What carby do you reckon? If it was prepared in the states surely it would have been a Mikuni! Love to know for sure! Thanks fella's Jerry
No it wasn't prep'd in the states Jerry. You've set me on a bit of a mission, trolling thro old mags & here's what I can report w some degree of certainty (ie verified by more than 1 reputable source):
Tho Pomeroy was somewhat unknown at the time of that 1st GP in 73, he had already competed in the previous years TransAMA & come 2nd American to Lackey, & represented USA in the des nations also doing fairly well, so he had come to Bultaco's notice & they sent him to Europe for 2mths to train w Marcel Wiertz (belgian Bul importer & regular GP rider) & do some international pre-season races in Belgium. For that he used stock prod'n bikes.
By the time of the 1st GP he had impressed enough to get factory prep'd bikes (along w the likes of Vic Allan as far as I can tell), but was still a privateer surviving on pitiful start-money & all-but 'slumming it', not a works rider w a works bike (he had no contract until the belgian GP which was the 3rd GP I think).
Pomeroy's own description of his 1st GP bike: "Power range was really similar (to prod'n pursang), just had more horsepower. The diff I felt was the handling. It was lighter & it just changed a lot of the handling." He goes on to say it used std front supension, but trick lightweight shocks that "might be standard next year". ie the telescos, tho he called them betors. He also says they were using an aluminium clutch (which gave him grief & slowed him in the 2nd moto) - no doubt the one that also became prod'n. Tires were 300/320 Barum front & 450 Metzler rear.
In another I'view, in answer to the question, "How special were the GP bultacos?" he replies, "They weren't too special compared to the suzukis & Maicos & eveything... I'm used to riding a standard bike & thats what I wanted. About all it had was a chro-mo frame made in the states. Its not very good, its made too light & it cracks everywhere. The bul factory frame is better-handling because it feels like it is stronger & doesn't flex as much, but that day I was patriotic (& used the US -made frame)... The factory wanted us to use an experimantal aliminuim clutch but it was slipping & I had a lot of trouble climbing hills"
So the US-made chro-mo frame sounds like tis true. Tom Rapp had already been using such a frame on his sponsored M68 in the US & Doug Schwerma (then trading as Cycle Services) was already selling such frames for pursangs & banditos & reportedly had been involved w the Bul riders in the TransAMA providing chro-mo frames (& Jimmy Odom in short track). Seems to me it would most likely have been 1 of his frames, not a CMS frame.
Now here's a bit of dubious dribble from my 'favourite' journo Frank Melling (who always sounded to me like a geriatric): "Pomeroys bike was 15lbs under the FIM min wt of 196lbs at the Spanish GP, thanks mainly to his lightweight US-made chro-mo frame". Yeh, right! To get a MK6 pursang that light would have taken mega $$s & a lot more than a lighter frame & I'm sure a factory that size would have spent a squillion $$ getting it that light for an untested/unproven rider at GP level. In yr dreams Frank!
Also found the article comparing Pomeroys barrel to an M103 barrell. It was from the bike he used at Daytona & Houston in 74. Inlet is somewhat larger, but the rest are very similar to std pursang.
Bike #57 above is probably one of his bkes used in US (where he regularly used #57), probably from the TransAMA. He's still using ridged akronts there, but note the Mk7 style chain guide - perhaps another pre-prod'n item.
