Je viens de tomber la dessus en promenant sur le forumty:
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the Ossa BLT Plonker. The innovative rear suspension design by American Joe Bolger Bolger Long Travel.
Designed to try and reduce the amount of unsprung weight, and to position the shockers in a less vulnerable place, I agree it looks strange but not as daft as it looks, the guy was New Englands Motocross Champion in many different classes throughout the 60's and 70's so he knew what he was doing. Apparently!
I'll leave it up to our American friends to fill in the gaps...
Bolger successfully sued Suzuki in the '80's for stealing his design. They repackaged it with one shock and called it the "full floater" system.
I worked at an OSSA dealership at that time. We sold at least two of these, (BLT) and to my understanding they were modified here in America. When you uncrated them you could see how someone had taken a 1976 350 MAR, and bodged this onto it, adding spray can silver paint over the welds and additional iron work. Just beneath the surface of the spray paint you could see the grinder marks and burned original paint.
I thought the bikes worked quite well especially in mud sections, they had a mystical ability to grip. I have always thought the fulcrum suspension transferred upward motion into bites of traction, as the upward force was reverserd back down. Either that or it was placebo effect.
At the 1977 USA nationals at Watkins Glenn NY, OSSA test rider, Jerry Young (Ryan Young's Dad) offered me a rev on his works version of this bike. This bike still featured a fiberglass tank, painted dark brown metallic, and handmade alloy sidepanels. (airbox) Jerry Young was winning alot of nationals at that time in the senior class. The following spring the BLT OSSA's began arriving at dealerships. They used KONI rear shock absorbers, and had switched to a more restrictive airbox and a slightly smaller mikuni carb. I never thought they ran as well as the round bodied amal on the '76 350 ones did. One of the local experts in our trials club rode a Bolger OSSA to a handful of minor victories before moving on to a Montesa Cota 349. It was Curt Comer's national championship winning 1980 bike. It had the big ugly gas tank with the sight glass thing on the side. He was also very good on that bike. OK now I'm just rambling as I have a bad cold right now. JL
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