Sold my '05 Gasser 300...got a YZ250X
 

It was time.

A bittersweet goodbye to the first bike I owned, my 2005 EC300. She was good to me, and all I gave her was sh*t and abuse.
The 300 was a super-easy bike to learn on, with all the low-end grunt, low seat height, and general lazyboy-couch-like feel to it when you run it slow.
Had it 5 years, and all I ever did to it was put a 12tooth front sprocket on it, guards, and played with the jetting. As I smashed plastic, black ty-straps started appearing all over it, holding things together here and there. Raced it last year, and it has always run good; what a tank of a bike. Suspension never got no love from me, and the last 2 years I was bottoming it out, riding way faster and harder.

So.....sold it 3 days after putting it on Kijiji. Bought a YZ250X 3 days later.
First hard ride on the X today....grinning ear to ear. First and second feel like the Gasser, bull-low first, lots of grunt, super-luggable. I was nervous going to a 250, didn't even have a clue if I'd like it, but all the reviews I read said that whatever Yamaha did worked. I'm sold. I can ride 1st and 2nd like my GasGas, and that makes me happy.
Its got to weigh less than that old pig of a Gasser by 30-35 pounds, no word of a lie. So light and nimble. The suspension.......don't really have a comparison. I was hammering over rock and root strewn trails that would have had to make drop down to 2nd in on the Gasser. Seems to suck up all the bumps and whoops, back tire stays planted and I know already that I am gonna be able to ride way faster.
As for not having a light, or a button-start, my '05 Gasser didnt have those either, no biggie. And the 5 speed tranny, no biggie either, only had the Gasser in 6th a few times. Bit of a jump from 4th to 5th on the X, but once again, its not a deal-breaker.
The price was killer on the X, got it for $6995 Canadian, thats $1500-$2000 less than what a guy could buy a KTM or Husqvarna for. Easy decision for a cheap-ass like me.
I'm gonna have a blast on this thing.

Congrats! I wish they made it in red and white with black rims. ;)

Can you put it on a scale to tell us the actual wet weight.

Guess I shoulda weighed it last nite before I guarded it up. I'll try and do it, later this week. Gonna ride the Monkey Wrench area today, should be a wicked test of what this bike is about.
On a side note, just ordered a Rekluse clutch for it; I rode 2 other bikes that buddies have, and the Rekluse sure comes in handy.
And I bought a Suzuki needle, just in case I get the stoopid urge to start siphoning vast amounts of time down the drain.......NECJ. Supposed to clean up the 1/8th throttle burble on YZs.

Just curious, are you an "A" rider? Senior hare scrambles? A no-race trail rider? How much weight w/ riding gear? How tall? We've all had bikes that weren't a good fit for one reason or another. Just trying to get a clearer picture than what I read in the magazines.

I'm a semi-old dude who didn't start riding until 5 years ago; now aged 43.
Tried my first race last year, in senior amateur class, Monkey Wrench Cross Country.
Normally ride gnarly single track, lots of bush wacking, log jumping, tight stuff. Usually once a ride I'm ready to barf, or stroke out....we don't ride roads, period.
I'm 6 foot,195 pounds. The X seems to fit good, but I may take the bars forward and up a touch to open things up a bit, thats the way my Gasser was.
I can pretty much stand flat-footed on the X, very similar in seat height to the Gasser too, makes side-hill kick starts easy.
The power of the X also feels very similar to the GasGas, just not quite as grunty down low....then again the Gasser was tractor!

In this part of the world the Yamaha dealers have been selling their version of the X for years - involved fitting a yz/yzf with the WR gearbox, weighted flywheel and tweaked suspension- I tested a few before getting my gasgas and it had a tendancy to rev up quickly (like its mx heart was designed to) and loose traction on the loose stuff. It worked very well for more aggressive riders. The gasgas and other 3-strokes tend to deliver the power much more gracefully (sometimes a bit boringly)

So the question I want to ask is have they managed to take the mx out of the bike and make it more Enduro friendly?

The power seems pretty linear, no hard hit; my ass-time on dirt bikes isn't as long as a lot of forum members, but the X feels pretty 3-strokish. Very manageable and smooth. I believe the X is rated at 45hp, the 2005 GasGas was 48hp....and 25 to 30 pounds heavier. Pretty snappy in that aspect.

Congrats on the X, have you weighed her yet. 25 to 30 lbs is HUGE and it would be good to get an accurate wet weight with a scale with normal woods gear like bark busters. Dry weight numbers, mfr stated weights and guesses dont count for much.

I agree we weigh bikes and people are amazed. I'd be very surprised if it was 30lbs difference. Its basically a 2005 yz250 with stuff added.

Personally I'm not excited by the x. In my opinion yamaha is doing great things but its not a big enough step. My buddy just got a new yz250fx and its a completely different bike than the x. Hopefully other manufactures including yamaha will take the step into the 300 realm. Competition in the segment is good. Pushes everybody.