2018 EC250 1st Ride Report

[Jakobi]

So almost 5 months after buying a new bike, I finally made the time to ride it. A beautiful muddy, overcast day! Prime conditions.

The silencer is too big.. It makes the bike too quiet. I feel like a ninja. I have some spooge but nothing that I would call excessive given the conditions and the lack of throttle. It felt like every tree in the forest decided to fall across the track. Pretty much became a free ride.

4 hours on the clock now. The bike looks far from new. Even after being washed. The bars almost touched the ground. Mud over the brush guard but not the end of the bar.. doesn't count!

Have they changed the internal gearing?? At 13-50 using the chain and sprocket off my old rig it feels a bit taller I think. The engine is nice. Less vibes for sure. Soft(er) off the bottom but really pulls smoothly into the mid and then revs very strong up top. I liked it very much!

Fuel economy was great, as expected.

Starter worked as it should.

She seemed to deal with water well too. Deep crossings no issues to report.

Chassis wise it was very familiar to my 13 I thought. Similar weight bias and handling characteristics (as 13 had reduced offset with KYB front end too).

Carried over the same old bars, so cockpit felt same same.

The seat I could sit on! And I don't think it was just the seat.. The SHOCK works and works bloody well. It highlighted how much harder that Ohlins 888 had me working.

Big thanks to Bits for Bikes for the deal on her, Dave at TSP for the head work, and GG Chris for the bolt on bits I needed. By far the best one yet.. I can't think of anything I need to do to this bike..

The fit and finish still needs refinement; but given this is my 3rd GG now, I can live with that!

Ohh.. And it's very tall. Or my legs are very short. I had a few moments where I struggled to find the ground..

[Gasser Nate]

Originally Posted by Jakobi

So almost 5 months after buying a new bike, I finally made the time to ride it. A beautiful muddy, overcast day! Prime conditions.

The silencer is too big.. It makes the bike too quiet. I feel like a ninja. I have some spooge but nothing that I would call excessive given the conditions and the lack of throttle. It felt like every tree in the forest decided to fall across the track. Pretty much became a free ride.

4 hours on the clock now. The bike looks far from new. Even after being washed. The bars almost touched the ground. Mud over the brush guard but not the end of the bar.. doesn't count!

Have they changed the internal gearing?? At 13-50 using the chain and sprocket off my old rig it feels a bit taller I think. The engine is nice. Less vibes for sure. Soft(er) off the bottom but really pulls smoothly into the mid and then revs very strong up top. I liked it very much!

Fuel economy was great, as expected.

Starter worked as it should.

She seemed to deal with water well too. Deep crossings no issues to report.

Chassis wise it was very familiar to my 13 I thought. Similar weight bias and handling characteristics (as 13 had reduced offset with KYB front end too).

Carried over the same old bars, so cockpit felt same same.

The seat I could sit on! And I don't think it was just the seat.. The SHOCK works and works bloody well. It highlighted how much harder that Ohlins 888 had me working.

Big thanks to Bits for Bikes for the deal on her, Dave at TSP for the head work, and GG Chris for the bolt on bits I needed. By far the best one yet.. I can't think of anything I need to do to this bike..

The fit and finish still needs refinement; but given this is my 3rd GG now, I can live with that!

Ohh.. And it's very tall. Or my legs are very short. I had a few moments where I struggled to find the ground..

About bloody time matey! Been hanging for this report for a while now! Glad you like it! The seat is really nice, I could almost go up a spring rate but I just love how comfortable it is to ride. When I find the time to!

[Jakobi]

Originally Posted by Gasser Nate

About bloody time matey! Been hanging for this report for a while now! Glad you like it! The seat is really nice, I could almost go up a spring rate but I just love how comfortable it is to ride. When I find the time to!

The seat fitment leaves a bit to be desired on mine. It's like the middle mounting tab is too big and keeps the seat from sliding up where it needs to be by about 5mm. I may make some modifications to that. Will help with the retaining screw being easier to fit too.

I'd normally bump the rates up one too, but given the height of the bike already and the way she handles I'm not going to worry about it.

I felt like it still sat up in the stroke well and didn't note any wallowing.

Front clickers were something like C15 R12, and the shock might be something like C12 R10. Whatever I set them to the afternoon before is where they stayed.

The only changes I made on the trail was a slight bump in idle speed and a couple tweaks of the pilot jet to get best response. The 42 pilot could possibly be bumped up a size, but works alright. At 1 turn she's a tad rich and the idle suffers a bit; but shes very punchy. At 1.25 out she's bang on!! At 1.5 turns out it's clean running but lacks snap off idle and gets a bit of a lean buzz just before 1/4 throttle.

[john r b]

5 months Jake? I forgot you bought a new bike, Glad your liking it so far. Have ya named her yet??

[Moto7man]

Very nice. 👍 Does it feel lighter than your 2013?

[(F5)]

That sounded very encouraging. . . . Except the being tall bit.