Yesterday I could ride the EC 300 Model 2019 first time. Fortunately I had also my best friends 300 GP 2018 so I could ride them back 2 back.
Differences spotted: sidepanels and rear fender have a much better fit now, they have been slightly reshaped and will fit 2018 and 2019 models.
Battery positive and negative leads are now much, much thicker and there is a stronger and bigger battery fitted. It just fits in the battery compartment, no more rubber stripes to fill empty space required. The negative lead which was thin and only about 4 inches long is gone. Now a thicker and longer cable is connected between battery and starter bracket.
The starter works brilliant, even when the engine is stone cold. I have replaced the new battery with the OEM GP battery which is much, much smaller, just as I wanted to see if the starter still works. It does and I left the old battery in for the rest of the day.
The better shaped handlebars are now supplied by Neken and come without crossbar. The shape is same as OEM KTM handlebars just the bend is a tad lower (approx. 6mm). The rubber pad which covers the handle bar bracket is new, very thin and pig ugly and its better to fit a proper aftermarket pad.
Ignition wire (and probably coil?) are from Bosch.
Tyres are Michelin medium as on the 2018's. As I had a flat I could see that GG installs high quality tubes from Michelin instead of chinese rubbish commonly used by other manufacturers.
The FMF end can has two reinforcement brackets welded to the pipe were the slight bend is. The frame protectors are now red, but personally I'd change them back to black ones.
I wont comment the differences between GP and EC as these are known anyway.
The engine vibrations were a bit stronger down low than the GP's and I could feel them in the pegs, but it was okay for me. I just dont like to feel them in the handle bars.
Surprisingly the engine felt smoother down low but stronger in the higher revs. If that's due to the new designed head or the all new ignition system combined wiht a new CDI and mapping, I really dont know. I doubt that it is measurable on a Dyno, but it felt different.
Carburation is not good nor is the factory setting of the float height which I corrected and set the float a tiny bit lower. It now starts to spill fuel at about 50 degrees lean angle which is ok.
I was surprised that the 2018 GP worked well with the standard needle (N1EF) while the 2019 EC had a rich blubber down low which I could not get rid off by just turning the mixture screw further out. Also the transition from mild to wild was a bit stuttery when opening the throttle slowly. So we decided to install a JD kit and followed JD's instructions except that we put the red needle in instead of the blue one. For those who do not know the difference: the blue needle is richer from 0 to 1/4 throttle but is identical at WOT.
We had 65F in the morning and about 79 later on, the kit worked flawless at about 600 to 1000 feet.
Suspension felt a bit firmer on the GP 2018 than on the EC 2019, though both bikes were set standard. Considering that the GP had 36 hours on the clock and the EC just 1, I reckon the GP's forks are set up firmer.
The rear shock seems to be identically and we could not feel the slightest difference. On both bikes the rear is set up too soft for quicker riding but is fine in the technical stuff.
We think that for the US boyz the forks and shock need a few clicks to make it considerably firmer. This would fit US style better, you just ride a lot faster than we in Europe. But the suspension covers the whole range and is great out of the box. Much, much better than WP's 48 Xplor.
What does the DLC coating better? Honestly, we dont know and we could not feel a difference in responding qualities, but at least the DLC looks mega and it is very hard.
The standard front brake disc works as well as the GP disc with alloy inner ring and floaters. The standard triple clamps are of much better quality than we expected, compared to KTM standard ones they are excellent. Needless to say that the X-Trig clamps of the GP are even better.
Clutch action is the same on both bikes just the standard clutch basket is noisier than the rekluse basket inside the GP's engine. The standard clutch cover is ugly compared to the good looking Rekluse cover. But dont forget in Europe you can buy 4 standard clutch covers vs one Rekluse cover and you'll have still money left for a quaterpounder with french fries and a coke.
So if you just compare the bikes how they ride, there's not much difference. Either one is brilliant.
Last but not least, the map switch. Its a cheap chinese on/off switch, but compared to the competition you get it for free. We immediately took a close look on the wiring diagram but we were to dumb to understand it. The map switch has only two wires and hence it is most likely not a map switch but an ignition curve selector switch. We knew that the very same system on the pumpkins didnt work well and did not expect it to be better. But it was. It does not make a huge difference like the one on Shercos but its much more noticeable than on the KTM's.
It seems it is only changing something from zero to about 1/3 of the throttle range. It just takes away the initial hit and makes the bike very smooth until you fully open the throttle. We really liked that as in certain situations this is better than on other brands. You chug it up with low revs but suddenly you need full power and all you do is whack the throttle and it immediately gives you enough power to get over a log.
As riding conditions were dry we could not test the two ignition curves in muddy conditions but we can imagine that it may help riders with a control deficite in their right hands.
