikes that ca n b e turned into pretty good end uro bikes, wi th some fairly extensive handling changes, and there are some Swedish an d German race bikes that can b e turned into enduro bikes with so-so results. Bu t in the ready-to-go category, there are the Ossa Pioneer, the Bultaco Matador, the Penton 175 a nd the Greeves, There are a co up le more but they aren't readily available. For all practical purposes this is your selection. While this isn 't a c o mpariso n test, since the field is so small, some implicit comparisons are unavoidable. Here's th e Matad or : An end uro bike is aske d to d o pl enty. It is ask ed to b e a ra ce bike and be d ead-d ep endable. It is asked to handle well ov er whoop-d e-docs, mu ddy trails, ro cky tr ials going, fireroads and asph alt highways. It mu st carryall the junk like ligh ts and spe ed oes and such th at a serio us race r immediately strips off his b ik e. It mu st d o all things and d o it well. Of co urse, no bi ke d oes. In pic kin g your p erfec t endu ro bike, yo u select th e bundle o f co mp romises that mo st appeals to you and yo u live with the bad as well as the good. I lived with the Ma tador fo r q u it e a whil e. Lo ng en ough to put some 4 00 miles on it, including th e fairly rugged 105 -mile Prospect or's Enduro. My first riding, though, was wit h T om Pat ton, th e Bultaco 's master, down in th e Cleveland National Forest. Fireroads. Some of the slic kest firero ads to be fo u nd anywhere . Most bikes you either ride sitting down or standing up : sitting down if it 's a slider o r st anding if it's a tra cker . I couldn't quite d ecide what the Matador wanted to be . With a harder tire and a bit smoother tread it would de finitely be the slider but as it was, the Matador was a bit skitrerish in the turns. The geometry is right and there wa sn 't any te ndency for the front end to wash out, but the fairly short wheelbase (54") made things happen somewhat quickly. At the end o f the fire ro adi ng sessio n, I felt kind of neutral about the bike, neither liking it or disliking it very mu ch. Next came a trail ridin g session with a co up le o f fri ends wh ich wa s sup posed to be an easy rel axing day of ridi ng but turned o ut to b e any th ing but. It see ms that one o f t he p art y decid ed it w ould to exp lo re a small , be fun ro cky-botto med cree k. The Matador moved through the ro cks easily. Then came a thicket . Th e Matador crashed through with n o di fficu lt y. Then up an d do wn several st eep soft banks. Th e goi ng go t wo rse an d wo rse . Finall y, instead of coming out . th e creek ju st dead-ended at a 90-foot-h igh vertica l fill for th e h ighway. Steep sides all around . and a h orr ibl e way b ack. I started t he Matador sidehilling up to t he top. It clawed its way wi tho u t problem and pulling me out of one of th e more difficult situations that I've been in. Somewhere on the ride I lost t he air bottle. But that was nothing compared to the verbal ab use I took from my friend s for leading them into the dead end creek. A few days later I took the Matador out trailriding in th e desert , to one of my favo rite spots, Cottonwood Creek. Riding up Cottonwood Cre ek is o ne of life's great moments. Sometimes yo u ride right in the creek it self, sometimes yo u criss-cro ss back and .fo rth . I found that w ith just the slightest effort I co uld lift the Matador's front wheel and fly across th e creek . I was really ha ving a ball until the engine died. It turned out to b e a wet kill button and it happened twice more. The kill button is not waterproof. We found a little canyon with ro ck steps and tight, trials-like turns. The Matador was practically as good as its cousin, the Sherpa T, when it comes to climb ing and twisting through the rocks and even jumping a ledge occasionally . On th e way back to the truck I found a strip of asphalt, so I opened it up. At 80 mph it was still accelerating, but with knobby tires and small diameter brakes, I was no longer enjoying the experience . Bultaco claims 85 mph and I'm willing to take their word for it. By the end of that ride the Matador was ce rtainly no lo nger virgin. Before I received it, it had gone through almost 1000 miles of road testing by several magazines. In the process it had lost the route sheet h older and watch h older. I dropped the b ike several t imes in rough situatio ns, j us t as I o fte n drop my own enduro

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