GasGas 250EC

I have to be honest with you. Well I don't, but I will be. I don't enjoy two-strokes much. It's not that I don't like them; it's just that I've always ridden and owned four-strokes and they're the kind of bikes I like to ride. Okay so I'm lazy, I like torque at low revs and I don't want to work too hard, but I have to tell you, if any two-stroke could get me off a four-stroke, it'd be the Gas Gas 250EC.

This is one of the nicest bikes we've ridden for ages. When Stuart Coble (Solo Imports) brought the bike up for Dr Dan and me to assess, I thought, 'Ah yeah, here we go again, another two-stroke I'll have to fight all bloody day'. Wrong!

Not long after the three of us set off for four hours of non-stop blasting in the hilly terrain near Dr Dan's place I was starting to think that maybe two-strokes weren't that bad after all.

The thing felt comfortable, the suspension was supple and it cornered and held a tight line nicely. Pretty soon I was starting to enjoy it. 'Jeez', I thought, 'what's going on here?'

The funny thing is, I didn't get that buzzy feeling on the KTM 250EXC, and I think it has a lot to do with the difference in physical size between the two.

The Gas Gas feels light because it is, only 102kg minus fuel, and that's a couple of kilograms heavier than your average two-stroke motocrosser. It's also smaller than the KTM, and if nothing else, that gives the impression you have a lot less mass to deal with.

The seat height is very low by KTM or even Yamaha standards (940mm) so even short riders can sit on this thing with both feet flat on the ground. The bike is very flat around the tank-seat junction too, so it's easy to get a lot of your weight over the front wheel.

The way the cockpit is designed it just begs you to slide up the front and into the so-called attack position, and of course that improves your cornering speed - with all your weight forward you're pushing the front tyre into the ground and getting more front-end bite.

A couple of years back the Gas Gas 250EC was a pretty aggressive bike. The engine was definitely race-oriented with power characteristics to match. In the intervening period Gas Gas has toned it down a bit. This year's 250 engine has a lighter piston and redesigned exhaust system. Gas Gas says these changes "improve power across the range", and we reckon they might have something to do with this year's 250 being a friendlier beast. Mind you, there are still 50 ponies being pumped out of this thing.

Along with the engine updates, the '04 250 also gets the following mods:

Gas Gas dirt bikes have always been style masters and ahead of the mob when it comes to colour schemes and graphics. We reckon the only bike to challenge Gas Gas when it comes to looking sharp and cool is TM. The new 250 is a handsome bike, no doubt about that.

The 'U-type', one-piece DID rims look very distinctive, the red colour scheme is easy on the eye and the bike seems to have the attention to detail we've come to expect from Gas Gas and the Spaniards who put it together.

About the only thing that surprised us was the non-tapered handlebar; the bike had straight alloy bars with a crossbrace, so if you want tapered bars you'll have to go the aftermarket route and cop all the expense that comes with it. Don't worry about it, that's our advice; there's nothing wrong with the stockers.

The bike comes here with FIM-rated Michelin Comp3 rubber. These tyres are designed for bib moussue inserts (solid rubber inner tubes that can't be punctured - racers use 'em) but they tend to have soft sidewalls and puncture more easily than the knobbies Aussie trail riders would go for.

Stuart jammed the Comp3s up to 18psi before we took off so we had no problems on any of the rocky stuff we hit that day.

It's up to you, but we reckon most of the blokes we know would let these tyres run their course and then go for something more hard core in the Bridgestone or Dunlop line. 

We don't test with a cast of thousands, either. Get too many blokes involved and you end-up with conflicting opinions and then nothing makes sense. There's me and Dr Dan and that's usually it.

Stuart Coble came along with us this time, and we were glad to have him, not only because he's a good bloke but because he knows the product and can answer any of our questions.

We were lucky with this test too; the weather was perfect. In place of the shitful heat we got over Christmas, we set off on a cool overcast day with no wind. It rained lightly the night before, which meant no dust either.

After four hours in this stuff we came away very impressed with the Gas Gas; in fact Dr Dan was going on about "selling the KTM 520 and talking the Leader of the Opposition into letting me have one of these babies". There are plenty of reasons he felt this way.

Given the two-stroke's reputation as a power junky, the first thing you notice about any of them is the engine.

We reckon the 250EC has a progressive power curve with no 'hit' anywhere in the rev range. There's a smooth transition from the bottom-end to the midrange through the six-speed close-ratio box, although the gearing feels short and you do get through the ratios quickly.

But you don't have to rev the ring out of this engine to make it work. In many situations - tight stuff for example - it's better if you stick it in third gear and modulate power delivery with the clutch rather than bang up and down the gears all day and overheat your undies.

Unlike the KTM 250EXC, the Gas Gas has a non-adjustable powervalve but frankly, this is not an issue from a trail rider's point of view. If the powervalve is set up correctly at the factory and the gearing is right there shouldn't be any gaps in the power delivery.

Blokes who adjust their powervalves themselves often do it badly. They get the bottom-end 'hit' they're looking for but end-up with a huge hole in the midrange that makes the bike almost unrideable.

Being able to control the power so accurately makes the Gas Gas easy to ride, and that's helped by the excellent suspension set-up.

The Marzocchi fork failed to bottom on anything and the damping is really good in the first part of the stroke as well. You know the suspension is good when you ride all day and never think about the fork or the shock, which is what we did.

The bike is incredibly agile and turns and steers beautifully. It's a rat on rails.

In a straight-out comparison against the Gas Gas, we'd say the KTM is definitely faster in a straight line but the Gas Gas is easier to ride in tight stuff and less physically demanding overall. It feels stable and focused when you tip into a turn and does a pretty good impression of a powerslide too. It's just a really nice thing to ride.

When the smoke had cleared, the thing that surprised me, the bloke who hates two-strokes, is that I could keep up with Dr Dan on the fast, semi-technical stuff where he usually pulls a gap on me.

I don't really understand why - the lightness, the capacity for late braking and that fantastic front brake maybe, who knows - but this 250's the only bike I've ridden on which I could keep up with Dan on this sort of terrain.

I just felt good on the thing, although I made up for that later in the day by crashing my brains out on a rock ledge I should have been able to get up. (I crashed three-times in the same place so they can't accuse me of wimping out.)

After a day in the scrub having a hell of a time, we came home with 100km under our belts from the 9.5-litre tank, and the Gas Gas still had enough juice for a trip to the shop for bread and milk. That's pretty good for a two-stroke.

On the WR450 I'm normally thinking about fuel at that time, so you can safely assume you'd get 100km from the 250EC if you ride with the usual trail rider's enthusiasm.

The Gas Gas is one hell of a dirt bike, and at $10,675, good value for money. If I ride a better 250cc two-stroke this year, Dr Dan will eat an Easter Bunny. He likes 'em fried.

WHAT WE LIKED:

WHAT WE DIDN'T LIKE: