First Ride On GasGas’ New EX300
Story and Photos by Trevor Hunter
We recently took over a 2025 GasGas EX300, the Spanish brand’s 300cc two-stroke off-road racer, and took up to the local mountains in California for a few days of riding in varied conditions. Yes, we do ride these bikes at places other than Glen Helen! The newly updated Gasser boasts the updated frame and chassis with material removed around the shock tower and the steering stem, while the motor mounts are also updated to match the new flex characteristics.
In the Hare Scramble/GNCC like conditions we rode in, it’s hard to find much fault in the stock setup. The engine is broad in power and very usable while packing just enough punch to make it exciting. We could see ourselves wanting to get a little more out of it in more open terrain, but in the technical singletrack and two-track roads through the trees, we weren’t looking for much more.
At slow speeds, we can lug this engine to just above idle and it’d crawl up anything with zero hesitation, and as the trail opened up, simply increase the revs and the bike moves. The bottom end offers a smooth power delivery, but it really comes to life in the mid-range where it has a healthy dose of power and crisp throttle response. For a 300cc two-stroke, the bike revs fairly far into the top-end, but you will see yourself reaching for the shifter far before the rev limiter as you’d expect on a big-bore two-stroke.
The suspension . It’s an aggressive trail riding setup and a slightly soft GNCC/hare scramble race setup. In the 120+ miles we put on the bike, we didn’t touch a single clicker. With sag set at 105-106mm, the bike has a good balance to it and while it occasionally would bottom under really heavy loads, it absorbed the rocks and roots, didn’t have pitch control problems, and tracked straight. We feel as we get into more open areas the softer nature will be more exposed, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. But in this type of setting where the bike really is designed and set up to ride in, there is a lot of performance in the stock setting.
The handling on this bike is very interesting and quite impressive. It doesn’t handle like a typical two-stroke, which can be light, twitchy, and hard yet fun to ride. Yet, it doesn’t handle completely like a four-stroke either – heavy, planted, and best going in a straight line. It somehow takes the best characteristics from each and molds it into its own version. It’s planted and maintains good traction, yet is agile enough to not be cumbersome in singletrack.
There were a lot of complaints about the 2023-2024 frames being too rigid, and while we experienced that on the four-strokes, it wasn’t as much of an issue on the two-strokes for us. However, this updated chassis offers more comfort through the pegs and through the front end of the bike. We didn’t have any comfort issues at any speed and the feedback through the pegs and the bars were mitigated compared to last year’s bike.
Last year, we compared a KTM 300 XC-W and a Beta 300 RR which you can read about HERE. Most of our testers preferred the more aggressive Beta engine but the more compliant and refined KTM suspension and chassis. With this EX300, we feel we have the best of both worlds, but better. The TBi powerplant has that aggressive character similar to the Beta engine, but has the handling attributes of the KTM, maintaining the planted chassis feel that is good at finding traction and soaking up bumps. Yet, partly due to the more lively engine character, it feels much lighter and more agile than the XC-W did, though not entirely as light and flickable as the Beta.
Some things to note after riding this bike are we didn’t have any issues with the Braktec clutch or brake components on this bike. We experienced no fading in our few days of riding the bike, though we weren’t overly hard on anything. We do feel in these conditions that we could play with gearing setup. It’s on the taller side, and we’d like to try going up a tooth or two on the rear to tighten up the spacing and make third gear slightly lower.
We’re really excited to spend more time on this bike in different conditions to see what works and what doesn’t. Our first impressions are nothing short of impressive and we’re chomping at the bit to spend more time on the newest gen two-stroke from GasGas.
