MattR
Super Moderator
Note:
This following information is a collection of data submitted by various members of this forum. I have summarized the information below to help educate new people on the history of GasGas bikes in North America. Enjoy!
GasGas Off-Road Model Indicators:
History of GasGas in the United States:
This following information is a collection of data submitted by various members of this forum. I have summarized the information below to help educate new people on the history of GasGas bikes in North America. Enjoy!
GasGas Off-Road Model Indicators:
- EC – Enducross (2 stroke enduro motorcycle 125, 200, 250 and 300cc)
- XC – Cross Country (2 stroke enduro motorcycle customized for US racing 125, 200, 250 and 300cc)
- SE – Special Edition (2 stroke enduro motorcycle, custom built for specific rider requirement in US racing 125, 200, 250 and 300cc)
- MC or MX – Motocross (2 stroke motocross motorcycle 125 and 250cc)
- DE – Dealer Edition (2 stroke enduro motorcycle customized for the US market 200, 250 and 300cc)
- FSE or FSR – Four Stroke Engine or Four Stroke Racing (4 stroke, fuel injected enduro motorcycle 400, 450 and 515cc)
History of GasGas in the United States:
- GasGas started selling bikes in the US when Dale Malasek of GasGas USA began importing trials and enduro bikes into the US. GasGas parts were handled by Rising Sun Imports. Prior to this, the brand was only available in Europe.
- In earlier years (1998/99), Both an EC and an XC model were imported and the differences between them was greater than most note today. The EC was a Euro street legal trail oriented bike with a counterbalancer installed in the motor and a heavier ignition. - this is the hump that used to exist in the cases. It is believed that 1998 was the last year for the counterbalancer. The '99s had the full round crank weight in place of the gear, and the cranks were said to be balanced very well. It still had marzocchi conventional forks and a less expensive ohlins shock. (similar to what we see in the 450 pampera today). Note that during this time period, the difference in exhaust was that a messico pipe was installed on the EC models (same pipe was used on the MC and EC during these years...).
- In 1999, Don Knight at GasGas North America (GGNA) took over import and distribution of the enduro bikes (trials line was retained by GasGas USA) and building a dealer network from their headquarters in Cleveland, Mississippi. GGNA started customizing the EC model for the US racing market. The EC was built to European Union standards to be street legal in Europe and was loaded with features that were unnecessary for off road racing in the US, like turn signals and switch, speedometer/odometer/clock, mirrors, horn and button, catalytic converter, brake lights and head lights. The EC also had a heavier flywheel for the tighter European riding conditions in the form of a larger output coil for brighter headlight.
- The XC was originally based on the 1999 European EC. Stripped down for racing, the XC eliminated the turn signals, horn, speedometer/odometer/clock, and all related wiring and cables. It kept the EC headlight and brake light. It had no handlebar switch for lighting or horn, only a kill button. The headlight toggle switch was located on the back of the headlight assembly. The XC was similar to the GasGas MC (motocross), only at the time the MC models had a 4 speed transmission which did not have proper gearing for enduro and hare scrambles racing. MC’s were also not available in the 200 or 300cc displacements. The EC/XC models were available in 125, 200, 250 and 300cc displacements. (Prior to 1999 the MC was known as the MX.)
- GasGas North America had FMF custom design “Fatty” pipes for the XC, silencer choices included FMF Turbine Core II with USFS spark arrestor or the FMF Power Core, without spark arrestor, as options. The XC also had a higher compression MC head (claimed 14:1 compared to the EC 12:1), smaller flywheel weight for the relatively open terrain in the US, and smaller output coil. Note the higher compression MC head was only used on the XC250 model as no equivalent part was available for other models (200 and 300, etc.). It also had the same Kokusan CDI ignition as the MC which had a more aggressive timing advance for a quicker hit of power than the EC. The bikes were custom built for GGNA at the Gas Gas factory in Spain in a special manufacturing run each year.
- Starting in 2000, the difference between a European EC and an XC wasn't as great. GasGas, like the rest of the industry, went away from conventional forks (towards upside down/inverted forks) and installed the better ohlins shock standard. In 2000 you could get either an EC or an XC, but ECs were fewer. In 2001, only XCs were available. They installed a concentric weight on the crankshaft to achieve smoothness in the motor. This achieved lower vibration, relative to a non-counterbalanced motor, and decreased weight. Note they targeted the XC model towards racing versus being an extremely effective trailbike (you could view the original Marzocchi forked EC’s with counterbalanced motor being like a 2-stroke XR...). Later, the round crank weight was changed to an eccentric for even better balance and less vibration.