Gasgas or Husqvarna
 

Coworker is going to buy a new bike tomorrow. He is stuck between a xc and ec gasser and also a te and tx husky. Anyone ridden to compare. Thoughts.

I own a 13 Beta 300 and my wife has a 18 ec 250. I rode a 18 tx300 last year more than enough to know that the only thing it has over the Beta or the Gasser is the counter balancer.

Here's a thread with some relevant comparisons to your questions:

http://www.gasgasrider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23186

I've not ridden the '18 Gassers, though I am dying to try one out. I have ridden a couple TX 300s and they are really good bikes. Good like, I need to give this bike back before I go out and buy one, good. Very smooth and light and I was quite impressed with the stock air fork. That said, the author of the thread I linked gave the nod to the gasser, so that's saying something. If I were in the same position it would be a very tough choice. I'd say the biggest draw back that I can see of the gasgas compared to the Husky is the e start, which seems rock solid on the austrian bikes, seems to be a bit mixed on the gasgas, but again, I have no first hand experience.

I'm the other way as I've ridden the Gasser but not the newer Husky.
I rode the Gasser and in 5 minutes had decided I had to purchase one... :D
I've heard the e-start on this new bike is great once the quick "recall" wire change was done that came out within the first few weeks of shipping. The one I rode was flawless at cold and warm.

I rode a 2018 GasGas EC300 and the 2018 Four stroke FE and FX. I already knew I love the GasGas 300 motor but the KYB suspension is just perfect combined with the lower weight compared to the 2017. The FX husky was way too harsh and the FE was too soft. The KYB suspension on the GasGas was super plush but sucked up huge hits. For this alone I would go with the GasGas.

That's good to hear about the e-start. I heard about the fix but it seemed the airwaves went silent after that came out, which must have meant it worked and people were riding instead of posting.

I'll also say that even though the I was impressed with the husky airfork, I'd still favor a set of KYBs.

I've seen a few of the new gassers at some of the hard enduros i've gone to this year and they all seem to have issues with the estart.

Before or after the wires were changed out to the larger gauge?

Gas Gas. There are many threads on this forum about the KYB fork swap. There are many threads on the beta forum about the KYB fork swap. There may be a lot of threads on the KTM forum about the KYB swap (I don't read that forum). People are paying 1500 bucks for del saggio suspension inserts which look like a trick slightly upgraded KYB fork insert. You might as well skip the middle man and just buy a two stroke with KYBs.

Gas gas has had problems with their E-Start since at least 2011 (That is the year of gas gas I own) so to hold the e-start against them now would just be disingenuous.

How is that disingenuous? If I'm payin that kinda money for a motorcycle with decades old technology on it, I expect that technology to work properly. I don't feel like that's asking too much.

I'm under the impression that since the fix was found for the '18 gassers people have not experienced any electric starting problems. But if that isn't the case I'd like to hear differently.