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Montesa and the evolution of the Cota trial

03/01/2019
Trialworld

In the 1960s, trial was a very popular specialty, especially in Great Britain, where the competition season began in early autumn, at the end of the speed and motocross races, and was an occasion for great athletes to have fun in winter, competitively, together with fans, in friendly and healthy competition.

In 1964, Sammy Miller had won, with his Ariel 500 four-stroke, his sixth British Championship and for the third time the Scottish Six Days Trial (S.S.D.T.).
But he was not sure about his future with Ariel and proposed to Bultaco (through importer Don Rickman) the construction of a lightweight trial motorcycle, with a 2-stroke engine.

In Spain, Trial was then almost unknown.
Possibly, the first trial races, in Spain, were the I Viladrau Trial that was held at the “Mas Noguer” in Viladrau on August 27, 1961 and, a year later, on September 2, the second trophy, in the same place. Pilots and amateurs from other specialties participated in it: Juan Soler Bultó, Oriol Puig, Pedro Pí, José Mª. Busquets, Carlos Giró….
In October 1964, the International Federation sent an invitation to several European federations to participate in a workshop in Grenoble, with the aim of promoting Trial. A team of Spanish runners travelled to participate.

At the end of the course, a competition was held between the contestants, with the German W.Steiner winning with Triumph and Manuel Marqués occupying third place. Pedro Pí, who was the only representative of Montesa, and did so with a slightly adapted moto-cross bike, qualified in 13th place.
But that wasn’t really a competition but a demonstration of what the penalty “zones” are like in a trial event and how the regulations of this modality are applied on the ground.

All this to stimulate the practice of this sport. On November 1, 1964, the I Tibidabo Trial was held, organized by the Real Moto Club de Catalunya on the slope of the emblematic Barcelona mountain. So many fans signed up that the organization was forced to close admission when the prudential limit had already been exceeded.
Pedro Pí participated with a prototype adapted for this specialty, but he knows his limitations when competing with more experienced riders and with more suitable mounts, so he shows up at the starting line with a blazer, tie and “dress” shoes.
The winner was Juan Soler Bultó with a Sherpa N and P. Pí was classified in tenth place. It was in the Manresa Trial, on January 31, 1965, when P.Pí achieved the first victory in a Trial competition, ahead of the Bultacos of Oriol Puig Bultó, Juan Soler Bultó and the other Montesa of Otón Tena who got the sixth place.

Sammy Miller manages to fine-tune what would be the first Sherpa T, but Montesa does not take the Trial so seriously and only makes timid improvements that are being tested little by little.
In 1966, a prototype with an “Earles” type suspension began to be tested with more interest.

THE MONTESA 250 TRIAL IS BORN. ONLY 44 UNITS MANUFACTURED

In April 1967, the first mass-produced Montesa Trial motorcycle was presented at the Motorcycle Industry Exhibition in Barcelona. This is the 250 Trial but only 44 units are made.
That summer, intense training sessions were organised in the district of Viladrau, with the aim of arriving in the best condition at the start of the season.
The competition presentation of this model was made at the I Trial of Sant Llorenç (Terrasa) on October 1, 1967.
The winner is, once again, Juan Soler Bultó and Pedro Pí gets third place, which is encouraging progress.
From then on, a frenetic race was led by P.Pí, as technical-rider, Jordi Ros and Leopoldo Milá, to develop a bike that could compete advantageously with the experienced Sherpa T that had sponsored Sammy Miller.
The expert French rider Christian Rayer is signed as a driver and tester, who manages to win the French championship.
In 1968 the first Spanish Trial Championship was held. Three races are held, the first in Valencia on February 11 and the surprising winner is Pedro Pí, who beats the experienced “squad” from Bultaquista.

Pí also won the other two scoring races, the Spring Trial in Barcelona and the one in Madrid, so that he was proclaimed the first Spanish Trial Champion.

THE MONTESA COTA 247 IS BORN

Montesa already has a competitive bike and its commercial name will be Cota 247.
Its innovative design with integrated tank and saddle obtains the Silver Delta for the Industrial design of the Adi-Fad.
That same year, the British driver Don Smith was hired, who managed to win the European Championship, defeating the legendary Sammy Miller and his Sherpa.

In May 1968, Montesa made his official debut at the Scottish International Six-Day Trial, with “Cota 247” motorcycles, ridden by Don Smith, Charlie Harris and Pedro Pi. Don Smith, in his first international contact with Montesa in the Six Days, achieved third place in the general classification, which meant for everyone a clear preview of the possibilities of the new Montesa trial. The following year, P.Pí was presented with a tough competitor: the young Ignacio Bultó.
Montesa has always been linked to the world of offroad competitionIn the second participation in the S.S.D.T. (6 days of Scotland Trial) in May 1969, Montesa won the team classification with Don Smith, Gordon Farley and Lawrence Telling.
In 1970 another young man, Yrjo Vesterinen, with a Cota 247, triumphed in the Finnish Trial Championship. That same year, two young and already established British Trial riders joined the Montesa trial team: Ian Haydon and Rob Edwards.

