The Ultimate Off-Road Build
Story and Photos by Trevor Hunter
When you’re looking at a do-it-all machine, a 300cc two-stroke checks all the major boxes. It has good, usable power. It’s lightweight and easy to ride in a multitude of conditions. It’s rather inexpensive to maintain and rebuild over time. Overall, they simply work just about everywhere and the throttle body injected 300’s that have come from Austria over the past couple of years have really piqued our interested. Simply put, the motor on this GasGas EX300 has a nice blend of smooth, tractable power but enough character to be exciting. Likewise, the suspension components are solid and the new chassis offers much needed comfort and stability in comparison to the ’23-24 chassis. You can read our full Bike Test HERE, but there isn’t much fault to find in this new GasGas.
However, as good as this bike is, we still felt there was room for improvement, especially in the engine department (yes, it can be even better). Ideally, we were looking to smoothen the power delivery as it has a robust mid-range hit that was upsetting and difficult to ride at times while the top end lacked peak power and signed off a bit early. Looking for improvements, we connected with South Bay Moto Performance in NorCal with interest in testing the Two Stroke Performance TBi Power Kit. You can read our full Product Test on the kit HERE, but in short, the TBi Power Kit is one of the most effective two-stroke engine mods we’ve tested. It took a rather good engine platform and improved everything we were looking to improve while also improving everything we didn’t know we wanted to improve. Increased torque and increased pulling power throughout the rev range, smoother delivery, and longer pulling power are just a few of the benefits of the kit. We really struggle to have anything negative to say about the TSP kit from South Bay Moto Performance except that 50/50 race gas is needed when running the high compression head down at sea level, but with how good the performance is, it’s well worth the trade off.
In addition to the TSP TBi Power Kit, the other two engine mods included a Pro Circuit Works pipe and R-304 silencer. The Works pipe provided significantly more power, adding power power across the board in a crisp, clean delivery with strong gains throughout the rev range. On the other hand, the switch to the R-304 silencer from stock shifted the power and for some was an improvement, while others might prefer the stock silencer. The PC silencer revved quicker and puller hard through the top end and into the overrev. However, the stock silencer offered good, usable torque and bottom-mid range power that was more appealing for those who want to lug more.
Rekluse sent us a TorqDrive Clutch Pack to replace the worn stock fibers and steel plates in the bike. The TorqDrive plates increased rear wheel connectivity with a stronger bite and less vague feeling clutch. At times in very technical terrain, we could almost argue that it felt too connected to the rear wheel and we were looking for a little less bite.
TCS Powersports handled the suspension duties utilizing stock components. Different valving and spring rates helped find more holdup while improving small bump supple feel for a well-rounded setup. In terms of chassis balance, our riders are all over the map in terms of fork height. Our more aggressive riders like running the forks in standard position at line two in the clamps while our vet riders gravitate towards flush in the clamps for faster GP/desert style racing. Our faster riders prefer the front end feel and suppleness of running the forks higher in the clamps while our vet riders liked the hold up and overall balance of running the forks flush.
TM Designworks provided a Slide-N-Guide Kit for our bike to replace the worn stock components with a strong, durable kit. ProX provided the chain/sprockets with 14/51 being our go-to setup for all-around riding/racing.
This GasGas build is one of the best all-around bikes we’ve ridden to date. We can comfortably take it anywhere from mountain singletrack to open desert to the MX track and have a solid package to ride or race.
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