2011 GasGas EC 300e

[Woodsknight]

This is my first GG. I am coming off of KTM's and Husky's. My background is primarily from converted MX bikes. I race harescrambles and enduros but have MX years under my belt. I am 6'3" 210 and expert ability. I live in New England so most courses are tight and rooty with rocks.
The first ride was in snowy conditions that varied from frozen ground to 6inches of snow. Some tight stuff and open terrian. A few roots/rocks here and there but not a technical run at all.

I arrived at the house we were riding out of and put on my trelleborg tires and hand guards. Pulled the plug out of the left side of bar, and removed throttle tube to drill out end cap with a dremel cone bit. My hand guards were for protaper bars and these GG handbars seem to be smaller where the clamp grabs the bar, I got them tight enough to work but have since replaced the guards with clamps for Renthal bars. I noticed that the front master cylinder has a wire for a brake light coming out of it. I just zip tied it up and out of harms way. No sense in removing it. I did not like the allen bolt on the throttle housing. I will soon replace them with regular 8mm bolts like they should be. Also Im pretty sure the brake and clutch perches were allen bolts to. DUMB!! I will seek out normal bolts for these for ease of maintainance. I noticed this bike has a key ignition to it. Im not a fan of this and will be looking into removing it. I will have to find some type of switch for the headlight to shut it on/off when I do away with the key. I am also going to figure out how to replace the bulky electric start switch with two kill buttons. Already have two new yami kill buttons to use. Gonna use one for the e-start and one of the kill start.

Sooooooooooooo... I gear up and pull the bike out of garage. She starts first kick and Im liking the way this thing purrs ;-) We had a large group of riders that were most experts.
After warming it up I am off and running on the trail. The first initial impression in the first few hundred feet is that this bike is a winner. Great handling bike, smooth but very fast motor, shifts great, awesome breaks, killer clutch. I did notice that the front end takes some getting used to. It turns so sharp that you can knife the front end and over cut stuff. Its like a RM250 smoker that turns even sharper. It was a little un nerving at first but I got used to the bike and it mostly went away. Needless to say I will put a damper on this bike for added security and to calm the front end down a bit. I really really like the motor on this bike. It is the best motor that I have ever rode and I have swung a leg over everything from a 86 Cagiva to a 2011 KTM 350. So I know bikes and motors,,, this is the best motor I have ever had. It is super fast but smooth to. I could spend and hour typing about the motor but I will sum it up like this - it makes you a hero and makes you super smooth. The suspension felt decent but I know I need time to break it in and to go up on the spring rates. This bike has the Ohlins shock and Marzocchi open chamber forks. The stock spring rates are .42 up front and 5.2 in the rear. I will most likely go to .44front/5.4 in rear. Even with the new tight suspension and light springs, I was ripping in the variety of terrain we were on. The bike tracks straight through chop and whoops. Like I mentioned before the brakes were great. I could easily make time on people using the bikes carving abilities and strong brakes, factor in the motor of doom and you can run people down pretty quickly.
Ok thats the good part of the story. Here is how the rest of my day went. Im zipping down the trail and encounter a sweeping right hand turn with a small rut. No problemO. I tap the rear and throw the bike into the turn, gas it and lean her over. Destroy the berm but hear a loud WHACK!!! As I came out of the turn I went to stand up and my right foot missed the peg and hit the ground. I then pretty much ran my foot over with a studded tire. Good thing i have good boots!!. I look down and my right foot peg is completely gone. There was only a small stub left to the footpeg. What happened was that I hit a small stump and the foot peg broke off. This is complete BS and the peg should not have broke. Even a quality peg wouldnt have bent never mind break. Sooo I had to ride 10 miles with no right foot peg to a friends house and we put an old honda CR peg on my bike for the rest of the day. We head out onto the trail to meet up with the rest of the group. About 20 mins later I go to start up my bike with the kicker because the Estart seems finicky. I think I have learned that with the current jetting and temps that the bike only wants a crack of the throttle while pushing the magic button. So I go to kick start the bike and the kickstarter broke!!! The entire stopper nub thingy on the starter broke off. Soo basically when you flip open the kicket it doesnt stop, it rotates all the way back paralell to the bike making it impossable to kickstart it. The rest of the day was spent figuring out the E-start, having the Estart battery die and getting bump started buy buddies pushing me. I WAS AND STILL AM PISSED.
Today I am going out to put a ton of new stuff on the bike that I got in the mail yesterday. Included in these parts are a new set of IMS Pro Series pegs from a 2011 YZ250 2smoke, YZ 250 2smoke footpeg pins and a 2011 YZ 250 2smoke kickstarter. The pegs and kicker cost me 200 bucks.
WTF GASGAS?? This is not a 1500 dollar dirtbike. It is super expensive. I have sent the broken parts to my dealor and Im sure he will take care of me. But I am hearing of other guys breaking pegs. Havent heard any other kickstart failures but honestly even if I am sent a new one, the Yamaha kicket is staying on the bike. I cant afford to drive to a race and have a part like that break. I invest too much time, effort, and money to get screwed on bad casting of a important part of the dirtbike. I love the bike and in only 30miles of riding I am very fast on it, but what I went through was complete BS.

