Basket Cases

[Rod]

Hi Joe, I've heard similar things said over the years regarding the 250/310 capacity. Unfortunately they both shared the spindly 12mm axle and dished sprocket setup which would have been a problem for the top riders back in the day, which Ross was. I'm curious how Mick Andrews back in those days got around the problem!

Apparently Sammy Miller Products once did a kit that fixed the problem and allowed a flat sprocket to be used, I think this is it from France Classic now.Refer below,

http://www.francetrialclassic.com/en/ch ... cket-.html

[Ross Grimsey]

Yes Rod my one and only Ossa, never went to Scottish, just seemed like a cool thing to say at the time . I did get a haircut ! The only bike i had which was worse was a Montesa 349 White one, which was just horrendous, the unpredictable stalling made the Ossa seem like silk ! Had it back to Ryans of Parramata about 3 times and they couldnt sort it either, it was just a dud , i never rode a trial on it it was that bad, tried desperately to get my Bultaco back but it had already been sold and new ones were unavailable. Barry Ryan gave me a Suzuki DR 500 in exchange for it and i went without a ride for 2 or 3 months until the Italjet 350 came out which i loved. Re the 250 350 debate momentum is traction and there is nothing like the rush of a 350 with a short run up, but only if it is smooth enough to turn full lock. Many prefered the 250 which is always going to be easier to turn ( clutch out of course ) My Montesa was just a dud as others i have rode were nice,

[Greg Harding]

Hi Greg,

I have a TL125 black plastic inner guard it's not in great shape though but you are welcome to it if you want it? It's still attached to an old rear guard again not "concourse" condition to put it mildly but again you can have it for the price of postage if interested. I'll try to get a photo of it in the next couple of days so you can see what I'm talking about exactly and if you want it?

I'm after a chain guard to fit a M124 Sherpa T if anyone can help with that?
Cheers mate.

Montesa13

Hi Everyone,

Montesa 13, Thank you, the photos have turned up via email!

Rod, Your bike looks like original condition, very nice! use m7 X 1 which means 1 thread per mm, m6 x1 and m8 x 1.25 are common here. Have you tried , or dealers as the parts books give thread dimensions or alternately have you considered getting your fasteners cadnium plated? Perhaps not new unless you want Torx?

Ross, nice to hear about your experiences, you may not know that I am a new comer by comparison. Ten years ago I went to Pacific Park to watch the Austie Titles. It certainly impressed me enough to get motivated to get a licence to compete! You would probably criticize me for covering the clutch, but I pretty much ride with throttle control being dominant and clutch if I get into trouble. Have tried a lot of bikes and the smooth progressive power of 250 engines is what I like, but I will ride anything

Joe, you pretty much summed up what I mean!

Chippy, your bike is back in 1 piece, the chrome linished up nice and Davids quantities were spot on as usual. There is about a 4 mm gap between backing plate and lug on fork leg with what looks like an original spacer, but to get the rim centre between the forklegs I had to adjust the spokes and re true the wheel.

IMGP8105.JPG (149.17 KiB) Viewed 5784 times

[David Lahey]

[quote="Greg Harding"]
Hi Everyone,

David, the more that I look at the , the more weird things that I find, for example behind the front sprocket which is on the Right Hand Side tucked away just above the bashplate is a different location for a gear lever So to answer your question, my guess is the MAR Mk 1 had the brakes ON THE WRONG SIDE

No Greg the Mk1 MAR has the same crazy setup with the brake lever on the right side (correct side?).
I notice that the aftermarket Whitlock frames made for the MAR when it came out have the brake pedal on the left side, and use a rod to actuate the brake arm.
I've also seen an MAR fitted with a Bultaco rear wheel, so they can have the brake pedal on the right and a rod to the brake arm. This was done in conjunction with relocated footpegs

[Rod]

Greg, I haven't pursued the bolts too much just yet, one of those home plating kits from Casswells or similar might do the job.

Ross, I for one love hearing these hands on stories about the good old days, please stay on board.
Do you ride any Trials these days? I saw you at the Jeff Gough Invitational recently but only as a spectator.

