Need your recommendations for my next bike

[flybars]

Man! That was a great thread! When two guy's with strong convictions are arguing their points, and both are right, especially when it concerns my new gg450 purchase, I listen. I am a pretty new rider. Just approx. 2 and half years of offroad experience. At almost 57 years young I still have a lot to learn about this great sport. That's why I quit buying the mx mags. and joined a few trail riding specific forums. I have learned a lot since I made the switch. U learn quick who to listen to. I will listen to u two for sure.
It took some push to get it out of u Hawkeye, but now I know why u don't trust the 4t gas gas. I knew I was taking a risk with the support and aftermarket parts and good solid wrenching know how. But what a BIKE! I agree with u about the management. It's key to making this fse line survive. I pray we get a good solid team in there.
And Matt R good luck with your 525. I've got friends who can ride the hell out of those things on the knarliest stuff here in the Cascades. The JD jetting kit is the ticket from what I've gleaned.
And Metalefty, while he's up in the higher elevations trying to get his bike to run properly, we will be ejoying the hell out of our superior machines!

[Metalefty]

Originally Posted by flybars

Man! That was a great thread! When two guy's with strong convictions are arguing their points, and both are right, especially when it concerns my new gg450 purchase, I listen. I am a pretty new rider. Just approx. 2 and half years of offroad experience. At almost 57 years young I still have a lot to learn about this great sport. That's why I quit buying the mx mags. and joined a few trail riding specific forums. I have learned a lot since I made the switch. U learn quick who to listen to. I will listen to u two for sure.
It took some push to get it out of u Hawkeye, but now I know why u don't trust the 4t gas gas. I knew I was taking a risk with the support and aftermarket parts and good solid wrenching know how. But what a BIKE! I agree with u about the management. It's key to making this fse line survive. I pray we get a good solid team in there.
And Matt R good luck with your 525. I've got friends who can ride the hell out of those things on the knarliest stuff here in the Cascades. The JD jetting kit is the ticket from what I've gleaned.
And Metalefty, while he's up in the higher elevations trying to get his bike to run properly, we will be ejoying the hell out of our superior machines!

Glad you enjoyed it. I also agree with Hawkeye's statements about support and wrenching knowhow, his last post was a good save because I had a hard time believing he was serious with some of those previous post comments...
I just rode with a guy the other day who owns a 450X who swore his jetting was spot on for the altitude we were going to ride. Not long after we got up in the mountains he starts complaining that his bike wasn't running right and was down on power. Maybe he's not savy at jetting and not every rider is an expert on jetting but the GG sure makes it much easier to deal with. Seems like to much tinkering to me and it was at one time(on my previous carbed bikes... ).

[Hawkeye]

Who said I wasn't serious? Sounds like Mr. 450X got jetting advice from one of those Internet "experts" who read an article on jetting for altitude from those magazine experts.

Yes, an FSE would be nice for the mountains. Michigan, where MattR will be riding, doesn't have any. That neat GG FI advantage will soon be parried by others. The Japanese are experimenting with FI on their works 450 MX'ers. Soon the Honda 450X will be FI, what will make riders go with a GG over a Honda then? The fact that you have to get about every wrench out of your toolbox to grease the linkage? GG has a window to refine their product and define a market niche. If it is missed, well, GG could be another marginalized brand like TM.

I worry about KTM's influence on GG's future. KTM's increasing market share has provided them the revenue to plow back into R&D. They now have a competitive 250F MX'er, an offroad 250 4T w/ electric start, and three different open class 4T's just for offroad, each with a different engine bore and stroke. They came out with a redesigned 2T 250 motor this year as well. I just rode their 950 SuperEnduro, which is a very smooth, powerful motor that reminds you of a Japanese street bike. I think GG has spotted them enough of a lead now.

I'm thinking about buying a 2007 Gasser to replace my trusty '02. I like the new subframe and airbox. I'd love to have GG die cast lighter cases (with 8mm hex heads instead of dirt clogging allens), replace the leaking ignition cover, mount the radiator shrouds to tabs on the frame (so I'm not fussing with the gas tank mounts), put the counterbalancer back in the 300, mold a more flexible air boot, simplify the rear linkage with captive bolt heads and upgrade the quality of the electrical connections. Maybe they have done some of this on the '07, but GG can't take 3-4 years to upgrade items that have been common complaints in GG forums. The competition is raising the bar for all manufacturers. Seeing solid orange minutes in enduros and waves of them in hare scrambles is depressing.

Hawkeye

[Metalefty]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Who said I wasn't serious?

Because when you write things like...

"I love stirring things up a little bit" and "I'll admit I feel a little put off by the sentiment behind Metalefty's comment, and I'll call it as I see it - brand loyalty bias. If you read my post again, I can't see where my experiences aren't dead on to what MattR is asking comment on" and "would I suggest a GG FSE for MattR. Sure, I would just recommend he pick up a new model laying around on a dealer's showroom for a really good price and expect to spend more time tinkering with it in the garage to get it set up and keep it running" and "The one plus to a GG FSE would be that Matt could scavenge many chassis parts off his two bikes in an emergency if he needed to make a race, etc" and my favorite "I try not to post unless I have specific knowledge about the topic at hand. If I don't know, I keep quiet"...

there's no way you can be taken seriously.

Other than that, I'm listening and agreeing. As for being concerned that GG will have a hard time in the future selling 450's when the big 5 release EFI or how they market the bike, I'm sure your comments of personal experience and company knownledge with the 450 will help with the confidence of any potential buyers reading this thread...

[tm_enduro]

Quite an interesting thread here. To anyone concidering the purchase of a new bike, I recommend trying out as many bikes as possible and trying to get a feel for the general characteristics of the bike. Personal setting for a bike (especially if trying out someones personal bike at the ORV part) can confuse the issue, but you can get the general gist of the bike. Get a general feel for the characteristics that YOU like in a bike, and go from there. Personally, I like the characteristics (flickable but stable handling, and a strong but smooth power delievery) of a ec300 or exc(cx-W) 300, and I also like the engine of a 500cc 4T. I ended up with a Husaberg.