I Got to Know Pere Pi

In the course of 1979, I actually got in touch with Pere Pi – Felix Krahnstöver had given me his address. I wrote to him that I had organised my first bicycle trial in Bad Nauheim in 1974 and I also enclosed the first article on this subject from FAHRERLAGER: ‘Trialsport ohne Motor’ (Trial sport without a motor). Pi was now familiar with the Fürstenhagen film, he knew the date of 25 May 1974, when the first (at that time) known bicycle trial took place in Bad Nauheim, and he had the article ‘Trialsport ohne Motor’ from FAHRERLAGER. At this point, the story with Pere Pi took a dramatic turn. One pricks up one's ears when reading sentences like this in his memoirs, published in 2012: ‘Only a few can use the word “invent” in the case of bicycle trials, unless they are patented.’ ¹ Is this the mentality in business, that everything that is not protected by patents is copied? I believe that historical facts are not suitable for patenting and take the position of the historian who ‘should merely show how it actually was’ (Franz Leopold von Ranke, 1795-1886). So how was it?

Pere Pi then gave the bike trial the name “Trialsin” – “trial without”: “The name Bici-Trial was replaced by Trialsin, as it was a trial without exhaust fumes, without an engine, and without noise ... That was in 1979.” ² He thus adopted the exact title of the article “Trialsport ohne Motor” (Trial sport without a motor) that I had sent him (the article and headline were written by Sven Kuuse (1923-2003), editor of FAHRERLAGER). The Fürstenhagen promotional film for cycle trials, which Felix Krahnstöver had brought with him on his second visit to Pere Pi in the summer of 1979, was copied in the same way and a practically identical Montesita promotional film was shot – incidentally, in even poorer quality than the Fürstenhagen film. ³ And the third element, the date 1974 of the oldest bike trial (Bad Nauheim) known at the time, was also “copied” by Pere Pi and from then on ran like a magic number through his historical accounts of bike trials – whether he (initially) tried to “achieve” this date with changing (!) stories, or whether he (later) consistently concealed this date.

The story Pere Pi used to reach the date 1974 was as follows:
"In 1974, Ot – Pedro Pi's son – was four years old. It was quite normal for a child of that age to want a bicycle. (...) Pedro Pi then decided to build such an (off-road) bicycle himself, as he worked at the Montesa motorcycle factory. (...) The new bicycle was built with a special geometry that made it easier for Ot to manoeuvre. This allowed 4-year-old Ot to ride up an 18 cm high step without having to use his foot for support." ⁴ It was on this occasion that he came up with the idea of bike trials.

I first read this story in a magazine article that Pere Pi sent me months later, towards the end of the year, in response to a letter I had written to him after returning from Spain in the spring of 1979, together with brochures for the then new Montesita T-10. Today, I think that Pere Pi needed that time to get his story published in the magazine and then present it to me together with the material about the Montesita T-10, which had been completed in the meantime. I found this story dubious from the outset and thought to myself that at the time in question I had not only had an – alleged – idea, but had actually organized an event. I showed the article to my parents at the time to see what they thought of it. My mother immediately got angry: “That's mean!” “Anyone can claim that!” and “A four-year-old! That's ridiculous!” My father added: “Especially since he has completely different opportunities in his factory than you do!” I have forgotten some things, but I have retained my parents' spontaneous reaction.

My mother was right. Thirty-five years later, a photo published in an interview Pere Pi gave to Retrotrials.com in 2014 revealed that Ot Pi had indeed ridden over the 18 cm step, but not in 1974 at the age of four, but in the summer of 1979 at the age of nine. ⁵ This also fits in with the other known facts – see the chapter “Felix Krahnstöver and Pere Pi” for more information.