But it was Gordon Farley who won the prestigious British Championship in 1971. By then, the sport of trial was evolving, from England, all over the world.
Due to the technical participation of the Spanish industry –with Montesa, Bultaco and Ossa– trial ceased to be a kind of winter pastime to become a new sport of great demand and tough competition and its practice was nourished by a large number of international riders of great preparation, while, all over the world, The clubs organising new trial events for the international calendar were striving to find new circuits of great difficulty for the new machines, generally Spanish, which were already manufactured specially designed for the practice of trial sport.

OPENING MARKET. MONTESA LAUNCHES THE 25TH ELEVATION

To please the youngest “fans”, Montesa launched the Cota 25, a small reproduction of the Cota 247, and from this moment on the “Children’s Trial” became popular, with races for children in areas specially designed for them. Jordi Tarrés and Alex Crivillé learned to ride a motorcycle with those little Montesas.
It was the year of the presentation of the Cota 123, the younger sister of the 247. In the first edition of the Trial of the Three Days of Santigosa, a competition that is organized in the style of the 6 Days of Scotland, where Pedro Pí wins with a motorcycle of this model, despite competing with the Sherpas and Cotas of greater capacity.

In 1973 he won the national championships of Trial in Sweden with Benny Sellman, Belgium with Jean Marie Lejeune and Germany with Felix Krähnstover. But the Spanish championship resists, as Jaume Subirá, Miquel Cirera and Pere Ollé are unable to unseat Manuel Soler with their Bultaco. In 1974, the Cota 172 was presented at the Paris Motor Show, which was designed based on the structure of the 123 but with 21 and 18-inch wheels and an engine “raised” to 153 cc.

RATHMELL AND VESTERINEN TAKE BIG WINS FOR MONTESA

This idea of a trial bike would be the one that would prove to be the most competitive years later, but in Montesa, for the time being, the engine with a larger displacement was preferred and in 1976 the long-awaited Cota 348 appeared.
With the Cota 348 and later with the Cota 349, outstanding triumphs were achieved in Trial, such as Malcolm Rampell’s victories in the Six Days of Scotland in 1979 and the historic first victory by a non-British rider in this event by Yrjo Vesterinen, with Montesa in 1980.

Montesa Cota 349The American Marland Whaley was proclaimed Trial Champion in the United States twice, the last time in 1980 with a Cota 349 that is preserved in the Museum of the foundation.

ULF KARLSON, WORLD CHAMPION WITH A MONTESA COTA 349 PROTOTYPE

But the most eagerly awaited victory came in 1980, with Ulf Karlson being proclaimed World Champion with the prototype of what would be the future Cota 349.
To understand the competitiveness of the World Championship at this time, you only have to look at the final standings and see that the top 10 includes drivers from six countries, with six different brands:
Lluís Gallach with Montesa1st U.Karlson (Sweden) Montesa, 121 points
2nd B.Schreiber (U.S.A.) Italjet, 111 points
3rd Y.Vesterinen (Finland) Montesa, 94 pts.
4th E.Lejeune (Belgium) Honda, 86 pts.
5º M.Lampkin (England) Bultaco, 61 pts.
6º M.Soler (Spain) Bultaco, 47 pts.
7th R.Shepherd (England) Montesa 41 pts.
8th M.Rathmell (England) Montesa, 41 pts.
9º A.Gorgot (Spain) Ossa, 41 pts.
10th J.Subirá (Spain) Fantic, 29 pts.
Montesa would go on to win the manufacturers’ title this year and the next.

In 1982, Toni Gorgot joined the Montesa team and in 1983 he managed to be the first major purely Spanish triumph in the Six Days of Scotland, proof that the Spanish bikes Montesa (with Rathmell and Vesterinen), Bultaco (with Sam Miller) and Ossa (with Mick Andrews) had won repeatedly. But in 1982, Gorgot was the first Spanish rider, with Montesa, to register his name in that legendary race, driving a “Cota 349”.
Montesa decides to introduce Trial bikes into the market, with the aim of diversifying the product. This new sport, called Trialsín by Montesa herself, is a real school for future champions. A.Codina, J.Tarrés and M.Colomer will come out of this school. At the end of the 80s, Spain entered a strong economic crisis and the motorcycle sector was also affected by the growing competition from Japanese brands in foreign markets.

