Researched and written by Trials Guru’s John Moffat in 2021, we discover the story of Don Smith’s contract breaking STAG MK1.
Words: John Moffat/Trials Guru
Photos: Mike Watts; Bob May; OffRoad Archive; Don Smith Family Collection
Additional Information on Don Smith: Amanda Lazenby
As an enthusiastic schoolboy, John Moffat attended the Scottish Six Days Trial 1970 for the first time. There was always a buzz of excitement at the opening ‘weigh-in’ at Edinburgh’s Gorgie Market, with the flurry of activity with riders and mechanics making last minute changes and adjustments to their machines. There was one such machine that was unveiled to the trial’s community on 3rd May, it captivated many people that day.
The Monarch of the Glen is an oil-on-canvas painting of a red deer stag completed in 1851 by the English painter, Sir Edwin Landseer.
The stag in the painting is classed as a ‘royal stag’ due to having twelve points or ‘tines’ to its antlers, to be a ‘monarch stag’ it would have had to sport sixteen points, so, in reality, is flawed.
That did not stop copies being sold and advertising budgets spent on the copyright to use the image on shortbread tins, the world over.
The stag we are going to describe is somewhat different to the famous piece of art revered since the 1800s, one which was never copied nor produced in numbers for sale. In fact, only one such example ever existed, the STAG MK1 – and it still does!
Greeves, Great Britain:
Donald Roland Smith, or ‘D.R.’ to his many friends, was a development rider who came to the notice of Thundersley based Greeves motorcycles in 1960 and who switched camps in late 1967 to join the Spanish Montesa trials effort to front the development of their new Cota trials mount.
Don Smith had an uneasy relationship with Bert Greeves, and it is safe to say he did not agree with the Greeves strategy to remain faithful to the alloy beam frame design that made the Thundersley products unique.
With Greeves, Smith won the European Trials Championship in 1964 and 1967. Smith won ten consecutive internationals and British national trials, which included the Hoad Trophies, Perce Simon, Cotswold Cup, John Douglas, Mitchell, and Beggar’s Roost.
Don had however tried his best to convince the directors at Greeves to create a new and up-to-date machine; he even offered to do it himself.
To his delight they eventually gave him the go ahead, but they pulled their permissions at the very last minute.
Feeling rejected, that was the last straw for Smith, so he handed in his resignation. After leaving Greeves he bought a production 250cc Bultaco in September 1967, registered as SGH4F and rode it privately in ten events.
He gained seven firsts, one second and a hard-fought third.
Permanyer S.A. :
The motorcycling press had a ‘field day’ reporting on Smith’s solid results on the model 27 Bultaco Sherpa and when they commented that he was not linked to any factory, this probably spurred on the Montesa management to invite him to join them to assist in the design and development of their new Cota model.
Don decided that he would contact the then British Montesa importer, John Brise at Montala Motors Ltd, based at Crayford in Kent, but he was not just going to give the benefit of his fifteen years of challenging work and experience for free, he wanted a proper contract.
It was a case of no fee, no opinion, no advice.
He had a test ride on the machine and Brise asked for Don’s feedback, but before Smith had even finished his first sentence, Brise had his pen and paper ready for notetaking.
Smith told him that he must be kidding and until they had discussed a contract, he was not speaking another word, so a contract was drawn up and signed by both parties.
The Montesa Cota, designed to challenge the well-established Bultaco Sherpa, was to be a more traditional frame design than the Greeves models that Smith had campaigned for years, but had many modern innovative features such as the one-piece tank/seat unit in glass reinforced plastic, a single downtube tubular cradle frame and novel features such as a chain lubricator built into the swinging arm. The Cota engine had a softer power delivery than its main rival, the Sherpa.
Defection beckons:
Don Smith was to campaign the Montesa Cota for three seasons, starting with his UK registered Cota MK1 ‘UMV10F’ from 1968, securing a third place at the Scottish Six Days and winning the European Trials Championship for them in 1969, but he was concerned that he would eventually become frustrated if his ideas were ignored by the Esplugues, Barcelona factory.
