Development

MAR Ossa

As many readers will know, I have been friends with Mick Andrews and his family for many years. I vaguely remember his early years with Ossa, and the last time I called to see Mick, and his wife Gill, he presented me with some of his old correspondence he had received from both Bultaco and Ossa in Spain. From a small village in Derbyshire, Mick would marry his childhood sweetheart, Gillian Bunting, and move to Spain to develop the Ossa off-road range which would eventually evolve to the Mick Andrews Replica Ossa. We have copied the text from the first of these letters offering Mick an opportunity to ride for Bultaco – yes, would you believe it? Copied from the original letters, they make very interesting reading and, through the cooperation with Mick and Classic Trial Magazine, we can bring this exclusive look at his younger days as the ‘development man’. To begin, we’ll give you a small account of the star of the Ossa brand as a serious off-road producer of motorcycles. Words: Ossa, Mick Andrews, John Hulme and Don Morley Pictures: Brian Holder, The Nick Nicholls Collection at Mortons Archive, Christian Rayer, Ossa and Brian Catt. We are in some cases not 100% sure of the copyright on certain images. If you are the intellectual owner of any, please contact us.

In the early 1920s, Spaniard, Manuel Giro, would start a small company that would produce cinema projection equipment. The company would be called Orpheo Sincronic Sociedad Anonima – OSSA was born. During the late sixties and early seventies, they would become a major player in the off-road motorcycle world, with such famous names as trials legend Mick Andrews giving them the competition success they deserved in the trials world.

In the early ‘50s, the name Ossa became a significant player in the manufacture of motorcycles when his young son Eduardo took an interest in two wheels when he designed and built a small working two-stroke engine during his summer vacation from school.

With his young son showing interest in this area, his father took a bold step and, instead of expecting his son to follow in his footsteps at the cinema projector factory, he gave him space in the factory for motorcycle development and production. The result of this was that the son produced a tidy little 125cc machine. With success on the road racing front with these machines, Ossa sold in the region of 80,000 after its introduction in 1951.

In the early sixties, motocross and general offroad riding was beginning to take off — especially in the United States where Ossa realised the potential for a complete off-road motorcycle range. In 1966, Giro visited various off-road meetings in Europe and decided to follow rival manufacturers Bultaco and Montesa in signing a talented young rider who could help the company with development in off-road machines. Ossa signed the young Mick Andrews from England in January 1967, originally to ride in motocross but at the same time help them to develop a trials machine as well. Andrews would debut his new prototype trials machine in the February at a Midlands-based centre event. Spain calls This is where we take the story up for this article beginning with the Bultaco letter of intent for a factory contract after Mick had contacted them. Mick was already riding a Bultaco for the then importers the Rickman Brothers. After some careful consideration he then, with the support of his father Tom, made the difficult decision to start from

scratch instead with Ossa to produce a range of offroad motorcycles. Mick soon realised that there was much work to be done but admired the enthusiasm from the Spanish Ossa workers. The pace of life was moved up a gear, and soon Mick was passing on his ideas for the development of the machines.

Both 23-years-old at the time, Mick and Gill married on the 21st March 1968. After the reception, it was then time for the honeymoon, as they set off for Spain in their van complete with two Ossa machines and the move to Spain which would become their base, as the work to improve the machines continued.

Eric Housley was the official UK importer and the man who introduced Mick to Ossa. He had supported Mick on scrambles machinery. He was the one who made a few phone calls and eventually went to Ossa in Spain to discuss a contract in early January. It would be the first time that they would see their early attempts at producing a trials machine. You must also understand the slow pace of communication and transport compared to the present day. World traveller After Mick and Gill moved to Spain in 1968, and with very little knowledge of the native language, for seven months lived in an apartment. With the move by Ossa to the new factory there was not much spare money, but soon they would both be travelling a little further than Spain.

Now working all the time in the factory in Barcelona, Ossa decided to send him to America on a promotional tour. He could demonstrate through a series of training schools the potential of the new Ossa off-road motorcycles in both trials and scrambling, or motocross as it was now titled. He also competed in some Trans-AMA international competitions and came into contact with the American Ossa importer John Taylor. John Taylor, along with Dick Mann, was working on a new venture the Ossa 500cc Yankee. Mick helped them with some of his ideas passed on to the venture. Over the next few years, he would become very popular around the globe as he promoted the world of motorcycle trials far and wide. Now it’s time to go back to the start of the adventure and his years as the development man at Ossa starting in 1967. Bultaco letter (16th December 1966) We acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 4th December 1966 and before dealing with its contents allow us to congratulate you on the successes you have been obtaining with our Sherpa T in England. We were aware of this through the British motorcycling press. We were also aware of your relations with our competitors the Ossa motorcycle manufacturer and to tell you the truth we never thought we would have the opportunity of having you ride for us in an official capacity and consequently your letter has been a bit of a surprise. A very pleasant one though!

