Sherco X Ride 290 Report

[forgiven]

This has really got me thinking. I am now looking for a beta trials bike I can put a long range kit on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VleZ0WA_s1U

[nambo-trev]

Have any of you compared the ossa explorer to the x-ride or the beta with a long range kit on it?? It's gotta a cool concept as well with a fuel injected 2-stroker powering it

[ScottyR]

My experience with the OSSA is that it is a POS. My buddy had one for a few weeks. 2 transmissions later he dumped it. For an EFI bike it was an incredibly finicky starter as well.

[rosco]

Hey Clay, did you end up riding an X-ride at the TKO?

[Fred1956]

Originally Posted by rosco

Hey Clay, did you end up riding an X-ride at the TKO?

He did, & qualified for the final run on it. I'll let him tell the story though...

[nambo-trev]

Originally Posted by ScottyR

My experience with the OSSA is that it is a POS. My buddy had one for a few weeks. 2 transmissions later he dumped it. For an EFI bike it was an incredibly finicky starter as well.

I heard about these problems but thought they were rectified after the first year of production. Maybe it was a lemon, I've seen one or two of those this summer

[TNappi]

I am amazed to hear that the Sherco X-Ride was manufactured with so many obvious flaws. A hole in the air box? Completely dysfunctional fenders? 5 speed gearbox? My 2005 Gas Gas 280 Pampera may weigh 20 lbs. more than the 290 X-Ride, but everything on it works as it should and it is bulletproof. It has a similar 280 trials motor but with a six speed wide ratio gearbox, Similar 40mm Marzochi forks, Excellent functional plastic, and very compact frame at a fraction of the cost. I am very disappointed that Gas Gas stopped making this type of crossover bike. I am glad to see that many other manufactures are making an attempt to produce bikes for this new emerging market. Sherco has made a good attempt, but They need to do much better to impress me.
The 10 year old Pampera is as good, if not better, play bike in my opinion.

T.

[gasser]

Originally Posted by TNappi

I am amazed to hear that the Sherco X-Ride was manufactured with so many obvious flaws. A hole in the air box? Completely dysfunctional fenders? 5 speed gearbox? My 2005 Gas Gas 280 Pampera may weigh 20 lbs. more than the 290 X-Ride, but everything on it works as it should and it is bulletproof. It has a similar 280 trials motor but with a six speed wide ratio gearbox, Similar 40mm Marzochi forks, Excellent functional plastic, and very compact frame at a fraction of the cost. I am very disappointed that Gas Gas stopped making this type of crossover bike. I am glad to see that many other manufactures are making an attempt to produce bikes for this new emerging market. Sherco has made a good attempt, but They need to do much better to impress me.
The 10 year old Pampera is as good, if not better, play bike in my opinion.

T.

I don't know why the 2005 Pampera weighs 20 pounds more but the reputed fixes to the T-Ride (sans gearing) are easy and cheap. I have never ridden an 05 Pamp but the 2000 Pamp I rode had trials gearing (1st 3 gears were very low and very close together) making the 1st 2 gears practically useless i.m.o. for trail riding. Perhaps GasGas changed the Pamps' gear box on later models - I don't know. What I do know is that I traveled to the Trials Training Center 15 years ago with money in hand to buy a brand new pamp but I test rode it and hated the gearing. About 3 years later I purchased a new Honda 150 for my wife which had less power than the pamp but because of gearing it was much more fun to ride. Both bikes were about the same size but the Honda was a lot heavier. Five gears (if they are spaced properly) should not hold anyone back from buying the T-Ride

[TNappi]

I would hardly consider butchering a bunch of plastic flaps onto the fenders and airbox in an attempt to make them functional an easy fix, and it looks terrible.

In the Sherco X-ride's defense, the ergonomics and seat height configuration seem quite nice. The Gas Gas Rondonne and Beta long ride are little more than a trials bike with poor seats attached. The KTM Freeride is much closer to being that new compact crossover bike that everyone is trying to design, but KTM completely missed the point by designing a bike with a Sky High seat height. And the prices for any of these bikes is not going to appeal to entry level enthusiast.

As for the extra weight on the stock Pampera, I lost about 12 lbs. by removing the mirrors, buddy pegs, dysfunctional odometer, ect.

10 years later the manufactures are still trying to design what Gas Gas already had in production in 2005, and Gas Gas is trying to sell an old school air cooled trials bike with a poorly designed seat on It???

What's the world coming to!

[Boom Boom]

I have a 2013 X-ride and my air box is just fine, zero mods required. Perhaps it was upgraded from the first units produced.
The fenders are small and you get some mud on you...so what?
If you like a endure bike and just want a smaller and less professional version then go for the Beta Cross trainer, if you want a little more trials like and don't mind pushing your bike when your battery and starter fail then go for the KTM Freeride. If you like a more trials bike like feel and performance but want a bigger seat and tank then the Sherco X-ride is the ticket. I also had a Beta Evo with the long range tank seat and all you have is a trials bike that you can sit to rest but not ride, you still sit too low and your pegs are back for trials so when sitting your toes will aim to the ground and expect to catch them on anything and everything. Nothing wrong with the older Pampera, they just need a little freshened up little. Plenty of options and none are perfect.
But I can tell you my X-ride always has someone wanting to ride it...just stupid easy to ride in ugly conditions.