Original and unrestored
There is something appealing about a bike being just as it finished its last outing, complete with the ding sand scratches the competition world thrive son. Antique dealers might describe this as the pa tina of age, we call it‘ life ’.
A mid 1970s Montesa Cota with original tyres and sprockets on? How come? It’s been in a private collection that’s how.
We thought there couldn’t be that many comp bikes left untouched after years of active use in the rough and tumble world of off-road sport. Surely they’ll all have been rebuilt by now, was our view but no, unmolested bikes keep turning up. These snapshots of time untouched, for whatever reason, provide a reference for ‘how things were’ and a useful guide to restorers, even more so when they’ve been in a private collection like this Montesa. This also means there’s very little back story with this particular bike, it was bought, ridden occasionally on gentle trails, never seriously trialled and then laid up and exhibited in a private collection. In practice that means all the little touches that disappear in the first year of competition – things like the sprockets with the ‘M’ logo on and the raised ‘Montesa’ on the fork legs being undamaged – are still in place.
The mid 1970s was an interesting time for Montesa as importer John Brise’s health problems had got the better of him and Jim Sandiford took over the task of bringing the bikes to the UK. Also the 247 was about to be relegated to the second string rather than front and centre as the company were working on the 348 Cota.
Despite the bigger bike coming along, Swedish star Ulf Karlsson much preferred the 247 and the smaller bike would be named Ulf Karlsson Replica for a season or so in recognition of his winning ways with it. It was all change for the UK team riders too as the stars who launched the marque here, Don Smith and Gordon Farley, had gone oriental. Still loyal were ‘Robs’ Edwards and Shepherd, who’d be joined by Malcolm Rathmell, but all on the bigger bike. The Cota 250 however retained a place in riders’ hearts as a sterling performer quite capable of winning in the right hands and being relatively reliable too. It’s a shame the Cota hasn’t quite got the kudos of the Bultaco Sherpa but that’s fashion for you.