hello to all, new to trials and new to vintage. just bought an excellent condition 73 bultaco sherpa t 350. if i am right, it is a model 92. it has 300 miles on the odo, and i have no reason to believe that is not true, judging by the condition. looking at as many google images as i can, i think the only non original parts are the tires. mine has a spanish made pirelli rear and a Firestone knobby front. on the recommendation of b & j, i have vee rubber trials tires on the way. i got the bike with the original mso. so far, I've used caswell to line the tank, replaced the spark plug and air filter, changed both oils and am running vp non ethanol race gas with golden spectro premix. starts much easier than last week when i picked it up. i need to wire in a kill switch. anyone know which wire to interrupt? i thank you all in advance, as i'm sure this will be the first of many questions. hope to enter my first trial on the sherpa as soon as possible so i can see just how little riding skill i really have! hope i can post pics
Hello, sounds great to me, avery nice model the 1973 Sherpa. I would love to see some pic's The kill switch is attached to the black wire that comes from the magneto/ignition, as seen here, (# 07): Looking forward to your pic's:
thanks for the schematic schrauber. i must be missing something, because i just cannot figure out how to get a pic posted here. if i email you pics, would that be easier? i'd love to show the sherpa off
You need an online picture stack, like Picasa or SmugMug, ... You want to Upload the pic's there. Then you "only" need the www adress of the pictures and copy/paste (the adress of the pictures in your picture stack) in your post by using the picture button. I use Picasa it's free for up to 1 GB of pictures when I remember right.
Very cool diagram- did you draw it yourself? Yes the black wire is the for the ignition. All you do is basically ground the black wire. There should be a junction block with screw terminals under the front of the tank. Look for the black wire. Congratulations on the Sherpa T- they are some of the best old trials bikes.
i'm still working on the pics - driving myself nuts. i got them saved to picassa now, so i'm getting somewhere. thanks. i did see the terminal block under the tank, and i do have a kill switch on the bars with no wires going to it. i'm wondering what to do next. my modern bikes have a kill switch with wires attached to the switch. I'll get more into it tomorrow. right now i'm just determined to get these pictures up
Get the tires changed from knobs to trials tires, right after you either rewire the existing kill switch or buy a new one, yamaha makes a nice killswitch, I think they are less than $20. Here's what I put on all of my bikes that dont have one already... Did someone mount 70's style 20inch bicycle bars on that dang thing? find some handle bars... that would be a start. http://www.ebay.com/itm/YAMAHA-IT17...Parts_Accessories&hash=item20c35be7d7&vxp=mtr
trials tires will be here today. i've been wondering about those bars, too. some pics show similar bars, other pics of 73 sherpas show much lower (but still wide) bars. i agree though, they look out of place. i saw some sammy miller bars i would like to order. I'd like to keep the bike "period correct"
@JRAM: The wiring diagram is made from various diagrams I have together with the wiring I found on my bike, instead of diferent monochromatic lines i used colors for the wires, so the diagram is easier to read. The bike is very pretty !!! The tobacco pouch (rear silencer) decrease power a lot, there are modifications available to cure this without gaining noise. To the handlebar, they had high handlebars back then but this is far too high. I would replace the bar too, to the handlebar high this depends to your body height and arm length. I would suggest a 5.0 renthal trials aluminium bar. You can always mount the other one in need or try to search up an original, (very dificult).
The front Firestone tire may be original. The some early Sherpa T's came with knobbies standard. By Spanish law they had to use "made in Spain" components only and there were no trials tires made in Spain at that time, so Bultaco mounter knobbies.. Everyone removed the knobbies and put on Dunlop Trials Universal's.
i really appreciate all of you guys help and feedback. i'm soaking up all of the info. I'll get updated pics next week with new tires mounted and hopefully some new bars. great knowledge base - keep it coming
Congrats on the Sherpa; she's a beaut. Just before moving a year and a half ago, I had to sell my Alpina 250...pained me to do so but allowed me to keep my R60/2. My feeling is to not worry too terribly much about the original equip and ride the damned thing! I got lots of pleasure from my '74 and they should be ridden. Best of luck! Slash
so, as you can see above, i installed new vee rubber trials tires and new tubes. i also changed the bars and grips. i noticed a frayed throttle cable, so that's next on the list. now, i believe i'm gonna ride it as is. can't wait to get it out there. being new to trials, i can't believe how sticky these tires are. running a tire at 5.5/5 lbs of pressure seems crazy, too, but i'm already amazed at the difference that small change made to my balancing in the driveway. i also believe the lower handlebar put me in a better "attack" position, and i'm sure this helped also. i received my first set of trials boots (gaerne balance oiled) and helmet (airoh trr steel), and again, i'm blown away. the boots feel like they were custom made for me and need no break-in, and the helmet is lighter than wearing a baseball cap (and more comfortable, too). thank you all for listening - i appreciate any feedback schrauber, i found your post over on the orange website and i'm on page 8 of 16 regarding your sherpa rebuild. i'm trying to pace myself and not read it all at once because the pictures are too graphic and cause me shortness of breath and sometimes dizziness and involuntary muscle contractions. your bike(s) are incredible, as are the other vintage trials bikes you photographed, the landscape you ride is breathtaking, the events that you participate in are massive, and your attention to detail, whether in your description of the restoration, or the work itself, is truly inspiring. i look forward to more from you, and i count you as a resource! lowPSI, you were right on the money about the tires - they were both made in espana, the pirelli and the firestone. great to have you guys (and everyone else) here with information
The reason I mentioned the Firestone front tire was that it may has some value to someone doing a restoration on a Spanish MX bike. Of course mounting modern rubber is they way to go if you are going to ride it. Have fun.
cough ... cough ... I now feel very flattered. Good to know you like it and there will be also an update soon. Thank's again
Im going out on a limb here, but the rear sprocket, looks smaller, as if it came off a 199 series, so it might be geared higher than trials at the time, I know they changed internals to do this later models. NO, I dont recall the # of teeth, but I know I remember that dad had the 76, I had the 79 and there was a difference in the sprockets to make the bikes more or less equal speeds at idle. back then, you know, those of us that didn't know any better, rode without pulling the clutch in, until you got your scorecard punched. LOL.
