Still here and still love riding my old GasGas. I keep the bike (my first ever real dirt bike) in San Diego in the corner of a friend's garage and only get to ride it during the winter months when I get tired of the long winters here in Idaho. Get off the plane among palm trees and sun and jump in a friend's truck with my own bike in the back - pretty sweet setup. Stupid covid kept me away for the last 2 years but got to ride it last month. The bike is thrashed on the outside (OEM plastics still!) but mechanically it's always been well maintained and good to go. Spent a day going over the bike (oil change, new air filter, safety/torque checked all fasteners, couple new parts) before were supposed to ride 3 days of singletrack but unfortunately engine started making some gnarly sounds within the first 20 minutes during first ride. The plan was to get dropped off in the mountains and ride down to the desert to camp and the bike started making the noise after a point of no return so I was committed to limp the bike all the way to camp. It got me to camp! The noise got louder and louder throughout the day and we thought it was going to grenade, but it didn't. Obviously wasn't able to ride day 2 and 3 as planned. Jumped on the plane back to Idaho and left the bike with a mechanic friend in San Diego. Since then, he pulled the engine, split the cases and discovered that one of the main bearings decided to (nearly) explode. It didn't do any damage to the case or thank goodness no metal debris in the bottom end. Hall's Cycles in Illinois has been great to work with on parts, which are en route to my friend right now. New main bearings and a fresh top end and since I only put 10-15 hrs on it per year the bike should be good for another decade, I hope! My mechanic said the engine is really well made and relative to KTM easy to work on. Have been using this forum the last week and this thread has been especially helpful:
http://www.gasgasrider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21160
Given my GasGas was my first real dirt bike, learn A LOT from this forum in the last 10 years or so! Now I'm torturing a new TM in the Idaho mountains but still love jumping on the old GasGas. Feels like home. Suspension isn't quite as amazing as the TM's, but otherwise ergos and performance are just about the same. More testament to GasGas performance and build quality.
Anyway, just wanted to say howdy and thanks for the collective support from this forum!
Cheers