Using your Gas Gas on the road (highway)...(newbie!)

[jerrytlr]

Hi first of all let me introduce myself - my name is Jerry and I live in the Dordogne, France.

Having ridden bikes on the road for 20+ years, I decided I fancied trying some off road riding and have just bought a brand new EC300 2012 model year for a great price. I picked it up 2 days ago...

However, inevitably, now I once again have a bike in the garage, the tempation to ride it on road as well as off road is huge. I have owned and ridden supermotos quite a bit over the years and they are huge fun. The idea of getting a set of SM wheels and tyres is already firmly planted in my head...

Yet both the dealer and the owners manual stresses that the EC300 is not suitable for long periods of riding on the road.

So hence my first call for advice on here (likely to be the first of many!). Has anybody had any problems with riding their Gas Gas on the road too much? I understand that the engines will not like sustained high revs and will avoid that, but surely small road riding would be OK??

Any advice gratefully received...

Cheers,

Jerry

 

[einsteingarage]

Back road exploring will be fine. As you mentioned, I just wouldn't ride it in areas where you need to rev it out and sustain a high speed for miles and miles and miles or in your case kilometers.

 

[Garytee]

I use mine mostly for greenlaning where we are road riding for up to 3/4 miles between lanes. This is usually ok but I wouldn't like to ride much further.


2004 EC 200

 

[desertgasser300]

I say go for it. If you have the choke lever on the handle bars just richen it up a bit while riding. There is no difference in blasting down 20 miles of dirt road in the desert or riding on the street. I ride mine around town all the time, but of course here in AZ you can get a lawn mower street legal!

 

[Jiikoo811]

Go for it, some finnish guy ride a ironbutt with 300cc 2stroke GasGas

"Silvola Juha Oulu 1,682km / 1,045mile / 24h.. SS1000 4.7.2009 Gas Gas 300 EL"

 

[Jakobi]

If jetted properly you should have no issues. I've run mine for more than 10kms at 100km/h down the hwy. Its not what I would consider to be fun though, and imo is a waste of the engine running it on the road. In the bush is where the bike will really make you smile and the rest is just a means to an end.

 

[Coop]

I have my 2010 EC250 dual sported. I have only ridden on short back road rides to connect trails but it has been working fine for that.

 

[zeuszuki]

Go for it , I ride mine to a trail 35km from home often in summer. About 3/4 is 80 - 100km/hr road , stock gearing , '09 Ec300 .

 

[Hawkeye]

If you have the choke lever on the handle bars just richen it up a bit while riding.

If you don't have a handlebar mounted choke lever, you can also hit the kill switch and open the throttle after a long high speed stretch to dump raw fuel to cool and lubricate the cylinder and piston. I've done this on my 300 after some wide open romps across cornfield sections in our local hare scrambles. An old Baja racing trick from the 60's and 70's.

 

[djroggen]

FWIW, a 2 stroke dirt bike is not meant for the road. It rattles things loose and causes strange damages to the bike my brother did it to his 300 not only was it not particularly impressive to ride it was not practical whatsoever. You will likely regret it, unless you are only planning on riding it 5 or less miles to go ride some single track somewhere. My $.02

 

[sevenfourate]

Few short lanes here in the UK near to me.

But for our 75 mile loop, which we often do; i'll need to do around 8 miles on-road to get to the 'start'.

And im expecting that to be about as much fun as scratching my own eyes out.

 

[hamilton]

You do what you gotta do to get to your riding area. Just one thing to keep in mind, hard up shifting and especially down shifting on hard top creates a severe shock load on transmission not equiped with rubber dampers.

 

[Longboardr]

You do what you gotta do to get to your riding area. Just one thing to keep in mind, hard up shifting and especially down shifting on hard top creates a severe shock load on transmission not equiped with rubber dampers.

+1

No cush drive is bad juju on the road.

 

[Jakobi]

You'd think a big knobbly tyre running relatively low pressures would have a fair bit of 'cush' in itself.

