deonattard

Update: I just got a call from the dealer who confirms, both bikes were already on Map 13. He has made no changes to the 2012 bike and feels it will get easier to start with more usage, it has 8hrs on it at the moment. The 2011 bike he has increased the idle speed and that bike was always easier to start than the 2012, one time it went in 3-kicks cold. I expect it might be a little better to start with the increased idle. For the 2012 though, I am no better off so still waiting for LSS to resolve starting issue. The dealer did start the 2012 bike in 5-kicks from cold which is better than my personal best of 8-kicks on that bike. I will put more hours on it and hope the situation improves. I have noticed it getting a little easier to start but still a long way from being acceptable.

Any idea if they will make a retro fit like a long-ride kit?

I think the attitude came from the importer who I still think is convinced we arn't holding our face the right way when we kick them rather than admitting something is not right and taking the issue more seriously. Needless to say I am not feeling like a particularly important customer to either party. They know now how hard the bikes are to start and this was in a nice workshop standing on a stool with a young mechanic much stronger than me doing the kicking. Not out in the sun standing flat footed with riding gear on.... All is well that ends well so lets hope they start easier after I get them back tommorow. If we can sort the starting I'll be nearly 100% happy with the bikes. If I can start them in 3-kicks from cold without LSS which was my expectation at time of purchase then I will be satisfied with this until the LSS becomes available.

I found the Iridium plug made no difference to starting, power does seem slighly more agresssive with the iridum plug though. Both my bikes are in at the dealer for computer checks at the moment. The dealer I think thought he was going to show me up when I dropped them off, it took their mechanic who looks stronger than me about 15 kicks to start one bike. He did start the other bike in 5 kicks which is 3 kicks better than my personal best. They tried to tell me that 5 kicks was normal and they'd leave that bike as it was! I told them to please check them both and ensure both are on latest map, 0.6v tps and 1400rpm idle which he said they would do. I'll give everyone an update in a day or two.

One good thing about the kick start on the ossa is that it doesn't kick back.

Micm - can you post details and photos on this?

None taken. My experience is with 125 MX and Enduro bikes, they are one hard kick, hot, cold whatever and you are up and running. Your experience is with big bore bikes and I bet you're a bigger guy based on your list of bikes, I'm 68kg... My friends who are 100kg need a 450cc bike to keep up with my 125 in the bush. Anyway this soft kick proceedure is not bad, still too many kicks but its not exhausting at least. I think once we have my map updated or confirmed as map 13, reset the tps and up the idle speed maybe, just maybe I can get started in 3-4 kicks cold and in this case add the LSS and I can quit researching a solution and go riding more :-) I'll make a video in about a week after my software is all done and I'll detail the start proceedure so hopefully others with issues won't have to suffer like I have!!

Ok bit of a revelation today. On the recommendation of Stevo - he says to lean the bike on against a tree or put it up on a stand. Stand up on the kick starter and lightly jump on it, not really kicking it, just jumping on it and a bit of a kick to get it moving. Do not bother to get top dead centre, just keep kicking it in this manner. This lets the starter go through the stoke smoothly without stopping. If it stops then you need to use a bit more force. This technique is not exhausting, you are just initially jumping on the kick start a little then letting your weight finish it off. Initially when Stevo explained this to me I was just using my weight which wasn't enough at 68kg, you do need to jump on it a little but not much. The outcome, bike fired in 12 kicks and 3 more easy kicks and it was running so 15 kicks total (which is far too many) but this was not an exhausting proceedure. Normally I am using 10 MAN KICKS to get it going which is exhausting, this was not many more easy kicks and its going. I will continue to use this technique for the time being. You do not need to kick it hard at all to get it to start like this. When standing on the ground with no trees around - well its still hard to kick but anyway I have a "cold start" technique that'll get me going without being knackered at the start of the right. Thanks Stevo! At the recommdation of our importer, I have also changed the fuel from Shell V-Power to standard Shell unleaded, and I have changed the oil from GRO Offroad-1 at 100:10 to Motorex Synthetic at 110:1 I don't think the fuel has made any difference to the starting and I have never foulded a plug although the plug when checked was very oily and carboned up so for sure it would have foulded eventually. I'm told by others that the lower octane fuel with the Motorex oil will be less likely to foul plugs so I will run with that for the time being. It looks like the computer cables and software have not shown up at my dealer so it will probably be next week before the computers can be checked. What is going on when all these kicks are happening? Well, you not building up a magic charge in the capacitor behind the number plate. We had this tested and it holds charge for 2-4 seconds. What we believe is going on is that you are priming the fuel pump and building up fuel pressure, soon as you have pressure - bang off it goes. I'm fairly confident the LSS will resolve everyone's problems. One has to question why these were not included from the word go, and secondly why are they still not readily available. I cannot see that there is going to be much technology to it. The sooner Ossa makes these units readily available they sooner they will have more happy customers running around as free sales people for them. I love the Ossa, but if you can't start it, you can't ride. Hopefully there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