A brilliant bike, well done Gasgas
I put a proper crash pad on the handle bar bracket and swapped the seat with the GP's as it is lowered and helps me short legged bastard
Differences spotted: sidepanels and rear fender have a much better fit now, they have been slightly reshaped and will fit 2018 and 2019 models.
Battery positive and negative leads are now much, much thicker and there is a stronger and bigger battery fitted. It just fits in the battery compartment, no more rubber stripes to fill empty space required. The negative lead which was thin and only about 4 inches long is gone. Now a thicker and longer cable is connected between battery and starter bracket.
The starter works brilliant, even when the engine is stone cold. I have replaced the new battery with the OEM GP battery which is much, much smaller, just as I wanted to see if the starter still works. It does and I left the old battery in for the rest of the day.
The better shaped handlebars are now supplied by Neken and come without crossbar. The shape is same as OEM KTM handlebars just the bend is a tad lower (approx. 6mm). The rubber pad which covers the handle bar bracket is new, very thin and pig ugly and its better to fit a proper aftermarket pad.
Ignition wire (and probably coil?) are from Bosch.
Tyres are Michelin medium as on the 2018's. As I had a flat I could see that GG installs high quality tubes from Michelin instead of chinese rubbish commonly used by other manufacturers.
The FMF end can has two reinforcement brackets welded to the pipe were the slight bend is. The frame protectors are now red, but personally I'd change them back to black ones.
I wont comment the differences between GP and EC as these are known anyway.
The engine vibrations were a bit stronger down low than the GP's and I could feel them in the pegs, but it was okay for me. I just dont like to feel them in the handle bars.
Surprisingly the engine felt smoother down low but stronger in the higher revs. If that's due to the new designed head or the all new ignition system combined wiht a new CDI and mapping, I really dont know. I doubt that it is measurable on a Dyno, but it felt different.
Carburation is not good nor is the factory setting of the float height which I corrected and set the float a tiny bit lower. It now starts to spill fuel at about 50 degrees lean angle which is ok.
I was surprised that the 2018 GP worked well with the standard needle (N1EF) while the 2019 EC had a rich blubber down low which I could not get rid off by just turning the mixture screw further out. Also the transition from mild to wild was a bit stuttery when opening the throttle slowly. So we decided to install a JD kit and followed JD's instructions except that we put the red needle in instead of the blue one. For those who do not know the difference: the blue needle is richer from 0 to 1/4 throttle but is identical at WOT.
We had 65F in the morning and about 79 later on, the kit worked flawless at about 600 to 1000 feet.
Suspension felt a bit firmer on the GP 2018 than on the EC 2019, though both bikes were set standard. Considering that the GP had 36 hours on the clock and the EC just 1, I reckon the GP's forks are set up firmer.
The rear shock seems to be identically and we could not feel the slightest difference. On both bikes the rear is set up too soft for quicker riding but is fine in the technical stuff.
We think that for the US boyz the forks and shock need a few clicks to make it considerably firmer. This would fit US style better, you just ride a lot faster than we in Europe. But the suspension covers the whole range and is great out of the box. Much, much better than WP's 48 Xplor.
What does the DLC coating better? Honestly, we dont know and we could not feel a difference in responding qualities, but at least the DLC looks mega and it is very hard.
The standard front brake disc works as well as the GP disc with alloy inner ring and floaters. The standard triple clamps are of much better quality than we expected, compared to KTM standard ones they are excellent. Needless to say that the X-Trig clamps of the GP are even better.
Clutch action is the same on both bikes just the standard clutch basket is noisier than the rekluse basket inside the GP's engine. The standard clutch cover is ugly compared to the good looking Rekluse cover. But dont forget in Europe you can buy 4 standard clutch covers vs one Rekluse cover and you'll have still money left for a quaterpounder with french fries and a coke.
So if you just compare the bikes how they ride, there's not much difference. Either one is brilliant.
Last but not least, the map switch. Its a cheap chinese on/off switch, but compared to the competition you get it for free. We immediately took a close look on the wiring diagram but we were to dumb to understand it. The map switch has only two wires and hence it is most likely not a map switch but an ignition curve selector switch. We knew that the very same system on the pumpkins didnt work well and did not expect it to be better. But it was. It does not make a huge difference like the one on Shercos but its much more noticeable than on the KTM's.
It seems it is only changing something from zero to about 1/3 of the throttle range. It just takes away the initial hit and makes the bike very smooth until you fully open the throttle. We really liked that as in certain situations this is better than on other brands. You chug it up with low revs but suddenly you need full power and all you do is whack the throttle and it immediately gives you enough power to get over a log.
As riding conditions were dry we could not test the two ignition curves in muddy conditions but we can imagine that it may help riders with a control deficite in their right hands.
A brilliant bike, well done Gasgas
I put a proper crash pad on the handle bar bracket and swapped the seat with the GP's as it is lowered and helps me short legged bastard
