For more than three decades, the recipe for my “ultimate bike” was a rip-snorting, Bultaco 360cc street bike with cast wheels and a front disk brake. Now that I’m in my sixties, with a fubar right wrist, inattentive drivers crowding every road, and an increasing aversion to emergency rooms, my vision of a “dream bike” has definitely changed. In fact, I did a lot of soul-searching about whether I even wanted to finish this project at all, or just pull the plug.
Since I am confident that I’d never put many street miles on Bultakenstein, I have decided to skip the hassle of making it street legal. Therefore, I am now planning to build Bultaco in dedicated road racing guise. Since the Norton Commando Production Racer tail section already has oval number plates built in, would just need to add a number plate to the front.
I initially planned to take the headlight off, but because of Spanish marques’ renown in 24-hour races (especially on their hometown Montjuïc road course), it seems natural to lean into the endurance racer aesthetic. The lightweight bikes that competed in races such as the “24 Horas” and Moto Giro back in the day mounted the front number either above the headlight or onto the front fender. Many of these configurations looked pretty awkward, but having the plate tucked in close to the headlight shell with a cutaway at the bottom looks absolutely ace.
So, I mounted a Maier oval number plate above the Ural headlight. To ensure the cutout and mounting holes were symmetrical — a surprisingly complicated thing to verify — I ended up creating a full-size template on my computer. I then bent up a bracket that utilized the unused handlebar mounts on the top steering clamp.
It’s a little thing, but I am really happy and excited about this. I can better envision the final result, and that has amped up my enthusiasm for seeing this project through.
