deonattard

Tonight we made a strap from some alloy to bolt the battery pack into place behind the light, identical mount points to where the capacitor was. We also made a little bracket to mount the switch, most people would probably drill a hole in the number plate to mount the switch but I don't like putting holes in anything. My father started the bike, 1st easy kick cold, we turned it on and off a few times and he started it everytime first kick and I can tell you the smile on his face after having so much trouble starting the bikes was priceless. Can someone who understands electronics advise if we should be worried about over-charging the batteries? Dad says the bike should have a voltage regulator which he feels would prevent this. If it becomes an issue ie. the battery packs die or don't last, then we will run power through the headlight connector and we'll turn it off shortly after the bike is started with the capacitor back in the system. It does mean finding somewhere to mount the battery but I don't think I will ever use the bike without a battery after seeing how well it now starts. Its raining here at the moment but on the weekend I will do some riding and we'll see how it goes but I have not heard any rumours of the battery packs failing so maybe I am worried about nothing.

I would not buy another trials bike without test ride and I am the person who research everything and rarely test ride / drive. The more trials bikes I ride though, the more glad I am with the decision to purchase Ossa. The starting has been a problem but looks so far to be resolved with the battery pack which anyone can make themselves if they know how to use a soildering iron.

Your mailbox is full, send me a pm with your email and I will help you make one for yourself.

I am thinking that maybe the batteries over-charge and fail as a result, there is no protection circuit for the batteries. There has to be some reason why Ossa has not released this product because so far it works almost too good to be true! I have a friend who is auto electrician, next time he is around I will get him to take a look at the system to see if any protection maybe required to prevent over-charging the batteries. I have set my unit up so I can easily swap back to the capacitor if required and I will build some spare battery packs for my own personal usage. I read the post above with the guy who has tapped into the light connector, that also seems like a good idea however I do not know if there is any benefit to retain the capacitor. I also don't understand why everything about this very basic battery pack is a huge secret. Allow me a few days to catch up on my work and I will post some directions on how to make and connect the battery with parts from the electronic store.

I think the gearing will be fine for road depending on your top speed expectation. I've had the TR280i in 6th gear, bit hard to tell how fast I was going but I think you'd comfortably sit on 80km/ph crusing speed - which is as fast as I ride my KTM on the road with trail/enduro gearing.

It seems starting issue maybe completely solved with $100 worth of parts from your local electronics store. I'll keep everyone posted on the "hard starting" page but I will sleep tonight one happy lad!

Yes I did. We received a prototype battery from the factory team at the worlds, arranged by the Australian Distributor. They did promise me two of them on that day and I only have one but this is not a huge issue because we can make the battery now we know what it consists of. The kit was not as plug and play as expected. I received the battery pack which consists of 10x AA 1.2v 2000mAH NiMH batteries welded together. Stacked there is 4 batteries on bottom row, then two rows of 3 batteries. Height and size is about equal to the capacitor. Battery pack was held together with heat shrink and had bare leads comming out of it. Also included was a switch with three terminals on it. I've cut the connector from my capacitor to use with the battery kit and I've run the earth wire from the switch up to the bolt on the kill button on the handle bars - meaning the electrical modifications are minimal. The battery pack replaces the capacitor, it is not in addition to. When you flick the switch, the lights turn on and you hear the fuel pump prime. Even the smallest prod at the kick starter has the fuel pump running for a few seconds. When you hear how long it takes to prime from dead cold you will understand part of the starting issue. It took 6 seconds, given that a kick is about 1 second of power if that, you can guess where the first 6 kicks go in my case. Ok so, battery connected, lights on, fuel pump primed. Dead cold, 3 easy kicks. Once warm, even the laziest kick starts the bike, I'm not going to start it with my hand but it would no doubt be posible because very lazy kick - I mean about 1/3rd of the way through the kick and the bike is already running. I presume a solid kick might fire it up first or second kick from dead cold. I havn't ridden yet because I need to make a bracket to mount the battery. I don't know how long the batteries will last. I can only presume there maybe some durability issue given that they still havn't officially released this as after market kit but anyway for the time being I am super happy. The hardest bike in the paddock to start just maybe now maybe the easiest. I will report more information after field testing.

