October 8, 200916 yr Shame about the Bultaco bit....... Bernie would have been World Champ at least 3 times had they not.....
October 9, 200916 yr Gone Bust? Indeed one of the lows of my life! That leads to another interesting thing to ponder, what would they have come up with to counter the inroads made by Fantic, Honda etc at the time and subsequent years if they had the money and resources to survive. Same question could be posed for Ossa. Wayne....
October 9, 200916 yr Gone Bust?Indeed one of the lows of my life! That leads to another interesting thing to ponder, what would they have come up with to counter the inroads made by Fantic, Honda etc at the time and subsequent years if they had the money and resources to survive. Same question could be posed for Ossa. Wayne.... There was still some development going on as late as Feb of "85. Some new ideas and some borrowed tech. Mostly for the Pursang. The Sherpa had not changed much except for shock and swing arm mods. Maybe some borrowed tech. could have helped them through rough times and into the future?
October 9, 200916 yr Personal view is that Bernie was one of those riders who could change the whole way we did things, start of pivot turns, bunny hops etc. Man was brilliant and would have been a star whatever era he'd ridden in
October 10, 200916 yr There was still some development going on as late as Feb of "85. Some new ideas and some borrowed tech. Mostly for the Pursang. The Sherpa had not changed much except for shock and swing arm mods. Maybe some borrowed tech. could have helped them through rough times and into the future? Think the only developments in '85 were comerfords surely. Where is Dave/Colin when you want him.
October 10, 200916 yr Author The Bultaco factory did not exist in 1985 as they officially closed the doors in early 84 but were really finshed way before this. The last production bikes were built in late 81 into 82-83 ish (198A +199A) even then they were using up what parts they had left. Hence no parts book has ever been available for these two models. The first two 340's were five speed and were ridden in the 81 SSDT -these were factory bikes that went back to the factory afterwards. The deveolpment of the sherpa only carried on through Reg May at Comerfords with Vesty, John Reynolds etc. Comerfords Built/modified some std 340's into "Vesty replica" models but were slighly modified from std with no major work, but i think they ony made 25. These were not the radically modded bikes Vesty had, he rode the first one properly in the SSDT '83,after lots of changes. JR's bike followed after this.This is the bike with no swingarm spindle as the swingarm mount is either side of the cases. Before you ask - there was only ever one of these built and i know the owner- an ex Comerfords employee. So they were certainly not Developing these bikes in 85' no way! By 1985 the bike was well out of date and essentially a 15 year old design!
October 10, 200916 yr Think the only developments in '85 were comerfords surely. Where is Dave/Colin when you want him. Dave's playing with horses! Wayne...
December 21, 200916 yr Watch Bernie tackle "Bloody Hell" at the 82 British World round, and you'll see he really was soemthing special. No tricks, pivots, stops, just total commitment to the clean. Whenever I start to lose heart, I watch that ride and all becomes clear again.
December 21, 200916 yr You have to remember that if Bernie were BOUs age then he would have grown up with the same kind of bikes and riding. My opinion is that they all share some common denominators over the ages: Great balance, exceptional eyesight, determination, improvisation,the best machinery at the time, ahead of others as to technique. In that respect Bernie would be one of the best today if you could restart the clock. I still like to say that we should never compare these guys though. Let's honor them just as they were and leave it at that. BEST EVER?...Probably hasn't been born yet!
December 30, 200916 yr Watch Bernie tackle "Bloody Hell" at the 82 British World round, and you'll see he really was soemthing special.No tricks, pivots, stops, just total commitment to the clean. Whenever I start to lose heart, I watch that ride and all becomes clear again. Sounds interesting, where can I view "Bloody Hell"?
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