Gas Gas & Bultaco

T

TooFastTim

New member
I've noticed quite a lot of tie-up between Gas Gas & Bultaco on these boards and seeing that Gas Gas came out of Bultacos collapse I suppose that's only natural, so who has a sneaking admiration for Bultaco or even a Bultaco in the garage?
 
I admit to being a closet Bultaco admirer. I've never owned one, but just have a sort of soft spot for them.

Gonna have me a Sherpa T one of these days. There is one older guy locally here that has a showroom condition Metralla that is still on the road. The thing is beautiful, and oh, so delicate. Not this one, but nearly identical

ca_3_1_.jpg
 
One of the 1st bikes I rode was a Dirt Squirt. I've had an eye for them since. I had a '78 Pursang 250 (in '98) and a '73 Alpina 175 that I never got around to getting running. I burned a hole in the Pursang's piston in Moab and ended up trading both bikes to a junkyard in exchange for a chain and sprockets for my '84 XR500R (in '99). lol
Man. After looking back on that...I REALLY love my Gasser. lol
 
I have a 250 Pursang left that I vintage MX with...

garage.php



...and an Alpina set up for vintage Trials...

garage.php


I have a few hulks left for parts, but have sold-off my two Fronteras, Matador, and long-travel Pursangs.
 
I have a 1975 Alpina250 to keep my gasser company. In the past I've had a Sherpa T 350 and a 175 Metrella. - Ken
 
I guess thats what attracted me to my new GG. I had a 73 125 Bultaco Pursang that I mx'd for a few months before joining the USAF. It handled great but very finicky to keep running. Then while I was stationed in Okla.
I bought a 75 Pursang from a little shop in Wichita Falls TX and raced it for about a year before I was sent overseas. The 75 Bul was the first year they moved the shocks up. That bike was the best mx'er I ever raced. It was reliable and handled so much better than the japanese bikes I was racing against and I ended up winning the 250 class overall for the entire season.
I have always liked the Spanish bikes, Montesa, Ossa or Bultaco. All of them always had some great distinctive styling.
 
I had a '76 370 Pursang, the year with the long lay down Betor shocks. My buddy raced a '75 250 Pursang. Bikes looked, ran, and handled great but I wouldn't say reliable. Still loved them though. Actually they were no worse than the Maicos at the time, that would consistantly loosen motor mounts and eat the cases up from vibration.

I always wanted a Montessa 250 VR Cappra, that was a nice bike.
 
GMP said:
I always wanted a Montessa 250 VR Cappra, that was a nice bike.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, Cappras..IMO the VB series was the best looking MXer of all time..

vb.jpg


Well maybe the '76 Ossa Phantom had it beat..

OSSAX76F.JPG



Much as I like Bultos their styling couldn't match those two.
 
Hi Tim,
I am a Bultaco Frontera freak and have been one since I was a kid. even though I couln't afford one then. Raced a '73 Pursang though. I started buying Fronteras about 7 years ago. I restored 2 and the other 2 didn't need resoring. I bought my first GG about 5 years ago without knowing that the same guy Narcis Casas designed both the EXC and the Frontera. He was a lead rider/designber for Bul in the '70s then opened GG in the mid 80's. He told me he was the guy that invented Endurocross bikes (meaning MX bikes with lights for enduro) and the Frontera was the first one. In fact I can take any part off my Pursangs and swap a Frontera part for it except the pipe and flywheel.
Bul never reopened as GG. GG was a new company altogether but NArcis and his time at Bul is the connection.
By the way Narcis is a super guy and is a true enduro/cross country enthusiast. He loves the bikes and racing more than he cares about running a business and that is why he brought in a new management team to help the company get its financial legs back under it.
I just hope it all works out. It's deja vu all over again with Bul, I agonized then when Bul went out of business, agonizing again with all the turmoil hitting GG now. At least their US operations. Dollar/Euro value has to be killing them.
Regards,
Dennis
 
I rode Bultaco trials bikes (Sherpa 350) back in the late 70's when they were winning all the world championships. Stopped riding about 1980 and didn't ride for about 25 years - family, work - you know the routine. My sons got me back into riding a couple of years ago. When I started again I bought a Japanese four stroke off road bike, but after a year switched to GG EC300. Love it! I guess there is something to the connection.
 
Sorry for so long to get back.

Yeah there's something mystical about Buls. Maybe it's my youth and the fond memories I have of them. For a while my old man was a works mechanic for Malcolm Davis on the W/C circuit while he was riding for Bulto, so I sort of grew up around them and the riders. Names like Lampkin, Wade (non-bul rider), Thorpe were all regular visitors in my household as a kid.

Fondest memory, seeing the M199 Bulto as a prototype. At the time we lived in South Africa and Bulto sent out the M199 as a prototype because it was sufficiently far away that any bad news wouldn't reach europe easily. But god it was beautiful:

78sherpa.jpg


Those curves in the tank...

More fond memories: the local Bulto agency. Just the smell of the place. Funny how a smell can linger.

Pursang, can you post some pics of your Fronteras?

Yeah, there's a lot of cross-over between Gassers and Bults by design. Ever look at the chain tensioner on a Gasser trials bike? Gasser are the closest thing to the inheritors of Bultaco IMO but will they ever match them? I don't think so.

Come to think of it, has anybody got those adverts from the seventies, the sewing machine, the chainsaw and the piano? You'll know what I'm talking about
 
Ok heres a pic of my MK 11 Frontera
I'll try to put links to more of my Buls later
 

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Tim can you tell me how you got such a nice picture of that Sherpa into your reply? I seem to be only able to attach these tiny thumbnails.
Here is a link to my Yahoo pictures. I have added some pics of my trip to GG in Spain. The tall guy is Narcis Casas owner of GG.
http://photos.yahoo.com/bultaco370
 
pursang said:
Tim can you tell me how you got such a nice picture of that Sherpa into your reply? I seem to be only able to attach these tiny thumbnails.
Here is a link to my Yahoo pictures. I have added some pics of my trip to GG in Spain. The tall guy is Narcis Casas owner of GG.
http://photos.yahoo.com/bultaco370
Click to expand...

Umm (tries to remember...) In that case the pic was one I found years ago and mailed to a guy called Howie Leem in the UK. It's now on his website (http://www.howieleem.co.uk). I used the "insert image" button and linked to his website.

There was (and maybe still is) a MK 11 Frontera on evil bay. It's in Aus. Not too far for me! But the price is nuts! Here it is: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/bultaco-frontera_W0QQitemZ130099854547QQihZ003QQcategoryZ102690QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
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