OzVMX Forum
Marque Remarks => Spaniards (Bultaco, Ossa, Montesa etc) => Topic started by: steve234 on November 07, 2008, 02:49:58 pm
-
Has anybody got some astro #106 bits by any chance? Mainly looking for small end bearings, pistons & gaskets i guess as well as any other bits and pieces. Also can anyone suggest who i could get to make up some wider triple clamps to take today's wider tyres? Alternately, if anyone has a stack of useable pirelli mt53's laying about i'll definitely take them off your hands at the right price.
-
Also, does anyone have the bore specs for these early 70's bullies? (Mines a #106 325cc). I have gathered a fair bit of info but cant seem to find anything like the finer detail. I was also shocked to read a Rick Siemans vmx bike guide the other day that stated the early 70's astro's were totally crap! Has anybody had experience with unreliable astro's or pursang's for that matter?
-
If you need parts books etc, Peter Shoene at Bultaco Parts has them - he is on (03) 5148 9191 or http://www.users.bigpond.com/bultaco.oz/index.html (http://www.users.bigpond.com/bultaco.oz/index.html) or Don Newell on Ph: (07) 3353 1874 or http://www.newellmotorcycles.com.au/bultaco.htm (http://www.newellmotorcycles.com.au/bultaco.htm)
I have a Pursang Mk 6 250 and a Pursang Mk 5 350 that I use mostly for dirt track, they are brilliant bikes for dirt track. Plenty of power and the frames are perfect for sliding! Forget what Mr Siemans said, if you get the electrics and carby sorted with new equipment, you'll love 'em.
Cheers,
Mark
-
YOu can get astro Weiss clamps out the US new or second had for FAt tyres just ebay them or get onto Hughs Bultaco he sells everything Taco
Astro are fast but not so good for VMX, But in the right hands a 360 astro should smoke anything on the short track
-
Appreciate the replies guy's.
Feakshow, those Weiss clamps you mentioned are they the ones Bill Weiss makes by any chance? I have spoken to him but he was reluctant to pack & send which put me off. Wish i had purchased a bunch of stuff when the dollar was good.....D-oh! But at the end of the day it is what it is, right?
-
Steve,
No doubt S'Hunky would be going on his experience of the very first model Astro 250 (M90 from memory) that DirtBike tested in Feb73 issue. It kept seizing on them & spitting the riders off. So he's thrown the baby out w the bathwater by the sound, & (w all due respect to him) revealed how much he doesn't know about Astros. As the saying goes, "You can prove anything where 'n' = 1 !"
I read many years later somewhere (or maybe Don Newell told me) that their only problem was that the big-end side clearance was set too tight on the first batch. Free that up & they ran fine.
I never owned Astros myself (& only raced Pursangs & Shepa Ss), but all the Buls I've owned were stone reliable w a little regular maintenance. I only ever rode a friends Astros (both 250's) & felt the powerbands were broad enough to ride in MX also. Gearbox ratios are closer than pursang. Diff pipes too. The early ones used a pursang like frame; later ones used diff frame from pursangs.
They were very very competitive (both 250 & 360) in flattrack, as any US mag of the day will show in the results of AMA professional events.
326 Buls ran 83.2mm bore & 60mm stroke.
Serco sell many diff size little end brgs & often have some Bul pistons. Otherwise, Don Newell & Peter Schoene in Oz. Both have lots of parts.
-
Thanks JC, after much deliberation i'll be contacting Don next week to get things rolling. The motor had an as yet undiagnosed knock when i picked it up so i have decided not to bodge it up and give it the respect she deserves. Hopefully i'll have it ready for the start of the 2009 DT season.