Naturally, we can offer you much better conditions than what you have been obtaining in the past from the Rickman Brothers. On general lines, there would be certain basic points to cover any possible agreement, like the supply of a complete machine plus a spare engine free of charge, an

assortment of spare parts to keep you going for a full season also supplied on the same basis and your commitment to use our motorcycles in trials riding for a period of 2 years.

Regarding financial assistance, we would suggest a retaining fee to be determined, and a bonus covering the trade supported trials in the UK also to be determined. If you think keeping the above points in mind, there is a possibility of coming to some sort of an agreement I would then pursue the matter further with our directors. Ossa letter (31st January 1967) We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 31st January. We are sincerely sorry about the bad luck you have had with our motocross machine on your first outing. Please let us know in detail all the drawbacks you noticed. If possible, you should send us a sketch of the parts that broke.

As for the steering axle spindle, we have already made the necessary arrangements for no further problems to arise. We are also looking for a solution for the gear change system of the trials model so as to adapt it to the other side of the machine as you describe. Please describe in detail the modification to the steering yokes which you mentioned on the telephone but which we were unfortunately unable to understand.

Just let us know if you want us to supply you with a complete gearbox with gears fitted for the motocross model in case the breakdown has caused some damage to these parts. Ossa letter (14th February 1967) We would thank you very much for all your suggestions concerning the scrambler and trials motorcycles and for the clarity of your drawings. The new pinions of the trials model are now 18/23 as opposed to 19/22 as before. They are already under manufacture but, as these are special parts, their manufacture takes more time. We hope we can send them to you before the end of this month.

Some days ago we already sent you some spare footrests. They are no stronger than the previous

ones, but the final version is not yet available. In the meantime, you may reinforce the current ones as best you can. The location point on the frame for the footrests will also be reinforced on future models.

We are currently testing standard pistons to see if they are actually suitable for the kind of engine you have. If they prove not to be suitable with the use of proper carburation settings we shall send you competition ones. The carburation as described by you is perfectly correct. Of course, you may use an AMAL 32 Ø but we think the IRZ one provides better adjusting possibilities in two-stroke engines. Sometimes it may prove suitable to use the big jet in the first and the small one in the second stage for the scrambler making the mixture in the first part richer, and it may give better results. Montesa are using this arrangement in this carburettor. We have ordered additional jets to forward to you.

The Telesco brand is preparing a somewhat harder rear suspension damper. This will be forwarded to you shortly. We are also sending you two spare saddles for the scrambler. We notice in your drawings that what you are asking for is what we pointed out in our previous letter concerning the steering of the trials model. Please let us know the results so that we may proceed accordingly. We would request you kindly to keep all the damaged material or the parts you do not use to bring them here to Spain on your next trip so that we may study and possibly repair these parts here.

Concerning the costs of your entry fee in the International Scottish Six Days Trial, please tell Mr Houseley to let you have the amount of £21.00 from our account. This sum will be refunded by us on the first possible opportunity. Ossa letter (6th March 1967) We are in receipt of your letter dated 21st February with full information about the latest races. We note that unfortunately, our machines are not yet up to competitive standards so that you cannot achieve victories at the present time. We hope we can improve our motorcycles little by little so that you will finally have a machine as good as any other. We already experienced the problem of the rear carburettor seal with the scrambler, but we did not expect this to become a problem in the trial models. Now we shall use the new solutions adopted for the scrambler also in the trials machine.

For the time being, all we can do is to ask you to check and replace the seal carefully until we can supply you with the new reinforced type. We shall send you the spare parts. We trust you will have received the spare parts we have sent you some time ago. We suppose you will also have received the pistons and the spare rings.

Concerning the pistons, we have not yet reached any final decision on whether the ones you had were adequate or not. Maybe our development time with the scrambler is still too short. We are

continuing our experiments, and we think that by the time of the Barcelona Grand Prix this will be settled once and for all. The problem of the rubber seal may be solved easily with adhesive tape. We also experienced this problem in competition with the 32mm Ø carburettors. We are sending you new rubbers in case the ones you have are broken. When tightening the screws, please bear in mind that the rubber must be compressed by only about 1mm for if you tighten too much the rubber may be pressed out all around.

