New Guy - GasGas or KTM200

[RBrider]

RB,
While I haven't ridden everywhere, I have been around quite a bit.
To me, Brushy Mtn is the best place to ride east of the Mississippi River. I've made the 800 mile trip from south Arkansas to Brushy several times, and have never regretted the trip. It's got everything from wide open fire roads to gnarly mountain single track.
One note, though: when it's wet, those red clay hills are super slick on the fire roads, especially the downhills.

Do yourself a favor and check out Brush as soon as you get a chance.
http://bmmspark.com/

Good Riding!
Jim

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Thanks Jim. Brushy just moved up the list of places to ride.

 

[sneaky98gt]

Compared to kicking a hot 4t,a 2t is a walk in the park.Also bumpstarts easier.In very awkward spot you can hop off and roll the kicker with your left foot.Often a halfkick is all you need if youre wedged in deep.Id say the button is very useful on a 4t,but for the most part unnecessary weight/complexity on a 2t (except for a second or twos time saving restarting from a stall/drop in a race situation)

Hmm. I've never thought of that technique. Will definitely have to practice it sometime.

There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I could do that on my XR400. LoL!

Welcome to the forum!

To address your questions and insert my opinions, I'll try to answer you questions as they are grouped above.

The e-start needs an inexpensive ($50 for the part) mod to make it work great and be extremely reliable. There is a thread on the forum and linked youtube vids that will make it easy for you.

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The seat foam is available from Guts Racing in three configurations; low, standard, and tall. I am 6' tall, with a 32" inseam, and I use the "tall medium" foam. The taller foam makes it easier (more leverage for my knees)
to get my butt off the seat and stand on the pegs. I can touch the balls of both feet at the same time on both the 2006 and the 2011.
The Guts foam is also available in three densities; soft, standard, and hard. The stock GasGas seat foam feels hard, but lets you feel what's under it too soon during a ride.

If the bike is still taller than you like, you can have a 7/8" spacer added
inside the shock and a 2" spacer inside the forks to take 2" off the travel, while keeping 90-95% of the suspension performance.
I did this to a bike for my grandson when he was riding the '00 XC200 I fixed up for him. It is also reversible when you want more. (Just have the spacers removed.)

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The 200, 250, and 300 are all the same size, and will weigh close to the same (within 6#). Don't get hung up on the peak power figures in the literature.
I have always told people that:
1. The 300 is the lazy rider's mount. It has so much low end torque that you don't have to wring it out. Just short shift it and lug up the hills.
2. The 250 is the racer's bike. It needs a little more throttle to do what the 300 will do, but the engine feels a bit "more flexible" and revs up and down with less "fuss". You short shift and lug it also, and it is very smooth, but it doesn't give you more than you ask for when you get excited.
3. The 200 is smooth, and revs up and down with little top end torque effect; but you will need to add revs to get to the big power in the sweet spot. It has decent low end power, but doesn't have the bottom end (low revs) torque that the KTM 200s have. The good news is that it loves to rev and the power will not "sign off" and go flat like the KTM does at higher rpms. My youngest son regularly leaves me when riding his XC200.

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I love Brushy Mtn. It's my favorite riding place east of the Mississippi River.

Good Riding to You!
Jim


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You are awesome! Thanks for all that!

Yes, of all the places I've ridden, Brushy is my favorite, too. The variety is phenomenal, from fairly wide open double track that you can blast down, to some of the gnarliest singletrack you can imagine.

I rode in their 2nd annual "Battle of the Goats" extreme enduro this past summer on my 230. Didn't fair as well as I had hoped, but had an absolute blast. There's no doubt that they've got world-class terrain there for that kind of riding.

Here's a video of it from this year. You can actually see me on the far right if you pause it at 1:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEOirTl_3nM

But as you pointed out, when that place gets wet, it gets WET! A bunch of the trails there are definitely impassable when it gets wet and slick.

Here's the video of Battle of the Goats 2016, which they actually ran DURING Hurricane Matthew! It had rained like 6 inches the night before the race, and then rained the entire race. Talk about a mess!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyl2EMLx4Xo

Loved my 200.
But then had a ride on a mates 300. Didn't want to give it back. The 250 was too motorcrossy for my level of skill.
The 300 is probably a lazy riders bike. But it's perfect for me. Just did 99km some of it quite technical. And Brrraaap up the hills.

Went looking for my Forget the whales save the 2 stroke Tshirt last night Must be somewhere.

Good insight.

As mentioned earlier, a really nice EC250 is currently in the works! Pretty much just trying to figure out a time to make the drive to pick it up!

I figured that if I found the 250 to be lacking on the bottom end (not likely), it's fairly cheap and easy to swap out the cylinder for a 300cc one.

Thanks Jim. Brushy just moved up the list of places to ride.

If you haven't been, it's absolutely worth it. When it's not completely soaking wet, that place really does have world-class trails. Unless you're just lightning fast, there's enough there to keep you busy for at least 3 days. Even hauling a$$, you're probably looking a solid 2 days to ride everything. And the people that own/run it are awesome as well.

