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An entire generation of motorsport enthusiasts' posterboy, and WRC royalty.
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Well, wow…the things I didn’t know, or simply forgot (i.e. the not-quite-tenuous connection between Montesa and Bultaco): While I knew a bit about Montesa’s roadgoing bikes, the Impala is new to me…and the owner of this one seriously knows her way around all of this. Excellent presentation, all-around!
Montessa had some lower displacement models that won races in their class, but the 250 Impala was really their signature model in Europe. Here in the US they were not common, but you would see them from time to time. In New England where ‘cafe racers’ and road bikes with a forward riding position were popular there was a market. As a design the Impala really stands up, doesn’t it? In those years, there was a 3rd Spanish maker who made a similar road bike to the Impala, and that was Ossa.
Agreed. The design is iconic. I remember when these were first imported into New England. They were much admired motorcycles: agile, light weight, set up with flat bars a little like a cafe racer, lots of torque for the displacement, and if you could afford a *real* motorcycle at all, you could afford one.