He had also recognised that the mighty Japanese factories were taking a keen interest in trials as a new sales market. Understanding the politics of the sport and the manufacturers, this caused Smith to think carefully about his future in the game, given that a new dawn in trials was emerging.
Smith’s decision to wriggle free of his Montesa factory contract was ensured by Don building his own machine, the STAG MK1 in late 1969. This would enable him to keep riding and develop his own ideas on his own machine without any factory involvement, he was a free agent. Unfortunately, his retail business Don Smith Motorcycles Ltd in Winchester Road, Highams Park, Chingford, North East London which he founded in 1960, was faltering and his fortunes were understandably at a low ebb.
The STAG MK1 is born:
Built as a development machine to evaluate and promote Smith’s ideas on machine design, the STAG MK1 was registered AYN15H, taxed in January 1970 at Greater London licencing office as a ‘STAG’, colour blue, and engine size of 247cc.
The STAG’s wide spaced twin downtube cradle frame, necessary to accommodate the Montesa motor, which had an offset exhaust port, was plated in matt finish nickel for a durable finish and looked resplendent when Smith weighed the machine in for the 1970 Scottish Six Days Trial, which was its first public appearance on the 3rd of May.
The knowledgeable enthusiasts who surrounded Smith’s machine at Edinburgh’s Gorgie Market noted that the engine was in fact a standard Montesa Cota 247cc unit with the large ‘M’ symbol having been machined off the outer clutch and ignition casings.
The talk of Gorgie Market that day was: “Looks like Don Smith has fallen out with Montesa.”
Full Specification:
But it was not a Montesa they were looking at, far from it. The ever extrovert Smith was keen to show off his handiwork.
Front suspension was taken care of by a set of Robin Humphries manufactured REH forks, yokes, and front hub, with a matching rear hub of conical design. The Ron Goodfellow built ‘Saracen’ of the period also used this same set up, as did the motocross version of Pete Edmondson’s ‘Dalesman’ which used the same front-end arrangement but used a Puch rear hub assembly.
Wheel rims were ‘Dunlop’ chrome plated steel components front and rear, shod with Dunlop Trials Universal tyres, 4.00×18 rear and 2.75×21 front, the standard fitment of that time.
It is believed that the fuel tank was a heavily modified and disguised steel Japanese component, possibly from a Honda, which was re-shaped at the rear with fibreglass to allow it to match up with the pressed alloy side panels, thus creating a one-piece unit ‘look’ but retaining three separate components, this was complimented by a W.E. Wassell style single padded seat up top and light alloy mudguards finished the machine off.
The tank and side panels were finished in a dark blue with white infill panels and a gold lining using vinyl lining tape, between the blue and the white, it had four tank badges with a gold stag’s head against a dark blue background fixed each side of the tank and both the side panels.
On closer inspection, the stag’s head is sporting ten ‘tines’, which is biologically incorrect, as they should have either twelve or sixteen tines as mentioned earlier! This would not have bothered D.R., after all, it was a name and logo used to disassociate him from the Montesa brand.
Drive chain adjustment was taken care of by simple snail cams on the end of the rear spindle and the Girling four-point adjustable shock absorbers were attached to the swinging arm close to the rear wheel spindle.
Smith had fitted a ‘Sammy Miller’ alloy chain oiler, hidden behind the nearside panel and a trailing slipper chain tensioner took care of chain tension.
The rear brake was cable operated as the Montesa had a right-hand gear change with offside drive. The Montesa Cota 247 of the era had a full width hub which allowed for a rod-operated nearside brake.