Have you ridden the Ossa for comparison? I did like the Gas Gas but definitely prefer the Ossa.

I got to ride a 2012 Gas Gas TXT Pro 300 on the weekend, nice bike but I much prefer the Ossa. Ossa feels much more responsive and a lot lighter, the Gas Gas did have a flywheel weight on it and it felt like a tractor but not as zippy and light feeling as the Ossa. One benefit on the Gas Gas is that it was much easier to start, even my father who struggles with the Ossa had no problem starting the Gas Gas. Starting aside which is not a problem for all riders, only for some - the Ossa is a sweet ride.

First oil change I used GRO 10W/30, the clutch dragged a bit when cold but it improved as the bike warmed up, clutch feel was good. I've just done the 2nd oil change, you need to loosen the clutch cover even on the 2012 bike if you want to get most of the oil out. Oil was very dirty even though its only done 3 or 4 hours since the last change. The manual says to do the first change at 5hrs and every 20hrs after that - I'll be doing it a lot more regularly until it cleans up. I've changed the oil to GRO 75w, immediately the clutch drag was reduced cold and the feel for me was better. I'd say the GRO 75w maybe the oil used from new, I feel its nicer than the 10W/30 so will be sticking to the GRO 75w even though it wasn't so easy to source in Australia but I know where to find it now.

Ok - is there any guide to understand at which bore measurement do you goto the next piston size? Or do you just change to the next size up each time the piston is replaced? The manual says to do the piston and rings at 60hrs, has anyone done a pull down at 60hrs and if so, was it worth changing?

Definitely, if the battery kit doesn't work out I'm getting him a Beta 200 and hope I don't loose too much money in the process. That being said, he kicked a Sherco 290 and Gas Gas 280 I think it was on the weekend and he fired them both cold without any trouble. Its only the Ossa's that we find to be a pig to start. The Ossa is a very easy bike for a clubman rider to use, I don't think its overkill in anyway. Hopefully they battery kit will work as promised.

Can anyone tell me of the bore in the TR280i is Nikasil coated? In the parts book, there is 4 different piston kits: 6612020211--A 6612020211--B 6612020211--C 6612020211--D I presume these are over-size options which suggests to me the bore is not coated? I thought all modern bikes would be using the coating but the piston options have me doubting that.

Thanks for the information. I think I'll hold out some hope and hold tight until we can test the battery kit. My father can kick the bike over, he's not a whimp. But he can't kick it as hard as someone taller and heavier. It just doesn't start for him in few enough kicks that he's not worn out by the time it does actually start. I believe the units the importer is arranging for me will probably be prototype version. I've seen whats inside one and its just 8x 1.2v AA batteries packaged together with a switch - there doesn't appear to be anything high tech in the photo I've seen which leads to the question, why have they taken so long to release this product? You could make it in 30 minutes with parts from an electronics store. Mcim - on your bike do you still have the coil or did you replace the coil with the battery kit? I am concerned that there maybe some other issue with the battery kit as I do not understand the hold up in supplying this item. I know they are saying they are using them all on the factory and explorer bikes and have no spare stock to sell after-market but that has to be rubbish - you could mass produce these things in minutes and for very little cost. Its 8x batteries, some shrink wrap, few leads, a switch and a plastic box to package it (from the photos I've seen), very simple.

How easy is it to start with the LSS fitted? Does it start like a normal bike with the LSS? Will a soft kick or a non "jump on it with everything you've got" get it going consistantly when warm? Does it ever give any starting issues with LSS fitted? I've had two guys ask if I'd be interested in selling my 2011 bike. If the LSS will resolve my woes then I want to keep it, my father enjoys the power, suspension and light weight nature of the bike. His, well, our only real gripe is starting. If it will still be tricky to start with the LSS, still needs big hard kicks, still sometimes can be tempremental when you can't get a serious kick into it - then I'll probably let these guys know I'm interested to sell. If we do get rid of it, I'll get my father a Beta 200 which is what I should have bought him in the first place.

If there was no issue, this thread wouldn't exist. Ossa wouldn't have made the LSS kit if there was not an issue. I can start other brands of big capacity bike no problem, Gas Gas, Sherco and Beta are all very easy for me to fire up, sure they have a lot of compression just like the Ossa but they seem to fire up a lot easier.

