Okay, so last we left our hero, his ego was shattered. Wait, no... It was his right pinky, and it was broken, not shattered! Besides, nobody really cares about that. The real hero of this story only had three gears. Sounds bad, no? Well maybe not that bad since third gear was about as fast as I wanted to go on a 30+ year-old dirt bike with all its frame flex, spindly front forks and two things in back that resemble shocks. However, the German in me couldn't have something half-assed in the garage. Actually it could, as the bike pretty much sat in the garage collecting dust for a year.
In the fall of 2005 I dragged it out and attempted to find the two missing gears. Now I was certain I had assembled everything back correctly when I put the motor together. Several inquiries on the internet with so-called "Bultaco experts" all said that if I put something in wrong, none of the gears would work. So, once again, I borrowed a manual and tried to find the culprit. I checked the entire gear-selector mechanism and found nothing wrong. Eventually I decided to split the cases a second time to go through the transmission. As it turned out there was one gear that, when put in backwards, would not allow 4th and 5th gears to engage. Imagine that!
Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the Alpina in these semi-finished stages. I rode it at the 2005 and 2006 SMOG East Trail Ride, so I'm sure there's at least one or two photos floating around somewhere.
At this point I felt bad about letting this bike sit around. I often thought about using it to teach my wife to ride, but she has no interest in riding motorcycles let alone a 30+ year-old Bultaco. I contemplated selling it, but I had already dumped a small fortune into it and the tank needed some serious labor to make it look semi decent. Then it struck me, why not use the Alpina for trials. After all the Alpina was based on the Sherpa T and it definitely had a stand-up riding position. That's it! I'll turn it into a trials bike.
Thus began the transformation.
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Great story, but where is a photo. Always loved Bultacos... A friend of mine used to race a "pink" Pursang at Indian Dunes in the late seventies.
ReplyDeleteGreat Site !
ReplyDeleteI also have an Bultaco Alpina 250 from 1979 and want to convert the bike to an better Trial Bike. How to Contact you via Mail ?
thanks
Andreas
Andreas - william(dot)t(dot)steele(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteBill
HI... Its 2020 now, and I am reading this, having purchased a 1973 Bultaco Alpina 250 this month, for use as 'The Second Motorcycle', for short trips, for trail riding, locally, and because... I always wanted a Bultaco. I had a 247 Cota, but never succeeded in the daunting task of getting it road registered in the UK. It had a buggered 4 speed gearbox into the bargain, and after much toil, head scratching and the like, it was married up to a five speed cluster and crankcases. The fuel tank leaked, so an alloy tank was fabricated, which lived under the plastic original, with the base cut out to accept it.
ReplyDeleteThe Alpina is a different animal, I don't ride trials and am changing the 11 tooth front/42 tooth rear sprocket set up for a 12 on the front, just to improve road manners, without sacrificing too much off road performance.
I enjoyed reading your account of the Sherpina. Apart from being clobbered by the kickstart lever across the back of the calf (not recommended)due to unfamiliarity with a left side kick start and a petrol leak from the alloy tank fitted to this particular bike, owner experience has been positive. I see that you haven't posted on the subject for a while, but with a Coronavirus epidemic ravaging the World, there has never been a better time to think about 2 strokes!