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22 -Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder
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The main photo shows Jordi Tarres sitting on the 1993 GasGas. Keen Tarres fans will note that this is not the bike that he rode trials on. The bike he is sitting on is the prototype GasGas trials bike that GasGas prepared for Jordi to convince Jordi that they could build the bike that he needed.
This would therefore give him confidence to leave Beta. The prototype worked well and the rest is history. You will note that the bike that Tarres rode in the World Trials had Ducados and Oxbow livery. The bike he is sitting on does not. This photo was therefore taken some months into the new contact. The actual trials bike that Tarres rode in the 1993 Championship(which he won) is in the Barcelona Museum. Tarres only used one bike in 1993 and his other years, not many bikes. He said it was hard enough to get one bike perfect let alone 2 or 3.
The bike in the inset small photo below is the actual bike that Tarres tested with GasGas. It features works lower fork yokes that have never featured on any production GasGas. It also features a modified engine over standard.
This would therefore give him confidence to leave Beta. The prototype worked well and the rest is history. You will note that the bike that Tarres rode in the World Trials had Ducados and Oxbow livery. The bike he is sitting on does not. This photo was therefore taken some months into the new contact. The actual trials bike that Tarres rode in the 1993 Championship(which he won) is in the Barcelona Museum. Tarres only used one bike in 1993 and his other years, not many bikes. He said it was hard enough to get one bike perfect let alone 2 or 3.
The bike in the inset small photo below is the actual bike that Tarres tested with GasGas. It features works lower fork yokes that have never featured on any production GasGas. It also features a modified engine over standard.
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Beta had the best rider in the World Jordi Tarres. What was the
story surrounding Jordi coming to Gasgas and signing a contract with you ? I think it was Narcis who make Jordi onto the team. Jordi go before with Beta and he wants the pleasure of driving for a Spanish bike. He is paid well and also after has the good sponsor of Ducados, the cigar sponsor, he pay Jordi and Gasgas will not take any of your money from your sponsors and we will pay also for everything. Jordi make good work for Gasgas and GasGas take good profit from Jordi. The competition department of GasGas and team at the Trial was paid by GasGas. GasGas like other company pay for this. The mechanic and everything. Jordi was the driver. Jordi want some changes to his bike but he speak with Paxau for these changes, no GasGas. Paxau say no first and they argue but the people at the Paxau workshop and others help Jordi, Montje, Bonni Ginbolin, Toni Garido and after Salva, but they say nothing about the motorbike for factory changes. Everything cost money. The Trial team and Enduro team cost GasGas 1 million euros each year. |
Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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Everything costs money
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I don’t know, Narcis made this agreement with Jordi. Jordi take money from GasGas, from Hebo for the clothes.
Jordi’s first year with Gasgas was in 1993. Did you make a special bike to tempt Jordi to Gasgas? No, no, maybe Jordi make this. There is a man in the north of Spain who has a Gasgas that is special and looks to be an early 1993 GasGas with many different parts that cannot be bought. He says that this was the bike that Jordi first received when he joined GasGas. No, no standard. Maybe some pieces were adjusted. I do not remember making a special bike for Jordi. It was the same for enduro as it was for trial. You would take the standard model and separate and put in your changes and some changes to the engine interior and the suspension a little change. The machine was always the same. Did Jordi influence the production bike? Jordi ride to win. This was number one. If we something he do that we like, we think about this and maybe do. It was no automatic that Jordi tell factory about his changes. Who made the changes for the following years production bikes ? Maybe Narcis, maybe me, Montje, Toni and Claudi is a team that would make these changes and Pedro. Pedro is very good mechanic. He would say “make this “and Toni would make the drawing and Mange would make the testing of the item. I would make the mould. It would not be directly Paxau or not directly Jordi. Jordi was the best rider so were his requests from the factory huge? No, no no. This bike was ok and normally is good and he was happy someday but maybe another day he would come and say “oh this is very shit, very shit”. It would depend how he was at this moment. Its like anyone. Good day, bad day. Jordi would do lots of testing of different parts, such as exhaust front pipes and rear silencers .Were these special parts made by GasGas ? It seems that there was much work done to change the bike to the liking of Jordi and make things good for him? |
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No no, we no make a lot of exhausts, no. Maybe he take one and cut and his mechanic would fit. Every time he have one or two mechanic and this would all be supplied by Gasgas.
Every time they make something this not go in the standard machine. No make nothing for standard machine. I cannot remember the team saying to factory “We make this, can you use this production?”. No.