DECADENCE. BULTACO AND OSSA CLOSE THEIR FACTORIES

Bultaco and Ossa, which are the traditional competitors, direct opponents of Montesa, must close their factories.
Other smaller factories had already closed, Montesa had anticipated that situation and before arriving at it had made an enormous effort to acquire, outside Spain, a supply of super-modern equipment and machinery to improve its products according to the most advanced technologies.
The Montesa Cota 311 was the last “100% Montesa” before the entry of HRCAfaced with the dilemma of abandoning or surpassing itself, the company obtained bank loans for the aforementioned industrial renovation, necessary to manufacture a better product at lower costs, which would allow it to compete in the world market against the most technically advanced international industry.
The new technologies and the drop in sales figures due to the crisis implied a reduction in staff, but the external conditions were not the best for a measure so necessary for the survival of the Company to be accepted. There were strikes and little institutional protection at key moments (in 1980 there was a strike that kept the company inactive for 3 months, something that seems incomprehensible today).

MONTESA HONDA S.A. IS BORN.

The financial situation became critical, investments in new models had to be halted and finally it went into receivership in September 1983.

Thanks to the fact that Montesa had a very solid commercial and industrial organization, it managed to avoid total closure by reaching an agreement with Honda Motor in 1982. Thus, a new company was formed, called Montesa Honda S.A. with the commitment, on the part of Honda, to market special versions manufactured under the acronym MH of the popular Cota 125, 200 and 349 models, which were distributed through its sales network in Europe.
For its part, Montesa Honda S.A. used Montesa’s Spanish sales network to sell its units. This agreement was completed on July 1, 1986 with the absorption by Montesa Honda, S.A. of the remaining facilities and workers of Montesa.
The share capital was definitively constituted with 88% belonging to Honda Motor and 12% to the Spanish partners. The objective of this company is the production, distribution and sale of motorcycles, under the Honda and Montesa brands. Unfortunately, and in a totally unexpected way, Pere Permanyer died on March 20, 1987, at the age of 75 and on April 3, a few days later, he could no longer preside over the official inauguration of a “renovated” factory in Esplugues.

Montesa Cota 315R Prototype

From January 1987 the new Cota 335 burst onto the market and in November of the same year, the Cota 307, which we can consider the first of a generation of Cotas, with the “123” engine, really competitive at World Championship level and which definitively displaces the “348” base engine models.

COLOMER, FUJINAMI, LAMPKIN AND BOU CONTINUE TO WRITE LINES OF GLORY

The riders who drive the Cota 307 in the World Championship races are Philippe Berlatier from 1987 and Eddy Lejeune in 1988. With the introduction of the Cota 314 in October 1993 and especially the Cota 315 in 1997, an important step forward was taken in the competitiveness of trial models. The engine, designed in Japan by HRC in collaboration with Montesa’s racing department, allowed Marc Colomer to win the 1996 Trial World Championship.

MONTESA won the Trial World Championship in 2000 with the rider Dougie Lampkin (son of the former World Champion Martin Lampkin), as well as taking the first three positions of the Championship with T.Fujinami second and Marc Colomer third.

DOUGIE LAMPKIN, TONI BOU AND MONTESA

Dougie Lampkin manages to get on track for four consecutive outdoor world championships (2000 – 2003). T. Fujinami, “Fujigas” would achieve it in 2004, while Toni Bou, in his debut as a rider of the brand, would win both indoor and outdoor world titles in 2007 and since then he has won all the world titles disputed consecutively until 2019. For her part, Laia Sanz won the women’s drivers’ world championship from 2000 until her signing for Gas Gas for the 2012 season.

MONTESA TRIAL SPARE PARTS AND ACCESSORIES

In the
online trial store
of Trialworld Store you can find all the accessories and spare parts for
Montesa Cota de Trial

TRIAL BIKES MANUFACTURED BY MONTESA

Montesa Trial 250 (1967)
Montesa Cota 25 (1971-1974)
Montesa Cota 49 (1976-1978)
Montesa Cota 74 (1976-1978)
Montesa Cota 123 (1972-1980)
Montesa Cota 247 (1968-78)
Montesa Cota 348 (1976)
Montesa Cota 348 Malcolm Ratmel / 2nd Series (1976-78)
Montesa Cota 349 (1979)
Montesa Cota 349 Blanca (1980)
Montesa Cota 248 Blanca (1980)
Montesa Cota 200 (1980)
Montesa Cota 349 (1982)
Montesa Cota 350 (1983)
Montesa Cota 242 (1983-85)
Montesa Cota 330 (1985)
Montesa Cota 335 (1986-1988)
Montesa Cota 304 (1986)
Montesa Cota 307 (1987)
Montesa Cota 308
Montesa Cota 309 (1988)
Montesa Cota 310 (1991)
Montesa Cota 311 (1992 – 1993) –
Information Montesa Cota 311

Montesa Cota 314R (1994-1996)
Montesa Cota 315R (1997-2004) –
Montesa Cota 315R Test

Montesa Cota 4RT (2005-2013)
Montesa Cota 4RT Repsol (2005-2013)
Montesa Cota 4RT 260 (2014 – present)
Montesa Cota 4RT 260 Race Replica (2014- present)
Montesa Cota 300RR (2016 – present)
Montesa Cota 300RR Test