RUST magazine: RUST #44
Just in time for Christmas – it's RUST #44! It's a 120-page wonder, that's bringing you the best in enduro, rally, adventure and even heritage riding. And with a long seasonal break ahead it's great reading just when you need it
Just in time for Christmas – it's RUST #44! It's a 120-page wonder, that's bringing you the best in enduro, rally, adventure and even heritage riding. And with a long seasonal break ahead it's great reading just when you need it
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Gas Gas EC250/300<br />
paddock seriously jumping to grab one.<br />
Especially given the price point. Just to<br />
reiterate that point, in the UK a 300EXC<br />
TPI sells for £8649 while the EC300 asks<br />
for just £7200. Yep, it stands to be even<br />
more of a winner.<br />
Only will Pierer Mobility AG let it live<br />
on? Can Austria accept the Spanish<br />
engineering genius, or will the workers<br />
in Salt be reduced to producing TPI<br />
clones? Only time will tell. But for now,<br />
if you’re looking for an honest, supercompletive<br />
two-stroke competition<br />
enduro, here’s the solution you may<br />
well have overlooked!<br />
GAS GAS EC200/300 RANGER<br />
There was this one other bike we rode in<br />
Suffolk. The £6000 Ranger. It’s Gas Gas’<br />
version of the Beta X-Trainer, or KTM’s<br />
Freeride. Like those models it takes down<br />
the EC’s competitive edge a notch or two,<br />
and brings down the seat height too.<br />
Only with the lightly-modded EC300<br />
engine it does maintain a fair dollop<br />
of performance. Just how capable the<br />
Ranger is was recently demonstrated<br />
by Nieve Holmes who rode her lightlymodified<br />
(by Kiwi) Ranger to a podium<br />
finish in the Women teams event at the<br />
2019 ISDE. This bike is very capable.<br />
“It’s also an ideal school bike,” explained<br />
Kiwi. “Because of its lower seat height<br />
it means trainees can always get their<br />
foot to the floor which means when they<br />
typically stall in the middle of a corner<br />
they just stop, they don’t fall down, and<br />
they don’t break a lever! More importantly<br />
by not falling they maintain their<br />
confidence and so learn quicker.<br />
“Initially, especially with guys, there’s a<br />
reluctance to ride the Ranger, they just<br />
want to the full-size ECs, but once they<br />
ride it and see just how easy it is to ride,<br />
and how well it goes, they soon all want<br />
to ride on it. I’m seriously considering<br />
turning over my training fleet to being<br />
entirely Rangers.<br />
“And it converts so well into a racer. For<br />
Nieve’s bike I swapped the forks and<br />
tuned the shock and she flies on it, she<br />
can match my lap times here that I set on<br />
the EC300. It’s been a much better match<br />
for her than the 250 four-stroke she rode<br />
before.”<br />
www.rustsports.com 25
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