73 Ossa 250 Pioneer

Wayne Meuir · Post by **Wayne Meuir** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:33 pm

A guy near me has listed a 73 Ossa Pioneer on Craigslist for $650. I had a 68 230 Pioneer and it was a great bike, but I have heard a lot of comments on the net about them having some reliability issues. Anybody have any experience with them? It looks pretty good, lights are missing. I'm a litttle old for a trail bike, but I would sure like to give it a try again.

I don't know how to link a Craigslist ad but is in the Dallas Craigslist, just search on Ossa, its the only one there.

Wayne

GT Tim · Post by **GT Tim** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:19 pm

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/mcy/1008849814.html

cabz · Post by **cabz** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:20 pm

I used to vintage race an old ossa pioneer 250

it was a horse . it would pull stumps or tow cars if you wanted it too

Mine was lacking the compression release valve , and at 12.5 to 1 comp ratio by the time I got it started I was almost too tired to ride

and the left hand kick starter took some getting used to.

Cause some mook decided to fix the gas tank inside with fiberglass resin, seems 2 stroke gas eats that stuff and it turn to gum in the carb

other than that they are stout rides

Wayne Meuir · Post by **Wayne Meuir** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:07 pm

My 68 was way stout as well and I never had a problem with it except learning to kick it. You sorta had to stand on the left side and kick toward the rear wheel. It only had about 24 HP, but it had a LOT of flywheel. With the removable silencer off, it sounded like a Popping Johnny if you were just chuging up hills and stuff. One of my friends bought an Ossa Stiletto the same day I bought the Pioneer. It was there MX bike and was way faster than mine, but did not make a good trail bike becasue it was so peaky. He was kicking himself before too long for buiying it instead of the Pioneer.
I may be too late, but we are in the midst of an ice storm right now, so I have not gone to see it. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse still, so it will be at least Thursday before I can try to see it.

Wayne

rngdng · Post by **rngdng** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:46 pm

Wayne, I remember the Pioneers as being bombproof. I'd buy it.

Lane

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:57 pm

Yep, I wrenched 'em back in the day. The one thing you have to keep in mind is that engine started life as a 175 and they progressively bored and stroked it out to 250....so the big end rod bearing isn't as tough as it should be. It does NOT like high RPMs.
The only other caveat is the lame Motoplat (or Femsa) ignition. Electronics was/were in their infancy in Europe at this point and the learning curve was a little steep for the manufacturers of those devices. Make absolutely sure that there's a nice fat blue spark before handing any money over. Do NOT listen to any stories about "Oh, it just needs a new plug." or "It probably needs the wires sorted out".
Oh....and you WILL need to become an expert at fibreglass repairs.

My .02.....

Wayne Meuir · Post by **Wayne Meuir** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:46 pm

Well, we has an ice storm and cound not get out for a couple of days and I guess someone more dedicated to it than I bought it. You snooze, you lose.

I would really rather have a 70's Maico anyway.

Wayne