Its funny some people say the clutch is hard but at the last trial 10 guys rode or bikes and all said WOW the clutch is so light :-) Also I believe you can change the clutch master cylinder and run a bigger hose if you want to make it feather light, the USA guys seem to know how to do this. Its not something I would bother with.

I'll be fixing mine with a Gas Gas if the importer doesn't sort my issues very shortly. Its really interesting that other Australian riders are having issues as the importer would have me believe that the other 60 odd Ossa owners in Australia have no problems. I believe my bike is running very rich going off the plug which is oily and carboned up, I'm supposed to have Map 13 but I won't know for sure until my dealer receives the cables which the importer is posting to him this week. Fingers crossed for a happy ending but I'm not holding my breath given that other Map 13 users are experiencing issues. I'm planning to fit the 10T from sprocket to my fathers bike so it gets revved a bit more, at the moment he barely gets past an idle but we are yet to foul a plug.

I bet he has an LSS !

If it starts for you, I wouldn't touch it although everyone on Map 13 seems happy. The importer told me my bikes are on Map 13 but I am concerned that this maybe not the case since other people on that Map are saying that starting is not a big issue.

It seems that the distributors in UK, Canada and HK do an excellent job. They have all offered some advice and assistance. The trials market in Australia is small, some dealers only sell a couple of bikes per year so I understand the difficulty in setting them all up with expensive software and all that but surely Ossa themselves should be doing something to make that equipment affordable. The support here in Australia frankly is disappointing and not good enough. I am really hoping my problems get sorted in the next week as I've nearly had enough of these bikes. I rode today, 13 kicks to start it from cold. Once going I stalled it once and stopped once quickly, it started 1st kick both times. I had visitors who I chatted to for 10 minutes, 10 kicks to start it after only 10 minutes!! It is beyond a joke and I am really regretting buying these bikes without a test ride as I would never have purchased knowing I would have the starting issue. I did my research, it seemed there was an issue and as long as you had the latest map all was well - so I ordered on the basis that both bikes were to come with the latest map. It seems that either this wasn't done or due care was not taken to ensure the maps, tps and idle were set correctly and as such I havn't had a very good month with them... I changed the plug today, the old plug even though its not done much work looked terrible, black, oily and some carbon build up - so much for fuel injection with perfect mapping?? I have used the Iridium plug this time, BPR5EIX-11 set gap at 0.7mm as per the manual. Starting was no easier or harder with the new plug, power does feel slighly more agressive - I actually prefer the feel with the standard BPR5ES plug but I will leave this one for now in the hope it doesn't carbon up as bad. Last week the importer said he would fly here this week to check the maps and fix the issue. He has not confirmed the appointment yet but hopefully it will resolve our problem.

If I ever get mine to start properly I will at that time be happy and too scared to ever change the map!!

Yes front fork manual - for the rear the sag is good and we understand how to adjust the rear without manual.

One of the bolts fell out of the kick starter tonight, glad it happened in the shed and not on a trial! I have locktite it into place. I think maybe the data cables and software are expensive for the dealer according to the importer, since the dealer only sells 3 or 4 Ossa bikes per year they probably won't want to invest in the equipment. If mine don't get fixed by this update I will be selling one if not both of them which will be sad since I enjoy riding this bike so much but if I can't start it more easily then they are useless. My father is 60 years old and is a small guy, 60kg (not that I am much bigger at 68kg) and he nearly had heat stroke on the last trial from the trouble starting the bike...

What is the go with using the Explorer map? How does this differ from the Tr280i map? It is looking like the importer will fly into my area next week to check the computers in my bikes to work out why they are so difficult to start. I want to ensure we get it right while he is here because the local dealer does not have the cables or software to check the maps himself. Its looking like the idle on both bikes maybe too low. The bikes are supposed to be on Map 13 already but we need to check this as apparantly if they are not uploaded in the correct proceedure the maps don't take so its possible that we might not be on the latest maps. Its been very frustrating, hopefully we get sorted next week otherwise I am going to have one if not two bikes for sale as they are just far too difficult for two 60kg guys to start how they are right now. Fingers crossed for some magic after the computer fiddle.

