XC vs EC suspension
 

Talking to several dealers the suspension is exactly the same. Watching a bunch of reviews on YouTube the XC has a slightly stiffer suspension. Which is it on 2018 300s ?

Both the same.

There were two very popular video reviewers who claimed the EC was softer (and the XC was already too soft for these Men of Moto). That was the usually excellent ?Cross Trainer? channel from Aussie Land, and the other was one of the ?Dirt Bike? branded sites.

Everybody else says the are the same. That?s not to say that it might be good to have the EC somewhat softer. But sourcing that from Kayaba might be an extra challenge.

I just rode both back to back on the weekend. The EC does seem softer, but I didn't mess with any clickers on the XC and that may have been the only difference. The EC was set to comfort as per the owners manual. The XC was a demo that gets raced once a month by a local fast guy, then goes back to the dealer in-between races for trail ride and demo duty, so I expect he may have it dialed up for the hard hits. The importer can't seem to answer the question either. I can tell you the FMF head pipe makes a big difference though.

I think you might be on to something regarding the perceived difference.

Clickers.

The Aussie review of the bike was a load of crap. There is no doubt he is a Beta fan boy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Given how closely he works with Tim Coleman, and that Timmy is in agreement with Beta it only makes sense from a marketing point for him to favour certain brands. Certainly nothing new in the industry!!

Every bike is a little different. Suspension takes time to bed in, clickers make differences, but even tuners who have dynos can find differences in performance between runs with the same valving in the same shock. Bum dyno always lies too!

I have a 2018 GP (36 hours) and a 2019 EC (6 hours), both 300's.

When the EC had 3 hours I rode it back to back with the GP. GPs fork was set to "comfort", the EC's to "standard". Both felt the same. That lets me believe that the GP is set up stiffer.

Cheers Doc

Suspension is totally subjective- we all like different things. ADB( in OZ), thought the stock GG suspension was very firm. I thought it was soft/perfect. Also depends what you're doing on it- 5kph rock hopping or 140 kph fire roads.
Sure Barry seems tied to Beta, but I like his work and I appreciate the many hours he puts into producing the videos, and I do think he tells it like he sees it.
My bro just swapped out of an '18 GG 250 into a '18 Beta 300: whilst the Beta fork is no KYB, it's pretty bloody good and perfect for the riding he does ( trying- often successfully- to be Jarvis-like).
The most interesting thing is I know 5 guys with 18's: none have changed the springs ( and their weight range is 75-> 100kg ) and all love the GG suspension.
Must be pretty good right?!

I'll let you know Jon.. When I ride the bloody thing. I'm very interested to compare it back to back with what I had previously, which you will have soon!

Raced my first scramble on the new GasGas yesterday. Plus 40 class. It was awesome how hard you could hit stuff with the KYB. The bike tracks great and turns awesome. Supper stable on the long straight choppy stuff. The one place I did struggle was the sections with 2-3 inch embedded rock sections. Kind of like a river bed with slimy washboard rocks for 50 feet. But I have always sucked in these sections though. It was better than the Sherco open chamber in these sections for sure. I'm sure if I upped the spring rates for my girth it would sit a bit higher and give me some more supple range at the start of the stroke. What great working bike!

I know I should up the springs(98kg-ish naked) but stock seems so plush & soaks up everything without even looking like bottoming. Set it all to sport settings. Might even bother to check sag this week. :) They got it pretty good stock in my book! Chassis(handling)/suspension/motor more than make up for a few extra kilos & a somewhat suspect starter. Best bike I've ever owned or ridden!

I've got about 6 hours on my GP300 the suspension is just amazing. Only thing I have done is spring it and a few clicks here and there it seems to be perfect. Was amazed how hard I could hit things and it would just soak it up, rocks down trees etc.

Has anyone opened their 18/19 KYB forks and got the shim stacks?

Be keen to see whats inside....

I read on another forum from someone who seems legit, his suspension tuner said the shim stacks were identical to the Yamaha FX.

Here is the stack from my 2018 XC300.

We removed 4 shims from the stack.