any OSSA riders here?

Bike was rough as a badger's arse but he was fast as fuck, the thing was so light he could stuff it up the inside of the Yamahas of Read and Ivy at the Ulster GP at Dundrod but lost out again on the straights.

Yep, it's an interesting story. A mere single cylinder was no match to the massive power of V4 Yamahas at the time, but the thing was so light, nimble and controllable it literally dominated the powerful yet bulky & heavy Yamahas on all twisty parts. Some more info here.

OSSA had lots of technology leaps going with it despite being relatively small player on the market. Apparently OSSA was the first production motorcycle with disc brakes as well.
 
OSSA was the lightest production bike, a completely fresh approach to trials, radically designed, probably the best 2-stroke trials engine ever made, overall superbly nimble and capable bike. Even if OSSA trademark dissapears I'll be loving mine to bits:


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Pity some of the other radical engineering wasn't up to much like the rear shock linkages, the woeful starting and the gearbox faults - shame as it looked promising

Most uk riders want a brand they can trust to finish a trial every week like Beta/Sherco/Scorpa/GasGas and of course Honda

Uk bikes get ridden hard as we have the most competitions in comparison to other countries
 
We borrowed Billy Bolts when Eugene was over to practice, it was a fucking nightmare to start. I genuinely thought the crankcase seals had gone, but apparently they were fine. The bike was only 2 months old and prepped by Birkett who was sponsoring Billy.
 
Pity some of the other radical engineering wasn't up to much like the rear shock linkages, the woeful starting and the gearbox faults - shame as it looked promising

Most uk riders want a brand they can trust to finish a trial every week like Beta/Sherco/Scorpa/GasGas and of course Honda

Uk bikes get ridden hard as we have the most competitions in comparison to other countries

The shock linkage is only a problem if you don't lubricate it.

Starting if you have issues can be sorted by adding a small12v rechargable battery into the loom, position it in the airbox. It then primes the fuel pump for first kick starting.

Gearboxs were an issue, all repaired free of charge.

Sadly an all new bikes will have a few problems.
 
When I got my 2013 model (with a very high-compression head) it was a pig to start too. Some 10-15 kicks cold, 3-5 kicks warm and very hard to kick due to high compression head. I then used Castrol 2T oil back then

I then devised a 9V battery system to give initial boost to fuel pump, sparkplug and injector:

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It was night/day difference then, some 1-3 kicks cold, 1-2 kicks warm.

In the end through practice I figured it's actually the most important to have the correct fuel/oil mixture, it must be a very precise 9% (1:110) and also keeping the magneto clean so it creates enough electricity during kicking. I clean the magneto every time I change the engine oil. Considering those two things and after using only GRO Offroad 2T oil, I actually haven't required the 9V start system anymore since I get about the SAME results with just dry kicking both cold/warm. For cold start I give first a soft kick, I then hear the fuel pump whine, pressurize the system and give some voltage to the capacitor charge, then usually just one sharp kick starts the bike. Warm start: 1 sometimes 2 sharp kicks and it's running (all this with no 9V support). I keep the 9V system just for backup now, haven't required this for ages now actually, might take it off for less bulk and complication.

In any case it's a stunning and mighty capable trials bike to ride. Everything is just put right with it's ride quality and handling. There's no replacement for a non-compromising design and a proper EFI, I'd ride no other compromised 2T or a carburated or a pig-heavy 4T trials bike if you ask me. OSSA just ticks all those boxes for me.


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