What we make for the series on the bike was make by Toni, Mange. I no remember the team coming back to use with nothing
special.
Paul Edmondson was a very successful rider for Gasgas a long long long way away in the UK?
Did he get less attention because he was so far away of this and the language difference?
No, sometimes he is coming here. He would go every day to different place with factory for testing and to run enduro. He come many times here and stay at my house.
Was the trials market bigger for GasGas at this time?
We make 5000 trial bikes here
And how many enduro?
Every time they make something this not go in the standard machine. No make nothing for standard machine. I cannot remember the team saying to factory “We make this, can you use this production?”. No.
What we make for the series on the bike was make by Toni, Mange. I no remember the team coming back to use with nothing
special.
Paul Edmondson was a very successful rider for Gasgas a long long long way away in the UK?
Did he get less attention because he was so far away of this and the language difference?
No, sometimes he is coming here. He would go every day to different place with factory for testing and to run enduro. He come many times here and stay at my house.
Was the trials market bigger for GasGas at this time?
We make 5000 trial bikes here
And how many enduro?
Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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Maybe 10,000 also. In one year we make 15000 enduro. 5000 trial and 10000 enduro. This included some little enduro like 50cc enduro.
So you sold more enduro than you did trial? Yes, yes. The enduro market is three times trial I did not know that Now, make bum in the foot GasGas. They have very good enduro, they change everything and make many bad changes. What was the best selling bike for GasGas? I dont know. You know GasGas this year they celebrate 25 years of GasGas ha ha . The company start in 1973 . GasGas no know the history of GasGas. Both Jordi and Paul won the championship in the same year 1994? Yes yes
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Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat
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Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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That must have been like the cream on the cake and a wonderful year for Gasgas?
Yes incredible. Very good. I follow more the enduro with Paul. He wins I think in Turkey and Jordi win in Finland and we have both the championships. Narcis follow more Jordi, I follow more Paul. You see this picture here that I took inside the old Gasgas factory? What is that?......what happens here. There is a slope coming down with GasGas written on the floor. This is Fornells? Hmm, I don’t understand. It is upstairs in the roof in Fornells? Yes I don’t know ha ha ha Maybe they make engine here? No no |
Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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Exclusive Interview with GasGas co Founder Josep Pibernat www.retrotrials.com
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Upstairs in Fornells, was anything made there?
I think this was maybe for the fire, I don’t know. Upstairs we separate some boxes for the trial and the enduro, 2 stroke, 4 stroke for Boni Claudi, Toni, Montje, everyone have new box. So Montje didn’t work at this time in Torino with Paxau? No they work here. Paxau come here one time a month. Pedro in Torino is the real mechanic there, he is very good. |
Who developed the changes to the Trial bike that would come out the next year ?
The ideas come from us all of the time and sometimes we change immediately, other times things would be for the next year. This year we would make changes to the brakes, bring the stand further in, make the protectors bigger, give the cylinder more power, change the gearboxes and the suspension a little. All this would happen immediately and every day we would be thinking about these things with my team.
In 1992 you would be thinking about the changes you would want to make to the chassis for the next year. Who would make these prototype chassis for you?.
Yes, we would be thinking about this and Chico and Tony who work in the factory with the prototypes with Montje. They only work with the prototypes. After we choose the materials we will use then arrange for the moulds to be made for the different parts, different type of metals to be used, different power than is required. You are thinking this new part is good so you test in moto and its good and its good and then no good and you take out and modify. We run these new parts for one year. After this, in March we finish and say ok we stop test and decide to produce for July or no. After July we start for the next year.
The ideas come from us all of the time and sometimes we change immediately, other times things would be for the next year. This year we would make changes to the brakes, bring the stand further in, make the protectors bigger, give the cylinder more power, change the gearboxes and the suspension a little. All this would happen immediately and every day we would be thinking about these things with my team.
In 1992 you would be thinking about the changes you would want to make to the chassis for the next year. Who would make these prototype chassis for you?.
Yes, we would be thinking about this and Chico and Tony who work in the factory with the prototypes with Montje. They only work with the prototypes. After we choose the materials we will use then arrange for the moulds to be made for the different parts, different type of metals to be used, different power than is required. You are thinking this new part is good so you test in moto and its good and its good and then no good and you take out and modify. We run these new parts for one year. After this, in March we finish and say ok we stop test and decide to produce for July or no. After July we start for the next year.