D’ELEGANCE

This distinctive 125cc two-stroke helped to establish the Spanish marque in road racing

The Montesa Sprint – the Spanish firm’s distinctive 125cc road racer

Montesa was formed in 1944, when two young industrialists, Francisco Xavier Bulto and Pedro Permanyer joined forces to create what was to become Spain’s largest motorcycle manufacturer. Bulto was in charge of design, while Permanyer was head of production, and the pair promoted their new company’s products with racing campaigns – these started in February 1945 with a prototype 98cc single-cylinder, piston-ported, three-speed machine in the so-called ‘Race of Regularity’ which was run by the Moto Club de Catalunya.

By 1952 the company had earned special recognition from the Spanish Motorist Federation for its sporting successes, both at home and abroad. The following year came the Brio 90 – a tuned machine that earned success in rallies and races all over Spain and won Montesa its seventh consecutive road racing title.

The 1954 Sprint, pictured here, was based on the Brio, and became regarded as the fastest bike in its class, with its compact design and light weight allowing it to be competitive, even against larger-capacity machines. The 125 Sprint was also the first race bike Montesa offered for sale to the general public in its catalogue.

The company’s factory bikes also did well in racing. In its debut year at the Isle of Man TT, Gibraltarian Johnny Grace (a Montesa dealer in Alicante and a close friend of the Permanyer family) finished seventh on a 125 Sprint in a race that included the top factory teams of the era, including the Italian Mondial and MV Agusta squads. The following weekend Grace, who was helped by Montesa factory mechanic Paco Mateo at the international races, placed eighth in the Ulster Grand Prix.

The Sprint’s two-stroke motor featured a six-speed, bolt-on gearbox with needle-roller bearings throughout. It also had ‘plugs’ mounted on the crankcase mouth that

protruded up inside the interior of the piston to assist in transferring the intake charge to the combustion chamber. Extra oil was carried in the frame, which could bled into the carburettor bellmouth, adding to the petroil fuel mixture.

The spartan chassis featured Montesa’s tubular-steel plunger frame, including their own brand of telescopic forks which the firm had first developed on the Para Competition X9 in 1949. The dolphin fairing was introduced in late 1954, replacing the handlebar-mounted unit that had been fitted previously; it was one of the first full fairings to be offered on a race bike. The Sprint produced 18hp, weighed 55kg and had an estimated top speed of 93mph.

At the time, most of the top 125cc race bikes were fourstrokes, but Montesa proved that the simple, lightweight two-stroke could be competitive and ended the season on a high with first and second places in the season-closing international race, the ‘Grand Prix of Pilar, Zaragosa’.

It took until 1956 for Montesa to launch a full factory assault on the TT in the 125cc Ultra Lightweight class. It proved a big success, with Marcello Cama, Francisco Gonzales and Enrique Sirera finishing second, third and fourth on Sprints in the race – beaten only by Carlo Ubbiali on a works MV Agusta – although Grace had to retire with clutch problems while well placed. The low-slung Sprints (said by many to be the lowest ever seen in the class) were now fitted with the so-called dustbin fairings that were popular in this period of the sport. The ’56 race took place over 97.11 miles – nine laps of the Clypse circuit.

By 1958, Permanyer, backed by the board, wanted to

‘ITS COMPACT DESIGN AND LIGHT WEIGHT ALLOWED IT TO BE COMPETITIVE AGAINST LARGER-CAPACITY MACHINES’

withdraw from racing and focus on production. Bulto, though, was a strong believer in racing being essential to improve and promote the brand, and left the company as a result. By mid-summer, Bulto and a group of former Montesa engineers formed an engineering-based company that would become Bultaco – a thorn in the flesh of the well-established Montesa for years to come.

This bike was bought directly from the factory, after which the second owner, Swedish racer Leigh Smeadh, passed it on to the current owner a few years ago.

Photographed near Barcelona, Spain in 2016. Can Costa Foundation

‘MAKING 18hp IT HAD A TOP SPEED ESTIMATED AT 93mph’

This is a 1954 version of the Sprint – this super-compact, ultralightweight machine weighed only 55kg, and could propel its rider pretty close to the ton... as long as he was tucked right in

Plunger frame with friction dampers. Tiny outlets on expansion pipes made for a quiet racer

The Sprint had one of the first full fairings to be fitted to a race bike

ABOVE: Transparent tube from frame upright to carb bellmouth can be clearly seen here. It fed in extra twostroke oil for extra lubrication under heavy engine load, such as the long inclines on the Isle of Man

LEFT: Montesa proved that a twostroke engine could compete against the predominantly four-stroke competition in the 125cc class. Sixspeed gearbox was bolted on, in semiunit construction

Now that’s what we call low-slung – some observers at the time claimed it was the lowest ever. Certainly looks like it would whistle under an articulated truck with rider intact

Riders had to spend a lot of time with their chin on that pad to keep out of the airstream