I guess what everyone is saying is that if you treat the black stuff for what it is: transport sections, and not as a race course the gasser should do just fine.

 

[houndog]

Hi Jerry, I specifically got my EC 300 (ditto the 450) because I could get a tag on it. I wanted to wear out knobbies on the pavement. I have 5,545 miles on her now. I haul ass to my buddies house quite often. He lives 17 miles away, paved road all the way. I saw 85 the other day! Scary as Hell. I carry oil in a small bottle in case I get low on gas. I run 28:1 Amsoil Dominator..

If it can haul ass across the desert for 20 miles it can certainly shred tires all day long on the pavement and trust me, that is your only concern, or at least has been my only one, damn things are expensive!

I can't see how the 5,500 miles on mine mattered how they got there, I bet if they were all on the street it would have been easier on my girl. She don't care either, she loves me no matter what, and I love her. She's quite happy to sprint 20 miles on the road at a time, at what ever speed I ask. I cruise her at 60 or so on some stretches on the way to Don's for several miles at a time. I never worry about how fast I am driving, or whether I am hurting her, I only worry about how fast the tires are wearing, plain and simple

Ed, aka D.O.T. aka Houndog

 

[jerrytlr]

Thanks for the input Ed (and everybody else)!

28:1 though, how come so much oil?? Surely that must affect the running of the engine??

Cheers

Jerry

 

[RonC]

Do 4 strokes have an advantage over 2 strokes here?

Assuming that the bike is jetted and geared at least reasonably to factor out failure by sitting at the redline for eternity...

1) Does a 4 stroke dirt bike offer an advantage over 2 strokes in the ability to survive highway/freeway? (Is that one reason why most supermotos are 4 stroke?)

2) Do bikes like Husqvarna's TE dualsport line have a cush or rubber damped transmission for all the shifting on the blacktop? That bike boasts a 90:10 dirt to street ratio, which is the ratio I'd be interested in.

 

[houndog]

Hey Ron, in my case I figure the bike only lasts so long no matter where you ride it. I rode 2 stroke enduro Yamadogs on/off road my whole youth. I see no issues vs. 4 stroke except mixing oil and I have that solved with my little "Listerene mouthwash bottles".
My guess's
#1 it dos not to me, I have both
#2 no idea, what I do know is my EC300 and 450 FSE both have knobs and maybe are not "exactly" D.O.T. approved. I guess that might make them 90:10

Jerry, about oil, because I am old school. Regardless of any argument that can be made, too much fouls plugs and maybe clogs the PV. Too little and well, guess what happens. Now, who is to say what is too little? Not me. Who is to say too much, well, Mr. Sparking Plug. Properly jetted, I want more not less.

My bike has >5,450 miles. I got her old stock, brand new. Oil ratios have been between 20:1 and 32:1 with either Redline or Amsoil Dominator. I settled on 28:1 as a compromise and the bike is perfect. 2 kicks every time, has never fouled a plug and pulls clean from idle to the end.

So there you go, my rant on oil! But just for back up....I believe everything in this article. It is old but still seems exactly right to me. My Ting Ting did love 20:1, btw. Why did I change? To save a little oil! And I liked splitting the difference between somewhat excessive (considering the brands) and less than I wanted (even taking the brands into consideration!).
http://www.dansmc.com/2stroke_oil.htm

Hope this helps.
Ed
Ed

 

[RonC]

Thanks for the input, Houndog. Do you have any issues mixing the oil in the tank from the listerine bottles while at a gas station? From all my searches, it seems like people put the oil in first, followed up by the fuel, and "slosh the bike around". I even considered bringing a 2nd empty bottle just to make sure it's evenly mixed.

 

[shep546]

Thanks for the input, Houndog. Do you have any issues mixing the oil in the tank from the listerine bottles while at a gas station? From all my searches, it seems like people put the oil in first, followed up by the fuel, and "slosh the bike around". I even considered bringing a 2nd empty bottle just to make sure it's evenly mixed.

How about slowly pouring in the oil while you fill the tank with gas??