Just picked up a 70`s ossa mono from leeds.

I remember seeing some pics of JR riding one but cant find any on the web.

Does anyone have any pics they can post or email me?

i didnt think monos were out in the 70,s what model is it

I beleive a few were made in the 70`s but thats all i know.

It has a mar engine in, with a fancy exhaust pipe on and air forks.

It still has its brackets on the sides where ssdt numbers would have been fitted and the yokes and chain case are neatly carved out.

Someones changed the tank for a gripper one and the airbox is missing which is a shame but otherwise its all good.

A new airbox will be easy to make and the tank looks better.

Will be good when sorted but not sure what class it will be any use for.

Keith Horsman who had a bike shop in Leeds converted some OSSA MAR's to monoshock & reed valve, also I believe Eric Cheney made some mono frames for the UK importer who at the time was based in Bournemouth.

Both types were cantilever rather than what a monoshock is like today.

Edited September 27, 201411 yr by trialsrfun

Tried to id the bike on the ossa world site but the frame number starts with a 7 so my guess is it's not a converted frame.

Edited September 28, 201411 yr by bambam_n_chunx

I saw this advertised for sale and can shed a little light on it.

It's one of Roger Holden's special bikes.

Roger was the Ossa importer in bournemouth, and they used to have a play around with specials.

He did a few MAR's, and then TR72's and also converted some Golden Jubilee, orange and yellow Gripper's.

There were very good bikes but only used down south.

John Reynolds did use one for a time, and I have a picture of Russ Kerridge, a supported Ossa rider on one at the Perce Simon trial at Moyles Court at Ringwood in 1982.

Sadly with the demise of Ossa, so went the specials.!

There are a few pics and some info in Don Morley's "Spanish Trials Bikes" book,if you can find or borrow a copy.

Someone in our club has an Ossa like this,I remember it being on show at Bristol Classic bike show a few years back,it was like new.Trouble is I cant remember who it belongs to...

I was talikng to a friend today at the Phil Mellor twinshock trial and he is very good friends with someone who worked for Eric Cheney around that time and he reckoned they made around 6 cantilever Ossas. I had a an early Cheney framed twinshock at time and I also remember Simon Cheney riding one of the cantilever ones in local OTC trials, it also had very lightweight leading link front forks.

I don't know much about the later bikes but the MAR cantilever had 3 versions I think. As mentioned already, Cheney made about half a dozen of his own cantilever frames as well as converting a number of standard Ossa frames to cantilever. Keith Horseman also made some cantilever frames for Ossa UK along with is reed valve conversion. I think that John Reynolds rode the Horseman framed bike whereas Chandler, Guy and others mentioned rode the Cheney bikes, being Southern riders - but I could be wrong about JR, struggling to remember what Keith told me many years ago.

Keith also made replica frames many years after and one was used in the late 80s by a clubman rider who rode it in the SSDT. It's in Don Morley's book but I don't have it to hand at the moment. So your bike, if it has SSDT number fittings, could be that one or one of the Ossa UK bikes

As regards which class to ride it in, I think people have to be pragmatic about it. It's a bike from the mid 70s and from the twinshock era. It's in no way as competitive as a mono Fantic, Yam, Beta etc. It competed against the bikes from that era in its day and in classic trials today it should be no different. It should go in the twinshock class. To put it up against mono Yams, 305 Fantics is ridiculous.

A friend of mine sold his Cheney framed Ossa mono to the Zaragoza Ossa museum for a fortune.

I can remember John Reynold riding the mono. As already stated only a few were made and they were not for general sale. Someone else regularly rode one, maybe John Metcalfe? who later rode Suzuki's.

Mick Andrews was also experimenting with a Yamaha monoshock, 1976 or 77 I think and the shock may have been De Carbon but I am not sure.

I think there are more of the Cheney converted bikes than is generally perceived. There were only a few that were full Cheney frames but a larger number (20 or so?) were made by converting the standard frame and these could be bought I think, they weren't just for the supported riders.

Mick's cantilever Yam was from '73/74 but they didn't keep with it for long and they were back to twinshock by '74/75

I think there are more of the Cheney converted bikes than is generally perceived. There were only a few that were full Cheney frames but a larger number (20 or so?) were made by converting the standard frame and these could be bought I think, they weren't just for the supported riders.

Mick's cantilever Yam was from '73/74 but they didn't keep with it for long and they were back to twinshock by '74/75

Does anyone have a photo of a bike with the standard OSSA frame converted to cantilever by Cheney?

New crank seals fitted and clutch back together, now running. Will have it looked at properly whilst airbox is being made but nearly there.

Found these pics in my archive,maybe they are helpful