brewtus

Ha!! I like it!!

Uhhh...I'll take the nickel and go on the section trail, thanks.

This is on the Trials thread on ADV as well. The Orange Kool-Aid drinkers are all agog over it, some even saying that a Katoom Trialer would increase interest in the sport "by 50%". Yeah, okay. Evidently there is a prototype (the one in the pic posted earlier is not it), but no guarantees that KTM will move forward with it. We'll see.

They weren't. This one had been hootched up sometime in it's life with a nickel plated frame and swingarm, the Renthal plate, MX shocks, mystery bars, etc. The frame wasn't prepped correctly for the nickel plating, resulting in a shabby crepe finish and corroding when it was left outside for years beside one of the previous owner's house. The swingarm still looks good, but the frame needs to be redone. What the heck, it'll be one of the nicest looking users I've ever assembled. BTW, yours is coming along nicely!

As threatened, pics of the Renthal plate - The bottom rails on my 247 show lots of rock scarring as well (big shock). I'll most likely just run this period-correct plate on the bike, unless I really get jazzed up about modding it. For now, footpeg mods and having the frame re-nickled are the starting points to reassembly.

I was under the impression that the frame had been modified for the plate. I scabbed the pics to get a guide on the footpeg mod. Wobbler doesn't seem to post anymore, and has not responded to my PM last October inquiring about the bike. Heck, one of my teammates (heavily) modified a TY80 frame to accept a DT100 engine, and did a similar mod to the lower frame for his bashplate.

My 247 came with a Renthal plate that bolted below the engine on top of the lower rails. Let me see if I can post a pic with the phone, since Photobucket is holding all my old pics hostage. Of course there is the super sano plate/frame mods on Wobbler's 247.

Yeah, I remember seeing it. I thought it was pretty cool at the time. When I asked the guys I knew in Torrance at the time about it, the reply was always something along the lines of "Yeah, Honda has thousands of patents that are engineering exercises". Neither put much faith into Honda manufacturing another 2-stroke but said "stranger things have happened". It was one of them that gave me the Yeti delivering pizza reference that I stole....er, used.

Don't count on it. Honda has always been a 4-stroke company. Old man Honda HATED 2-strokes, and started phasing out 2-strokes in everything they make decades ago. I don't think Honda even produces a 2-stroke Lawn and Garden engine anymore, all replaced by the smaller, not as bulky 4-stroke technology they developed in the '90's (the basis for the CRF and 4RT engines). I believe you will have a better chance of a Yeti delivering a pizza to your house than Honda making another 2-stroke Trials engine.

Always fun to discover your new purchase was once owned by a butcher, and even more fun reversing the damage done by said butcher. Got my fingers crossed that you have discovered the worst of it.

I keep hoping to find a TZ750 Yamaha under my tree (mysteriously hasn't happened yet), but the Montesas and Montesa bits that appeared over the years have always been a joy. This year I added Fantic to my Santa list (no idea why). Happy Holidays, everyone!

Congrats! Got a pic of your new beauty?

Good plan, hit it after the holidays with a clearer head. You'll get it, I'm sure. Welcome to vintage bike ownership. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

We get it, no worries.

I'd like to see the ad. Post or PM, doesn't matter to me. I'm not afraid of a road trip - http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/most-memorable-trials-related-road-trips.1269709/ http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/the-vintage-montesa-cota-mini-bike-thread.1271714/ New York is a bit far, though.

Ahh, you beat me to it. I was going to make the same generous offer, but you may be a tad closer....

The frame number will tell you right away. 21M is a 247, 28M is a 123, 19M is a 172 Sourced here - . http://www.montesaweb.com/secciones/home.aspx I never go by frame paint color or whatever fenders happen to be on a Trials bike to determine a year, frame numbers will usually reveal it's date of birth. I have a '77 247 in boxes that had aftermarket plastic fenders and the frame/swingarm had been nickel plated somewhere along the way, so when folks said "if it has (pick one) colored frame it's this year" it didn't help. Lots of vintage Trials bikes in the states are not "original" anymore due to mods, ad-hock repairs to keep them going, or ham-fisted "restoration" attempts. Good thing that little Monty is 2000 miles away or I would have to add it to my collection.

Coil should be fine, points and condenser could not hurt. Making it nice enough to horse-beat in competition always makes me smile!

I recently replaced crank seals in a team member's TY80. The bottom end of that bike had been one that I had in the shed for over 10 years, the rod and crank bearings were nice and tight, the oil was clean. We put one of our top ends on it and it ran good! For half of one Trial anyway. By the end of the first day it was smoking profusely and stunk of transmission fluid indicating a wet side seal had failed. By the end of the second day it would barely run. The crank seals I removed were so dried out that I was surprised the bike ran at all let alone started. Crank bearings were still tight (I would hope so after only running 2 days!) but after 40 years the seals were toast. The bike runs phenomenal now, and stopped stinking of tranny fluid after 5 minutes of running time. We have done seals on a couple of the bikes that we knew had a bit of radial crank play due to worn bearings, and they are now in the shop to get new mains and seals before the Vintage season starts up next spring because the play knackered the seals within a few events. If your crank moves, it's split the cases time. If they are tight, I would certainly not be afraid to replace 40-year old crank seals. It sure beats having them fail in a Trial because the bike ran fine in the shop and "they'll be OK, leave them alone". Now while "runners" are easier on seals than "sitters", 40 years is still 40 years and that amount of time dries out rubber, period. Just my 2 cents.

Don't give up on it just yet, brother. Contact point ignition systems are pretty simple critters, and I'm willing to bet that the problem will be simple and silly and you are close to nailing it even if it means spending a little $$. Oh, and you have been misinformed. These things make terrible storage shelves. I currently only have two non-runner Trials bikes in the scuderia (a 1972 Montesa 25 and a 1977 247 in boxes), and they don't shelve stuff worth a damn.

I found Wilkipedia Spain a good resource - https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ca&u=https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montesa_Cota_247&prev=search Helped me identify the years of my 247 and 25 mini.

Yup, a 315R Montesa. Also answered on your post on ADV.

Shame you missed the Mountain West final in Roswell. You would have had a blast. We had riders from NM, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana show up for it.

Very cool! Nice to see 2 of our kids in there!

Revived this thread because I thought the footpeg mods were pretty tidy!