1965 Rickman Petite Metisse

This has been quite an interesting project in that so little in the way of reliable information was available. I probably spent as much on phone calls as I did on the new glass, just trying to get the facts on what this bike looked like the day it rolled out of the Rickman factory and how it this model differed from the Bultaco Model 11. Many thanks to any of you out here who I bothered while looking for information.

The "horse's mouth" in this case turned out to be Charley Hockie, one of the two original U.S. importers of the 250 Rickman Metisse in 1965. Charley and fellow entrepreneur/ desert racing king Bud Ekins went to England during an economic depression there. Apparently the motorcycle importing numbers looked good enough to buy 24 of Don and Derek Rickman's nickel-framed ring-dings; each man brought in 12 machines. This, by the way, was illegal as far as Bultaco West U.S. was concerned and the bikes were imported by Ted Wassel as "parts." Thus, only 24 machines were sneaked in before Senor Bulto's marketing police and Doug Yerkie put a screaming halt to it.

By the time Doug and Bultaco West started to import this model, Bultaco was building the Model 11. Charley sold all 12 of his machines in the time it took Bud to sell one (this per Bud), so Bud delivered his remaining 11 bikes to Charley to sell. Charley is the only expert on the planet for these 24 U.S. imported Petites. His memory was clear as a bell on these bikes, and although Bud doesn't remember much about them, he did say that Charley was the guy to talk to. The facts per Charley and Bud:

• They had the normally yellow fiberglass painted British Racing Green. All 24. Green.
• Chromed steel rims on the rear, Akronts on the front. A few had 19-inch Dunlops on the front.
• Betor forks with alloy triple clamps and 22.5-inch tubes. Betor went to 21.5-inch tubes the following year.
• Girling shocks.
• Chromed steel ball-end levers. Presumably Doherty.
• The usual "Metisse" and "Avon" decals.
• Monza flip-top gas cap.
• Petcock toward the front of the tank on the left side.
• Reynolds 531 tubing with a "B###" serial number horizontally across the front of the headstock. The Model 11 serial number is stamped vertically on the right hand side.
• Bultaco 250 four-speed motor with radial finned head (torque motor) on two or three of them. The remaining bikes were TT motor equipped with the straight-finned heads as in the MotoRetro Bultaco book photo. The TT four-speeds had a gradual taper to the stinger on the pipe like an early Pursang, whereas the trial version pipe had a sharper taper (more back pressure?). The later is pictured in the Osprey press book Spanish Trials Bikes.
• Femsa ignition.
• British Greeves style rear hub and sprocket. Brake on the right side via cable. Spanish brakes up front.
• Nickel-plated tubular brake lever instead of the Model 11 flat sand cast lever.
• Low-rise handlebars.
• Non-folding (read: ankle breaking) footrests with a right-side-only metal "flap" to keep the rider from inadvertently hitting the shift lever as he maneuvered.

Some of this information does not apply to the yellow Petite Metisses sold in England during its production. As with any Rickman, it's normally a jump ball when it comes to separate components such as suspension, controls, etc. The aforementioned photo in Spanish Trials Bikes of the Rickman 250s being assembled show them with Norton forks. In the case of the U.S. imported models, Charley and Bud ordered the above components and sold them that way.

As the story goes, Senor Bulto had a falling out with the Rickman brothers and proceeded to build the Bultaco Metisse/Pursang Mk1/Model 11 domestically with the same basic frame and body part designs. Unfortunately, he also was forced to use that good ol' Spanish fiberglass and soft steel frame tubing instead of the chromoly steel that the frame geometry called for. The Bultaco Model 11 frame is not renowned for its strength.

Pat French at MRD verified the serial numbers on this bike with a production date of September 1965 and told me that the entire production run was less than 100.

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