2007 Gas Gas EC200 enduro
By TMX Archives on 2nd Mar 07
Everyone deserves a second chance! DISAPPOINTING bottom end.' Difficult to get along with.' A bit of a let down.' The reviews of the 2007 Gas Gas EC200 enduro machine as part of T+MX News' huge test of the Spanish concern's entire enduro range last month (February 2, pages 8-13) were less than stellar to say the least.
After a day's testing at the fantastic Nantmawr Quarry venue on the Shropshire/ Wales border, both guest tester Carl Tiley and myself, and even over-the-hill editor Dicko were left disappointed and somewhat confused by the all-round performance of the EC200's engine, especially when compared with how impressive the rest of the range felt to us.
Where the EC125, 250 and 300 models produced a strong, smooth, very linear power delivery, the EC200 was a direct contrast with a sluggish, unresponsive bottom-end exploding into a fierce mid-range hit that tailed-off far too quickly at the top-end.
In short, it was a bit of an uninspiring ride and a handful out on the going, which all three of us felt was a big surprise given the strong reputation of the EC200 in past years and the strength of the rest of the range. However, with no noticable signs that something was amiss within the engine and given the fact that it was a brand-new, just run-in bike with only the jetting tweaked to suit the english weather, no matter how surprised we were by this and no matter how much we wanted to like the bike, all three of us had to be honest and write that the EC200 was a less than stellar performer in the engine department.
The asessment suprised Gas Gas UK too as the 200 has been one of the best received models in the range and a top seller, and no sooner had the article hit shops nationwide than Gas Gas main-man John Shirt Junior was in the workshop trying to discover why the traditionally strong bike recieved such unfavourable reviews.
After stripping the bike down, checking everything, re-checking it, and rectifiying the only issue with the engine, which was a very slighty slow action on the power valve, the bike was still well down on low-end power and torque.
Phonecalls were then put in to Gas Gas headquaters in Spain where after reeling through a number of suggestions which Shirty had already checked, the engineers final suggestion was to check the front pipe - and here in lied the root of the problem.
All '07 EC models come homologated with a heavily restricted front pipe fitted, while the 'race' pipe your bike leaves Gas Gas UK fitted with is inside the shipping crate. An error at the factory saw an EC250 pipe make its way into the wrong crate and onto the EC200 test model which caused the dramatic power loss suffered by the test bike, particulary on the bottom-end.
Both EC200 and EC250 pipes are only subtly different in size and shape, especially to the naked eye when not fitted to a machine, and quite understandably the EC250 pipe went straight onto the bike and with only enough time for Gas Gas to run the bike-in and nothing more the problem slipped through the net and sadly resulted in the poor reviews.
With the problem now identified and the correct EC200 pipe fitted, Shirty invited T+MX News back to have a second test of the EC200, confident that we would see its true identity and I'm sure glad we accepted, because the EC200 in its proper guise is totally removed from the bike we originally tested and I am very glad to report that it is infact a great enduro machine that is a total blast to ride.
I've never been in the position of having to re-test a bike because of a fault before, and to be honest I was a little concerned that the EC200 would still not live up to my expectations and I would have to give it another poor review, but with the correct pipe fitted the EC200 far outreached my expectations, performed exactly as you would hope a 200cc enduro machine to do, and gives the EC250 a run for its money as my favourite bike in the range now. It is that good.
The big selling point of the EC200 to me now is it's broad, smooth and very torquey spread of power that translates into a very useable and strong enduro motor which does a fine job of filling that gap between 125cc and 250cc, and performs exactly how you hope a 200cc machine would.
The low-down power and torque were particulary impressive and very reminiscent of the excellent EC250. The quarry test venue we used had plenty of very rocky, technical, pretty much trials like going to test the bottom-end and it was extremely impressive indeed. The bike chugged along at almost zero revs with no bogging or fluffing and the torque of the motor allows the bike to get up, over and through tough stuff with the minimum of effort.
When you cracked open the throttle to get the bike motoring though there was actually something there this time and like all good enduro bikes should, the power built-up very smoothly to a much improved mid and top-end that is really not far off the EC250 in terms of out-and-out top-end power, but it still managed to retained that same snappy, fast-buliding power delivery of 125cc machines while never feeling like there was too much power for you like a 250cc can sometimes do. You could rev the nuts off the bike like a 125 or short-shift and use the torque of the motor like a 250 and get the same results also which was really impressive to me.
In short, it was the perfect balance between useability and agressiveness, my only grumble being that third gear felt a little short for my own personal tastes and often required a very brief change up to fourth when really you didn't want to have to make one. Other than that everything concerned with the engine was a 100 per cent improvement with the correct pipe and I was really pleased to see the bike's full potential.
The chassis, as we all agreed in the original test, is superb, offering a very stable but manouverable and flickable base, and teamed up with the Marzocchi Shiver forks and Ohlins shock suspension combo - which performed faultlessly and for my 11 stone weight and clubman speed seemed perfectly set-up - it complemented the engine performance superbly and translates into a bike that feels as light and manouverable as a 125 with the smoothness and control of a bigger machine.
All-in-all, the EC200 is a fantastic enduro bike, particulary for clubman riders like myself, and should be a serious consideration for anyone in the market for a new enduro or hare scrambles machine, it won't dissapoint - it's just a shame that we didn't get to see this the first time round.
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