[Jakobi]

All these views and no replies. A great unbiased review of the bike I feel.

Very sorry to hear that you encountered a few issues and I can sympathise with your anger. No one enjoys having to spend extra coin on a new bike.

Stock footpegs can be very much like stock handle bars on some other bikes. I have seen some pretty mangled pegs over the years. On the bright side, at least it was the peg and not the mount/frame. That would be even more of an issue (and i believe has happened in the earlier model gassers). As for the kick starter, I have not heard of this happening before.

I hope that these few things haven't tainted your experience with the GG as it sounds aside from this you are pretty stoked with what you have. I hope your dealer sorts everything with minimal fuss.

Look forward to seeing some pictures of the new steed in action!

[john01]

I was just giving him a little time to cool down; I know if it would have been me I would need a little. I have never had a peg break but know it would be a pain in the butt if you had any distance to cover back. I'm not sure how much it takes to break a footpeg and if what you hit may have broken another brand or not. Broken kick starter shouldn't have happened period. Starter should well ...start the bike. I'm sorry to hear about your problems with your GG and hope your dealer helps you out. On a good note I agree about the 300 motor; it's extreamly good and only gets better when broken in and properly jetted. I also love the way the bikes turn. Well knock on wood I haven't had one single thing break or not work on my 2010 GG 300 and wish you all the best in getting yours sorted.

[wence]

I actually broke a footpeg half way through an enduro section last year flat landing a jump.
It is not easy riding with one foot is it.
Amazing how hard it is to sit down a lot when you normally stand.
Sorry to hear the probs mate but I reckon you will enjoy the bike from now on so much you will not worry about it too much.
Cheers Mark

[GMP]

Brittle pegs has been brought up before. Funny, as the older bikes had soft pegs that would bend but not break. Aftermarket pegs are the answer in either case. You will have to releive (grind) the right peg to clear the brake pedal when it folds up.

As far as the kicker thats unusual. They have been very good since the longer design in '07, mine is original and still tight. The YZ part is nice though as its closed on top and sealed on the bottom.

[HuskyDude]

Welcome Woodsknight...Sorry to hear about your misfortune on your first ride.
Please do a follow up with your dealings. Like to hear about your dealer and things.
Besides your kick start issue I hope your ride went well.
Maybe your second post will be a more positive one.

[smoke229]

LOL im liking this guy , no sugar coating. We've only got 2 hours on our GG so ive not said much about our bike yet (its day of torture got rained out) but off hand i thought the front tire (2010 ec250) sucked more than the back tire but i have replaced them both now just havent rode it yet. Float level is WAY off on the bike and now (see 2 hours on bike) fuel pours out anytime i turn the petcock on. The front brake line is stupid looking sticking out above the handlebars - looks like something id hook a chain to and raise the bike off the ground with! Rear brake pedal height is also kinda retarded high. Bike had a very heavy duty front tire tube , had a dollar general thin skiny tube in rear tire?
On the good side our bike runs great , looks sooo sexy , feels great , clutch pull is awesome , hasnt made the bad clutch sound yet , very little vibration other than through foot pegs. I truely hope to start putting the hours on it this week as my son qualified for all his Lorreta Lynns classes this last race weekend (on our Husky) and now we can relax and just do whatever for a few months.
Jap brands and KTM break kickstarters and pegs from time to time , i think Suz and Kaw somewhat recently had recals for pegs. The last HS i raced and actually tried to go fast at i broke the rear brake lever in half for no apparent reason on my 06 KX250 smoker. From what ive read and seen myself no ones electric start works 100 percent...

[hipsterdufus]

good review, minor issues but nothing to major

[Jakobi]

Would you care to elaborate some more on the starter issues? Was it engaging and just not firing up due to poor jetting, or was there something more sinister at work?

Look forward to hearing how things have progressed.

[gasgasnz]

sorry to hear about your troubles and hope your helps out to sort them out, footpegs I understand I replaced my before even riding, never heard of a broken kickstart on anything but a very old bike really sounds like bad luck? but to tell the truth I have not even used mine yet the bike has always started on the e-start hot or cold even when new the battery was put on charge, fresh gas and it started first push of the button.