Ya for sure Glenn. thats one of my worries with the black rims. when I bend one which I know I will. I probably don't really want to heat it up and bend it back. probably be creating another kind of damage to the rim.

Yep after owning 3 Gas Gas bikes now on the 4th Ive learned its a given when your ordering your extras, Skid plate, rad guards, disk guard etc. make sure you add rim locks to the list.

By the way I got the motion pro liteloc ones. First try, will see how they hold up, I hope they don't suck, havent seen anyones take on them yet.
http://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/...loc_rim_locks/

I want to jump on two comments listed here. I HATE needing two tools to remove the subframe, et al. captive nuts, welded on, something. This is really inexcusable. I deal with it because the bike rides so well.

Black rims....... Beautiful on the showroom. SUCK in reality. Do a few ISDE tire changes and tell me how your black rims look. Silver rims with some rim tape should satisfy the inner 16 year old well enough.

Amen, to that brother !!!
First on the list should be to clean-up the bikes "period"
The current fit and finish should be highly scrutinized and brought up to (dare I say) Japanese standards.
The first thing I didn't like when I uncrated my bike back in 09 was how the shrouds were attached to the gas tank...by using sheet metal screws...ala chinese...it looks more like a temporary mc'gyver fix then a planed factory attachment.
And I can find lots of the same type of stuff if I look long enough.
Think how awesome the GG would be if the fit and finish were equal to a Honda, or Yamaha.
The performance is already there...work on the small details.

How about a 19" rear wheel option?

That's is the best thing you can say about it...:D

The rim locks have to go. They just suck lemons.
Bring back the U-rims in silver. One hard ride and the black is gone on the edges. And it just goes down hill from there. Excel's are highly over rated!
Clean up the 2 tool fasteners and the rear brake pedal mount.
The bikes should be able to be maintained with 2 or 3 T handles and a phillips screw driver. Makes for easy trail side repairs.
There is no reason that these bikes should not come with a fartory mounted heavy duty skid plate with real mounts built into the frame.


Trust me, the list would be a lot longer on the Yamaha that I bought for MX. It looks nice, but thats about it.

I like the brake light pressure switches. My jerry-rigged lighting always fails eventually. The front switch does plug into the wire harness and it works. I just got the OEM sub-fender and taillight installed this week. Sweet! We have to run a plate in most Midwestern enduros.

The black rims do get ugly after a while but there's an easy fix. Get out your Sharpie or black paint pen. They may not look perfect but they look good in pictures for eBay!

Having been a Honda guy for a few decades, I can tell you the 2011s are up to the current Japanese standards. Maybe the older models weren't.

In many ways the GG have surpassed the Japanese. Have you looked at a Kawasaki up close? At least the Spaniards put grease where it's supposed to be!

The skid plate mount tabs might be a little late to the party being that so many plates are designed and available already, but should be considered in any future frame design change. What would be good is a hard pipe cage/guard system, like the Whipps (no GG part available) as part of the hard parts collection, and coresponding frame mount(s). Nothing too complicated, just a threaded sleeve welded in the lower downtube. Could also be used to mount a mudguard.

Triangulating the mounts for rad guards/braces add a lot of strength, and it would be easy at the factory, not so for the bolt on aftermarket.

Look into molding the airboot from a softer compound rubber. This will ease carb work and also make boot/carb alignment and subframe reassenmbly easier.

Oh, and how about a longer throttle cable standard.


Moto9,

The fit and finnish is apparantly a notch up on the '10 and '11 bikes including the shroud mounts. My '07 is pretty good compared to my '00 and '03. Although somewhat of a corner cutting measure, I never really had an issue with the shroud mounts. I remove the shrouds and tank as a unit for service, so I don't wear out the holes.

I love black rims, dont change that. I prefer the DID U rims. The bolt/nut arraningement needs to be worked on. Skid plate mounts welded to the frame. Bike need to go on a diet, its a lot heavier than it should be although you dont feel it much while riding. Stiffer suspension srings.

Nate