2018 Enduro GP Review.
 

This is crossposted from my ADVRider thread and I'm hoping to post at least three posts on my initial impressions, teardown impressions, and first ride impressions.

I figured I'd do a quick write up on my initial impressions of this bike. So here are my inane ramblings.

Quick backstory on me. I'm a 28yr old "intermediate" offroad rider coming off a '12 GasGas EC300. I've ridden and owned a good bunch of different bikes. But only got seriously into offroad about 4-5 years back.

I've been labeled a card-carrying GasGas fanboy for a couple years now, but I'll keep the review honest. I appreciate how they take care of their customers. And now I really appreciate their bikes!

So here goes...

Last fall I was invited to take a quick spin on an '18 EC300 that was brought to North America as a magazine test bike. I assumed it wouldn't be much better than my '12, and went to the ride with no intention of being convinced to buy a new bike. It didn't take long before I was convinced otherwise.
Forget everything you knew about GasGas. All of it. Everything. This is totally different. Gone is the mismatched suspension, gone is the perimeter frame, gone is the confusing importer system, gone is the parts supply problems, gone is everything you didn't like.
GasGas isn't just "back".... They are Here!

The parts list reads like a factory edition bike even for the standard models. The entire frame, bodywork, ergo's etc are new. FMF exhaust, VFORCE4 Reedblock, Keihin carb, Magura clutch, Nissin brakes, Kayaba Suspension front and rear, NG brake disks, Excel Takasago rims, No-tool access air filter, And even more if you spring for the EnduroGP editon.

I spent way too much time deliberating if I should get a 250 or 300, and if I should go for the GP or the standard model.
Finally I had enough money saved up and decided if I was in for a penny I was in for a pound.

So I ordered a 2018 EnduroGP 250. Rumored to be one of only 12 in North America. AFAIK it's the only one in Canada!

Dealer texted me this one when it showed up :eek:
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First time I've ever bought a vehicle brand new. Seeing 0km on the clock was pretty cool.

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Fit and finish on the bikes is really great. Easily equal or exceeding every other major brand I've looked over, excepting maybe TM Racing. I work in marketing and sales. So customer perception of product is something I think about every day. Things that are just wrong really tick me off.

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One of the coolest things I think GasGas does is to give each buyer a USB key with all the manuals for all their bikes for the year including promotional materials and hi-res photo's of the machines. Pretty cool detail. It includes all the manuals for the trials and enduro bikes on it from 2018.

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I'll try posting a teardown review and first ride review as well when I get some time.

Now with working pictures!!!! :mad: :)

Congratulations Rick, that is a beautiful bike, I am officially jealous! I think the GP upgrade is a bargain if the pricing I saw was correct. Enjoy your new ride, I look forward to reading your reports and feed back. Thanks for sharing.

So Rick, Have you put any scuffs and scratches on that GP yet? :D

Yeah, where's our follow up? :D How do you like it compared to the 300 you had?

I mentioned earlier I had never bought a brand new bike before. But, I had heard a lot about manufacturing companies being real stingy with the bearing grease. I know you aren't supposed to pack bearings 100% solid. Still, the pictures I'd seen were nearly dry as a popcorn fart. I expected no better from my favorite motorcycle builder. Industries typically are too alike to expect much difference.
I got the bike home and decided to start tearing it open to pack the bearings and check fasteners for tightness before I got it covered in mud.

Here's my teardown review. I had to work off an annoyingly low bikestand. My usual lift-table is filled with an ADV bike that's missing all its suspension. There was no moving that out of the way.. Some may say I'm spoiled. :D

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Pulled the frame guards off and noticed a lot of grease oozing out around the main swingarm pin. Cautiously optimistic......

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Lookin good!

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But I was really happy to see the swingarm and linkage bearings packed very nicely with waterproof grease. It added a little more confidence that GasGas was doing things right. No cutting corners here.

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Very KTMesque with the torque spec stamped in the triples. Even if these are actually an upgrade "aftermarket" triple. Nice touch.

