Honda/Montesa Cota 4RT

AMany manufacturers have added to the history of the trials machine with their brands, standing out and defining the history of the sport with their success. Look at BSA for example with its different models, before Sammy Miller came along with his unique Ariel GOV 132 based around the HT5. Many pundits still say this machine was the most

successful trials machine ever; I would not disagree. Maybe the Bultaco Sherpa is one of these machines? Over the following years the manufacturers then started the trend of changing the models every year and so you cannot attribute success to each model – or can you? The Honda powered Montesa Cota machines from the mid nineties never really changed, apart from the aesthetics, but brought so much success for the likes of Spain’s Marc Colomer, Britain’s Dougie Lampkin and of course Japan’s only-ever World Trials Champion Takahisa Fujinami, taking the brand’s last ever two-stroke crown in 2004. During 2004 Montesa would move to the Honda four-stroke engined machines to start a decade of domination for the new generation of machines unique to one model, the Cota 4RT

pproaching the year

2000 the governing body of Motorcycle Sport, the FIM, was becoming more aware of the environmental issues concerning the emissions from two-stroke engines including trials machines. Other motorcycle sports disciplines, such as Moto GP and Moto-Cross, had moved to four-stroke engines and so it would then be the turn of the trials manufacturers. Over the following years Beta, Scorpa, Sherco and Honda/Montesa would all produce four-stroke engines for their production trials machines but it was the association between Honda and Montesa which would bring the most competition success. In the latter part of 2003 suggestions were made in the trials media world that Honda/ Montesa had started work on a new state-of-the-art four-stroke trials machine to match both the weight and performance of the current two-stroke models available. At round three of the World Trials