bisby

A long time back i was chatting to an older member of the Sheff & Hallamshire club about setting sections out and his way was if it was a novice trial it would have one hard part, centre trial two hard parts and a national trial would have three or more also the scale of hardness would increase. I ride my ossa because i enjoy the challange of me and the bike against the section not my fellow competitors, riding a heavily modified classic bike is in my view loosing sight of what classic trials is about. My bike is slightly modified mainly to have a bit more power but it still has its original looks and feel, if i have to ride in the trickshock class i have no problem with that, i wiil still be having fun and riding with other competitors on there classic bikes. steve.

I think there are two reasons for lack of body lean, these are seat hight is too low so you dont pull your self back on top of the bike with your inner knee and the lightness of a modern bike to the riders body weight.

I have made my own once i used the end of a damaged pair of alloy handlebars, i had to drill the centre out to fit the wheel spindle and then measured the distance from the wheel bearing to swinging arm. it lasted for years.i did not use any washers either.

I had a jcm 323 which i bought brand new, i have a photo taken of me riding in the scottish six days dated 1985. I dont remember when i bought it but i only had (endured) it for 8 months the problems i had with it! It sounded lovelly and the rear shock was fantastic then something broke inside and the replacement valve was not as good. I cracked the fibreglass petrol tank in a yorkshire centre trial and had to ride on the road back to the car as fast as poss before i ran out of fuel (didnot make it- long push back)petrol soaked legs and pants!! Steve.

Dont forget to add the cost of two stroke oil as well (if not a fourstroke) I once did a Sammy Miller trial that was 40 miles around, i rode my ossa twinshock around so carefully because i only had the tank full with me 4.5ltrs, when i got back home i measured what was left in 0.5ltr so i got 45miles per gallon. try getting that out of a gas gas/beta. i tell my wife the bike is cheep to run!

Robin, my gripper is also a 250 but it has a MAR piston (2mm extra) so i think its 244cc i also put the window in the back of the piston. I put the mikuni on because i wanted the revs to pickup quicker, i have also reduced the flywheel weight on the cush drive, then also drilled some big holes in the clutch basket. I feel if i go anymore i will loose its grip low down the revs. steve.

Robin, look on page 2 in twinshocks then -any ossa gripper guru`s out there, you will see my mikuni settings note though my carb is a 28mm. Steve.

The trial was very good, i did not ride as well as usual but it did not matter because i was having fun! Also good to see/hear a nice vartiety of bikes. I will not be able to make the next event in December due to work but should be back in the new year. Steve.

Chaindrive, i have not had the carb off yet but i have found a bit of paper with the jet sizes on it, i must have made a note for safe keeping. Pilot jet 2.5 main jet 190 needle is a 5 L 3 clip on middle groove slide is a 2.5 I hope this helps, if when i have the carb off soon and if it is differant i will get back to you. steve.

chaindrive, sorry i have not got my mikuni carb spec to hand until i next take it off for cleaning. steve.

I had an ossa gripper back in 1981 and after 18 months sold it for a majesty, then in 1991 i decided to look for an old twinshock and it had to be another gripper anyway that is what i still ride today. I have had to rebuild it a few times over the years but it is so reliable! I buy my bearings & seals at local distributers. I use a good motul two stroke oil at 50 to 1 and shell V-power fuel, NGK sparkplug B7ES, I have a mikuni carb 28mm and a foam Ram air filter, i have opened the air box top up a bit too.My rear shocks are Falcons but i have made them rebound faster, there are other good makes available now too. I have a standard clutch with car engine oil 10/50, i find the clutch slips and sticks with light gear oils (i must try some barnett plates some time) The bike is unusual but get to know it well and you will ride it as good as any other twinshock. - Steve.

when i started riding my ossa in the early 90s i rode in the falcon twinshock series for years.I enjoyed riding with the big british bikes but over time they started to stop entering then the acu opened it up to over 40s on modern bikes and that class now has taken over and i find the sparkle has gone for me. i then started riding in the sammy miller series and again was riding with the big british bikes, but they are slowly disapering. i pointed this out to an acu official once and he said well thats progress, i find this very sad. i enjoy riding the peak classic trials very much and love to see & hear the old bikes, i would still enter even if there was modern bikes allowed - they may even bring an observer with them! i ride for pleasure and find older bikes a differant challange compared to bland modern machines. i like to do well in the results but i am not looking to receive an award at the end of the year. steve.