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Lots of grease here on the steering head bearings too. I didn't bother pulling them apart beyond this point for now. If the swingarm was packed as well as it was and this much was oozing out of the steering head I'm sure it's fine.

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As I said earlier I work in product marketing. So I catch dumb stuff like this pretty quick. Who in the great name of all things good and right decided to make this a nyloc threaded nut on the backside of a throughbolt to hold the chain guard on!!!! Stupid design. Shoulda been a captive fastener in the mould for the guard. It's a small detail. But the details are what matter. Stupid stupid design. Thankfully it was the only bolt I found on the bike that made me shake my head. I'm not saying the guy who made this design should be fired... But he needs a stern talking to!

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Got my OFTR Sticker!! All ready to go for my first ride!

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After all that I'm extremely pleased with what I found. I think the "Ready to Race" tagline a certain inferior orange company is using should really be transferred to the Torrot/GasGas company. To see a bike this well put together was unexpected, even from someone like me who is a card-carrying fanboy. The pictures speak for themselves. Well done GasGas!

Nice write-up and pics!

There are a couple schools of thought about the chainguard bolt/nut.
Captive nuts are nice, until they aren't; ie. when they spin inside the parent material. That usually causes swearing...... :)
The bolt/nut method GG uses avoids that problem. It may not be quite as nice to look at, but is a practical method that works.

I like the proper hex cap screws on the triples. I have Allen head bolts on my '12 & they're not the best type of fastener for that application.

For some reason these post's didn't show up until now.. Sorry for missing them.

Yes I have taken it out a few times. It's incredible. I'll do a writeup when I have a few minutes. I like it very different than my 300.

Ya I've fought with captive fasteners before, so I get that. But since this is a small sub $50 part it would be easy to replace if the captive nut ever spun.
The looks part isn't what bugs me.. Its annoying to have to use a 10mm nut when I should be able to do it with just an 8mm socket. Maybe some engineer who's smarter than me knows why it's this way.. Maybe it was a bean counter decision... Either way I'm not a fan of this one.

Awesome to hear and thanks for the review! Now get out there and get us a ride review! :D

Hi!

I saw a picture.
I think the frame is cracked under the steering head bearing.

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Check it.

it's grease.

yes, I think it's some grease too

It's a good news!

It is grease. Thanks for taking a look though!!


In less fortunate news I just left the hospital from emergency surgery on my throttle hand.... I've ridden the bike a couple times so I'm ready to write a review... But it's really hard to type one handed... May be a week or so before you get the next installment.

Shit! Best wishes for a quick and thorough healing...

Hoping for a quick recovery! And, more importantly, hope it didn't involve scratching up that new bike!:D

RB

That sucks. You know I’ll do you a favor! My friends from Guelph are coming down here tomorrow. They can bring your bike here and I’ll continue the write-ups...you know...all for the sake of helping you out.

Tempting.... But I'm gonna have to pass.

Thanks guys!

It didn't involve scratching the new bike. (Although I did scratch it some already)

I was helping my little brother load his CRF230 into a truck and my thumb slipped into a hole in the sprocket as the tire spun. Sheared my thumbnail clean off, broke the thumb bone in three pieces after the last joint, and ripped the flesh open to the point that I could see the bone fragments. It hurt right away....:eek::eek: I got some pretty cool pictures of it though. The doctor was a great guy and we were joking through the surgery when I wasn't screaming at him from the pain.

I'll be ok. But it will be 6-8 weeks before the bone is totally healed. When I asked the doctor about my season opener race next weekend he found me a special thumb splint and said if I could handle the pain to have fun and not crash! I'm on the 16th start minute!!:D

Pics or it didn?t happen! 😜

"It hurt right away ..." holeshot for understatement of the year!

Heal up right, and heal up soon.

Check your messages ya sicko!

Also, I missed that you picked up a new bike! Congrats man!

