Dream Cotas
By TMX Archives on 15th Nov 13
MONTESA created something of a surprise when they sprung the Cota 4RT on the trials world at the Italian World Championship round back in July.
Their trusty 4RT four-stroke, originally launched back in 2006, while highly-regarded and built to a quality some manufacturers can only dream of, had remained virtually untouched since.
And despite seven consecutive World Championships (by the end of 2013) from Toni Bou for Montesa the Cota had become somewhat tired.
It looked like Montesa – owned by Honda – was coming to the end of the trials road.
Wrong! Enter the Montesa Cota 4RT260 and its upmarket sibling the 4RT260 Factory with a new look and the intrigue of an uprated engine.
There was talk of a drastic decrease in engine braking, something that proved a bugbear for many would-be Montesa owners, but just what Honda/ Montesa engineers had come up with was unknown.
Okay, the basic machine remains as ever.
The super reliable four-stroke motor is the basis around which is wrapped a neat, light aluminium chassis, with matching swinging arm.
The suspension is where the main difference lies between the two models, with the Factory being kitted out with Japanese Showa components.
The RT260 sports the latest TECH forks up front and the R16V rear shock.
Nothing wrong with these components, they are the same or similar to those used by their rivals, while the Showas are seen as being a class apart.
On to the engine. The first thing Montesa has done is give a small increase in power with a cubic capacity hike.
And while 10cc might not seem much, it makes for more punch in the lower and mid range and doesn't hurt the top end either.
The magic comes in the crankcases.
Factory development rider Amos Bilbao attempted to explain how the decrease in engine braking had been achieved.
As far as we can ascertain at this stage it is all down to a valve of some kind in the cases.
This allows the air-pressure, built-up by the descending piston, to be released which in turn makes for a much freer running engine.
Amos let slip that the factory engines used by Bou and Fujinami have enjoyed this feature for some time.
The bottom line is that this allows the engine to ‘feel' more like a two-stroke which will hopefully regain some of the customers lost to their rivals over the years.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NOVEMBER 15
