Developing ideas
Casting an eye over Clive Smith’s Montesa at Alvie, we thought ‘ This is a bit trick.’ So, we asked Clive to tell us about it...
An expert wants to win and maybe a bike made for the average rider needs a mod or two… we look at a trick Cota
In the Seventies, trials riders had pretty decent machinery to choose from to tackle their sport. Thanks to the efforts of Sammy Miller, Mick Andrews, Don Smith and Gordon Farley the Spanish industry was the only major player in the feet-up game. Gone were the British factories and the Japanese were yet to take the sport seriously, okay, we’ll allow Honda produced some stunning works bikes and Yamaha seemed to provide Mick Andrews with a new development for each week, but for those of us at grassroots level the choice was Bultaco, Ossa or Montesa and I doubt I’m the only club rider to have owned and ridden on all three at one time or another.
Of the three marques, Ossa’s effort seemed to be the most low-key while Bultaco and Montesa had backed riders in all parts of the country where a local dealer, with assistance from either Comerfords in Bultaco’s case or Sandiford’s for Montesa, would provide a bike and/or parts. Naturally, some of these riders were directly backed by the factory but Team Sandiford had a good number of riders under their banner to fly the Barcelona company’s flag. One such rider, Clive Smith, was doing sterling work for Sandiford and Montesa by being North West centre champion, best newcomer in the 1973 last pre-crash helmet SSDT and in a shock to the establishment he lifted the 1973 British Experts Trophy against the cream of the cream on a ‘standardish’ 247 Cota.
The choice of standardish is deliberate and I had the advantage over Clive for our chat as I’d read Bob Currie’s feature on the lad which was written in 1973 just after his Experts win. In the feature, Currie mentioned Clive’s Montesa had had the suspension position altered and I queried this with Clive. After thinking for a moment or two, he said: “Jim (Sandiford) was pretty keen on us riding standard bikes but wasn’t too averse to a modification or two if it worked.
He actually did the mod to the suspension and it gave a much smoother ride with more travel and softer action. It was quite a popular mod in those days,” grins the retired agricultural engineer.
This brought us to discussing the 247 Montesa Clive rode at the Highland Classic – Edition Montesa trial near Aviemore in June this year. In the Montesa paddock Clive’s bike was attracting some interest with its ‘JAS’ logo. In answer to my ‘is that one you rode back then?’ question, Clive said no and qualified the statement by adding “the bike I’m riding now is similar to the 247s I rode then except it has all the modifications that worked on it.” He went on to say: “We were supposed to be seen on production bikes but we all had a few ideas on how to make our bikes handle or work better, I don’t think Jim minded too much as long as we weren’t too radical.” He paused and thought a bit before saying: “At least if he did mind he never said owt to me,” his face creased into the grin familiar to the Seventies’ trials scene.
It is likely this particular machine would have been frowned on at the time, as while standard at first glance, a good look at it shows some serious modification.
Though based on what Clive tried in those far off days, the Montesa also benefits from some modern thinking and a few things which he felt he’d not get away with in the Seventies. The basis of the bike is a 1973-75 model: “A pre-ulf Karlsson 250,” says Clive, “I always preferred the 250 in reality as it was a nicer machine for me.”
In this he echoes Middlesbrough’s Rob Edwards and Swedish champion Karlsson, both of whom reckoned to prefer the 250 over the 310.
“When I got a direct factory ride I had to ride a 310 and its gearbox wasn’t a brilliant thing.” Montesa fitted the 310 – designated ‘348’ – with a six-speed gearbox and it had a reputation for slipping out of gear at inopportune moments. I suggested to Clive maybe the six-speeder was more for marketing purposes so the publicity machine could crow about it? “Could be,” he said, “I know I fitted the five speed cluster in my 348 after it jumped out of gear during a close-fought trial and I’m certain it cost me the premier award. I kept that mod to myself though Jim did wonder why I’d stopped muttering about the 348 gearbox. Mind you, once the later ‘White Wonder’ 349s came along, the gears had all been sorted and they were brilliant.”
