Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126043
IH)\ \1.'1' \ '-x PI{E IT'\I>ERS 10 rur TIIRO'\ E OSSA 350 MAR The Mick Andrews leqacy , By Lane Campbell 26 Has it been five years since Mick Andr ews left Ossa for Yamaha? (Lawsy , we're gettin ' old !) Yet, sup erficially, the "350" (actually 30 2.6) MAR Ossa trialer is little different from t he bike with which Andrews won the world ch amp ionship in 1970. The factory has not been co mpelled to m ake radical change, for the basic Andrews concept is sound and workable. If you don 't beli eve it, view t he Ossa side-by -side wit h a cur ren t producti on TY 250. The fra me l a y ou t is like the design/developer's signature. The mo st noticeable thing the factory has done to update the bike in Mick's absence is bore and stroke the engine by five millimeters. Next most noticeable is an extended swingar m whi ch leaves the shoc k geo metry roughy the same but adds abou t an inch to effective travel (an d abou t an inch and a half to the wheelbase). The c~mbined effect of these changes is to slow and smooth o u t the Ossa 's responses , p lus add a bit of extra grunt over the entire RPM ra nge . In th e extra grunt de partment, yo u co uldn't fault the engine . The test bike we received had been set up nearly spot-on, and has remained so. The increased stroke has added to the rotational inertia of the engine just enough to make power delivery smooth and controllable. With the 28 mm Amal jett ed to pro vide st utter -free induction of p re-mix and t he solid-state Motoplat showing no tendency to "hunt" for its firing point at low speeds, there 's none of the lumpy idle or sudden bursts of t orq ue often associated with big-displacement t wo st rokes. Nice , smo oth, and unstoppable. It would just pla nk, plank up rldgeside trails in th ird gear with a 200'pound turk ey on its back like there was nothing to it, or buzz up to uncomfortable revs with a torque curve like an electri c motor. Uncanny , neat, and very useful. If so me t hings are new, some things re main fore ver the same. Like the tin handlebar switchbox that is so bad A smooth:deliberate machine for smooth.lIeliberate trialers. Bad routing frayed a cable (lower photo) . many dealers disconnect it on setup. . Will Ossa ever work those th ings out of inventory? Or the kickstarter ; you'll lo ve it or hate it , maybe bo th in the same day. Its see mingly awkward length becomes a Godsend when you stall in awkward pla ces, as it will spin the engi ne even if you have only a half a kick left in y o u. But it's non -primary, and hell if you snag it . You'll want to rubber-ba nd it to hold it in the folded position. Other no ticeable de tails - the gear ratios seemed well -chosen, but the shifting itself felt tigh t and st iff. Yo u'd expect this sti ffness to wear o ut of an engine after so many hours, but this bike had the hours on it and still shifted tight. But gon e are the plastic bash plate days. The curren t alloy protector is thick, heat-treated and strong. The rear brake pedal is well tu cked in , but the shifter is awkwa rd and sticks o ut a bit. Best to reposition the shifter near-vertical, or get one wi th a fold-back on it . Better safe than sorry, as the stiff shifting we noticed could just as well be a consequence of snagging the shifter on ce too often (i.e., be nt shaft). Slow and smooth, alm ost heavy, describes t he chassis responses. Heavy? At a clai med 199 pounds dry , it's one of the lightest of the punched-out production trialers, but the first impression of everybody who got on it cold (including guest tester Bob Nickelsen ] was "the front end seems heavy." Apparently the extended swingarm has shifted the weight bias forward slightly and the added wheelbase, combined with the fact that it's a trifle taller than its competition. all work together to slow the handling, in a sense, to stabilize the motorcycle. After riding it aw hile, you begi n to app reciate th e stability. Side hill ing , the steering stays fairly ne u tral. On downhills, the braking can trol is goo d to ex cellent, with only a slight tendency toward rear end hop. Elsewhere the ' front and rear suspe nsio n work unnoticeably , wh ich is the best way for suspension to work. The bike as a' whole resp on ds p redictably to deliberate weighting/unweighting, so th at .you can Specifications ENGI NE Bore :w; stroke 77 x 65m m Disp lace ment .. . .. . .. . • . 302.6cc Starter . . . . . . . . . Kick, neutral only , CHASS IS Wheelbase 52 in . (Nominal) Seat heigh t (at rest) 31 in . 199 lb. Dry we ight (cla imed) Ra ke 27 de g. Trail 3 .1 in . Suspension travel Iront /rear Fuel capacity Suggest ed retail 6.9 /4 .8 in . 1 .6 gal. (61.) S1625 get th e weight sh ift together wit h yo ur throttle and work it over the gro und. You can acrobat around , on it without snagging your body and grip it conveniently with the kn ees or upper calves (depending on your leg length ) for unweigh ting the rear. It 's anything bu t a wheelie demon; in fact i ts weig ht balance requires you to deli berately wei ght the rear end to main tain drive in loose trac tion. It 's generally a deliberate rider's trialer. Bob Nickelsen, a deliberate rider's rider, played with ' it in several Expert traps, came back, and said , "There's n o thing about this bi ke that should keep you from win ning." Don 't try to compare it to the other Spanish bikes; it 's not of the same genre. Not as trick , not as close to wh at the world-clas s st ars ar e riding; the sligh t1y mi s-named " 350 Mick Andrews Replica " is just a go od , war kab le piece o f eq uip me nt you can have fun wi th. So what else is new? •