It Lives!

In October of 2004 I attended my first SMOG (Spanish Motorcycle Owners Group) Trail Ride and took the just completed Alpina for its maiden voyage.



Everything was going good until I hit a huge puddle. From there things went downhill fast.



I was able to get the bike running again, by bump-starting it down a hill. What happened after that, thankfully, wasn't captured on video.

Going down a hill with a sweeping right hand turn I decided to tap the rear brake and scrub some speed. However my slow-brain forgot one important fact. The Alpina has the rear brake on the left side and the shifter on the right. Just the opposite of a modern bike. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Anyway I tap the rear brake, actually the shifter, and knock the Alpina into one of its 15 neutrals. Meanwhile I'm still picking up speed. So I stand on the rear brake (shifter), knocking it into the true neutral, and grab the front brake for all it's worth. Suddenly my brain re-programmed itself and my left foot made a wild stab for the rear brake. I missed. So at this point I drop my butt in the seat and try my best Fred Flintstone imitation to stop before shooting off the trail and into the trees. It didn't work. I managed to miss all but one tree, which I clipped with the right side of my bars. Mind you the bike did not have Barkbusters and I ended up fracturing the end of my pinky.

Oh, did I forget to mention that at this point the Alpina only had 3 gears?

Update: July 11, 2010 - After almost a year you'd think it's about time for an update?

Where It All Started

This pile of parts, that resembles a motorcycle, is the first Bultaco I acquired through winning a bid on e-bay. I got hosed... long story.

What you see is a '72, '73 or '74 Bultaco Model 98 (175) Alpina. Bultaco "experts" will quickly identify that the bike does not have the correct fuel tank and seat for a Model 98. It appears the original tank and seat were replaced with one from a Model 116 (or similar) Bultaco. Also missing is the stock headlight which was replaced with an aftermarket Preston Petty headlight/number plate. Additionally the stock tail light is missing along with the stock brakelight switch, resistor and horn. The stock headlight/horn switch is there, but it fell apart upon removal along with the stock wiring junction block. Most of the wiring was cobbed up by someone. The rear stainless steel fender was cracked in several places and held on with the almighty zip-tie. The tank and fenders were painted a dark shade of metal-flake blue complete with overspray.

Doesn't look any better from this side either. The seat cover, foam and fiberglass seat base were shot. The front brake cable was missing, along with the front brake lever and the clutch cable was held on by two strands. Both tires were flat and dry-rotted. The bike was advertised as being a runner. One look at the rotted fuel line indicated it may have, at one time, been a runner. Probably in 1986, but it was now 2003.

Of course this beauty came with a very low sticker price. Or at least it would've been low had I not driven half-way down the New Jersey Turnpike to pick it up. It also came with "many spares" which were either not for this bike or, in some cases, not much better than the parts still on the bike. However I wasn't expecting a cream puff and I fully knew what I was getting into long before I got it home and up on my work bench where these pictures were taken.

Once home I slowly started removing all the parts eventually taking it down to the frame. One thing I did not like was seeing orange RTV silicone where the base gasket should be. Upon seeing this I decided to remove the top end and have a look at the piston and cylinder. The Alpina does not have a cylinder head gasket, but once again I found RTV. Then disaster struck. While removing the piston pin the needle bearing came loose from the cage and dropped down into the lower end. CRAP! Fortunately there was nothing I could've done to prevent this tragedy, except for cover the open lower end with a rag. Once removed it was obvious the bearing cage had fractured at some point and, on top of that, the pin journal on the connecting rod was badly galled. Most likely this was due to someone not using enough oil, if any, in the pre-mix.

At this point all worked stopped as I contemplated what to do with this pile of parts. My first inclination was to part everything out on e-bay and hope to break even. Yet it would've been a shame to break-up a Bultaco with matching numbers and I'm a glutton for punishment.

It took me almost two years, but eventually I got everything back together. The frame and swingarm were taken down to bare metal, checked for cracks (luckily there were none), repainted and reassembled with new bearings/bushings. The forks and shocks were rebuilt. The motor had a fresh rebuild, top and bottom, with new bearings, seals, piston and rings. I rebuilt the archaic Amal carburetor. Found a replacement exhaust pipe (flange was broken on the original). Rewired the bike with a replacement junction block from Radio Shack. Bought the correct fuel tank off e-bay and sealed it with Caswell Sealer(but the aftermarket replacement fuel tap still leaked). Bought an aftermarket plastic seat pan from Hogan's Cycles in Agwam, MA, new seat foam and had it recovered by Burnt Hills Upholstery. New cables, new brake lever, new grips and a bunch of other stuff I'm sure I've forgotten about. When it was all ready to go I put in a new spark plug, tickled the Amal and she fired up on the third kick. This was the night before the 2004 SMOG East Trail Ride which was my maiden voyage on the Alpina.

Next: It Lives!