Pioneering trail
There 1s something about an original and unmolested motorcycle ...How has it survived in such a state in a scene noted for modifying machines?
Ossamade an Endure bike but in North America it became the Pioneer - nice looker.
The title of this feature may bring to mind a series we ran some years ago, a series which featured unrestored survivors in the dirt bike world. We thought it had run its course but this current pandemic has forced a rethink - for Cdband the sport. Bikes we were hoping to feature can't be done because oflockdown, so we're revisiting original and untouched motorcycles.
Such machines have somehow avoided the mods we all made in the day to make the bike better, maybe because the factory came up with a new tip or the sport changed and required a different riding style, or maybe just a simple fashion change. Often though, the biggest reason followed an incident in an event - I doubt I'm the only one with a selection of handlebars with more bends in them than the manufacturer intended.
However, the fact remains there are machines which survive whatever is thrown at them and this OSSA is one of them. It is pretty original as far as can be determined and sadly, other than it being imported to the Ukfrom the Usa,there's not a lot of information about the bike. Though there is an obvious clue to its origins after it left the factory, as there is a Fairview Cycle Ltd decal on the toolbox lid built into the rear mudguard, or perhaps I should say 'fender.'
So, the bike was clearly supplied new by this Calgary-based shop, but somehow it survived the ravages of time to be on sale at Stafford show last October.
Billed at the show as a 1971 Pioneer there was no reason to doubt this designation, in fact it was backed up by contemporary articles referring to it by just that name, but in researching the background of the model it was clear the actual designation was 'Endure.' At least for every market but the North American one. So, if you're reading this in the UK then Endure it is, if you're the other side of the Atlantic then Pioneer will jog more memories. Adding to the confusion, OSSA had an actual Pioneer model in all markets but this was a 175 version. That aside, all markets agreed the 250 was a good one, it being described by one journalist as one of the only two serious endure motorcycles on the market at that time.
There's little doubt when looking at the machine that the manufacturer had set out to make a serious endure competitor which would hold up in events from club endures to the prestigious ISDT.HERE in the Ukthe endure scene was in its infancy with trials and scrambles being predominant. There were endures but they were more often labelled as long distance trials, even the ISDTWAS still the 'International Six Days Trial' in 1971 and it would be another nine years before the 'endure' word replaced 'trial', officially ~k~t.
Unlike mainland Europe and North America which still had vast tracts of land available to riders in those days, the UK is much smaller and setting up a long endure wasn't always possible. Therefore the endure machine was not widely appreciated in Britain. This is a shame but it would equally be a shame to have a machine such as the OSSA and use it only on the road as good-looking transport. Undoubtedly the Endure (Pioneer) would fulfil this role as by its very nature it would have to be road legal, or capable of being road legal.
Making an endure motorcycle can be done two ways, first one can be designed from the ground up with no regard for anything else, which is expensive as tooling has to be developed for a specific need. Second way is to adapt what you already have, which can mean stripping down a road bike or adding extra equipment to, say, a Mxer.
It was the latter of these which OSSA did for their endure bike in 1971, as their newly introduced Stilleto Mxer now had a five-speed gearbox, was light but still tough and had excellent handling.
It was a little highly tuned for endure but it is slightly less difficult to detune a high performance power unit than to go the other way, of course the power has to be in the right places and OSSA did this admirably by setting up the 244cc engine to give a flat power delivery, making it ideal for the sorts of terrain one would find in an endure and without the need to keep swapping gears so the engine could be kept in the power range.
They managed this while still having a decent acceleration and turn of speed for those motocross tests in bigger endures. Arguably with a flexible engine power characteristic, five speeds would not be needed, but in order to allow a 70+ mph top speed while still having the ability to trickle along at walking pace, then five gears are a necessity.
Wrapping this engine in a double cradle frame means rigidity for handling is achieved without adding weight. Handling is also enhanced with Betor suspension at either end, the front telescopics having ?in of movement and matched to the rear units with five settings, previously this sort of sophistication was for works teams only.
Looking at the forks there is a level of sophistication which the competition rider was beginning to expect, hard chromed stanchions meant closer tolerances to the sliders and less chance of the seals ripping. Four or five years earlier it was enough to have one-way damping and felt seals, the new Betors had two-way damping and proper seals, so thinner oil would stay inside and give a more precise damping than the thick oil required by older forks.
Pretty much standard on competition machines are wheel sizes of 21in at the front and 18in at the rear with 3in tyres on the front and 4in on the rear. Each wheel is built around alloy hubs with alloy rims laced in, still flanged ones but looking much more purposeful and lighter than steel ones. Holding the forks in line are alloy yokes with double bolt clamping on each leg, light, stiff and all part of the package needed for the enduro rider.
As supplied, the OSSA would come with highish bars and a cross brace stopping bending, controls would be more standard with the days of right-angled throttles being a few years away. On the feature bike this area looks to have been updated slightly with Amal controls, the levers being in alloy instead of steel and the twistgrip looks to be the plastic Amal type with a 90degree ferrule to allow the cable run to follow the handlebars rather than loop out where it could be snagged on a tree. To digress slightly, if you've had that happen in the old days doesn't it make life interesting ... briefly.
Body work on the OSSA is glass fibre, a much maligned material thanks to the fly-by-nights who shoved out massive cafe racer fuel tanks which in an accident would dump petrol on hot engines ... Properly made tanks from this material are excellent and safe but in a draconian measure the UK Government banned non-metal fuel tanks, making life for importers a little more expensive. According to reports the material used by OSSA was flexible to an extent and able to cope with the odd incident. These days, such tanks are badly affected by the composition of modem petrol and the ethanol in it. There are liners available to coat the insides of older tanks but it is not an easy task to make them suitable for modem fuel.
One subject close to my heart - well ear drums to be more accurate - is silencing, I have never been a fan of overly loud motorcycles. I will allow a four-stroke exhaust noise can be deeper and less painful than the ear-splitting shriek of a loud two-stroke, but still. Based on my own experiences of an OSSA MAR, the silencer on this Enduro (Pioneer) looks to be excellent and all credit to the maker for doing a good job.
Now, the OSSA is built for use in the competition world, it will happily accommodate the casual user who wants a gentle trail ride but when things become more serious there are certain measures needed. Ancillary equipment needs to be protected from vibration and knocks. This means rubber mounting the speedo and the headlamp, both are well insulated from the effects of the engine and have the flexibility to cope with the scenery.
Also serious is the need to make running adjustments quickly during an event. This is an aspect my non-comp orientated motorcycling friends could never understand when we were young. To them, with their road bikes, it didn't matter if it needed four different sizes of spanner or socket to remove a wheel, or tyre levers the length of an arm to ease the tyre off the rim. They shook their heads as I tried to reduce the tools I carried on my trials bikes. OSSA were aware of this and helped things by having thumb adjusters on brakes and captive brake plates rather than torque stays, all helping reduce the time taken to service a bike during the morning sessions in the !SOT or reduce the time taken to fix a puncture during a timed section.
All in all one can see why the OSSA made such an impression on the journalists of the day, relatively light at 2501b, fast enough, well handling and nimble. The only question which remains is did you buy this bike at Stafford in October?