montesa 414

[k2000x]

monty lovers theres some good reading on www.motorbikearchives.com  search montesa

[All Things 414]

"A crowd gathers quickly around a Montesa 414. Usually it's composed of guys chewing their lips pensively, like a bunch of local hoodlums confronting a new gunslinger in town. The seldom-seen Montesa is an unknown quantity. And if there's one thing a motocross rider who has carefully assessed the strengths and weaknesses of his opposition doesn't relish, it's another variable in his race-day equation. Especially a variable powered by a massive engine with the same exterior charm as a land mine.

The locals usually convince themselves that anything with Spanish origins, a four-speed transmission and the gruesome appearance of something squeezed out of a week-old hotdog bun can't possibly pose a threat to their chances for victory. That smug self-assurance lasts only until the Cappra 414 VE booms into a berm ahead of them and then wheelies toward the next corner, leaving a tremendous roost of dirt and a furrow of tortured earth in its wake. Riding behind a 414 is like being caught in an artillery barrage. You don't know whether to leap for the slit trenches or just surrender."

 

[mx250]

"I could have a classic love/hate relationship with this Montesa. When it's together and running, it makes Open-Class motocross particularly pleasant for me. It always goes precisely where it's aimed, and I revel in the way it hooks up like a D-9 Caterpillar tractor and explodes out of the corners, offsetting some of the mistakes I make in the corners. Sure, I know that if I owned one I'd be on the verge of using the whole 414cc affair as bonfire fodder at least once a week. But I'd almost be willing to endure the agony and expense of gluing the VE back together every week just so I could enjoy its special brand of Open-Class ecstasy. Almost.

The truth is that I wouldn't own a 414 because it would present me with a couple of problems I don't want. For one, it breaks a lot, and racing motorcycles don't break in your garage, they do it in a race. Meaning either that you don't finish well or you don't finish at all. And because there is a distinct shortage of Montesa dealers, parts are so hard to get that you might not be able to repair the damage before the next event. And that's a real problem; because if you think it's impossible to win when you're not around at the finish, try winning when you're not even around at the start.—Paul Dean?"