EC300 write up in DirtRider

S

smooth

New member
Just in case you missed it, Dirt Rider did a favorable write up in the October 2007 issue on the EC300. The article is titled "What a Gas" and praised the handling and said it would "outright dominate the steering department" if the suspension were a tad better. Overall very positive in my opinion.
 
I was heading for Wally World so I tried to find Dirt Rider mag there and next door at Barnes & Nobles. No luck. They had most of the other mags and even some obscure one. Not DRider, though.

So, kind Sir. You'll have to give more details. ;)

What did they not like about the suspension? Did they attempt to tune it?

Did they compare it to other bikes?

Rick
 
I wish this site were more active.

I found a short citation from that mag in the Exotic seciont of KTMTalk.

EC300 review in the "Dirt Rider" October 2008 issue:
"The standout trait of the bike is the light feel. It kills anything four-stroke and is lighter and more nimble than the orange bikes available. With a better steering feel and light turning that is still planted, it was praised by many of our test riders. In fact, if the suspension were just a bit better, we'd outright say the Gas Gas dominates in the handling department - and that is a bold statement"
Click to expand...

My guess is the slight suspension dig reflects a personal preference vis' a vis rocks vs dirt. :p

I've gone to five different grocery stores and book stores and still can't find DirtRider.

Rick
 
Hey I get Dirt Rider and I haven't gotten my Oct issue yet. I'd give it a week or so before you see it in the store.
 
Rick, that is the meat of the writeup. I wish I had brought the mag to work - I could have scanned it. The article was actually about "Bikes from around the globe," and the EC300 was one of the bikes. (BTW, the "around the globe" was BS - they used a KLR 650 built in Taiwan and a CRF230 built in brazil).
Anyhoo, the article was positive, especially from the orange-tainted DR staff. The described the biike as narrow and zappy, and the only real complaint was the seat. They loved the torque setting, but also referred to the Gasser as being "made for grass track." Another interesting point: two other bikes (I believe the Beta and ...Husky? used the Zoke Shiver 45 and sachs combo, and all received accolades for the suspenders.

So now I am more undecided than before!
 
They had a glowing review about everything except a major negative for the seat and mixed feelings about the suspension. The suspension was neutral, neither praised nor panned. They said it was a bit on the harsh side even though it was soft enough to easily bottom out. Overall it was very favorable, especially considering how that magazine is generally KTM biased. And California desert biased.

Jon
'01 EC300
 
Thats the problem, probably too soft for their conditions/riders. Funny they bitch about the seat, its like a KTM seat. I thought it was brutal first but it broke in and its OK now, not cushy but OK for a race bike. I'd rather feel the stiff foam than the seat base.

Wait for Trail Rider to test one for a good magazine evaluation in real east coast woods conditions.
 
Since the GasGas is such a great overall package they had to resort to nit-picking to find faults with the seat and suspension settings.

The way I look at it is the seat and suspension can be readily modified to suit rider preferences. I would much rather tune my suspension and seat than work with another brand and attempt to improve handling. Fixing poor handling characteristics is almost always a lost cause.
 
I'm sure if GG paid Dirt Rider plenty of $$$$$$ they would not say anything bad about the GG brand. KTM pays them mucho $$$$$ so they don't bad mouth that brand very much do they?

I think we have had this discussion severl times before haven't we?:confused:

Forget them! I am on my 2nd GG and will never look back. Every bike has it's flaws but the GG is the best IMO out of the crate. Yeah the 07 seat is slimer than my 04 but I try to stand up most of the time anyways. Blah, blah, blah.:D
 
smooth said:
We all have our opinions about advertising $$ and unbiased/biased reviews, but I am soooo tired of the whining about it. Feel free to disagree/agree with a review and go ahead and refute away, but quite the whining....please!:eek:
Click to expand...

You see the repeated opinions and it may seem like whining to you, but for a lot of riders, this may have been the first time they've seen a comment like that and if it is, it gives them something to think about. If it's true, which it more likely is, it has a real impact on GasGas sales. I think the more it's known, the better.
 
I could give a rats ass about what ,the mainstream paid for advertising media prints. There is way more objective information sharing available on these web forums than the media will ever offer us ,They, the popular press, have caused more harm to our sport because of there collusion and pandering with their advertisers, think loud pipes and all the snot nosed wannabe's f'ing up and ending up as window lickers and then suing whoever. Why because they are buying into a life style, all of a sudden its cool to ride a dirt bike even if you should'nt, dude check out the cool cloths. It goes on and on Think the guys writting the articals are capable riders think again. With the exeption of Jimmy Lewis and Tom Webb most of them are a bunch of prima dona's with average riding skills at best, not to mention with a decidedly narrow Southern California perspective. Who on this site is from Socal ,put up your hands. When Hawkins and a certain editor from a very popular DIRT RIDING magazine showed up here for some riding with a few of the locals he was promply schooled, his response was to get all pissy, bad mouth the guys, opt out of riding for the rest of the trip and hang out and pout. Same thing happen'd at a Isde qualifier, North Fork WA. back in the day. The guys from the mags could'nt cut it so they snivelled and bad mouthed the event. Awesome event by the way, it rained , Ok thats life but you should have seen Danny Hamel on the water bars. man pure aggresion! Which brings me up to the point of my rant. When certain people who manage these awesome web forums innocently but somewhat carelessly and without regard and citing their own experiance personly promote a forum sponsers products, hey what makes you qualified? it becomes a conflict of interest, no different than what the magazines are doing.There is no censorship on critical thought so please use use it. We are the stewards of our future. Critical thought people, critical thought
 
