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Bultaco model years


jontribe
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Hello chaps

I'm new to the forum, so please bear with me if my request has been done before!

I'm just getting back into the sport after a 20 odd year rest, hoping to do some twin shock trials and dual sport events on a 1978 Bultaco Sherpa T model 199a.

What I'm after is some history on the Bultaco 350/325 sherpas, model years, specs, major change dates etc. Do the vin numbers hold any details of build spec and dates etc.? Are there any useful web sites with model details? I know the much later model 199b was a 6 speed motor an had box section swing arm but don't know much more than that. When did the color change from red to blue? Did the tank seat units change over the models? How do you tell the model apart? The example I brought has the gear change on the right, they are supposed to be on the left??

I attach a pic for ref...

Any help/ideas/advice would be gratefully received!

TIA

 

Steve_Bul1.jpg

Steve_Bul2.jpg

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Welcome to the forum jontribe. A quick glance at your photo indicates to me that the bike is a Model 199, circa 1978/79 which was the last of the red Sherpa T's and not a 199A which where the first of the blue Sherpa T's in 1980/81. A give away clue is lack of the reenforcing gusset on the top of the swinging arm. Also the 199 didn't have a cut frame to facilitate the bash plate.

Have a look through the following link http://www.bultacoclassic.com/buidch.html the pdf attachment will have all the bultaco models and years.

Bultaco's can have the shifter on both the right and the left. This is as a result of a law brought in by Uncle Sam in 1972 to protect a certain V-Twin motorcycle manufacturer in the Milwalkee area. Stating that all bikes must have a left hand side gear change, so Bulto's are "ambidextrous". 

 

IMG_5099.JPG

Edited by model80
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Agree with model 80. Your bike in the picture is defiantly a 199 so the red paint is correct.. The 199A came out in late 1978 was painted blue. Had an aluminium bash plate under the engine, reinforced swinging arm and a different magneto cover and kick start. The gear ratio's were also changed with most notable visible difference between 199 and 199A is the later has a smaller rear sprocket. Other minor changes including adjusting the height of the engine in the frame by a small amount.

You bike looks quite original. In the UK we would have had a different tank to that fitted for the rest of the world. The only thing basically not correct is that seat is wrong.

The gear change can be set either LH or RH. LH was standard and with this set up the rear brake is operated by a cable that loops across to a bracket on the frame down tube near the silencer. I can not be sure from your pictures but I think I can see a blob of weld but the bracket seems to have been cut off. This cable operated brake is a bit spongier than the direct operated rod and opinions will vary as to what is best.

I have a 199 myself and have been told by several people over the years that this model was better that any that followed, including a local (East Anglia/UK) ex champion who owns a 199B Obviously that is an opinion that many will disagree with but my 199 is my favourite bike to ride.

Stuart 

 

 

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12 hours ago, model80 said:

Welcome to the forum jontribe. A quick glance at your photo indicates to me that the bike is a Model 199, circa 1978/79 which was the last of the red Sherpa T's and not 

Bultaco's can have the shifter on both the right and the left. This is as a result of a law brought in by Uncle Sam in 1972 to protect a certain V-Twin motorcycle manufacturer in the Milwalkee area. Stating that all bikes must have a left hand side gear change, so Bulto's are "ambidextrous". 

 

Interesting.  The reason given in the UK press at the time was that most American riders were car drivers first and therefore accustomed to right foot braking.  The preponderance of Japanese bikes, with right foot braking, and avoidance of confusion if changing bikes was also mentioned.

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  • 3 years later...
 
 

I think if you are interested especially especially in Bultaco you shoukd look up these books in general new or used:

History de la Sherpa The Story, 

Francois Stauffacher ISBN: 84-607-3101-4

Bultaco

Eine Leidenschaft für den Motorsport

Francois Herreros

ISBN German: 84-920080-0

ISBN Spanish: 84-920080-3-2

The German print is the newest version and includes extra material, charts and photos that where provided by Orlando Calonder, Bruno Wiest and Francois Herreros himself by translating and redesigning the book in German.

Anyway the Bultacos are great bikes, goid ressources are too old magazines from that era.

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  • 1 year later...

Greetings All,

       I'm a little late to join in here but wanted to add a point about Uncle Sam making laws to protect Harley-Davidson by requiring all bikes sold in the US shift on the left and brake on the right.  The fact of the matter is that Harley-Davidson made Sportsters, their best selling model, which shifted on the right side from their inception in '57 as did the predecessor K model flatheads.  The law that standardized control placement was a result of accidents and deaths from riders unused to different control configurations and not to protect HD as it required them to make changes too. " Uncle Sam makes new laws to protect Harley-Davidson" makes a much more dramatic headline, I agree, but it is not what happened.  Now back to your regular Trials programming...

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16 minutes ago, jmatch said:

Greetings All,

       I'm a little late to join in here but wanted to add a point about Uncle Sam making laws to protect Harley-Davidson by requiring all bikes sold in the US shift on the left and brake on the right.  The fact of the matter is that Harley-Davidson made Sportsters, their best selling model, which shifted on the right side from their inception in '57 as did the predecessor K model flatheads.  The law that standardized control placement was a result of accidents and deaths from riders unused to different control configurations and not to protect HD as it required them to make changes too. " Uncle Sam makes new laws to protect Harley-Davidson" makes a much more dramatic headline, I agree, but it is not what happened.  Now back to your regular Trials programming...

Thank you for correcting that mistake. Congress did enact other regulations, mostly import taxes, to protect H-D. These were primarily aimed at the Japanese manufacturers after it was discovered that Yamaha was selling motorcycles at a loss to capture the US market. Also the first US Bultaco importer on the east coast, John Taylor, originally sold the bikes out of Spitzies Harley-Davidson before forming Cemoto East.

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