This year's 2004' Gas Gas Dealers Convention was held in beautiful Prescott Arizona. In
attendance were dealers from New York to California. Saturday
kicked things off with meetings consisting of after-market part
demos, product updates, and new product unveiling. Juan Romero CEO
of Gas Gas Motors of America, put on a first rate show. I had time
to speak with Juan and took note of a few things he had to say. The
most important of which, Gas Gas's philosophy in the production of
their high performance quads. On that topic Juan had this to say.
"We at Gas Gas did not want to go out and reinvent the wheel. We
simply took what we felt were the highest quality of parts and
technology and combined them with what we already do well. We feel
that the end result speaks for itself." Sundays test ride would
attest to that.
For test riding Gas Gas chose to use the Alto Pit OHV area just outside of Prescott. This made for an extremely technical ride with rocky hills, tight woods, g-outs and one deep whoop section. Both Gas Gas quads come standard at 52" wide and that could have spelled doom for the Spanish company, had they been constructed of lesser quality. My first test ride would be on the all new four stroke 450 quad followed by the two stroke 300
quad.
Handling: On the 450 as well as the 300 the steering was very tight. It was the general consensus that with some minor changes, there could prove significant performance increases. Even at 52" the two quads stayed on track through the tight woods sections. In fact it made one wonder how well they might handle with the shorter a-arms mounted on.
Suspension: Given the wide range of
riders showing up to test ride, the high performance Ohlins shocks
where probably set for a rider in the 200lb range with and average
riding ability. But even with a 150lb Pro they handled very well in
every area except in the deep, choppy whoops. With the proper
adjustments both the 450 and the 300 should pound through similar
scenarios.
Motor: I'll start with good. The
300cc two-stroke has the most useable power I have ever experienced
on a production performance two-stoke. The jetting was slightly off
due to the high elevation, but still performed well. The 450
fuel-injected motor was superb. It had terrific torque, a wide
power-band, and was overall very comfortable. The only bad thing I
have to say about the quads would be that the 300 just doesn't have
the torque that the 450 has (duh). I would like to add that trails
were very gravelly and I would have loved to see what these quads
could with some better traction.
Pros & Cons: The weight for Pro
level racing will need to be addressed, but I could see areas to
drop some lbs. The 450 and the 300 come race ready with every thing
you could ask for. The price tag is significant $7,895 for the 300
and $8,795 for the 450. However, if you were to compare the new
Yamaha 450 and Honda 450. Both of which are in the upper six grand
area. I believe the three are comparable. Neither the Yamaha nor
the Honda are fuel injected and for motor-cross or desert you'll
have to buy a-arms, axles and more than likely three new shock
absorbers (if you want Ohlins quality). Finally, the Gas Gas Quads
come standard with a chrome anti-vibe steering stem, nerf-bars with
extra large foot-pegs, Pro-Design kill switch, and complete
aluminum skid plate protection.
Colby Turner
Off-Road.com columnist/Professional Racer
Gas Gas
P.O. Box 6157
Palm Harbor, FL 34684-0757
(877)9GASGAS
813-818-9535 FAX
www.gas-gas.net
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