[Ross Grimsey]

Rod, My Bultaco 350 79 last ran in 2007 or 2005 not sure, anyway yes i decided to go to the Jeff Gough memorial trial after reading something about it on the Western Districts Trial Facebook site (don't even know how i came to be on their mailing list but anyway they seem cool ) Saw a few people that i know, Tim English, Dave Goldsmith,John Barwick( who was a little busy writhing around on the ground after coming a gutsa ) and probably a whole heap of people i should know ( apologies if i saw someone i should know ) didnt see any Goughs maybe they came later i had to go. Anyway started to get interested again so i dragged (flat tyres) the Bulty out wiped all the dust and cobwebs off it and checked it out. Pumped tyres up checked fuel empty, undid float bowl plug and it was full of oil, strange but i remember i had been using Fuchs Silkolene Pro KR2 castor and ester synthetic 2 stroke engine oil for Kart racing ( yes i have the bottle in front of me my memory is not that good ) at 40 to 1 so maybe the petrol evaporated away and left the oil behind. Anyway put in some fresh premix and let some pour out the float bowl before replacing the plug, checked air filter it was gone completely disintegrated ( always wash sponge filters in kerosene not petrol ). After doing all this i suddenly thought shit it's probably siezed up anyway so i pressed the kickstarter down (with left foot of course) and it went down okay ( i had the fuel tap on )so i thought what the hell and gave it a proper kick and would you believe it started ! Blew plenty of smoke for a fair while but eventually settled down, stalled it putting into gear clutch not releasing, got it into 2nd gear and went for a tour of the property with the clutch pulled in until it finally released. Am amazed it fired up so easily after at least 7 years sitting and that it wasn't siezed, maybe that castor oil saved it ( i only used it because it worked as good as anything else and smelt absolutely fantastic ) didn't even check the spark plug but am running Gas Gas electronic ignition so that might of helped. Once i got the bike out in daylight it looks pretty sad those plastic tanks don't look any better with age and when i blew the dust off the engine etc with the compressor half the paint fell off but anyway i'm keen at the moment and have ordered some grips and Jena ( daughter works at KTM Nerang ) tells me there is a KTM sponge air filter which can be cut up to fit, so let the project begin ! Will put up some photo's if i can work out how to do it, Cheers, Ross

[chippy]

Hi everyone,

Ross, really glad that you have put those posts up and welcome. It's great to hear of those stories like Rod has explained. I, like many others on this formum love those stories of how you still have an old bike tucked away in a shed somewhere, dust it off, clean out the carby and airfilter, etc etc, kick it in the guts and away it goes. Further more those stories of how people came across their bikes and the effort they are going to, to get bikes going again and bringing them back to life from a "basket case". So good to hear from you Ross and some photos would be great, especially of the Bulty in its current shape.

I also remember back in our Canberra days Ross, that you quite often rode with a Avon tyres T shirt. (I may have a photo of you wearing an Avon T shirt!!!! Yes you did need a haircut!!!) I think that you were sponsored by them also. How did the Avon tyres perform, compared to the other tyres available at the time? Were you sponsored by anyone else as my memory is fading slightly?

Is there any chance we can get you on the Bulty for the Twin Shock Masters this year at Conondale Ross? It is on the first weekend of November. The 1st and 2nd.

Getting back to the , yes they are very weak in the rear axle and Greg Harding has once again excelled himself and turned me up a rear axle spacer that attaches to the rear sprocket and also houses a bearing in it closest to the swingarm. You will see the detail in the photo below. If anyone else needs a rear axle spacer for their , I am sure if you contact Greg, he will be able to make more.

ossa rear axle bush 003.jpg (173.77 KiB) Viewed 6767 times

[JC1]

It sure is good reading Ross's comments. And seeing Greg's fix for the MAR axle. And seeing all these pics of MARs. I have to say again, I just love the look of an MAR. They look sooo good. Well done guys. Keep it coming! Looking forward to Conondale & the MAR turnout.

[Ross Grimsey]

Yes chippy, The Avon Mudplugger was a 3 ply Trials universal which whilst apparently a great short circuit tyre, was a pretty ordinary Trials tyre. The ones i used were specials flown in from England and were 2 ply they were pretty good. I remember i couldnt stock up on them because they had to be "fresh" so the compound may have been diferent as well. The Avon T shirt on the other hand was great and i still have a couple, they do seem to have shrunk over the years as they seem a very tight fit now ( ha ha ). That Ossa axle mod looks the goods . They just seemed to have too long a length axle unsupported and if you were hitting things hard they woulnt take it.

[Joe Henderson]

Hi everybody,

The explanation given to me in about 1978/9 by Chris Holden was that the rear hub on the MARs was a moped hub and so was a little light-on for width and strength.

Sammy miller sold me an outrigger spacer with bearings, long bolts and a flat sprocket that fitted outboard of the spacer.

I still had trouble getting the axle out of the hub after it bent until I had Dave Gustar from the Elliot Turbomachinery tool room make me up a chrome Moly axle. Fifteen beers one night in the Duke of York, debt repaid.

My mates used to grind the diameter down on the stock axle so that it was a loose fit in the bearings so it was easy to punch out but that seemed to me to be a farmer's solution. Probably because Bun and Nick Symes were farmers.

Regards,

Joe.