Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1971 05 18

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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CYCLE NEWS CONSUMER TEST 1971 OSSA PIONEER CD > ::;;; '" ~ w Z NOTE: Unlike the road tests that you may read in the conventional publications, which are performed in a day's or week's riding time and often are conducted on special bikes set up by the manufacturer for test purposes, this and the series of Cycle News Consumer Tests to follow are owner's reports on popular new motorcycles purchased from a retail dealer's showroom, just like the machine you will eventually buy. By Charles Clayton The concept of a mediumweight, all-purpose trail bike that is practical both on and off the road has been around motorcycling since before Harley med Davidson. But only in the last three or four years have such machines begun to appear on the market. Prior to the Bultaco Matador and the Mon tesa Scorpion, you had your choice of buying a road bike and putting knobby tires on it, or else purchasing a racer with lights and a hom tacked on. Neither combination could quite handle both jobs well. Trust the Spaniards to design bikes that wear their road gear easily in the dirt and yet go and handle great on the blacktop as well. Ossa came a little later on the scene with an "enduro bike," as such a machine is called. Their little 230cc Pioneer of a couple of years back had the specifications that appealed to such enduro freaks as Bob Hicks. He campaigned one all season long in New England, then shipped it to Spain for the 1970 Six Days Trial, came through it without a hitch and won a medal. Bob told me that Pioneers ran a little lean in the midrange and the ignition switch was in an awkward place and the speedometer was abominable, but otherwise it was a great machine. When I saw that tbose three flaws had been amended on the '71's and the engine is now a full 244ccs and a fifth gear had been added, I decided I had to have one. Hurrying down to Hackie's Motorcycles in Torrance, Ca1., as soon as the first shipment arrived, I picked out number 301274 and bade Willie Hockie set it up. The price, I was somewhat shocked to learn, came to $1,018.25 plus tax and license. 1 added a compression release (the head is already drilled and tapped for one) and replaced the skinny, grey Spanish handlegrips with fat, American black ones along with leather discs. Willie cau tioned me to keep the speed under 50 mph for the first couple of hundred miles and explained the workings of the new IRZ 29mm carburetor with its extra jet for midrange tuning. The Pioneer's frame and engine are essentially the same as the potent Stiletto motocross racer. The enduro bike's wheelbase is one inch shorter, however, at 54Y.". . Riding the Pioneer under the break-in speed limit is not easy. The engine wants to go, and it will run up to 90 mph in top gear, if you let it. I p1Jtted around my favorite dirt pile until the police ran me off and then I rode it around on the street until 200 miles showed on the odometer. At that point I returned to the scene of my crime confiden t that I could lose my pursuer. The bike feels top-heavy until you get used to it. Steering is rather slow, so you're forced to ride it with a lot of body English through the tighter turns, using the throttle to assist by breaking the "rear tire loose. This isn't always possible at higher trail speeds however, so you have to choose your path rather far ahead in order to miss trees, rocks and other bad things. Fork rake is 29 degrees. It is a small concession for such a stable machine. It plows through sand like a train. My Pioneer's center of .. £"~~t.~_ .~~~!~~~~~~_ ~_. !?..'!!..i.'!..~~!Y direction, for it always lands on bOtll tires unJess you exert a vigorous tug on the bars and shift your fanny somewhat aft of the tailligh t. It never tries to loop on uphill runs, wh ich is a blessing. First gear is a stump-puller intended for only the most drastic situations, like the hillclimb speed test in the 6-days Trial. Fifth gear is fine for the Ontario Raceway or making up time fast in an enduro. Second, 3rd and 4th gears are ideally spaced for the engine's wide power band. The gearbox was stiff when new, resulting in some embarrassing neutrals while shifting down to 2nd or up into 3rd. But this tendency is dintinishing with use. I found myself getting a little bit over-exhuberant with tltis, my own bike, as opposed to the W ...J (.) >- (.) First mod was the substitution of a J&R silencer-spark arrester combination for the stock no-spark arrester muffler. Tools are carried under the little lid. by the factory and the Senors' at Ossa haven't let you down. The hand controls have dust excluders, there are rim locks in the wheels, passenger pegs, a chain guide, enduro speedometer and, carried in the camper section of the rear fender, a generous tool kit. But a common maintenance chore like removing tlte rear wheel can be an awful drag. It's guaranteed to while ~~~..""...,...,., The ignition lock is under the head light, a better-than-averag'e location. In short, my experience with tlte Ossa Pioneer proves it's just one point shy of beIng the perfect 250cc street and trail combination. And I can even live witlt that rear wh.eel removal drill. Right now , can't think qf a bener way to invest a thousand dollars. Note the high ground clearance, clean bottom of the Ossa. Nice for sliding over rocks and such. cau tion I usually elLercise witlt machines that have to be given back. Soon I was forced to step undaintily over the handlebars as the Pioneer pioneered a new trail down a hillside. All that was damaged were the handlebars, bent several inches cockeyed by the crash. The sturdy Betor forks and crash-resistant plastic absorbed the impact withoLlt harm. The lights are battery-assisted and are equal to the machine's performance capabilities. Occasionally off the road there comes a time when you have to pick up your bike and carry it for a distance. With tlte Ossa Pioneer this is not too difficult. Its 235 lb. weight is evenly distributed, so getting the wheels in a new ru t doesn't even make one grunt. There's a handy grab-handle on the left side. At 200 miles I changed from the break-in fuel mix ture of 20: I to Full-Bore oil mixed 40: 1 with premium gasoline and have experienced no seizure problems. Yes, Virginia, you have to mix oil with tlte gasoline. The engine runs clean on either mixture and the Motoplat 6-volt ignition- system hasn't missed a beat in 400 miles. It's also completely waterproof. For a thousand dollars, you have a ri(!ht to I ..:-e:

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