gasgasman's 2015 250R ride report
 

I did a two day shake down of my 2015 250R GasGas.
All clean before heading out.
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psovyfi5ek.jpg

Did all my transferring of my essentials off my 2011 bike last week.
Flexx Bars,G2 hand guards, Fastway damper and mounts, and Magura clutch master cylinder.

Initial settings:
Tires-F-OEM. R- Bridgestone E30R
Final drive-Stock- 13F 48R
Power valve adjuster- Stock setting.
Fork- C-7 clicks IN from full out.
R-10 clicks IN from full out.
It is best NOT to turn the fork adjusters in all the way. The needle seats are soft and can be damaged.
Shock-C-12 clicks OUT, R-22 clicks OUT
105mm sag.
Carb(ASII)-OEM settings- 172 main, 42 pilot. Clip in the middle spot.

Day one.
Not too dirty.
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psuyknuk9q.jpg

Trail conditions-wet and sloppy. Lots of standing water. Some spots were perfect.
Gave the bike 2 kicks to light off,Took off from the trail head. Bike feels nice and tight. Very smooth with no vibrations. Tracks very well. Handles like it's on velcro. It out handles my 2011.

Comfort- Very plush. Ergonomics is the same as my 2011 bike. Bike is narrower and has an easy transition to slide up to the front of the seat. Slightly taller. Seat hard-Just right for me.
I got acclimated within 1 mile of riding.

Carburation: Bike is running rich. Not crisp and very little bottom end power.
Bike was ridable. Just could not rail like I wanted.

Front suspension. Felt good, stayed high in the stroke. Front wheel would fall into the whoops. Braking bumps would shudder the handle bars.
I sped up the rebound 4 clicks, front wheel would skip over the whoops now.
I still have to play with the preload adjuster. That will help on the shuddering.

Rear susp. Felt planted. It would kick on some whoops. Turned the compression in 2 clicks. That helped get rid of some of the kicking. I still get a wack in the butt from the seat on very big whoops.

Handling. Bike tracks straight, ruts are no problem. Doesn't try to climb out of the ruts.The tires really stick well on the trail.When powering out of turns, the rear tire does not step out.
I've always said my 2001 Gas Gas was the best handling bike I've ever owned. This '15 is way better. Carves turns with surgical precision.

Gearing- A little tall. Had to down shift a lot .I'll switch to a 49T rear sprocket.

Day two:
Filthy girl.
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psvgsqofyw.jpg

I put in a red JD needle I had in my collection-clip middle position. Air screw-2 turns out.

Took off on 1st loop.
Very impressed- The bike really rips now. Good low end power. Revs faster.
Now I have my mojo back. Back up to speed and running the race pace now with my buddies.

The bike is very composed and handles the trail junk well. My cornering speed is way up. Very confident inspiring.
I still have to play with the power valve adjuster and fine tune the suspension some. It does feel better balanced than my '11 with the KYB forks and the TTX rear shock.

The ONLY negative (if you want to call it that) thing I can find with the bike is a rattle from the chain at times. Sound like someone's throwing rocks at the skid plate. I have tuned it out.
I am very happy with the bike. No regrets all with the purchase.
I am definitely faster on this bike.

The "usual suspects"!
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psv1lixyb8.jpg

Thanks to Simmo737 and Rod Overstreet for their set up tips.

Good write up and have to agree with most of what you've said. You should put you KYBs on this bike and you'll know love :D

I wouldn't be concerned about lightly seating the fork clickers. It's no different to any other setup which is prone to damage if trying to seat them beyond just there. The one thing I have noticed though, is that the way the needle tip is peened onto the rod is a poor design. Some tend to loosen up and free spin, and its not from over tightening when seating. Its that the peening results in the needle tip not being true to the rest of the rod.

Would love to hear some feedback and testing around the power valve.

Nice! Are you planning to move the Smart Carb over to the '15?

Nice :cool: :cool:

Looks like a great few days out in the woods, great write up and report on how the bike worked and what you did to make it work better :D

What's the typical terrain like where you ride, much elevation change, mostly single track, rocky? Looks to be nice and wooded, which isn't what I'd think.

Looking forward to additional reports as she breaks in...fantastic looking bike!

Great report! Getting the new beauty dirty!

Jealous! Great looking bike!

APT is sending me a cast SmartCarb to try while they evaluate my Billet S/C, which has over 200hrs on it.
I don't know if it will fit. The '15 engine cases are totally different.

I did forget to mention brakes.

Brakes- Swapped out the sintered OEM pads for the EBC kevlar pads.
I don't like the on-off feel of the sintered pads.

Brakes are amazing. The front disk is huge, 260mm. Very easy to modulate.

I'm not much of a stand up (riding position) rider. This bike is very easy to stand up and ride. Changes direction and holds the line very well/

Thanks for the ride report. I especially like the handling comments. Makes me glad to hear about that.


I'll be watching for future updates as you get more time on the bike.

I agree, comming from a ktm enduro and the gasgas invites you to stand automaticaly and the ktm doesn't