I found this place on-line and thought I'd post it up as a good source of Ossa spares: http://trialstribulations.net/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=7 I got a little order today with a few spare parts only 11 days delivery from the UK to Australia. The order was really well packaged, good service. I am in no way affiliated with these guys, just a happy customer.

Anyone have a manual for the forks? Dad is 60kg and only has 3cm of static sag, we are looking for about 6cm and apparantly there is some pre-load spacers that we can remove. I'd feel more comfortable pulling it appart if we had a guide.

Mine had a lot of metal in it, I'll be changing it every 3 or 5 hours until I stop getting metal.

We were crapping ourselves when we walked the sections, we'd only ridden the bikes around the yard once! Friday afternoon and Saturday were fairly terrible, I was asking myself what had I gotten us into. Aside from being ready to pass out from heat stroke by the time I got them started, the bikes were great! I just love mine, once it starts easy it'll be perfect. I rode a pretty knarly hill climb about 10 times which no-one expected me to get up being a beginner. I'm just amazed by the power and grip. I'm working with the importer to get our maps and tps checked - unfortunately the local dealer doesn't have the cables or software at this time so other arrangements are being made. The importer has been great and I'm sure he'll fix this issue for us before much longer. I was starting Dad's a lot for him and at one point he rode off and I just couldn't get mine to start. Luckily someone noticed me missing and came to lend a hand. Dad ended up swapping his for a Beta 200 with one of the ladies for the first day. She was stoked to have a new bike and he was happy to have one that started easily! As a lady, she couldn't start it either but she wasn't embarassed at all to ask a passing rider to start it for her :-) She was also a lot better on the clutch so wasn't stalling it at all which Dad was going a lot. I'm pretty much happy with mine other than starting. On Sunday we both did really well, I rode every section and managed to clear a few of them. Dad stuck to the first 3 sections and just kept doing them over and over and he cleared most of them several times by the end of the day. For Dad, we've ordered the following parts to make it easier for him: 1. 10t front sprocket 2. slow action throttle I'm looking into the following items: 1. exploring softer fork springs, Dad is only 60kg and the front is too firm - is there any pre-load spacers that can be removed or do we just need lighter springs? 2. Might consider the flywheel weight as well to make it more difficult to stall, havn't looked into pricing on this item as yet. 3. Idle needs increasing on Dad's, its VERY slow and as such easy to stall if you arn't on the throttle and clutch all the time. Second day was a lot better, we didn't even try and start the bikes without leaning against a tree so not as much energy was expanded. I also left Dad to start his own bike which meant I wasn't as knackered. PS. Both bikes were hot when we did the oil, Dad's oil was still really thick - I guess his had 75w in it and I think mine probably had the 10w30.

I changed the oil on our bikes at the weekend. On the 2011, I only got a dribble out of the drain plug, layed the bike over but didn't get much. Cracked the clutch cover as per directions on the Ossa Canada site and ended up with about 220ml of oil. The 2011 is also lacking a magnetic drain plug which I'm going to order. On the 2012, I didn't have to crack the clutch cover and got 220ml. I put 220ml back into both bikes and the oil is at the top of the glass. Does that sound right? The book says there is 350ml of oil in there which means I've changed less than 2/3 of the oil. I used the GRO Synthetic 10w/30 oil which seems to be recommended - I couldn't find the 75w oil here in Australia.

Oh thats nice Tom!

I got too impatient to wait for the Explorer and decided I'd buy both. We might trade one of our TR280i's for an explorer depending on how Dad gets on with this bike once we've got starting and stalling sorted out for him. I have one of those camping fuel bottles, might get some new ones though as the lid on mine is a bit stripped and I wouldn't want it leaking down my back. I'm not banking on much more than an hour of propper trail riding, maybe I'll stick with the KTM and wait for the Explorer to arrive for trail riding. We've got a bit of a wait in Australia as getting them road registered is a bit of a mission so most likely it'll be the end of the year before we'll have access to a road legal version. Not that we'll use them on the road much but you need a registered bike to ride in state forrests here.

I've seen those little tanks you can get that double as a front number plate. 9 sections 5 times is probably not much more than an hour ride time based on 90 seconds per section, then maybe another 20-30 mins idling? Trail riding the bike is going to be revving more so we are probably talking only about 1hr of steady trail riding to play it safe.