Cota Frame Paint

My friend Rocky agreed to help me get the frame and tank painted up for my Cota. Rocky has been an auto-body/paint guy literally his entire life. When I showed up with my frame Rocky commented that it didn't really look that bad regaurdless of age. I told him I knew but it looked to be somewhat faded in color and I just wanted to start the season on my 'new' bike as fresh as possible. Well let me tell you, I'm not sure if Rocky did a color match or if he just picked the brightest Ferrari red he could find but the color is beautiful, bright and has a pop and shine that will blind you!!! Needless to say, I'm very happy with it. The pictures really don't do it justice!!!

1983 Montesa Cota 242 "Fixes"

Well it was hard to do but I decided to tear the Cota down and shine it up a little for the upcoming year. I knew I was going to have to do something to remedy blown rear shock and between not knowing what shocks to buy, how much to spend and not really having the money to put into shocks right now, this would be the perfect time to tear the bike down even though I was eager to get some peg time in on it.

After getting the engine out I basically just rattle-canned it with some basic black paint. Nothing fancy, just enough to spiffy it up a little.

I also sanded the pipe, mid-muffler and silencer down and gave them a coat of paint.

And a few other parts....

Cleaned the airbox up.

And replaced the worn out Amal levers and perches with some new Dominos.

Next up; fresh paint from Rocky's!!!

Montesa Cota 242

Recently I saw that Larry Holbert had his Cota 200 for sale on Craigslist. It was hard to beleive knowing how much he likes his white tanked Montesa and how well he rides it. I procratenated for a few weeks and finally gave him a call fully expecting the bike to be gone. Well much to my surprise, he still had the 200 and when I voiced concerns about a guy my size on a 200 he told me he would also be willing to sell his 242. Within a week or so I was at Larry's checking out his bikes.

The first thing I noticed about both bikes was how tight they felt. They had great brakes and no crazy, miscelaneous rattles. Well after riding both bikes, I couldn't decide which I liked better. The 242 had a great engine but the 200 turned and handled much like a modern bike. In the end I went with the 242 for fear of stalling the 200 on hills. Like Larry said, you can be good on either if you ride them enough. I'll take that advice!!!