RUST magazine: RUST #44

enduro
w
SO, THE TEST
There’s no question the ECs – I rode
the 250 and 300 – are race bikes first
and foremost. The development of
these models clearly looks to have
been along the lines of optimisation
for competition, there’s nothing here
that says ‘trail’. The bikes come with full
power, delivered by that 38mm PWK
Keihin through the V-Force 4 reed while
spent gasses come firing out of the FMF
expansion chamber and Powercore 2.1
silencer. You premix the fuel, there’s
no auto-lube. The electric starter is
about the only concession to creature
comforts, yet there’s still a kickstart
(old school / hard core enthusiasts
will delight). And boy is it light. It’s
something like 13-kilos lighter than a
four-stroke (say WR250F) and you really
notice that.
Only all that race prep doesn’t make
these bikes aggressive. Far from it, the
power is progressive, almost stepless.
It’s up to you how deep you want to go
into that power. Likewise the chassis
set up is superbly neutral. The Kayaba
suspension doesn’t sink, but it stays
supple, riding high unless hitting big
stuff, and linked with the very natural
turn-in that the geometry provides it’s
easy to feel very much at home very
quickly. So you belt along the straights
confident that the Kayabas will deal
with all the issues, big and small, while
also knowing that cornering is again a
no surprises affair. The bike just gets it
done.
The ergos, likewise, are exactly at the
peak of enduro bike development, with
a flat saddle that gets you as far forward
as you need, while the bars are neither
too high nor too low, I didn’t want
to change a thing. And that Magura
hydraulic clutch is feather-light so no
fatiguing the rider there.
These bikes had been modded by Kiwi
as he described and yes that head skim
worked for me, the slow clubman, as
well as it does for the expert. The expert
will appreciate that sweet-even rush
into the powerband, I just like that it
doesn’t have a sudden uncontrollable
surge as it gets on pipe, which would
have me short-shifting to avoid the
surprise.
I noted that the Gassers now come
with tool-less air filter access through
the sidepanel, as per KTM, which is also
22
www.rustsports.com