New to me ‘97 EC250

2

2ndGen

New member
Hi all. New to the forum and to Gas Gas and to 2 strokes. So far I’m very happy with my new purchase. I only got to ride it once though as the clutch gave up on the 2nd day. Got some great advice on advrider and I don’t think it’ll be tough to fix. Got some questions for you all though.
What’s the crossover on advice on here for newer EC250/300s? Looking at a clutch thread for swapping the cr250 clutch and also a jetting thread I see a lot of newer bikes than mine mentioned. Love to know what changed when. Also just standard talk about oils and air filters etc. 1997s don’t get much mention so if the advice for newer bikes applies I’ll be happy to hear that.
I found a manual on here that looks like it could be for older EC250/300 but there’s no year range indicated on it anywhere. I have a 1997 owners manual coming in the mail. Hopefully that’ll have some info in it.
Love the bike! Hoping I can get some info to enjoy working on it. I’ll chat with TheLetterJ on advrider as well as he’s been super helpful but figured I’d get acquainted with you all.
 
97 ec250

Welcome aboard the GGRiders.

If your new toy is in good condition, I am pretty sure you are
going to like it.
Especially the counter balanced engine. I have a 98 EC250SM and
it is soooo smooth.

One of the issues might be finding fork seals for the Marzocchi forks.
I am guessing you have the 45mm and should be easier than the
50mm that are on mine.

There is a thread here on GGRider that has the history of GG that details
some of the changes and when.

Mr. Cook, if he joins in, is just about the historian on the older US
GasGas bikes.

Ask away and we will see if we can help.
Cheers, Jeff
 
Awesome. Thanks! I’ll find that thread. The bike seems super clean and well cared for. The clutch stopped working the 2nd day I rode but I think I can bleed it and change the trans oil and get it back in business. That or change the clutch out for the Honda stuff, as per a friendly dude on advrider. Probably didn’t get ridden for a while before I bought it.
 
b8e125b5f21e3560b9738b9af4403d9a.jpg

Figure I should include a pic of the beautiful beast.
 
Might be too nice to ride!!!! You should put that into a museum.

Is that a Mesico Pipe? Mine loves the Mesico much
better than either of the FMF pipes.

BTW. The radiator shrouds are just about impossible to
find replacements for. Do not crash them up!!! :)

The power valve cover is not stock and should add some low
end grunt.

Check your email for manuals etc...
Cheers, Jeff
 
I know! It’s such a lucky find. The previous owner really cared for it. And knew what he was doing. Thanks for all those documents Jeff. Amazing.
 
Alright. Finally some new developments. Got to work on the bike the last couple days. I bled the clutch. I think it went well but I’ve never bled a clutch before so maybe I should try again. It feels good though and I see no bubbles coming up.
I also changed the transmission fluid. It was probably pretty low. I didn’t see it in the site glass before I changed it but that could be because it was so dark. Or it was low. I see it clearly now that it’s got 1000 cc’s in there.
It still dies when I put it in gear so nothing fixed so far. If I rode it a couple hours with low transmission fluid could I have damaged it? Warped the clutch plates maybe? Hopefully not worse than that.
Ideas on next steps welcome!
 
0156c539b82a5ae1e80b1ee9288f746a.jpg


The transmission fluid drain bolt. Not sure if that’s beyond the normal amount of shavings or indicative of wear.
 
The jetting looks a little bit rich
The wear on the drain bolt looks quite normal to me, depends when the last oil change was



Send from iPhone with Tapatalk
The Phownix Must burn to emerge
 
Elvis74 said:
The jetting looks a little bit rich
The wear on the drain bolt looks quite normal to me, depends when the last oil change was
Click to expand...

Jetting I'll deal with when I get the clutch working. Hopefully easy enough.

Good to know the drain bolt debris could be normal. Hard to know when the last oil change was. I think I'll try harder to bleed the hydraulic fluid tonight. And open up the clutch and check the plates and basket out.
Anyone using something other than Magura Blood? I hear ATF is good but what brand? If there's a difference.
 
Weirdest thing, I started the bike tonight after struggling with the Berg master cylinder. Too many broken bikes. And I put it in gear and it worked fine. Rode it around the block and it was bogging a bit or just not running quite right at 1/4 throttle. Wouldn’t idle great either but it would kick into a decent feel with more throttle. Is it possible first of all that it’s just been sitting and lugging too much and too long and it just needs a new plug and to be ridden?

Also maybe the clutch will stop working again when it gets to operating temp?

Maybe I’ll take it out to ride it tomorrow and just see what happens. Is that a bad idea?
 
Alright. Out at Carnegie OHV. Come by and visit if you’re here. Ha. Clutch seems to be working fine. That’s great news. The bike ran decently at first and I was pretty stoked but then it started feeling like it was out of gas for a brief moment now and again. Only quick and then it was back. Did that a couple times. Always on hills at 1/4 to 1/2 throttle. Kinda trying to wind it out at the time. Then finally just now it did that but didn’t recover. Felt way out of gas (tank is 1/2 full). I stopped and it died. It was super hard to start after that. Wanted to run but was deeper and fartier sounding than usual and wouldn’t start. I waited a bit and finessed it and finally got it started and rode back to the truck. It idled pretty well when I got back. Also at the beginning of this day I replaced the spark plug with a new one to try to get 30 minutes on it figuring that would give me some info (according to some youtuber). That’s where I’m at for now. Hanging here watching the gf take a class.
 
Just talked to the mechanic out here. He rode it and said it felt great other than a flat spot in the middle of the rev range. He said to lower the needle one notch. I feel that flat spot too so that’s great info. Not sure it addresses the fuel missing. He mentioned that might be something dirty in the carb moving around.
 
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