Interesting thread.
It got me to subscribe to a magazine, something I haven't done in over ten years.
When I was in the market for a new bike I looked and looked for a KTM 300 that fit my budget and needs. I was ready to pull the trigger on a leftover Berg 300 at one point, but having had ridden various KTM 300's I never really liked how they handled.
A few of my riding buddies whose opinions I respected favored the KTM's, one even said he had worked with the suspension on a friend's 2011 Gasser (he is a suspension tuner who is getting some press from DR of all places) and said his friend wouldn't do it again.
My local GG dealer let me take his personal 2011 EC300 out for spin and I threw my budget and all that talk out the window and took my gasser home that week. I love the way it handles on the trail, I love the motor, I love the ergos. I couldn't care less about the weight. Any sup par performance can almost always be attributed to the rider.
Since I took my 2012 ec300 home a year ago, I have crashed the hell out of it. Just last weekend it took a direct hit to the water pump through the skidplate (the plate is now trashed) but to my amazement the pump itself only suffered a couple nicks. The thing is crazy durable and handles like a scalpel in tight and nasty stuff.
Sure I broke my plastic subframe, and the starter isn't exactly the bees knees, but no bike I've ever owned has been perfect.
This fall I got to go ride some local NM desert single track with Clay and my dealer and the guy is a genuine good human being. I can't afford to buy a new bike every season but when I do, I know it will be a Sherco or a GG.
Thanks for all the hard work Clay, and someone please buy the 2011 leftover ec300 at my local dealer so he can buy new eye candy for me to lust over.
