any OSSA riders here?

Tsiklonaut

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Looks very rare trials bike from a tiny manufacturer (used to big and famous in 70s), very radically designed and fully thought-through trials bike. To my knowledge OSSA's currently the only trials bike on the market that is designed and built from scratch with just trials passion in mind, not just copying others like most trials manufacturers tend to do to keep the traditional layout and beaten track bullcrap going.

Although hard to find they can be picked up dirt cheap currently since OSSA is on the verge of bankruptcy. Like all other all-passion manufacturers in the past they've paid the price with their massive R&D investments for pushing the technology boundaries (first 2T EFI in the sector, it's the smoothest and most predictable pulling trials engine currently on the market, radical reversed-cylinder engine and radical frame design, also the lightest bike in the class), had zero advertisement and just didn't sell enough bikes to justify the high R&D costs, let alone afford some top rider like Toni Bou or Adam Raga for showcase and visibility.

Unlike most trials bikes that mostly each have their own quirks I felt at home immediately I rode OSSA for the first time, everything is just designed and put right with this bike. Since price is also very low I had to get one myself, now after few months owning I love mine to bits! Even if OSSA trademark dissapears again I'll be keeping mine for years, just a fab ultralight trials bike to keep 'em proper riding skills tack sharp! :thumb2


(on a second though actually might have to get second s/h one into family since wifey keeps nicking it from me, she just loves riding that OSSA, lately too much in fact)



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I guess we WMB folk tend to like 'em more radical bikes, anyone else loves riding their OSSA trials bike here?
 
They're great bikes no doubt!

Personally I just don't get along too well on a 4T trials bike. Nice traction and also (rare on a trials bike-) fully predictable power delivery, but just utterly pig heavy and hard to handle and to finely control in technical parts, just a personal preference and a style mismatch for me. I know some riders get a long very well with them, and they're a cult bike for many of 'em.

I wouldn't ever trade my used-and-abused OSSA for one though even when offered for free brand new and with additional dosh! :)
 
Far too many problems, ruined too many trials after travelling hours even overnight for the bike to break, my son ran one for a season but on two occasions it broke on the first day of a two day trial. Great service from Ossa but not up to the abuse an Beta etc will take trialing every week and practice.


 
They're great bikes no doubt!

Personally I just don't get along too well on a 4T trials bike. Nice traction and also (rare on a trials bike-) fully predictable power delivery, but just utterly pig heavy and hard to handle and to finely control in technical parts, just a personal preference and a style mismatch for me.

I know some riders get a long very well with them, and they're a cult bike for many of 'em.

Toni Bou, just seems to keep on winning on his:D
 
Far too many problems, ruined too many trials after travelling hours even overnight for the bike to break, my son ran one for a season but on two occasions it broke on the first day of a two day trial. Great service from Ossa but not up to the abuse an Beta etc will take trialing every week and practice.

Was it earlier model (2010-2012)? I know those had teething problems and were prone to brake, especially the fancy cassette type gearbox they experimented with. Later models were ironed out, but when they moved the production to GasGas factory, then the quality went down again people have reported, so I reckon the 2013-2014 models are the best(?)

Mine's 2013 model been faultless so far, over 200 hours counted. Previous owner was with a particularly abusive riding style (bottom end is almost worn out to the frame, clutch replaced multiple times, looks visually worn and dented everywhere etc etc), only once gear lever broken (and it brakes the preload spring inside gearbox in the process!) but fixed now this with a wider bash plate to avoid future gear lever breakages.

I can tell it's not to the level of Montesa/Honda reliability, but very few 2T Spanish trials manufacturers are LOL.

Toni Bou, just seems to keep on winning on his:D

Similarity with Bou's factory hand-made and specialist prepped racing bike to your Average Joe's 4RT is like similarity between a pig and a bird :D
 
Young lads was a 2013, he got plenty of free parts from Ossa they couldn't have been better , even had the factory team working on it for free so aftermarket backup was good even updating the latest maps. Just when you had entered trials, travelled booked hotels and it would break it was frustrating.

Most trials bikes are high maintenance but you could usually get parts around the paddock for other makes.