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I read the DirtRider magazine article today and felt it put Gas Gas in a good light.
Every machine has its strengths and weaknesses. To one a strength may seem like a weakness and vise versa.

Its all a matter of opinion, and you know the old saying right? "Opinions are like assholes, we all have one" :cool:
 
I've developed a keen sense of reading between the lines and figuring out how to translate the writer's biases and poor journalism into information that I can use to take a way one or two key points. After several articles, one can get an idea of what is going on. None of that replaces two full-days on a borrowed bike, that just happened to be perfectly set up for that individual.

Look ---> pigs flying. :eek:

Rick
 
Myself and several club members were invited to last years 24hr test, 3 of us on GG. It was interesting to see all the attention our bikes recived from the DR staff, I don't think any of them except Jimmy had even seen one before! JL had nothing but praise for the 2 strokes, but didn't care for the 4 stks. I've ridden an 05 450 and didn't like it either!
I've been around the magazine guys a bit at our national events and benefit rides, ect, and I don't belive they are bought and paid for. However, most of them are young and easily influanced by the latest "hot setup", just like most of us. They belive KTM's are the best off road because the best riders are winning on them, just like the general public. Put Knight on a GG and watch the opinons change!
 
TooBadBrad said:
However, most of them are young and easily influanced by the latest "hot setup", just like most of us. They belive KTM's are the best off road because the best riders are winning on them, just like the general public. Put Knight on a GG and watch the opinons change!
Click to expand...

A biased magazine staff, there's something new...:rolleyes:
Just read the DR GasGas300 writeup and thought it was funny how they didn't much like the two major areas that GasGas riders rave about there bikes over other brands, the suspension and saying it seemed like a grass track bike rather than one that can handle ugly enduros, I mean, did you really buy your bike because it's good on grass tracks? Really, these are the things that keep potential buyers from looking at GasGas. I've seen the mags hype up KTM's way more than this and to those of you who have owned KTM's before, do you really think there that much better. Seems they only want to hype up the bikes that are popular, not the bikes that are truly good. If the GasGas is as good as a KTM than why don't we read about how good they are as much as KTM? When I read these reviews, I know what I want in a bike and can look past what I think is BS in an article, but I try to read it in the eyes of a potential buyer who knows nothing about GasGas, which would be MOST readers. IMO, this is partially why GasGas isn't more popular than it could be. They subtly bring down important traits of a bike that could actually be better than the popular bikes. It's possible that if a mag started saying that the GasGas 300 IS the ultimate woods weapon, it's possible that the readers on the popular bikes are going to stop buying that mag because they don't like what there reading and in return, sales drop.
This is not about whining, it's about how the mags perceive GasGas to potential buyers who know nothing about them.
 
If any bike is a grass-tracker, it's the KTM with that less than stellar rear end.

Speaking of KTM, that manufacturer is given the short end of the stick in most magazine reviews. Perhaps deserved three or four years ago but not so now given the improvements in the suspension that I have found (still not Honda-esque yet).

If Meta is correct that the mag riders are so easily swayed, or that they are jumping on the bandwagon (in part so as not to offend their readers who don't ride Brand X), then Gas Gas has a tough row to hoe. But hoe they will.

Currently the GG is my number 1 pic, even without a test ride.

Rick
 
AZRickD said:
Currently the GG is my number 1 pic, even without a test ride.

Rick
Click to expand...

Whenever you're ready.:D

My '07 MC250 is THE fastest, best handling bike I have ever ridden.
The Gas Gas' work for me, I could care less how they do it in Kalifornia!:eek:
 
Riding a gasgas gives you that smug feeling kinda like ,you were listening to led zep way before they ever became popular.
 
Hmm...I found another subtle negative in a mag against GasGas to make KTM look better. Just saw the new DirtBike mag today with the article about the Erzburg enduro. Not very often do you get a good view of a GasGas 2stroke in DirtBike and the one good side shot of one you do get is a rider in a precarious off saddle position and the caption says... now this would be a good time for an electric start. Like I said before, look at it in the eyes of a potential buyer who doesn't know anything about GasGas. I think the mags have more of an impact on bike sales than a lot of us know. Anytime I get in a conversation about bikes with regular riding buddies or even new to me riders, a reference to mags ALWAYS comes up. It amazes me how many riders read those mags like there the dirt riders bible. The mags have a huge impact bike sales and they know it.
And widebear, you just dated yourself with that Zep comment...:p
 
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