Chris Walker, Berkshire, England

2002-augusti-15

Dear Mats,
I first came across your Ossa web site about 18 months ago and have visited it several times since to catch up on any additions.

My first Ossa was an SDR 250 which I purchased new in 1976 from Windsor Comp Shop (that's Windsor as in Widsor Castle, England) who, unfortunately, are no longer trading.
I covered 45K miles on this bike in 5 years, riding to and from work and trail riding at weekends. I later added a 1972 MAR, which I used in club trials for a while.
In 1996, I came across a brace of Ossas in a motorcycle shop in Reading. The guy who owned the shop, brought several containers of bikes into the UK from the States. One of these wasa 250 MAR in a rundown state. The other was a 1971 Pioneer 250, which was quite rusty, but complete and original (including the Pirelli tyres). However, the speedo had been
'liberated' by the dealer to fit on another Pioneer he was rebuilding for a customer and I never did find out what mileage the bike had covered.
 

I decided that the Pioneer would make an ideal candidate for a rebuild. I had all the chrome work renewedand the frame shot blasted and enamelled. I rebuilt the engine and on splitting the crank cases found the reason the bike had been layed up - the crank case was jam packed with 'crud'. I guess the owner had ridden it into a lake or mud hole and 'drowned' and, I guess, the owner hadn't bothered doing anything with it after that.  Needless to say, I had to renew the big-end bearing, crank bearings and seals. The bike was red and black originally, but I repainted it in red and white with gold lining to recreate the colour scheme of my 'old' SDR. I have the registration plate the bike came with from the states - it would be great to try and trace the original owner to find out the history of the bike. Keep up the good work. Chris Walker, Berkshire, England email: rg404ra@tiscali.co.uk