Micro Machine

Cotton Cavalier

The small cottage industry of motorcycle trials manufacture had emerged in the face of the welldocumented Spanish Armada of Bultaco, Montesa and Ossa in the latter part of the 60s. Along with many others, the ‘Good Old’ school of manufacturers, Cotton had put all their trusty eggs in the basket of the engine supplier Villiers who manufactured engines in Great Britain. They were exhausted in development and, in truth, when they ceased production of the 37A engine in July 1968 they did the industry a favour, but it came at a costly price. Overnight once great names such as AJS, Cotton, DOT and Greeves, and in more recent times Sprite, had no engines to provide the power for their range of trials machines. They would have to reach across the English Channel and into Europe for the supply of engines, as we find out how Cotton became the last ‘Cavalier’.

Time and tide wait for no one, and it was quite unfortunate for the Cotton name that they had started to work on an experimental 264cc Villiers-engined machine for their works rider Rob Edwards in March 1968. In 1967 Rob, had moved to Cotton in the face of the new Spanish machines. He had ridden a 250cc Bultaco in the 1966 Scottish Six Days Trial but decided to stay with a British manufacturer.

In the past, Villiers had produced in the region of 500 trials engines per year. Spares were readily available, and the majority of mechanics and riders knew the ins and outs of the simple-to-work-on, single-cylinder, air-cooled two-stroke engines. Their Achilles heel was the contact breaker ignition, which required constant attention.

An Italian import

Along with the other manufacturers who had now lost their supply of engines, Cotton looked abroad and to the Italian Minarelli engine. They made the very bold decision in late 1968 (remember that the once-mighty motorcycle manufacturing industry in Great Britain was by then in decline) to produce a new trials model based around the 170cc Italian Minarelli engine. They employed a small, dedicated team of employees at their Gloucestershire base who would help to produce and assemble a new trials machine.

The frame would be a one-piece tubeless type with a strong back-bone tubular support and front down tube, with engine protection provided under the engine by thin-walled tubular steel which would be bronze welded. To further reduce weight, the twin rear loops for the mudguard support and sub-frame would see smaller diameter tubing used.The swinging arm would be lightweight tubular steel with the pivot point using silent block bushes with Girling adjustable oil-filled units. At the front telescopic front forks would be fitted, offering six-inches of movement. A fibre-glass combined one-piece seat and fuel tank unit with a ‘Monza’ type quick-fill finished in blue along with the aluminium mudguards gave the machine a quality appearance.

The engine performance was made better with the chromeplated exhaust front pipe leading to a twin outlet silencer fitted under the seat out of harm’s way. Dunlop tyres were fitted to the steel chrome-plated wheel rims, which were laced to lightweight aluminium wheel hubs, and the rear wheel featured a ‘Cush-Drive’ arrangement to make the power delivery softer.

Riding the new machine, Rob Edwards had some terrific results, including winning the up-to-200cc cup in the Scottish Six Days Trial riding the model entered by Norman Crooks. It used the steel fuel tank with a larger capacity and separate seat unit. In July, he also won the Allen Jefferies Trial. Priced at £230 in kit form, the machine started to prove quite popular.

The Cavalier Expert

The 170cc Italian Minarelli engine had proved good since its introduction three years earlier, but the lack of power for big hills was becoming a concern, as was the four-speed gearbox, which did not offer the correct choice of gear ratios that the rider wanted.

In late 1972, the Cotton Cavalier ‘Expert’ model was introduced; the main change was the new gearbox internals. The standard imported Minarelli engine had just four gears, but in the UK in the Cotton workshops the standard gearbox internals was dismantled and a new second, third and fourth set of gear pinions were cut while the first gear was retained. This new gearbox arrangement gave the rider four good usable trials gears.

Further improvements in the engine department included a slimmed-down magneto cover supplied by the Midlands dealership Hyland Crowe, which at two inches slimmer made the whole engine package so much narrower. To help improve the handling the rear wheel ‘Cush Drive’ arrangement was removed and a new Grimeca wheel hub assembly was fitted. Metal Profile MP S600 model forks were fitted at the front, incorporating the latest modifications.

A blue metal-flake finish was also added to the seat, and fuel tank unit and the machine carried a retail price of £272.00 in kit form. The new machine was so much better, but the sales of the Spanish machines were now really taking hold.

John Luckett — Cotton Times

Based in the South West Centre, farmer John Luckett had some good results on the Minarelli engined Cotton. Here he takes up the story: “When Saracen Motorcycles started producing trials models they advertised in Motor Cycle News for riders, who would receive some support. I wrote to them offering my services, but they had already taken on Jack Galloway and Jon Bliss, two other good riders.

