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..