My 2012 bike is back to its pre-dealer inspection, 10 kicks cold starting. I am wondering if the ECU does some "Self learning" that was re-set when the dealer connected his laptop to the bike? With my revised "soft kick" starting technique it is not exhausting to start like it was before. If I am flat footed I will jump on it once and it'll normally go, if it doesn't I'll give it one more kick before pushing it to a tree because jumping on it for a small guy like me is a lot of energy. In most cases if I can lean on something to get a solid kick it'll go first or 2nd kick hot. At one point waiting at a section I had no trees nearby, just a rock to stand on and the bike was on an incline so I couldn't get a really solid kick into it - it took about 30 kicks to start. The next day I stopped in the same spot and it wouldn't start again, this time I pushed it down the hill until I found a tree and it went in a couple of kicks. I should have our LSS in the next week or so, I dearly hope this device works as advertised.

I think Ossa's reason for fuel injection was more about packaging.

We were already using 100 RON fuel to begin with but the importer advises to use low-octange fuel. I don't think the fuel is making any difference but we've tried a few different mixes. I now have Shell standard unleaded fuel mixed at 110:1 using Motorex Cross Power 2T synthetic oil. I have the same fuel in both bikes as I syphon it out and replace the fuel. The 2012 is going first kick. The 2011 is intermittant. Sometimes 3 kicks cold, sometimes more than 10. The 2011 is not yet consistant so I think there is some other issue but so far I am not getting any suggestions. For the clutch, I have some GRO 75W oil to test in the clutch, if I don't like this then I will order some Belray. I tested 10w/30 GRO and it is OKAY but the clutch drags when cold. Once warm it is working normally.

How could it possibly be more restrictive than the rubber cap that is there at the moment?

The computer should adjust the fuel based on the air-flow for small changes. If anything it might make the bike run a little lean which probably isn't a bad thing. Based on the plug colour from my bikes they are running very rich. More air could be just the thing to correct this. I think it would be in addition to the existing filter, but it would mean you'd almost never have to clean the origional. Might be worth a try.

The 2012 is still starting 1st kick cold so I'm declaring it fixed for now. The 2011 though is starting worse than it did before the dealer turned up the idle. Here are the settings on both bikes provided by the dealer. Can anyone offer any advice? Following are the settings for the two bikes. All settings are from idle. 2011 Ossa TPS Angle 5.1 Degrees TPS Voltage .630 Idle – approx. 1550 RPM 2012 Ossa TPS Angle 5.1 Degrees TPS Voltage .552 Idle – approx. 1500 RPM

2012 started 1st kick cold today, thats 2nd day in a row its started 1st kick cold. I did stall it at one point and it took about 6 kicks to start but otherwise it was starting 1st kick hot. 2011 with fresh iridium plug and fuel started 3rd kick today cold which is good. When left sit it took my Dad about 10 kicks and it didn't go but I got on it and it went in 3 kicks. Jury is still out on the 2011 but 2012 is starting 800% better since the dealer connected the computer (and claimed to do nothing).

2012 started 1st kick cold today - amazing. 2011 - still terrible. I have just fitted Iridium plug tonight and fresh fuel, bike started 1st kick after this but it had been started a few hours before so I won't get too excited yet. Also found the spark plug on the 2011 was only hand tight, also the plug was very black. Tommorow will do a cold start on the 2011, I'm optimistic that the computer changes combined with the iridium plug and fresh fuel may do the trick. I was critical of the Iridium plug initially as it didn't improve my starting, but now whatever is changed in the 2012 computer and that bike seems to be very easy to start now and maybe the Iridium plug is helping this?? Tommorow we are having a ride in preperation for a 2-day trial next weekend which will be the real test.

Ok bikes are home. 2012 started first kick after it had been sitting for about 2hrs (dealer says he changed nothing on the 2012 bike???) - I wasn't there with him but its never started 1st kick after sitting for so long. 2011 bike started 2nd kick. I went back a few hours later and started the 2011 again, 1st kick. Looking very positive. The test will be tommorow once they are left sit overnight.