Bultaco Stickers Model 80 1971

[trailie]

I'm coming close to painting the bike and I wondered if anyone knew what stickers where on the bike from new. There weren't any on it that I can remember, but the book shows a various selection. Were these perhaps available to buy if you wanted to add them yourself ? I've hunted for old photos from back in the day but am not any the wiser. Does anyone remember.

http://www.ralphsbultaco.blogspot.co.uk

Edited October 19, 2014 by trailie

[woody]

The decals you've highlighted were for the model 49, the model 80 had little in the way of decals, just a Bultaco decal underneath the seat each side - number 47 on your parts list.

The first numbers in the part serial number are the actual model number

This place does Bultaco decals

http://www.classictransfers.co.uk/pages/transfer-images/european-transfers/spanish/bultaco.php

Edited October 19, 2014 by woody

[twinnshock]

I do not mean to upset anybody but how refreshing for a topic not about late 198/199 bikes.

The bottom line it is your bike so put on what decals you like. I believe the model 80 did not have the big Bultaco name on the tank and the kit campeon sticker was only on the model 49.

My own M80 I just have the round Bultaco stickers that fit into the recesses but no other decals or stickers. That's the way I like it.

I have attached a picture of my bike so you can see what it looks like with minimal decals. I have since the photo was taken removed the triangular silencer as it just gets in the way. Any body got one of the small round after market replacement that Sammy Miller used to sell for sale and I would be interested

Please when reading my opening comment be aware I own both a model 198A and 199A and just love all things Bultaco

Stuart

Edited October 19, 2014 by twinnshock

[trailie]

Thanks guys, that's interesting to know about the part numbers Woody. The photocopies are from a model 80 catalogue but I dare say there was a lot of common parts between these two models. I still don't really understand why it indicates quantity 1 in a model 80 book if it's only used on a 49, surely the quantity column should be blank, I dunno?.

Anyway I don't remember there being any decals on it when we got it about 76-77. Looking at a handful of old black and white photos of me riding it I can't see anything, but it might well have been repainted. The tank had been split and repaired and a strip of electrical insulating tape was used for a pinstripe.

Stuart your bike looks very tidy and your tank in real great shape. Where did you get the silencer boxes from - Spain? I have one of the aluminium boxes from the '70s on mine but it's fell apart inside. I'd like to put the proper one on it.

http://www.ralphsbultaco.blogspot.co.uk

[twinnshock]

Stuart your bike looks very tidy and your tank in real great shape. Where did you get the silencer boxes from - Spain? I have one of the aluminium boxes from the '70s on mine but it's fell apart inside. I'd like to put the proper one on it.

Both silencers on my bike are original so I guess yes from Spain but supplied in 1971!

The main silencer has been modified. The back has had a hole cut into it, a plate brazed across this hole to support the attachment bracket which is now screwed in place. A sheet metal plate secured with self tapping screws and the support bracket allows me to repack the silencer easily any time I require in the future. I am now only running with one silencer and so far not had any noise complaints.

My guess is you have a Sammy Miller alumimium after market silencer. My original M80 I bought in 1977 had one and a small steel spark arrester/silencer attached with a sliding fit and spring about 1.1/2" dia and 3" long that I have been trying to track down another but so far without luck.

Tank unit on my bike is original. Has been lined inside for bl***dy ethenol. It has had repairs underneith but nothing major and what you would expect after all these years.

I have been following the blog of the model 80 restoration. My main concern is the welding shown in some of the photographs. Far to good to be original Bultaco.

Stuart

Edited October 19, 2014 by twinnshock

[sparks2]

Hi
Read all the above with interest , having a reasonably original M80 slimline myself.
Woody is, as usual, quite correct.
But, I think at least some M80's came with a broad 'Bultaco' script on the silver band just ahead of the seat.
Stuart - your silencer and tail pipe looks like the original Bultaco setup.
To my recollection, the last M49's and the early M80's were virtually identical mechanically apart from
the slimline tank and seat unit and the downturned silencer on the M80.
Regards
Sparks

[woody]

On ebay now is a parts catalogue from 1971 with a front cover picture of a slimline showing the bike as it would have left the factory. The tank has the kit campeon decal under the seat instead of the Bultaco decal so it's probably the model 49 rather than 80, but the only difference, I think, is that decal.

In the current edition of Trial Classic-Magazine there are period photos of the bikes being used in competition in 1971, which again give a decent view of the lack of decals on the tank (I can't give the magazine it's proper title because of the **** filters in place but it's the one by John Hulme)

The bigger, yellow Bultaco decal was introduced on the model 91/92 as far as I know.

I prefer more decals, they're a bit plain for me without them.

Edited October 20, 2014 by woody

[trailie]

So a nice range of answers there I think I'll put just the small Bultaco transfer on the side panels and the Spanish Championship '71 on top of the tank ahead of the seat, ( just because I like that wee badge !).

I found that owners manual on ebay Woody - useful . Would I be right in thinking the kit campeon's were the ones fitted with lights?

I vaguely remember the man we bought her off saying there was a tax book somewhere but he didn't know where it was or who had it, we never did need it anyway. It was a long time ago, I was only 10 at the time, I can't remember for sure, must ask my dad..

I took the head staggers earlier and bought a mid box from frankiemountain on ebay. Hopefully it'll fit. I'll let you know when I get it. I'm still holding off on a front pipe until I see what shape I can make of fixing the dents in the old one.