A quickly detachable light alloy sump shield was fitted to protect the crankcases, the crafty Smith made use of the cavity between the engine and shield to store a spare drive chain in a sealed polythene bag for the 1970 Scottish. This innovation ensured that the heavy spare chain was carried on the bike in a low position, a sensible idea. A spring-loaded prop stand was fixed onto the nearside of the lower frame, being a requirement of the SSDT regulations. Sadly, the side stand has been lost over the years, but the bracketry remains. The footrests were of the folding type and spring-loaded, a feature Smith claimed was his innovation on the Montesa Cota having ridden for West Ham and Hackney speedway teams where folding footrests had already been in use before they became standard trials equipment. It is believed that Smith was the first to deploy a folding type footrest in speedway racing for safety, and by fitting a spring for trials use ensured that it returned to its original position after flicking up.
The unbraced handlebars had the brake and clutch perches welded to the bars, reminiscent of what Sammy Miller had on his own Bultacos. This saved weight and ensured that the set-up never altered in a fall. Docherty steel ball-ended control levers were fitted.
The whole package was neat and functional.
John Moffat: “I remember standing on the cobbled alleyways of Edinburgh’s Gorgie Market in early May 1970, my eyes were feasting on the machines of my then heroes, men who in my later years would become personal friends and aquantances, although I didn’t know that back then. I walked along to see this white and blue bike standing proud on it’s side stand with it’s rider to be, Don Smith. He moved away towards the Renolds chain van, staffed by Vic Doyle and I stood in wonderment of the bike that people were calling ‘The Stag’. I was captivated with the machine. Then suddenly a man appeared at the other side of the bike, towering over the machine, it was Don Smith in person, he smiled at me, but didn’t speak, and being a twelve-year-old I stood back to let him carry on preparing his machine. I never spoke to him, which I regret now, as I now know he was quite approachable. But the STAG was etched in my mind. I asked my father, T. Arnott Moffat, at that time General Secretary and Treasurer of the Scottish ACU about the bike. He simply informed me that Don Smith wanted to get out of riding for Montesa and he reckoned this was Smith’s method. I never forgot the Don Smith STAG.”
Power source:
The engine was standard 247cc Montesa Cota issue, retaining the exceptionally long inlet manifold and breathed through a type 626 Spanish AMAL carburettor. Having ridden for the factory, Smith would have had access to spare motors during his time with the company, so it made sense to use an already proven power unit for the STAG venture. The engine in the STAG Mk1 has been number stamped when the bike was constructed. It could have been a spare un-numbered engine as factories tended to do that with crankcases that were supplied new to replaced damaged components, certainly the motor does not have the usual Montesa numbering protocol. The original registration book and the current DVLA documents confirm this.
As mentioned, Don Smith used his STAG MK1 to signal the end of his three-year contract with Montesa, however it is believed that he may have been financially supported with the STAG venture in the 1970 Scottish by Fort William businessman, Hugh McDonald who owned a gents outfitter shop, trading as ‘Alister McDonald’ at 64-66 High Street.
It has been confirmed that Smith stayed at McDonald’s house, ‘Failte’, Achintore Road on many occasions and during the 1970 event in particular, he was also transported to the trial start in Hugh’s car that year. The SSDT started and finished in Edinburgh and was centred in Fort William during the bulk of the week.
To go a stage further, it may be this Scottish highland connection that could have spawned the naming of the STAG itself, but no-one knows for sure, not even the McDonald family who still live in Fort William.
Current owner Mike Watts dispelled that myth: “When I spoke with Don Smith shortly after buying the STAG, he told me that the STAG idea came from the badge of the West Essex MCC of which he was a member.”
The 1970 Scottish:
Having been entered by Montesa Motor Cycles on a 247 Cota, Don Smith was allocated riding number 101 for the 1970 Scottish Six Days, which was the trial secretary Jim McColm’s first event in charge. Smith was his usual flamboyant self at both the weigh-in and the start on the Monday morning, 4th May at Gorgie Market. He was no stranger to the Scottish, having ridden in the annual event since 1960. The appearance of the 247 STAG MK1 instead of a Montesa, generated a lot of interest and excitement, but the proof of the pudding would be in the eating, the SSDT being the ultimate test of rider and machine.
