VB

[MauriceR]

Very nice, love that pipe, other than the up pipe what are the differences between the 76 VA 360 and the 78 VB 360
I have a chance to pickup a 76 that is pretty complete but needs major work, he has pipe and cylinder and most all other parts but motor requires complete overhaul, I understand there were only about 500 VA's so are parts ultra rare or do a lot of the VB parts fit

[Montynut]

VA360 was a side exhaust port engine while the VB is centre port.

Completely different frame, swingarm, suspension, forks, triples, seat, air box and as you said pipe. Basically some of the engine internals carried over.

The bike pictured also appears to have the incorrect front end as the fork tubes on the VA360 extended about 75mm past the top triple clamp so the bars where offset to the rear of the triple clamp and the fork legs where a different type from memory. The pictured bike also has a VB250/360 fuel tank while the VA360 had the same tank as the VA250 only with black / yellow stripe as pictured.

The pictured bike also does not have the engine speed clutch that all OZ VA360 came with although some were retro-fitted with the arrangement on that bike. There is more interchangeability with the VA250 as far as chasssis goes than the VB360. The VA360 cylinder and head are one off I believe.

The VA360 was not the best Montesa ever built but were fast in the right hands but outclasses in 1976 by the RM370A among others. They are a pretty bike though like a lot of the Spanish bikes.

[k2000x]

the only thing vb that will fit is the motor is con rod and air cleaner..the vb seat fits i have one on mine for the extra thickness/height of the seat foam

[JohnnyO]

The bike pictured looks like a V75, the model before the VA which had the forks extending up above the top clamp.

[Montynut]

The bike pictured looks like a V75, the model before the VA which had the forks extending up above the top clamp.

There was no V75 360cc model. Both the V75 & VA 250 had the same forks while The VA360 had the long fork tubes extending above the top triple and also different fork legs. They do look like V75 / VA250 forks I agree.

update:
Just checked parts books and it appears that the VA250 had both versions of the forks early serial No had the same forks as V75 (couple of friends of mine had those back in the day) and then changed to the same as the VA360 with the long tubes and longer legs. It appears the change took place when the VA360 production started as they were later delivery than the VA250. The front end assembly (forks & triples) part number on the VA360 carries a 73 prefix indicating the its origins on the 250 bikes.

Montesa where always doing running updates parts books indicate there were something like 18 updates during the 414 series. The VE414 had two or three different fuel tanks but all looked the same.

[Montynut]

the only thing vb that will fit is the motor is con rod and air cleaner..the vb seat fits i have one on mine for the extra thickness/height of the seat foam

I believe the piston fits but the VA360 had two rings the same as enduro 360s. I would expect that some of the gearbox parts and parts of the selector mechanism fit also.

The seat fits but is a different base etc.

[JohnnyO]

Looks like the VA250 had the same forks as the VA360..

[Montynut]

As I said it appears that early series VA250s had the V75 forks. There are VB360 sales leaflets showing an engine speed clutch but none ever made it to market as far as we know. All VA360 leaflets show the engine speed clutch but later US deliveries had the G/B mounted clutch.

My friend and I bought Enduro 250 in the day. They arrived together had serial number close but had several differences. It was the Spanish way!

I’m not going to argue with you so let’s just say whatever you say is correct it is much easier and I don’t really care

[cappra]

When I worked at the dealer, we got in six of the VA 360's with the crank mounted clutch. Five of the six had clutch release problems and we retrofitted these five with the primary shaft mounted
clutch setup. Oddly, these five were mxed and about half way thru a moto, you could not move the shifter. It would not shift until the bike cooled down. Not sure if it was directly connected to the clutch
problem and we never did find out the cause. After waiting for a few months for Montesa to send us the fix, we never had any other problems with the 360. The sixth bike was desert raced and he never came back for his retrofit. While I was waiting to fix my own 360, I pulled the motor and put in a 250 and raced it.

[MauriceR]

Sounds like lots of changes on this bike. Next question is it worth $500 as is or to hard to get the parts to make it right.This is the serial #s frame# 66M0157 engine#66M0517 not matching but same #s in diff order.
.
here is a link to lots more pics of the bike
http://cveddy.smugmug.com/Other/VA360-Montesa/24240656_9gSPt8#!i=1972804042&k=J6R278q

[JohnnyO]

I’m not going to argue with you so let’s just say whatever you say is correct it is much easier and I don’t really care

Have you always been a smartarse? I was just showing you a brochure I have, I don't give a flying fork about Montesa's either way..

[80-85 husky]

Ol mate had a VB and transplanted an XL 420 into it. On its first outing, over the first jump, both front and back guards just exploded into pieces.... so yes, they become fragile... secondly, he had cocked up the sprocket / swingarm pivot geometry and on kicker bumps, the chain would double up into the front sprocket he moved it on.