Because we can now travel around Catalunya me and my other half decided to go for a day trip up in Lleida to see something different.  We looked on a map and found a lake with mountains (bigger mountains than ours at home), castle ruins, lots of green farmland, etc etc.

We stumbled upon the Moto Museu de Bassella on the way so had a look around (because it wasn't too hot to leave the dog in the car) and it turned out they had a "75 years of Montesa" exhibit on, taking up a whole floor there.  A lot of the space was given over to the trials bikes but there was other stuff too (I didn't know they had made outboard motors, go karts or washing machines), and there was footage from trials going back to 1969 showing in a little cinema room.

Apparently, this is what my 349 should actually look like ...

 

And the evolution of the modern style bikes is nice and colourful

 

This is Ulf Karlson's original 1980 World Championship bike - very cool!

They also had former championship bikes of Bou, Fujigas, and Lampkin, but I didn't take photos of those (sorry).

So anyway, that made for an excellent day out.  Also, my other half now wants to save up for a 4Ride having seen one in the flesh, lol.

 

Edited April 4, 20215 yr by turbofurball
Spolling misteak

Sounds an amazing place - was hoping to go this year but looks more like 2022 now. No mad rush!

To Catalunya, or the museum specifically?

 

If Catalunya, yeah absolutely, especially with a bike - there's a reason why it's the home of modern trials, but many of the roads are spectacular too (my daily commute looks like a bowl of spaghetti on the map, lol)

If it's the museum I think the Montesa thing is only for this year, they had moved a bunch of the regular bikes out for it.  There's another Moto Museu in Barçelona though

That museum in Barcelona is a far smaller place and can be seen very quickly. The one in Basella is superb and well worth the trip, you can make a weekend of it by staying in one of the parador's nearby, like the castle at Cardona, build starting in 886 so it's getting on a bit and wasn't too expensive. Bye, Peter B.

12 hours ago, turbofurball said:

To Catalunya, or the museum specifically?

 

If Catalunya, yeah absolutely, especially with a bike - there's a reason why it's the home of modern trials, but many of the roads are spectacular too (my daily commute looks like a bowl of spaghetti on the map, lol)

If it's the museum I think the Montesa thing is only for this year, they had moved a bunch of the regular bikes out for it.  There's another Moto Museu in Barçelona though

Probably both - know Catalunya pretty well but have never done the bike museum. Alas, looks like one for next year the way things are going. Really want to buy the Montesa book though - anyone know somewhere in the UK that has them in stock?

9 hours ago, peterb said:

That museum in Barcelona is a far smaller place and can be seen very quickly. The one in Basella is superb and well worth the trip, you can make a weekend of it by staying in one of the parador's nearby, like the castle at Cardona, build starting in 886 so it's getting on a bit and wasn't too expensive. Bye, Peter B.

If you enjoyed Bassella then you would need a week for the Sammy Miller museum! (though the trials bike selection is a bit lacking IMO, most of it is given over to road racing and vintage bikes).

9 hours ago, rr62 said:

Probably both - know Catalunya pretty well but have never done the bike museum. Alas, looks like one for next year the way things are going. Really want to buy the Montesa book though - anyone know somewhere in the UK that has them in stock?

It's in a very pretty area, so worth swinging by ... most of Lleida province is ignored by tourists, so it's great if you want to get off the beaten path.  There's also an off-road experience place near the museum, they've got a good circuit for blasting around if that's your thing (it can be seen from the other side of the lake, that's how we found out about it, lol).