HAHAHA!! I've been using that line for years.. I usually ask people who are telling me their stories of getting hurt whether it hurt right away or if it took a few seconds...:D I may have been raised on mashed potatoes and sarcasm.:rolleyes:

Thanks mate! Yeah I do like a bit of gore! I love hearing my sister in laws stories from the hospital! We might be related! My mother is Queen sarcasm!

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Well my thumb is good to ride again. So without further ado

The long awaited final ride review post!! (well maybe not final... I was gonna do a one year review as well, but you'll have to wait for that:D)

I have to start with saying huge thanks to Rob Lang from Lang's Offroad for hooking me up with a great bike and some sweet gear. https://langsoffroad.com/

I guess this isn't totally a "first" ride review. As I've had three bigger rides on the bike now and a bunch of shorter one's. I've got almost 250km and 9hours on the clock now. That included my first 30km ride, a nice 150km enduro and a great training day riding some of the best Ontario has to offer in The Ganaraska Forest while riding with some pro riders and great instructors who helped me sharpen my enduro times.

Onto the review!

It would be remiss if I didn't start this review by saying that this 2018 bike is NOTHING like the older Gassers. IMO, in every single measurable way it is better. So much better in fact that after riding the (admittedly brilliant) '18 Husqvarna T250i I was still happier on the GasGas. The bike is honestly that good. In my totally unprofessional opinion coupled with my regrettable lack of knowledge I'd have a hard time believing there is a better 2T bike on the market this year.

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Obviously, the Kayaba suspension is where any review needs to start. Being that I upped the ante with the GP model I get to experience the extra slippery DLC forks, and rumours abound concerning what else Kayaba added for the good folks at GasGas. I've ridden the stock KYB on an '18 300 as well but not for long enough to say I'm able to feel any difference. Maybe with more seat time? Probably not...

Nearing 95kph/55mph over whoops in The Ganaraska Forest it never once felt sketchy or off kilter, the early stroke is plush but very consistently firms up through the stroke, front and rear balance out well. One of the things I'm spending this year working on is my cornering in singletrack. And thats where this bike will really help me along. From a forward seated position in tacky soil I could feel the bike bite in and feedback very nicely through the rear shock giving me a consistent feel with no surprises or off balance bumps. Clutch out and the front wheel lifts predictably carrying me through the corner, Neither front or rear ever gave me the impression of being "springy or boingy". From a standing position a quick stab of the rear brake brings the tire into a predictable slide and I felt much faster than I ever did on my old bike.

The motor itself feels so great, I bought a 250 to force myself to learn how to use my clutch more, and it is definitely making me work just a little bit harder than my old 300 motor, while the rest of the bike is smoother and feels smaller. I'm spending more time working my left index finger muscles. Thankfully the magura clutch is buttery smooth, and my finger is appreciating it.

The Keihin carb is jetted rich right now, and that's this weeks problem to fix. I'm sure the 42 pilot is too large right now and I'll have to drop that down a size or two. Might even take the 175 main down to a 170 or 168 and see how that feels.

The stock GP graphics are expectedly thin and are already wearing through where my boots grip, Its ok since I have new one's coming in this weekend with my race numbers for this year's harescramble series.

Not much else I can think to say beyond that. The seat is crazy grippy, the bars feel just right, although I may cut them down a little, and everything else is just fantastic. Shifter is solid, rear brake pedal is adjustable just like the last gen Gassers and I immediately put it as rearward as possible, Plastics are holding up very well, Nothing has fallen off or broken yet except a connector fell open for the E-start switch, easy fix and only took a minute or so to find once I was home from that ride. Quick access air filter is a dream! So nice to be able to change that out without tools.

All in all I'm as happy as I could be with this bike! Looking forward to a long summer of riding! Cya out there!:)

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Hope yer thumb is well again mate.

Got my 300GP today. I am super happy.

One info for you, that may be important. German dealer called me and said that in the factory they did not put Locktite on the screws of the brakes and they had some bikes where the screws became loose within the first 20 hrs of riding.

Take a look, just to be sure.

Cheers Doc

Will do.
Thanks for the tip!