The Spanish manufacturers have always supported the trials sport. Newer manufacturers like Gas Gas and Beta emerged, while in the 1960's and '70's Bultaco and OSSA were big names in trials manufacturers, there were others.
The Bultaco and OSSA importer was in Schenectady NY, his name was John Taylor. He also had Full Bore as a brand, and that was a line of products from replacement parts for dirtbikes, to oil, to clothing for off-road riders. The Full-Bore motocross boots were famous as they had aluminum plates riveted to the fronts. Wearing a pair of these, and showing-up with a European bike like a Bultaco, an OSSA, or a Maico immediately identified you as someone serious about having good equipment, and hopefully, the skills to use it in the method for which it was designed.
Friends of mine bought-out the business, and over time they liquidated the stock. I bought from them a Full Bore enduro jacket which I still have, and wear occasionally. It's from the days before jackets had 'inside' armor. It has voluminous pockets inside and out, because competitors would often carry spare parts on-them, like innertubes, so you needed storage space. Ever-see an old video of an ISDT racer changing an innertube? It's amazing how-fast they can do it.
One of the things that was in the inventory was an OSSA Dick Mann Replica (OSSA-DMR). You whippersnappers should look up Dick Mann, Steve McQueen wished he was as-good as Dick Mann on a motorcycle. The Dick Mann Replica was brand-new, it was an entry ornament at the office. That was a great short-track machine in its time, comparable to the Bultaco Astro. The OSSA trials bike was designed and campaigned by Mick Andrews.
Below is a description of an advanced design conceived in the USA before Charlie Manson's followers visited Sharon Tate and the LaBiancas, and the Hells' Angels offered to be the security detail for the Rolling Stones at Altamont Raceway Park in California, east of San Francisco.
A failed attempt to manufacture a killer enduro bike was the Yankee Z, a 500cc two-stroke parallel-twin which used the OSSA 230cc Pioneer enduro top-ends on a common bottom-end. Eventually, the design used a full 250cc design, for the two pistons, to make it a true 500cc. An interesting feature was that the pistons could be made to fire together, or on alternating crankshaft revolutions. It had a six-speed gearbox where low gear was capable of being rendered unavailable to meet racing regulations of the day.
Remember Dick Mann? He designed and built the chro-moly frame for it. Those of you who were into dirtbikes in the 1960's and '70's will recognize the wheel rims manufacturer, Akront, a Spanish company which manufactured shouldered rims that were on seemingly all the best bikes of the day. Of-course Akronts were used on the Yankee Z.
Smith & Wesson made the forged triple tree for the bike. The downtubes were as-big as the '85-'89 VMax. You can't say that John Taylor did things on the cheap. It also sported a Kelsey-Hayes disc brake-in the rear! The front was a traditional drum. In a concession to saving weight the axles were hollow.
The Yankee Z was just too-heavy to be successful in the type of use to-which it was being subjected. Fueled, it was > 350 lbs. Detuned motocross bikes which in motocross use had to be ballasted to make minimum weights, were used for enduro use, and they were 75 lbs less weight, which means the operators were wrestling around much-less machine. The under the bike motocross pipes were exchanged for higher pipes, sometimes 'through the frame,' to slim the design. Gas tanks needed to be bigger/heavier, and additions like lighting and switchgear added weight. Still they were single-cylinder designs and that-alone meant less weight to control. You might call the twin-piston Yankee Z to be "too-much of a good-thing."
One of my friends here in So. Florida tried to roadrace a Yankee Z. The vibration running at the high rpm's necessary to make power just shook-apart things, and caused metal fatigue to the point of failure. He tried thread-locker, he tried safety-wiring, it was just the wrong use for that particular engine design. He was a successful campaigner in AHMRA and he had a Shell-built engine Yamaha 650 twin which won races. The Yankee Z was a disappointment for him. Here's a pic of one at the St. Augustine FL classic bike show usually held in late May every year, at the World Golf Village. My buddy and I didn't attend last year (COVID) but we're thinking that we might be able to make it this year. This year, it's moved-up to April 24.
Home | Riding into History It's a great event, lots of interesting bikes. An acquaintance of ours, Don Bradley, who was an enthusiast, a machinist, and a motorcycle dealer, was also an artist. He would design the show posters, works of art themselves (I have many of them). Some are NSFW! He had an Indian Chief and a Vincent Black Shadow, and he would ride them across states, and show them regularly. Unfortunately, he's gone now, his daughter tries to keep his memory alive.
Don Bradley | Riding into History