Completely worth it. Definitely get in touch if you come this way. I'm always down to meet and ride with new people!

 

[Jim Cook]

Loved my 200.
But then had a ride on a mates 300. Didn't want to give it back. The 250 was too motorcrossy for my level of skill.
The 300 is probably a lazy riders bike. But it's perfect for me. Just did 99km some of it quite technical. And Brrraaap up the hills.

Went looking for my Forget the whales save the 2 stroke Tshirt last night Must be somewhere.

I loved those shirts. I'm glad you have one.
I sent my last one of them (with Smackover Motor Sports printed on it's sleeve) out recently. I had kept it for a long time and kept it in good shape. A friend who wanted one did me a favor, so I sent it to him and told him to "Enjoy it!"

 

[Jim Cook]

Hmm. I've never thought of that technique. Will definitely have to practice it sometime.

There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I could do that on my XR400. LoL!



You are awesome! Thanks for all that!

Yes, of all the places I've ridden, Brushy is my favorite, too. The variety is phenomenal, from fairly wide open double track that you can blast down, to some of the gnarliest singletrack you can imagine.

I rode in their 2nd annual "Battle of the Goats" extreme enduro this past summer on my 230. Didn't fair as well as I had hoped, but had an absolute blast. There's no doubt that they've got world-class terrain there for that kind of riding.

Here's a video of it from this year. You can actually see me on the far right if you pause it at 1:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEOirTl_3nM

But as you pointed out, when that place gets wet, it gets WET! A bunch of the trails there are definitely impassable when it gets wet and slick.

Here's the video of Battle of the Goats 2016, which they actually ran DURING Hurricane Matthew! It had rained like 6 inches the night before the race, and then rained the entire race. Talk about a mess!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyl2EMLx4Xo



Good insight.

As mentioned earlier, a really nice EC250 is currently in the works! Pretty much just trying to figure out a time to make the drive to pick it up!

I figured that if I found the 250 to be lacking on the bottom end (not likely), it's fairly cheap and easy to swap out the cylinder for a 300cc one.

You are very welcome.
Thank you for the video links.
I had seen and "Liked" the one from 2016, but hadn't yet seen the 2017 version.

If you end up down this way, give me a shout. We'll ride somewhere near here.

When you get your bike, I can assist you with manuals, etc. The 2006 and later bikes all the way through to 2017 have a dual stage ignition, MX and Enduro profiles. More on that on request.



Good Riding!
Jim

 

[gasser]

Loved my 200.
But then had a ride on a mates 300. Didn't want to give it back. The 250 was too motorcrossy for my level of skill.
Went looking for my Forget the whales save the 2 stroke Tshirt last night Must be somewhere.

My 2011 250 GASSER (stock except HOP exhaust and suzuki nedw needle) is easier to ride and requires less skill than any 300 smoker I've ever ridden except the beta xtrainer. I've owned 2 300 gassers ridden several 300 ktms and one beta 300 rr - none were even close to as easy to ride as my 250. The suzuki needle makes all the difference in the world the bike is very clean and strong off idle but very controllable. For me the 250 is a lot more fun to ride than a 300 - not as much fun as a 200 on flatter ground but way better on technical hills or ones that have loose rock or deep leaves. I ride in central and east Tennessee.

I too have a save the 2stroke Tshirt - it is one of my most prized possessions.

 

[Jim Cook]

My 2011 250 GASSER (stock except HOP exhaust and suzuki nedw needle) is easier to ride and requires less skill than any 300 smoker I've ever ridden except the beta xtrainer. I've owned 2 300 gassers ridden several 300 ktms and one beta 300 rr - none were even close to as easy to ride as my 250. The suzuki needle makes all the difference in the world the bike is very clean and strong off idle but very controllable. For me the 250 is a lot more fun to ride than a 300 - not as much fun as a 200 on flatter ground but way better on technical hills or ones that have loose rock or deep leaves. I ride in central and east Tennessee.

I too have a save the 2stroke Tshirt - it is one of my most prized possessions.

Ken, my friend,
You just haven't gotten as lazy as I have.
Chris Butler is working on me about coming up to ride with you.

You made me smile about the shirt.

Merry Christmas!
Jim

 

[gasser]

Ken, my friend,
You just haven't gotten as lazy as I have. :
Chris Butler is working on me about coming up to ride with you.

Merry Christmas!
Jim

I wasn't kidding Chris - my trials bike is his if he can get you to come ride with me. I'll put you guys up and feed you right. I look forward seeing and riding you two again. Merry Christmas to you and Deb and your family.

 

[Jim Cook]

I wasn't kidding Chris - my trials bike is his if he can get you to come ride with me. I'll put you guys up and feed you right. I look forward seeing and riding you two again. Merry Christmas to you and Deb and your family.

I'll speak with Chris and see what we can work up early in 2018.
Thank you again for the invitation.

Jim