Having caused a veritable ‘stir’ at the weigh-in of the event on the Sunday, the tongues were wagging, and trials fans were keen to see how the STAG performed.
Smith was an extrovert and very much a fun-loving rider, he rode to win, but enjoyed winding other riders up. Mid-week, he decided to have a bit of a dice on the road with a fellow competitor and during this high-speed encounter, the STAG’s gearbox cried enough! The Montesa Cota was known for having gearbox issues and the motor used in the STAG MK1 was no different, the gearbox was fragile and that ended Smith’s 1970 Scottish.
Repairs were made post event and Smith campaigned the STAG in national trials for the remainder of the season.
The STAG today:
Happily, the 1970 STAG MK1 has survived intact with very few components being changed over the years.
Middlewich gift shop owner and motorcycle enthusiast, Mike Watts brings the story up to date:
“I spotted a classified advert in Trials & Motocross News in 2004 which offered a 250 Montesa Cota Special for sale, I was intrigued, so went to a village near Norwich to have a look at the bike. The seller rode speedway and his race bike had suffered a major engine failure and he was funding the repairs by selling the old trials bike that had been languishing in a corner.
When I saw it, I knew exactly what it was, and I was keen to have it. The owner clearly did not know that he was selling a unique piece of British trials history, so I did the deal, paid the price, and took the STAG home.
Many of my friends have since told me to do a comprehensive restoration to put the bike back to as new condition, but to be honest I do not want to touch it. The STAG is now fifty-one years old, it is in one piece and apart from a replacement ignition casing, it is pretty much as Don Smith rode it, so I plan to leave it exactly as it is. It maybe did not survive the 1970 Scottish Six Days, but it has survived the test of time. I also have the original registration documents, which is another component of the bike’s history.”
Watts met Essex born Smith, who was guest of honour that same year at the British Bike Bonanza and he was reunited with his STAG. This turned out to be a once only reunion as Don died in the October, having suffered a stroke at home and a fatal one in Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge. He died on 6th October 2004 aged 66 years.
Watts: “Don was delighted to see his old STAG and we talked for well over an hour, at which time he pointed out all the features he had designed, including the tank and side panel badges which he made himself.
Don could not remember which tank he modified to fit the STAG, nor why he used a steel tank and not an alloy component.
I was delighted when Don signed the fuel tank as a memento of the reunion.
He told me the most challenging components were the side panels which took ages to fabricate. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to record our conversation that day, he was so forthcoming with information and happy to talk about his creation.”
What it was and what it is:
The STAG MK1 was primarily a prototype machine for Smith, a test bed to evaluate innovative ideas in trials bike design. It was also a statement that Smith was available for hire in the trials job market. The STAG was like a mobile CV, and it was also a stop-gap machine until something else came along. This happened when Don Smith signed with Kawasaki to develop their ‘KT’ machines in 1972, but that is another story.
Whilst it did not win any major events or set the trials world alight, the STAG fulfilled its purpose and fortunately for trials enthusiasts, it has survived in an unmolested form for over half a century.
The bike is in good condition considering that it has been left unused in storage for many years, the REH forks are now badly pitted and would require hard chrome plating before they could be functional, and the whole machine would need to be carefully recommissioned before being used in anger.
Some would say that it is a shame that it is not ridden anymore, but for the current owner of the STAG, Mike Betts, it is an interesting part of British trials history that has been preserved, a machine he is proud to be the custodian of.
The STAG MK1 is a survivor, it is a part of trial history, let us be thankful of that at least.
Resource for private study: Ride It! The Complete Book of Motorcycle Trials – Don Smith 1975; 1976; 1977 & 1978 – Haynes Publishing. ISBN 0854291652 (Out of Print)
With thanks to: Mike Watts, the current owner of Don Smith’s STAG; Amanda Lazenby, Don’s youngest daughter, for information received for the writing of this article.
Article Copyright: John Moffat/Trials Guru 2023
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