The Miller
When a missive regarding a motorcycle called the Miller turned up in the OBM Shed, it was guaranteed that Blue Miller was going to be interested. Sadly, for our editor, this was a machine named after a completely different Miller…
Despite sharing a surname, I am not related in any way to the illustrious Sammy Miller, although I rather wish I had somehow inherited some of his doggedness and fortitude! But, although there might be no family connection, I do rather like the idea of a motorcycle bearing my name. Okay, Sammy’s name…
Many people know of Sammy Miller’s involvement with Bultaco, a partnership which led to the mighty Sherpa T, a machine that can be said to have changed trials riding forever. In May 1964, Sammy spent 12 days in Spain testing a Bultaco 250cc that the factory had prepared for him. During that time, he modified the bike, always comparing it with the Ariel that he had brought with him. During this process he was staying at the home of Paco Bulto, owner of Bultaco, a farm south of Barcelona called San Antonio. Behind the farmhouse were some rocky banks and after 12 days – with the Bultaco now a completely different machine to the one with which he had started – Sammy improvised some tests. He found that the Ariel was unable to clear a rocky section, no matter how he tried, but he could clear it every time on the Bultaco. A legend was born.
However, what fewer folk know is that, 14 years later, Sammy designed his own trials bike from scratch with the intention of mass producing it for the worldwide trials market. It was an opportunity for him to build what would be his perfect trials machine. During his long and successful career, he had continually improved his bikes and introduced innovations, which is one of the reasons that his career was as long and successful as it was.
So, in 1978, Sammy Miller teamed up with Andrea Mosconi, an Italian motocross rider who had built his own Eurocross 125cc motorcycles using Aermacchi Harley-Davidson twostroke engines.
In 1973, Mosconi founded Hiro which manufactured two-stroke engines in 175cc, 250cc and 350cc capacities. Hiro would produce the 310cc engine and Sammy would manufacture the bike.
Building upon years of experience, including, of course, his time working in development for Honda, the project augured well. Two prototypes were built, although only one survives. The backbone of the Miller – as, naturally, the bike would be called – was a Hi-Boy frame in Reynolds 531 tubing (and quite likely put together by ace welder Mick Whitlock) with a 63½-degree head angle. The best components were used, such as Grimeca brakes and Marzocchi forks, while Sammy still speaks well of the engine which he calls “very good – it performed very well”. (Indeed, the Miller/Hiro motor would be used in early Armstrongs.)
But, while the Miller was indeed a fine machine, the economic climate was in nowhere near as good shape. With a global financial depression looming, Sammy realised that it wouldn’t be financially viable to produce the Miller, particularly not in a low volume compared with the big – and better financed – manufacturers. The Miller project came to a halt and the bike went into storage where it would stay for many years.
That is until recently when it has undergone one of the meticulous restorations for which the Sammy Miller Museum is noted and it is now on display at the museum. What would the effect of the Miller have been on the trials world had it gone into production? We will never know, although it was certainly successful in Sammy’s hands in a number of trials, but at least we now have the sole remaining example left.