Catalonia, especially the greater Barcelona area, was an old centre of motorcycling, which also developed into a stronghold of trial sport from the 1960s onwards. The Spanish Motorcycle Trial Championship was held from 1968 onwards. With Bultaco, Montesa and Ossa, there were three manufacturers of off-road motorcycles in a region that was also blessed with ideal terrain conditions. Many new motocross and trial events emerged in the 1970s, inspiring young people with their bicycles. Sabadell and Sant Feliu de Codines became the two most important centres of bici-trial, as bike trials were initially called in Catalonia.
In Sabadell, young people apparently began meeting in the early 1970s at a suitable site close to the city and, inspired by motorcycle trials, started training in sections. In 1975, this developed into organised events, which were organised by Oscar Puig, the father of one of the young people involved. In 1976, there was a ‘Trophy of the City of Sabadell’ and in 1977, the first Catalan championship was finally established. In Calella, too, there was a first Bici trial on 15 February 1975 – perhaps even earlier than in Sabadell – of which film footage has recently emerged. Due to the geographical density and the great terrain in the ‘trial cluster’ of Catalonia, the development of bicycle trials there was more dynamic and intense than in Germany; there were much larger starting fields and an excellent infrastructure. In collaboration with the bicycle shop ‘Cicles Montey’, the first small-series trial bike, the ‘Keni’, was now being built in Sabadell.
In Sant Feliu de Codines, the beginnings – apparently from 1975 onwards, with the first events taking place in 1977 – were influenced by the three-day motorcycle trial Tres Dies dels Cingles, which had been held since 1973. Josep Figueras was the central figure there. As the owner of the bicycle and motorcycle shop ‘Motos Figueras’, he built a special trials bike in 1977 for Andreu Codina (Andreu Codina i Candelas, born 10 May 1964), who came from Sant Feliu de Codines and was the most successful rider there. In 1978 and 1979, Codina became Catalan champion on a Figueras bike. Later, Josep – a motocross rider and outstanding engineer – built the ‘Fidan’, also in small series.
The name Pi first appeared in bicycle trials in 1978. In September 1977, seven-year-old Ot Pi, whom his father Pere Pi (then Pedro Pi) originally wanted to turn into a successful motocross rider, crashed during a children's motocross and trials event in Montornès del Vallès and subsequently wanted nothing more to do with motorcycling. His father then had a small trial bike built in the research and development department of his company Montesa, which had also built Ot's competition motorbike, so that Ot could at least compete in bicycle trials: this was first the case in Bellaterra in 1978 (see section 6, chapter ‘Felix Krahnstöver and Pere Pi’). But it was only after Pere Pi received ‘the news of German bicycle trials’ (see the chapter of the same name in section 6) through a visit from Felix Krahnstöver in 1979 that he recognised the potential of bike trials and turned his attention to this rapidly developing new sport. He brought Andreu Codina to Montesa – as a development rider for the soon-to-be mass-produced ‘Montesitas’ and as a trainer for Ot. In 1981, the result of this was the Montesita T-15, whereas the T-10 model, which went on sale in November 1979, and the slightly later T-5 model had not undergone any special development work (see section 6, ‘Pere Pi makes bicycle trials HIS business’).