Back in 1976, a group made up of several trial riders: Javier Cruz, Enrique Echezarreta, Juanito Salcedo, Antonio Huertas, Tomás de la Vega, Nacho, Pedro (the cousins), and a long list began to set up in La Fuente de la Salud (Pozuelo). It was a time when the authorities turned a blind eye when we rode, they might as well check if some brainless person was going to escape freely or with three on the bike. Usually nothing happened.
Needless to say, that friendship still exists after 36 years, this is what this sport has
Those were different times, we did our “ pirate” trials with ropes to delimit the areas and without steps, all in the same place. Medals or cups for the first 3 and with an inscription of 50 or 100 pesetas to pay for the trophies, beers and pickled mussels.
Hilarious trials with jeans, Dunlop boots, no gloves and no helmet, as God intended. It’s funny, but in those years I don’t remember any compadre with serious injuries.
We used the bike to do trials, go to school, have drinks and above all, to take our churris with coats full of black dots due to the wonderful Sopral at 4%. We changed the tires when the knobs had 4 mm left, when we changed the oil in general, an indescribable substance came out, a mixture of snail slime and consistent grease. The carburetor was a gossip in which you had to operate a lever to start it cold and the two screws that were for engineers, I think that in the 5 years I had the 348, I never opened the carburetor, it must have been because of the Champion N5Y.
At that time prices were not as crazy as they are today , a new 348 cost about 75,000 pts (less than 500€), Bettor shock absorbers about 2,500 pts, etc. The tuning that was done back then was limited to putting a Magura handlebar with Navarro levers, yes, yes, those plastic levers that jumped when you fell.
This was the Spanish trial machines, Montesa, Ossa and Bultaco……. indestructible and practical.
I love getting older with my bike, with my sport.
J.R. Piñeira