Okay, back to the 247. The trials world was changing again in the Seventies and the old guard were retired and the new style was on the horizon, sections were getting more technical and the continentals were hopping and jumping around. Already Sandiford had played with the rear suspension mounts, something Montesa tried out too but Clive wanted a longer swinging arm with the mount closer to the back of the engine. The thing is the frame needs cutting away and remaking at the back in order to do this sort of mod. Now the pivot
point is a few millimetres off-centre of the main frame tube rather than nestling on a plate welded into the area where the subframe joins it. With the original engine mount cut away Clive has fabricated a neat assembly which not only stiffens up this whole area but locates the engine too.
“I’ve moved the engine forward a little and tipped it down at the front,” he adds, as if it was something we could all do after tea one evening!
Is that it for the frame mods I wondered? “No,” there was the grin again, “I’ve steepened the head stock a little too and had to put a bend in the front downtube so the mudguard doesn’t hit it when the forks compress.” Put against such frame work the fact Clive made the swinging arm and positioned the rear dampers, NJB units, as per his 1973 machine seems almost easy, well easy for him. Oh, and while he was at it, he chucked the standard Metalastik bushes away and mounted the swinging arm on ball bearings, sealed but with grease nipples in for proper lubrication.
Up at the front end the forks themselves are fairly standard though they’ve been fully rebuilt and there’s been a slight modification to the cone at the bottom end of the damper rod.
“I put a couple of grooves in it which allows another half inch or so of fork movement.” There’s also a slightly different mudguard mounting which stiffens up the forks and helps prevent twisting. This mounting is quite neat and uses the original brackets too. “I used later 247 yokes as the angle is slightly better than the early Seventies ones and the handlebar mounting is better for me,” he says. In the day though, Clive used a variable mounting point until he found a bar position which worked for him.
As he already admitted, the 247 engine was much more to his taste than the earlier, bigger machines and again this engine is an amalgamation of various years and parts with a bit of special works stuff in the mix too. It’s a five-speed, early style and while the engine cases look to be 1973, they’re later ones.
“I welded them and cut them back because I wanted the bike to look like the one I rode before I got a works mount,” he says. The engine itself has a special bits and pieces inside, though the crank is standard, the piston on it is a works one and it matches the works barrel. The ports in the barrel are better than standard ones and they’ve been matched to the crankcase too. Clive tells me the barrel is just about on its limit and probably needs a new liner which would have to be specially made. As befits a special barrel the cylinder head is carefully matched to it with a five thou squish band. “Got to be five thou maximum,” says the lad.
With a genuine works five-speed gear cluster available and a works clutch housing and crank pinion available, the gear side of things is slightly different to standard. Montesa used a geared primary drive and changing the pinion and clutch housing size isn’t easy for private owners. The difference it makes is a smaller rear sprocket can be used to achieve the same gearing which has the benefit of the sprocket not catching on rocks or ruts.
Once the engine and frame were sorted and the forks fitted, the wheels were next up and they’re quite standard though the front brake has a different routing for the cable so it doesn’t get trapped when the rider is on full lock.
“I’ve got IRC tyres which are about all you can get in tube type these days, the rear rim is a WM3, a bit wider than standard but it’s what I had on my 250s in the Seventies.” The exhaust pipe is standard but welded to a middle silencer and takes a bit of threading through to fit, it’s mated to a neat back box which I asked if it was a works one. “No,” laughed Clive, “I was going to fabricate an alloy one then I found this bit of three inch aluminium drain pipe which I flattened out and welded the ends up, it’s right quiet!”
Like the rest of us, Clive has had to experiment with jetting in his carburettor as this modern fuel is proving problematical for all older machines.
“I’m using a modern 27mm Amal and it’s almost there with the jets and slide combination but not quite as it’s still a bit rich at the bottom end.”
Speaking of modern fuel, I asked what sort of tank was used. “It’s the later one, an alloy tank with a plastic cover which were all made in the UK,” he says. As we wind up our chat, Clive tells me he’s using Venhill cables which he did in the Sandiford days, Italian Domino controls and all the nuts and bolts are stainless. “I’d thought about titanium for some of the bigger ones but it’s getting hold of them at a decent price.”
As we looked over his Montesa, Clive pointed out a small tweak to the footrests, it’s a grub screw which can be used to take up the wear on a footrest and keep them angled correctly. “I’ve used alloy wheel spindles from a Gasgas to save a bit of weight and the ignition is still on points, other than that I think we’ve covered everything.”
So there you are, Montesa people, that’s how an expert builds a Cota…