Montesa 4-stroke here

Montesa has launched a customer version of the four-stroke Cota 4RT trial bike Douglie Lampkin will ride in next year’s world championship.

The move to a four-stroke (championship rules will ban two-strokes from 2006) means the 250cc engine is 3kg heavier than the previous two-stroke version. So the firm, working closely with Honda, has shaved weight off as many components as possible to compensate. The chassis is 1.6kg lighter than the previous Cota 315R’s. Each wheel is 600grams less, too.

After riding the bike, Lampkin – who was beaten to this year’s world title by Montesa team-mate Takahisa Fujinami – said: “There is a great difference between the 315R we’ve competed with until now and this new Cota 4RT. You would obviously have to adapt but I really like the way it responds.”

The bike is fuel-injected – a first for competition trials bikes.

The firm says it will build around 4000 of the Cota 4RT. No price has yet been announced.

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