“The silencer on the rear is some form of aftermarket one though I don’t know what it is,” Mick adds. That said, apart from having to be cut and pulled in slightly to cope with the head angle change on the frame, it is a standard system. Take a look at the exhaust system – even the early 310 OSSA would have a less tortuous exhaust route than this one and is from a later Gripper model.įront forks and yokes are Fantic, the front hub is a Grimeca but probably one fitted to a Fantic. It isn’t all that special according to Mick, in fact it is actually quite standard in almost all respects including the ignition but not the carburettor. Mick has fitted a carb from the TY250 Mono range. This pushed the capacity to 310cc and it is one of these engines sitting in the 250 frame. Aftermarket back box is light and repackable too.Īlong with the other Barcelona factories OSSA experimented with bigger engines in the 70s though in their case it was mainly a bigger bore rather than a redesign. There are tubes inside these tyres though.

GasGas had tubeless rims with the required number of spoke holes to fit earlier hubs. Reason for that is the trials world has gone tubeless and such tyres don’t sit all that well on tubed rims. They don’t look out of place though and are laced to probably GasGas rims. Hubs too are not from OSSA and are actually Grimeca ones as fitted to many an Italian machine of the slightly later era.

“It’s a Montesa one though which one I don’t know,” grins Mick, “maybe we should put an OSSA one in there.” No need for comfort over hundreds of miles these days.Īt the rear is a longer swinging arm which, though Spanish, isn’t OSSA. Adding to the slimline look of the bike is the minimalistic seat. Though of the same stanchion diameter the sliders have a leading axle and the internals are certainly much more modern in their damping.īecause of the axle position on this bike – OSSAs as standard have the spindle position under the slider – it has been necessary to cut the frame slightly and tuck the headstock back a little. Though the frame is almost a standard MAR 250 one, it has had a little tweak at the front as the forks are from a later Fantic trials bike. It was built for Mick about eight years ago to use in Spanish events and instead of the more familiar green colour, is finished with a red band on the tank rather like his 1970 bike. Anyway, back to the smart machine in these pics.

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