Stuart and Sparks, if you would, sometime I'll get you to post me a couple of good photos of your chain guard and the front mudguard stays. I think I could make these easily enough if I had a decent picture to go by.

Thanks

[woody]

They all came with lights, the kit campeon was just the new slimline tank and down-turned exhaust that would be fitted to the model 80 when it was introduced. The factory riders, riding the previous model 49 were using the slimline tank unit and Bultaco made it an upgrade option for the model 49 in late 1970 / early 1971, not sure (presumably until they had sold them all?) before introducing the new model 80 with it fitted as standard

Edited October 20, 2014 by woody

[trailie]

This is a great history lesson Woody, you need to write a book sometime. I've got loads more to ask but it'll keep for another time.

Thought I'd share a couple of the old photos I'd dug out. Me and my dad about 1977. Like most wee boys I'm more interested in building ramps and doing jumps. Notice nobody gave a toss about putting kids on motorbikes without a crash hat in those days, but back then we'd the sense not to hurt ourselves.

[woody]

I love pictures like that from back then, I was 15 when I had my model 80 (had a Greeves Challenger before that but it was a trials bike I wanted)

We never once thought of the Bultaco, or Greeves come to that, as too heavy or tiring to ride or difficult to start, we just rode them for hours or until the petrol ran out. Imagine what people would say now if you suggested putting a kid on a bike like that. Too big, too heavy etc. I find it amusing these days to hear people describing some modern bikes as too heavy...

You can also see from the period handlebars why the high footpeg position didn't matter back then. If they still sold bars like that we wouldn't have to take a hacksaw and welder to our bikes...

Edited October 21, 2014 by woody

[sparks2]

Hi
Woody - I stand corrected, if you say the larger 'Bultaco' script was introduced on the M91/92, then I'll take that.
Trailie - My M80 is fitted with the earlier type Sammy Miller front mudguard stays. These were an almost universal mod at the time to
stiffen up the rather flexible early flat (non-arched) yokes. The stays in the B/W photos are the later SM stays which were more splayed.

The chainguard on my M80 is a much later Sammy Miller item, still available today as a universal chainguard, but this is a virtual copy of the one fitted to the original M49/M80.
I can post photos, if these would still be of use.

Woody - I might be wrong on this, but I don't think the 'Kit Campeon' was ever marketed as such in the UK. What I do remember was a Sammy Miller kit of parts to update the M49 to M80 spec. The Kit comprised slimline tank/seat unit and a downturned exhaust system. The tank was available in blue or green with a cream band, perhaps there could have been other colour options.
The SM glassfibre work would, I think, be produced in the UK as it seemed to be of a higher quality than the Spanish item, although the mouldings were identical at first glance.
You could always tell the SM tanks as they had a 1/4 turn chrome filler cap, the Spanish ones having the screwed black plastic cap.

The SM kit may have slightly preceded the introduction of the M80.
The 'Kit Campeon' could, of course, have been marketed elsewhere in the world. Perhaps Sammy had an informal agreement with Bultaco not to market the 'KC' in the UK, thus leaving the field free for his own kit???
Hope this is of interest.
Regards
Sparks

Edited October 21, 2014 by sparks2

[lbhbul]

Woody, Do you recall the original (at least here) piece of pressed alloy front fork brace/fender mount on mod 92?

All so had a 1 year old mod 80 with a broken Sammy two piece brace (the short version).

Just a bit of trivia from old folks.

Beautiful bikeTwinshock, & thanks guys for the good memories.

Best regards Larry

[woody]

Hi Sparks, I'm making an assumption about the bigger Bultaco decal, just based upon catalogue photos and period photos I've seen from 1971 and then 1972 when the model 91/92 was introduced. I was just that bit too young to see any of these bikes in the flesh at the time of their release. For the kit campeon, I didn't realise it hadn't been released to the UK market and definitely wouldn't know whether Miller launched his here instead. I do remember his tanks being green or blue though with the 'car' style chrome filler cap (there was a bike with a green one at Telford this year, only one I've actually seen) His own 325 prototype EOR 2K looks to have a blue tank in photos (only ever seen black and white) Wonder where that bike is now as it doesn't appear to be at the museum.

Ibhbul - sorry, as above, just that bit too young to see the bikes for real when they were released, so I don't recall the fork brace / stay

If you like the pictures, here is a series 2 M92 I was rebuilding a few years ago but had to sell before completely finished, then there is the model 80 I bought which had been standing for nearly 20 years and then stood for another 10 as I didn't have time to do it. Obviously, wish I still had them both. Then there's the series 1 M92 I've been riding for the last couple of years following a complete rebuild.

[sparks2]

Hi Woody

Thanks for your reply.

No sense in arguing about this, but on your M80 'before' photo the large 'Bultaco' script looks old

and weather beaten enough to have been original, just as it did on mine before I had a paint job.

Point taken though, that in the publicity shots it is missing.

On the 'KC' v SM kits of parts, it is difficult to be definitive as it was such a long time ago, but having lived though those times,

and if asked to express an opinion, that would be it. I have put the same opinion on here before and nobody contradicted.

Not sure about EOR 2K being a 'prototype', when it first appeared the 325 was already well established. It was SM's last bike before

defecting to Honda. It had a chrome SM frame, Mikuni carb and no doubt all the SM goodies, but a conventional Bult all the same.

I have never seen the number (EOR 2K) since and it has never appeared on the DVLA web site. I could say more but won't.

Regards

Sparks

Edited October 21, 2014 by sparks2