How About Ossa?

[charliechitlins]

how does the MAR stack up to the period competition?

[jaylael]

I'll jump in here. I rode OSSA in nationals and pnta events from 1974 to 1977. The OSSA in my opinion was a fine bike which required a bolder riding style than say the Sherpa T of comparable vintage. It has a lower ground clearance, (9 inches) and the big wide engine works as a ski to glide over rocks and logs as long as you are in second or third gear and have the throttle twisted on. I was a barger on the OSSA riding in second and third gears up every stream bed you could throw at me. The OSSA actually has a steeper front end than the Sherpa T and steers quicker. The front end tends to plow on turns unless you have alot of finesse as to careful weighting of the front and releasing the weight in minute weight transfers as you ease the front end through the transition. The engine is the best part about the OSSA. They have such nice low end torque and the clutch can be made to work very nicely if it is trued correctly. (the induvidual clutch springs each have a screw adjustment so you need to pull in the clutch and carefully adjust the spring preload on them until the pressure plate runs true. Should be a snap for an Indian mechanic. The motoplat ignition is really a drawback as their reliability is questionable these days more than ever. God I wish OSSA's had points like a Montesa or Bultaco. Back then it was a wonderful thing to have electronic ignition, but not so much now when motoplat is out of business. Anyway, I recomend them as very fine vintage trialers. They were the third best trials bike unless you count Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki. (Just kidding). I think all the vintage machines were competitive in the right hands. I even got whipped by a guy on a TL 250 a time or two although he was an exceptionally good rider. The consensus back then was mostly toward the Bultaco, then the "Cat" TY 250 and thirdly the Cota 247, then the OSSA, followed by the RL, the KT and lastly the TL's. Believe it or not this was generally the way these bikes stacked up in the real world. The Sherpa was by far the best trials bike, but maybe not quite as bullet proof as the TY. Of course when the Cota 348 came out this order had to be re arranged because the 348 became the second best bike, over the Yamaha. A few good riders were able to do some damage in the champ class on the TY 250. Still a dang good trials bike and one of the most reliable choices. The TY 175 was a good bike and very effective in the right hands, but generally it wasn't powerful enough for the champ class. I'm sure I have stirred up a whirlwinnd of controversy here, but hey, it's only my opinion. This is the way I saw things in the '70's. Jay L.

[scotty]

Ive had four ossa mars and always found them great bikes! (still have two 76 models) found the steering nicer and balance better than bultaco's of the same era!!! but thats just my own opinion?

i think ossa always missed the boat compared to bultaco and Montesa who signed up the best riders of the time ,bar mick andrews. they always suffered from bad marketing which didn't help, IMHO ive never had any problems with the motoplat ignition with any of my ossa's its alway's worked fine. what ive alway's found that if you ask anyone if you should buy an ossa you normally get the answer that there a bit iffy!!!

this goe's wrong and that! nothing could be further from truth ,( they've probely never owned one) there dam fine bikes that IMHO are also proberly the best looking trials bike ever made esp from 72-77.

[mick annick]

Everything Jay says is right regarding ground clearance, width and steering, I won't ride anything else (apart form my TLR occasionally...)

Mike

[feetupfun]

Jay is spot on as usual about riding the OSSA MAR in comparison to others of the era. What he didn't say was about how well the MAR frames were made.

I love all the 1970 trials bikes and over the last 11 years have done lots of work fixing up some of my favourites ie TY250B, TY175B, KT250, Cota 348, 1974 MAR and am almost finished an M49 Sherpa. The simple and solid frame design of the MAR is something that stands out nowadays even if I didn't notice it when they were new. If you park an early 1970s Sherpa beside the OSSA and study the frames, you will see they are a world apart in design and construction quality. Later on Sherpa frame designs became more sensible but in that early 1970s era, the OSSA frame was quite advanced in comparison. The TY250 frame design was obviously influenced by the MAR design and is all the better for that.

The wonderful styling of the MAR endears them to many riders. Personal opinion is varied here but I would rank the MAR second in the cool looks stakes only topped by the very sexy Cota 348.

The MAR does have some unusual weaknesses though. The main ones I can think of are:

The rear axle tends to bend in normal use. This can be improved by extending the effective width of the hub using an outrigger bearing on the sprocket side.

There is a lot of drag in the rear brake bowden cable and torque rod arrangement. This reduces the sensitivity of the rear brake compared with bikes that use an open brake rod or open cable arrangement.

The standard suspension was extremely soft and on todays sections would only suit a very light rider. This of course is very easy to correct.