Me being totally shit at trials it was the smoothest best bike I had ridden. Another overlooked bike is the Beta Evo 200 just plods away and doesn't spin up so easy .
 
Maybe it was a lemon as well. As told my 2013 has been rather examplary for it being a Spanish trials bike. I reckon Betas are something between those and Hondas, the two extremes. Trials bikes are indeed mostly high maintenance, but you never know when you get a true lemon, those will demotivate anybody.

Parts have been super easily avalable for me thanks to very good dealer I have. Have my own EFI electronics setup so I can load and modify the maps my own.

OSSAs are the smoothest and most predictable power delivery 2T engine trials bike currently around IMO too, everybody who get to ride one will tell you so. They're now out of GasGas dictatorship again so I hope they keep producing them at their own small factory as before, with higher build quality and perfect them with the coming updated models. But with the current Spanish poor economy we can only hope the worst I reckon.
 
two ossa sdr in the shed. a blast from the past ..
 
That's a lovely Cantilever one and worth more than a 280i:augie

Thanks JB.
Sadly, it's not in the stable anymore. After a red mist moment at The Cambrian a few years ago I badly damaged my leg and was told by the surgeon I wouldn't be riding bikes again, so I sold along the Ossa and also my beloved Majesty as standing up on the pegs for any length of time was difficult.
The Ossa went to an English collector in Switzerland who owned every model Ossa had made, except the cantilever. It was one of a small batch of frames made by Cheney in the early eighties. I used to ride it in local club trials at Tong and Post Hill although as it wasn't eligible for the twin shock class I had to ride in the "modern" bikes class :rob
 
Yup.......

Last time I saw one of those it was falling on top of me from out of a tree, shortly followed by my brother standing over me kicking me in the ribs!

Quarter turn throttle required more skill than the average 13 year old has :D
 
Thanks JB.
Sadly, it's not in the stable anymore. After a red mist moment at The Cambrian a few years ago I badly damaged my leg and was told by the surgeon I wouldn't be riding bikes again, so I sold along the Ossa and also my beloved Majesty as standing up on the pegs for any length of time was difficult.
The Ossa went to an English collector in Switzerland who owned every model Ossa had made, except the cantilever. It was one of a small batch of frames made by Cheney in the early eighties. I used to ride it in local club trials at Tong and Post Hill although as it wasn't eligible for the twin shock class I had to ride in the "modern" bikes class :rob

Lovely machines. I was at Tong a few weeks ago to watch an enduro, it was my first visit for 18 years when we did the inter centre team trial. Post Hill brings back some great memories, the West Leeds club really knew how to run a trial.
 
I had 3 of them, unfortunately the reliability issues ment they were doomed to failure.Lots of them locally but no one bought a second one.
I still rate them and would not rule out another one.
I've moved to running old bikes and usually on a twin shock ty , also have a new 4rt .
Looking for an old Ossa if any about.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
Some lovely oldschool OSSAs there, interesting to see a monoshock MAR, never knew one existed :)

How many Trials do you ride, Margus?

I'm on my 3rd month of owing this particualr bike, and been riding the crap out of it all this time despite it's winter. In Estonia there's no real trials competition culture like in UK, we have just a couple of clubs in the whole country. None where I live, I have the only trials bike in my town and the only OSSA in the whole country actually - this should give you the picture. We have a couple of trials competitions per year on the other side of the country, but that's pretty much it. Hence I'm left to ride alone most of the time and to devise my own challanges in trials, thankfully my area has endless deep forest tracks, green lanes, nomans land with leftover construction areas and some hilly topology providing lots of them in extreme variety of difficulty levels to develop and hone my riding skills, here you have to improvise a lot more than on just those laid out tracks. That's the reason I bought it in the first place, not just for the beforehand laid out competition tracks like most tend to buy their trials bike in the UK for example. We have a lots of free land, very sparse population and very few restrictions, hence conditions are very different here.


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Slight hijack but I remember the OSSA 250cc road racer from the late '60s, ridden by a young Spanish guy called Santiago Herrerro. First time I ever saw a monocoque frame :rob

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. Sadly, he was killed at the 1970 TT on it and the factory lost interest in further development and shelved the project.
 

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