2008 ec300"R" race report

[Berkyboy]

Tobias Burman has posted a ride report on www.offroadchampions.com about his Texas National Enduro ride on a 2008 GasGas ec300.

http://offroadchampions.com/html/burman.html

Although Tobias' report is mostly on the National Enduro experience he does write about the overall feel of the '08 300.

Mark (wannabe) can probably help come up with a better list of our race prep but I'll try to hit the basics.

RB Designs carb and head mod were the only motor modifications made. Jetting was stock RB Designs.

Stock FMF pipe and SA.

LTR powervalve cover and LTR GP radiator braces

Suspension was bone stock. We set sag at 105mm for Tobias' weight and raised the forks slightly (3/8ths of an inch). Static sag (without rider) was at 7/8ths of an inch.

Stock bars w/ Acerbis flag handguards.

Blue anodized Rad Mfg wheels.

Stock gearing 13/48 with Regina chain.

Modified Pivot pegs.

Twinair filter w/ Twinair filter cage.

Michlin S-12 tires w/ Michelin mousse inserts.

Galfer brake lines.

Hyde Racing skid plate.

notes:

Tobias was very impressed with the motor and it's power delivery and suspected that we did a lot of porting work, which we didn't. He and his mechanic couldn't believe that the motor would run properly with 91 octane fuel.

Once we got the suspension dialed in, he felt the suspension was excellent. At first I don't think he believed us when we told him it was stock but he seemed to be very happy with it.

We struggled a little bit with getting the brake pedal height properly adjusted. Even though we had shortened the rear master cylinder adjustment bolt by nearly 3/8th of an inch Tobias still burned through a couple sets of brake pads on race day. His boot size was something in the size 13 - 14 range and the brake pedal seemed to always be in the way. The biggest culprit was the pivot pegs, as he had never ridden with them before, and he ran a too high brake pedal height. Once we got the brake pedal height set we had zero problems.

Did I miss anything Mark??

[rider01]

I watched the video you guys posted & Tobias looked like he was riding an 80. He looks like a David Knight sized guy.

[gasgasman]

Originally Posted by Berkyboy

Tobias still burned through a couple sets of brake pads on race day.

Too bad Tobais did not have more time on the bike prior to the race, the brake pedal issue would have cropped up.

At first we thought it was the four bolt mounting for the rotor (not allowing heat transfer), but the Honda CRs are the same.

[Berkyboy]

I'm not sure of his height exactly but I have a picture of him with some of the Hooters girls he spoke of in his ride report.

The gal on his left said she was 5 foot tall.

You be the judge.

http://berkyboy.smugmug.com/gallery/...51_mwjW4/Large

I'd personally give her a 10 (rim shot please)!!

[Skidad]

So just who is this Tobias Burman character and what's the story behind him coming to the States and riding enduros

Enjoyed his writeup by the way


Thanks,

Skidad in MA

[tm_enduro]

Originally Posted by Berkyboy

RB Designs carb and head mod were the only motor modifications made. Jetting was stock RB Designs.

LTR powervalve cover and LTR GP radiator braces

Suspension was bone stock. We set sag at 105mm for Tobias' weight and raised the forks slightly (3/8ths of an inch). Static sag (without rider) was at 7/8ths of an inch.


Once we got the suspension dialed in, he felt the suspension was excellent. At first I don't think he believed us when we told him it was stock but he seemed to be very happy with it.

The title lists the bike as an "R", what does the "R" mean? What do you mean by raising the forks 3/8", did you slow down or speed up the steering?

Today I had the pleasure of demo'ing a 2008 ec300 at a demo day sponsored by Tasky's metric cycle. I went to the Husky/TM/Christini/GasGas demo day solely for the purpose of riding the ec300, since I have never met a 250 or 300 Gasser that I didn't like, and I am getting ready to get a bike w/o valves.

I was not disappointed with the bike, the motor was simply magic. The handling on the other hand spooked me a few times, like when the front end would dive into sand whoops or when the bike wouldn't leave a jump face and fly straight. I assume alot of it was that the bike was new and the suspension was sticky and I doubt anyone would have played with the settings? My first thought was that the front end needed to be raised to slow down the "busy-ness" of the steering.

