Search the Community

I recently uncovered an old 1974 Ossa Phantom from my grandfathers time, I have been cleaning it up and attempting to restore it, however one of the parts I am missing is the fuel tank. What options are there in terms of putting a new tank on the bike to get it running again?

I bought a 2012 Ossa Explorer this winter from Lewisport USA. I like reading peoples reviews about their bikes here, so I wanted to share my experience with the Explorer. I have over 50 hours on it and have ridden atv trails and single track. I'm using it as a TRAIL bike, not as a TRIALS bike. Overall I love this bike, but she does have a very different personality that is not for everyone. About me: female, 5'6", forty something. I've ridden for three years but logged a lot of miles on trails. My previous bikes were a TTR125 and a WR250F (lowered) My riding style can best be described as timid. I'm an avid mountain biker turned dirt biker. I love long rides through the mountains. I don't like to crash. I don't like to charge obstacles. I'm not very fast and am usually the last in the group. I don't race. I don't like to leave my comfort zone. Mods: Added hand guards. Added a KTM200 enduro fender instead of the trials fender (just for looks). Had to make the rear break lever closer because I couldn't reach it. Added 2" handlebar risers. Took off the rear handle and blinkers (there is a grab spot under the seat for moving the bike). Better grips (personal preference). The great things about the Explorer: The buttery smooth controls. Light responsive clutch. Smooth throttle with predictable delivery. The breaks work fine. Great power. Unbelievable traction. The light weight is super manageable and very well balanced. It's super easy to wheelie and jib on rocks. I don't get nearly as tired riding it because of the light weight. It is so "flickable" can toss it around anywhere I want while riding. When I'm stuck I can lift or move either wheel where I need to get un-stuck. The seat height is great. I'm 5'6" with a 32" inseam. I can sit on it pretty much flat-footed. Because of the height and the weight I can almost always catch the bike and very rarely lay it down. I can also reach the kick start pretty easily. I like the looks of the bike and I love that there aren't exposed radiators or header pipe to smash. The harder the trail gets the more this bike excels. The good things: I'm not sure but I think I should have a range of 70+ miles. I haven't taken it out that far on a single ride yet to verify. I've ridden about 45 miles and needed to fill just over a gallon of gas. The kick start is surprisingly easy. It takes about 4 kicks when it is cold. Then just one easy kick if you are in neutral to start it all day long. I still prefer e-start. But this is easy enough not to be a problem. Some bad things: The shift lever is strange being out so far. I'm getting used to it though The gearing is strange as well. First is sooo low its useless. Maybe that is what the trials riders use to jump up on things. Second will climb anything. Anything. Third will also climb anything but you have to clutch it a bit. Then there is a weird gap to forth. Most of my trail riding is in third or fourth. Either I'm revving it out in third, or bogging (yes, even with FI) in fourth. Fifth also bogs on dirt roads at the high end of the gear. I would love to have a more consistent trail oriented gearing. Little things keep breaking. The little plastic side panels are held on with little plastic tabs that broke. The headlight mount is held on with a zip ty around a little plastic tab and that broke. The brake lever bent. The seat has tears from where my legs grab. She's not robustly constructed like an enduro bike. She's fragile. She's harder to do routine maintenance on too. The cockpit is small. I have 2" bar risers and it's still a bit cramped compared to an enduro bike. But it is an adult sized bike and bigger than the TTR125. I would like the foot pegs further forward and a taller front end to make standing up all day more comfortable. The combination of shocks and light weight makes it bouncy and you get pin-balled around more. It's much more like riding a mountain bike than an enduro bike. Instead of using momentum and powering through things you pick your lines. It's not necessarily bad, it's just different. The lights and blinker switches are too easy to move. I always find them in the wrong spot and have taped them in place. The kick stand is too short. Even on flat ground its leans the bike way over. On the trail its usually easier to find a tree to lean on rather than deal with finding the right height ground/rock/stick to make it stand up correctly. Whooped out quad trails are nasty. They always are, but on this bike with the shorter bouncy shocks they really suck. Snow is also very difficult. The trials tires float on top and slide around. The really horrible things: The gas cap. It literally takes two of us and a funnel to get gas into it, then half the time it gets overfilled and spills everywhere. The cap has a stupid rubber thing that doesn't seat correctly then gas spills out while you ride. The fill hole is too tiny to put the end of the gas jug in. You can't see inside the tank or see the fill level at all while you are filling it. If IMS made a clear replacement tank that had a normal sized gas cap with a vent I would buy it in a heartbeat. The foot pegs are made of tin foil. I expected them to be stout like a trials bike. But they aren't. I bend them just by looking at rocks. The foot pegs on my WR are bomber and I hit a lot with them and they are barely scratched. I have already bought replacements for the Ossa because they are so badly twisted and broken. With so much wrong with the bike why do I love it? Because it's a game changer for me. It is sooo easy to ride on rocky steep root filled trails with exposed side hills and river crossings and log crossings and through scree fields. I have gone from being nervous and timid and not sure if I could get my bike through different obstacles without crashing hard to being confident I can easily get over anything. And if I can't make it I know I can catch the bike rather than falling down some steep deadfall covered slope. The light weight and easy balance really make a difference for my type of riding. I don't need nearly as much momentum to get up things. I can go much slower and there is as much power and traction as I need to chug over pretty much anything. If you are a fast rider, tall, or love your enduro bike you probably won't like the Explorer as a main bike. Maybe as a play bike, but even then her fragile temperament may make you mad. But if you want to ride around the woods and have a really easy time with it, this bike is great. It's slower than the enduro bikes and a fast group will drop you like a hot rock. But it is great for exploring technical single tracks and jumping every rock in the trail just because you can.

I'm new to this "Exotic Bike" thing. I traded my DRZ for this Beta 525RS.....show me your exotic bike.