1965: SAMMY MILLER

BULTACO SHERPA’ T’ 250 TWO-STROKE

In 1965, news that Sammy Miller parked up the heavyweight four-stroke Ariel from Great Britain for the Spanish lightweight two-stroke Bultaco rocked the trials world. Although calculated, it was a very brave decision, but Miller knew in his mind that this was the future of the trials motorcycle.

As a motorcycle manufacturer, Bultaco was quite a new one, having been formed as a company in 1958 by Francisco Xavier Bulto. He inherited the bare bones of the very agricultural Sherpa N model, introduced to the UK trials scene by the road racer Dan Shorey in 1961-1962. He had tested the machine in secret in 1964 after a meeting with Shorey. At the end of season British Experts, he would win on the Ariel; the day after, he would win his first trial on the new Bultaco! A few weeks later, he would become the first rider to win an ACU British Championship round at the 1965 Colmore Trial on a foreign machine.

After a hectic 12-day period in Spain where Miller transformed the two-stroke Bultaco into a winner, he now set about developing it even further. Based around the 244.2cc engine and four-speed gearbox, he would use his experience gained during his Ariel years to the full.

By the close of 1965, a third of the entries in UK trials would be Bultaco riders, and they had sold over 600 Sherpa ‘T’ models. The final nails in the coffin of Great Britain as market leaders in the motorcycle trials world were now going in at a rapid rate; Sammy Miller and Bultaco would continue to dominate until 1969.