[Berkyboy]

Skidad

Erik Nijkamp, of offroadchampions.com, actually set us up with Burman. He's a solid rider european rider capable of finishing top 10 during most European Enduro Championship and World Enduro Championship races. As a measuring stick last year during the Chilean Six Days Swedish club team finished roughly 5th overall while he finished top 5 in the C1 class. He also rode the North American WEC rounds here in 2006.

Burman has ridden for Husaberg and presently rides KTM but as he says, "sponsorships are very hard to find in Sweden," which leaves the door open for him to ride here because he has not conflicts with existing sponsor contracts.

Our objective of helping support a rider like Burman for a couple of National Enduro rounds is his presence in the US helps draw attention to GasGas regardless if he podiums or not. Mark Kariya spent some time with him after the event and I would suspect to see Burman's name, as well as GasGases, in print in Cycle News, Dirt Rider and Dirt Bike magazines.

We're looking forward to working with him again at the Michigan National Enduro this summer and would expect to most likely see him in the top 10.

[Berkyboy]

tm enduro

The answer to your fist question is an "R" model is a compelation of what we (GoFasters) deem as possible modifications to make any GasGas model "AA" rider "R"ace ready.

Stock today's GasGas motorcycles (2007/2008) are as race ready, "out of the box," as any GasGas bike have ever been. For most "A" riders a little "bullet proofing" is all that is necessary. Handguards, skid plate, clutch guard, hose protectors and radiator braces are all that are needed. Our objective with the "R" model is to take it to the next level.

For a "AA" rider, who is looking for a little better brake feel, we upgrade to Galfer brake lines and rotors.

If their running mousse inserts and have the budget for it we upgrade them to stonger rims and spokes via the Rad MFG. set up. The biggest reason for this is riding with mousses allow a rider to "slam" through rocks and roots with out fear of getting a flat. The problem is the stock rims and spokes take a lot of abuse and tweak very quickly.

As far as the RB Designs mods go, in lieu of a LTR jetting kit of course, we feel they give the bike near perfect throttle control. Not to take away from the LTR jetting kit, that solves most jetting problems encountered by A, B and C riders, the RB Design's modifications really pays off if you trying to get the most out of the engines potential.

The answer to your second question can be a little more subjective and I'm sure I'll get ripped for my opionion but here it goes goes. As far as raising the forks we are trying to get the front end to stop pushing in the corners, this is very important for riders who stand up a lot, like a "AA" rider.

You also mentioned that the bike you rode blew through the stroke too fast. This has to do with the compression and rebound clicker settings and most likely could be adjusted to work properly without spending money revalving. For enduro riding we feel the stock suspension valving for 2008 (Marzocchi/Sachs) are very close to perfect, or a least a very good starting point for most riders, including "AA" riders.

Of couse you can't expect a bikes stock valving and clicker settings to be perfect out of the box and to get a proper feel for what's possible a person has to spend some time checking rider and static sag and making the proper clicker adjustments.

Remember compression and rebound have no effect on ride height or sag. They only damapen the rate, or speed, that the shock shaft or fork tube move during the compression or rebound storkes.

The primary purpose of valving is to keep the tires in contact with the ground as much as possible with out transfering too much energy to the motorcycle and ultimately the rider. On the other hand ride height is controlled by spring rate and spring preload and they are subjective to a riders weight and riding ability.

[Skidad]

Great info Steve, thanks. Looking forward to more great results in Michigan.

Good luck and keep up the good work


Skidad in MA

[tm_enduro]

Steve
thanks for replying. I'm sure the handling issues were related to lack of setup, but I wasn't about to get out my tools and start playing with someone elses bike (unless asked to).
As a a faster rider (former AA racer), being 6'-1" and being a rider that stands alot with a forward weight bias, I often find that borrowed bikes are mushy and scary in the front and tend to dive. I assume that you meant that you reduced the amount of fork leg sticking above the triple clamp? I find that many riders spend lots of time setting the rear sag to get it "perfect", but leave performance on the table because they have no idea how much of a difference moving the forks up or down 1/8" can make.
The motor and wheel mods are good choices, although the stock 300 is sweet, and at over 40 yrs age, my days of making wheels look like stop signs are about over.