Topic: Checking out a '74 Montesa Cappra 250 tomorrow

[singedebile]

Having trouble finding much info on these bikes. Anyone know what I should be looking out for thats particular to these bikes? Are parts particularly tough to come by? What are they worth? Are they as fun as they look? Thanks!

[dave500]

most spainish bikes had reached their peak by the early 70s and the japanese makes soon out handled them all which is where dirt riding is,ive ridden old montessas and bultacos and they seem over powered for the handling?good old bikes dont get me wrong,id imagine parts would be few and far between depending on what you need?if its cheap and not frozen buy it,,type of bike youll need to buy two or three to gather parts if it needs internals maybe?i think they used honda engines and parts into the 80s?

[singedebile]

yeah this one is a '74 that is apparently running, $600 and complete... most of the older dirt bikes have been going up in value quite a bit and this seems like a fun bike to have. Just trying to figure out if it its more trouble then its worth. Thanks for the input!

[dave500]

they are fun alright,all dirt bikes are!!if its running its no trouble,,i wouldnt do day long rides untill i really shook it down though,these are getting hard to find ill bet,ossas and maicos also,,i never liked the sand cast looking casings though,are basic things like points hard to find and obscure for them?might be able to adapt some common car ones being a single?im not familiar with what they used for carbs,bing/dellortoto?carb parts might be hard?although im sure theirs a mikuni for them if originality isnt a concern?clutches i think were a weak point?you wont be racing and thrashing it though,,you cant destroy yamaha ITs,,i tried for years!!

[singedebile]

gosh, now I just saw a DT1750 for sale for the same price that I could ride legally on the street.... The Montesa looks so good, but I feel like the DT would be easier to find parts for etc..  and a friend of mine just picked one up.

[754]

Yeah but then you and I would not both have exotic Spanish girlfriends..mine has Matador for a last name, and that is not bul.....

Anyone can own a jap bike....

[dave500]

the old dts were good,the 250s and 400s shared the same transmission more or less,these had reed valves whereas the spainish bikes didnt,,they take more skill to ride in feeling the engine and keeping it on the boil,,you cant be in the "wrong"too tall gear and just power out of it(like early honda elsinors had no reed valve)we always used pre mix and plugged the auto lubes,we just didnt trust them after a mate had one fail and lock up hes 400,i had a 73dt400b,and an it400 later on,plenty power,over powered,they look handsome aswell but really are just a road bike frame etc,short travel suspension,the early yz was no better,yammy got it all together in the mid 80s and by the early 90s the decline happened,the IT was a thinly disguised YZ untill the end,the IT became a 200 and was the best of the lot,a 250 kit made them a true super dirt bike,a mate had one from new and had it 250 kitted,it was #$%*ing fast man and light,,you could #$%* up on rough #$%* and it would forgive,they were great bikes and would still be very competitve now even against the new bikes!you can only engineer in so much handling to a point,,it cant get better and better and better,youd be building uncrashable bikes otherwise?

[scrapvalue]

The only real difference between the old bikes and the new bikes is,  you can get going a lot faster before you crash on a new one!

[MoMo]

I once had an old LaCrosse-it was a fun bike, fast and handled reasonably well.  Did you look at the bike?...Larry

[scottly]

The Yamie 175 was basically a 125 with a bigger barrel. Crashed a brand new one back in the day. That taught me my head wasn't as hard as sand, and I have had a solid belief in the use of helmets ever since.
For the same price, I would go for the 'tessa.

[dave500]

i rode a mates bultaco or montessa i forget now into a barbed wire farm fence,,damn wrong side gear/rear brake set up!

[754]

No crossover shift linkage needed for shorttrack..

[tortelvis]

Whenever I see the word RARE I run in the opposite direction! it's hard enough to source parts for a 40 year old Honda that was produced in huge numbers without getting into some  rare beast made in limited numbers and possibly never imported into this country. Just my .02.

[demon78]

In somewhat vein what about a Suzuki PE 250 I've acquired one and am thinking about turning it into a green laner only so far it doesn't seem to want to putter about, it wants to go.
Bill the demon.

[dave500]

the pe suzy was akin to the rm as the it yammy was akin to the yz,they were both thinly disquised motocrossers,the ts and tm suzy were tamer in the porting,you cant putter the it and pe around for too long,theyll foul up.

[mrbreeze]

When I was a young buck in the early 70's, a guy up the road wanted to sell me an Ossa 250 Stilleto that was sooo bad a$$ but my dad said no . I was too young for a 36hp smoker. I had a paper route that paid enough to easily make the payments but he figured I would get hurt on it. At that time, I had to settle for a Kawasaki 120 that was cool to ride for my size. I later traded that up for a Honda 305 scrambler that was stripped for dirt. I still would dig on having one of the old Euro smokers although I can imagine parts are hard to come by these days.

[singedebile]

I never ended up looking at it, I think I really should get a DT especially as its my first dirt bike... having something that is street legal means I will get a lot more use out of it. I don't own a car or truck so getting out of the city to some trails would have to be done on the bike. Hopefully a DT200 or the like will "drop into my lap" at some point, at least now I know what I am looking for. Thanks for the input guyes!

[dave500]

a dt or similar jap bike will be easier to live with i think.