Ossa Restoration

[worntorn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rssDEXqH3Sw

Here are a couple of 1972 OSSA Mick Andrew Trials specials I restored in the summer of 2009. One bike was given to me by a friend. He purchased it as a $50 basketcase fifteen years earlier it at a yard sale. He stored the frame and box of parts in a damp barn for all that time, so there was a fair bit of rust to deal with on that one.

The other is a bike I purchased locally at the start of summer 2009 for $100. The engine had been run a lot in a very dusty environment with the air filter missing. It had no compression, the bore and rings were worn right out. It had some other problems as well. Thirty five years of extreme use thru several owners had taken it's toll. Everything is repairable though.
That bike was in pieces as well.

These old Ossa trialers make excellent trail bikes, very light in weight (192lbs)
all kinds of torque from idle up and beautiful steering. The traction they get in mud is needs to be experienced to be believed. They were known as "The Spanish Bulldozer"
Mick Andrews developed the bike design for Ossa, then won major Trials competitions all over the world on it.

I had to find some Spanish music to go with the photos. My apologies if it isn't to your liking!

Glen

[ducksface]

An ossa is one of the reasons I gave up bikes. The wrong side shift and handbrake was too much for me to remember from shift to shift. I let one get loose under me and couldn't find the right controls. Loved that bike.

[Mikeymetal]

Beautiful work. I'm wondering haw many cc's they are? Also, was ossa any relation to the old Bultacos other then country of origin?

[worntorn]

They are 250cc. I don't think there was any connection between Ossa and Bultaco. I have read that the people behind Montesa were engineers who had started with Bultaco.

Ossa used the same basic engine in different forms to power trials bikes (the M.A.Rs in the clip), Enduros, Motocrossers, Road bikes and, probably the highest tuned version of the engine, a quite successful 250 GP bike.

The M.A.R.s are tuned to have torque right from an idle up. They have a pretty good snap to them in their powerband as well, but nothing like the Motorcross (Stiletto) version, or the Road bike version (Wildfire) which have far less bottom end with lots of midrange and top end.

I recall a friend getting the use of one of the 250cc Wildfire Road bikes for a day while his new 69 Triumph 650 Bonneville was in for servicing.
He said the little Wildfire was considerably quicker than his Bonny!

[Mikeymetal]

I was racking my brain to remember what one of the older neighbor guys had and then you go say Montesa. he was like 15 years older than me but I remember the bike It was red with a chrome pinstripe. His was a 250 and I think it was called a "cota" sound right?