We have improved the steering axle spindle for all 230cc engine types, and we hope it is now strong enough. We shall send you two parts of the series number one as soon as we have them available but if they are urgently required, please let us know, and we shall accelerate the shipment.

In compliance with your request, we shall build one set of steering yokes according to your drawing and with a distance of 2 inches – approx 50mm – between centres. Actually, we think this is too little in relation to the steering angle as in our opinion the limit would be 65mm. In any case, it will be interesting to test these items to gain experience.

In our latest parcel, we have sent you some clutch plates. These can only be used in the trials model as for in the scrambler they would slip and lose friction with the present springs. At a later stage, we shall send you new special springs that are stronger. We shall subsequently let you know the dates of your visit to Barcelona, but we can already advise that this will be a few days before the Grand Prix on the 2nd April. We shall then discuss the last details concerning your motorcycles and their development. Ossa letter (19th April 1967) We have pleasure in informing you that we have just relocated and moved to the new factory we have built. The whole workshops and offices are in one place called Badal, and we enclose herewith a card with every detail concerning the location of this new factory. Will you please send us on and after the date of the present letter all correspondence as

well as whatever parcels you could do to the following address: Maquinaria Cinematografica S.A., Poligno, Industrial de la Zona Franca, Sector B – Calle B, Barcelona – 4, Spain Ossa letter (15th December 1967) We refer to your two letters of 14th November and 2nd December and are very thankful for the test about our trial machine that you have succeeded in publishing in Motorcycle

News. We are very glad to hear that you have made all the tests with the new frame we sent to you for this purpose, and we wish to emphasise our thankfulness for your reports regarding the behaviour of the materials used in the manufacture. These reports will be very useful and

This young ‘Lad’ from Derbyshire in 1966. French rider Christain Rayer in 1966 testing the very first Ossa trials machine. He would move to Montesa and help Pedro Pi with the early Cota 247. At the 1966 SSDT, filling the Bultaco with fuel. Eric Housley was the official Ossa UK importer, here in the bottom lefthand corner, and the man who introduced Mick to Ossa. After a few phone calls and eventually a trip to Ossa in Spain a contract was discussed in early January. Having signed the contract everyone looks very happy.

Both 23 years old at the time, Mick and Gill married on the 21st March 1968. After the reception it was then time for a honeymoon as they set off for Spain in their van complete with two Ossa machines. Ossa signed the young Mick Andrews from England in January 1967 originally to ride in motocross but at the same time help them to develop a trials machine as well. Astride the very first Ossa trials prototype model in 1967. We think ‘room for improvement’ springs to mind! Eric Housley looks on. The first outing in the UK at the Colmore Cup on the new Ossa in 1967. Although a bit ambitious at the time, Ossa then entered a three-man team for the 1967 Scottish Dix Days Trial in the May. Riding basically converted trail machines they all retired with mechanical problems and the ‘Plonker’ model got off to a very poor start.

At the 1968 ISDT as part of the Ossa off-road model development. 1968: Mick’s father, Tom, supported him all the way when he made the move to Spain to develop the Ossa range. Just look how big the Ossa still appears as Mick takes it to third position at thehe 1968 SSDT. The MC Sport magazine from Europe used this action picture of Mick Andrews for its front cover from the 1968 SSDT.1968: John Taylor along with Dick Mann was working on a new venture the Ossa 500cc Yankee. Mick helped them with some of his ideas passed on to the venture.

1969: Ossa engines are assembled ready for fitting into frames for a production run. Looking very confident at the 1969 SSDT, Mick’s reward was the runner-up position. 1969: Cylinder barrels are machined in the workshop prior to engine assembly. In 1969 Mick would take in some UK trials such as the Wye Valley in April in preparation for the SSDT in May. By mid-1969 the Ossa was looking more like a competitive trials model. The name had changed to the Pennine.

Mick made a rare UK appearance at a cold and misty Northern Experts Trial in late 1969. All the hard work in developing the Ossa was rewarded with the win at the 1970 Scottish Six Days Trial. Still based in Spain, this picture sees Mick testing the Ossa at the factory near Barcelona in 1970. Spanish crowds loved Mick Andrews, as you can see here in April 1971 on the front cover of Motociclismo magazine.

The Ossa brochure proudly shows Mick Andrews winning the 1971 SSDT. Looking very confident, Mick during his winning ride at the 1971 ‘Scottish’. This picture adorned the 1971 Christmas card from Ossa of Mick on the beach.