“Never one to give up, I wrote to Cotton Motorcycles at Gloucester and sent copies of my results. They responded by letting me have a new Cotton at a cut price and said they would support me with free spares if I needed them. I was to get a bonus of £3 for an Open to Centre Win, £12 for a Regional Restricted and £25 for a National Win. After a while, they gave me the second machine free of charge. It was the 220cc Minarelli-engined Cotton.

“In the 1970 Scottish on the 220cc Cotton, I thought the engine was tightening up and was taking it easier but then, looking down at the rear wheel I realised the frame was twisted, the back brake was mangled up, and the hub seemed to be breaking up! I was losing 59 marks on time when 60 minutes meant you were out. I got to Pipeline with one minute left. Back at the start/finish, we borrowed a wheel from a Northern dealer, and I used that for the remainder of the week. My wheel was rebuilt so it could be refitted, so that when I finished at Edinburgh, I had all the correct rim, paint intact. I still got a Special First that year!

“In the 1971 Scottish, I was ninth on the leader board; I only lost four marks on the Thursday.

“At the end of 1972, I wanted to finish at Cotton as I felt the machine was less competitive. I had ridden for Cotton for two years and had some decent results, coming second in the Victory Trial the year that Brian Higgins won it in the early ’70s. The Managing Director at Cotton, Reg Buttery, wrote me a very nice letter asking me to stay and suggested I take the machine to California to demonstrate it. He was a smashing bloke, and I did not like to let him down, and so I had to make my mind up what to do? In the end, I returned it; to be fair, I’d had enough of the machine because it wasn’t that competitive in the face of the Spanish opposition. My mind was made up, and I gave the machine back to the Cotton works, and ultimately Martin Strang from Somerset went to the USA in my place”.

The dreaded VAT

As with many motorcycle manufacturers they avoided purchase tax by selling their machines in kit form, but then this loophole

ended in the first half of the ’70s. In March 1974, Great Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer made a decision which would put the final nail in the coffin of the Cotton trials production, along with many other of the cottage industry manufacturers. He abandoned purchase tax in September 1972 and replaced it with Value Added Tax. The effect of this change meant that all the kit-form motorcycles became eligible overnight for a hefty ten per cent VAT payment – prior to this decision the kit-form motorcycles had been tax-exempt.

With the rise in the retail price, the machines were no longer a profitable viability. Many of the smaller trials motorcycle manufacturers including Cotton, Dalesman and Saracen, to name but a few would disappear forever, it was a case of game over.

In the not too distant future, we would see the ‘Micro machines’ start to appear, from Montesa with the Cota 123 and Yamaha with the TY 175. Maybe the early development work and production of smaller capacity machines in Great Britain had planted the seeds with the other manufacturers, who knows?

It’s 1968 as the Cotton boss Pat Onions and frame builder Eric Lee show a very young ‘Works’ rider Rob Edwards the finer detail of the new 170cc Minarelli engined machine.

Rob Edwards wheelies the Cotton on its first outing in a shakedown of the new model. Check out the riding kit of Rob Edwards on the new Cotton Cavalier! Rob on an early competitive outing in the 1969 Victory Trial. He would win a few national trials on the Cotton. Rob Edwards gets his feet down to keep forward motion in the 1969 SSDT on the upper reaches of the Leitir Bo Fionn hazards. Looking very confident on Grey Mare’s Ridge: Rob Edwards won the Best up-to 200cc award with a fine 10th position in 1969 at the SSDT.

Another rider who had some good results on the Cotton was Ian Haydon. Seen here in the 1969 SSDT he had previously ridden the Villiers powered Cotton trials models. You must agree that the Cotton does look very well presented. Ian Haydon is seen here at Tyndrum on the old lead mines high above the A82. He came home in 21st position at the 1969 SSDT. Richard Sunter had some early success on the Cotton; this picture is from the 1969 Scott Trial. The Cotton boss Pat Onions at the 1970 ‘Press’ trial. The machine is the 1971 Cavalier model with the new one-piece seat and fuel tank unit.

This is the 1971 model Cotton Cavalier press photo. 1971 SSDT: Fighting to stay feet-up on the Cotton, John Luckett attacks the iconic ‘Pipeline’ hazards. John Luckett had some good rides on the Cotton. This picture is on the lower slopes of Ben Nevis in the 1971 SSDT. Proving very popular for the good centre riders, Robin Debben is seen here on the 1971 production model 170cc Cotton Cavalier.

This is Cotton is just one of many machines Carlo Ramella has in his collection of many trials machines from around the globe. It was these pictures from Justyn Norek Jnr in Italy that prompted me to generate this article. Further improvements in the engine department included a slimmed down magneto cover supplied by the Midlands dealership Hyland Crowe, which at two inches slimmer makes the whole engine package so much narrower. Despite the fact that this picture was taken in 2017, the Cotton from 1971 still looks intact and in good condition. Attention to detail was very evident on the Cotton Cavalier.