We set out to find out what made Skipton trials rider, James Moorhouse want to ride the the 2016 Scottish Six Days Trial on a 35 year old motorcycle.
Moorhouse: “Ever since I got the 340 Bultaco I call ‘El Donkey’ – I jokingly said I would do the Scottish and it just snow-balled from there. After breaking down on the Tuesday last year I knew I had to come back and finish what I started.”
What preparations had he to do to the bike prior to the Six Days:
Moorhouse: “Just about everything you can think of, the piston, main bearings, wheel bearings, chain and sprockets, brake shoes, tyres. All of these components were replaced by my ‘factory mechanic’ and friend, Robert Barber.
We sent the rockshock dampers to be serviced and stronger springs fitted by manufacturer, Gary Fleckney in Bedfordshire and InMotion/Bultaco UK in Egham, Surrey both were very helpful, they have a fast postal service”.
“I had fitted fat-bars to an adapted top alloy yoke some time ago and the snaky exhaust pipe.
Because of last year it was always in the back of my mind it could go bang, but I knew we had done everything we possibly could so if she didn’t make it then it was simply wasn’t to be and I wouldn’t waste an entry on it again. Fortunately the entry wasn’t wasted!”
James continued:
“Tuesday afternoon over the moor, she got some water in the carburettor and would only run with the choke on. At the next section I drained out the carb, it must have whiskered the spark-plug so I had to replace that too – luckily I had a plug on me, in fact I carried a lot of spares in my bag”.
Running repairs through the week long event included: Welding the exhaust pipe, welding a snapped rear brake arm and fitting a new rear tyre on Friday morning. The rear tyre and plug were the only components replaced during the week.
It was noticeable that James rode with a broken front mudguard:
James: “It didn’t affect the way it rode so thought I’d save some weight!
I thought on Friday she was running a bit weak but on Saturday she felt as good as new”.
When asked if he would do it again, James replied:
“I have achieved what I set out to do, it’s time to retire her from the SSDT, but I will compete again but next time on a modern bike”.
Many thanks to James for allowing Trials Guru to publish this article.
TRIALS GURU 
Dear Guru Absolutely amazing Bultaco Sherpa, cheers for your work. Best regardsGeorge
Great story! Does anybody build the snakey pipe for resale John?
So that’s probably the last time we’ll see the Bultaco name in the SSDT results. Makes the picture at the top of Town Hall Brae quite historic.
Good Show, James!
Great article Guru. It just shows that the Bultaco original build wasn’t too far away and in the right hands, stood the test of time.