idaho extreme

OK time for some more tech


What you are looking at is one of the most advanced motorcycles ever made, and I don’t say that lightly.


First let’s take the obvious: weight. In 1976 my trials bike weighed about 210 lbs and my RM 250 weighed about 230 lbs. Today the equivalent MX bike weighs almost exactly the same (though my SX is lighter). This gas gas weighs 146 lbs. 300cc 146lbs.


You will never see a smaller 300cc motor. It’s incredibly narrow. GG invented the hydraulic clutch, and the lever pull is the lightest of any clutch on any bike. It will rev as high as any MX two-stroke, with great smooth power off idle. It has a 6-speed and will go close to 70 with stock gearing, but of course I’ve never gone that fast. The rear rim is the only tubeless spoked wheel you’ll see, except on other state of the art trials bikes.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s a very specialized bike, not often employed for exploration purposes. Obviously the first issue is range. You aren’t going far with that tank. Most trials guys PACK their fuel on the trail, if you can believe that. You’d think a bigger tank would be no big deal, just send off for it. Hah!


I finally found a picture of this tank on the internet. The only one in the USA is now on my bike.


I had to track down a dealer who actually had one, turns out this was in france, and beg him to learn paypal and take 350.00 for it. I also bought a wildly expensive little seat----from france again.



Now this brings up an interesting point,----what is the deal with the no seat and the huge dip under your crotch? As soon as you ride the bike in a knarly place you understand right away why it’s like this. The dip allows you to catch almost any low speed fall with a dab. Say you are traversing on a narrow trail across a ridge face. On your endure bike if you start to fall downhill, it’s over. Giant bench press of upside down bike coming up. On a modern trials bike you just put your foot down. I don’t care how short you are, anything short of a cliff and you can catch the bike. Not only that, but the center of gravity is so low and the bike is so light, the recovery is effortless.

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If you are tall&#8212;say over 6&#8217;, your lower back will get sore at first on trail rides. There are two things to do about this, get your bars up and forward, and keep riding. Your back gets stronger, and you learn how to adjust your stance to rest it as you ride. On my bike you can sit a bit, but the bike is a little scary to ride sitting. For some reason the handling totally changes.

Bars and risers


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Next thing you have to get used to is the tranny. You take your foot off the peg to shift. At first this is a shock, but you soon get used to it. The powerband is so huge you don&#8217;t really shift much. 1-4 are close. REALLY close. Closer than any CR on any MX bike by quite a bit. Then comes the &#8220;GAP&#8221;, and it&#8217;s more than just a huge jump in ratio. To make the tranny so small, it&#8217;s designed like no other. The result is 4 to 5 is an &#8220;interesting&#8221; change, up or down. You can&#8217;t take it for granted. God knows what is really happening in that box when you do this shift, but you can tell it&#8217;s complicated. Often, especially on downshifts you will hit a false neutral, which is frustrating if you are climbing, because you come to stop. Luckily you can start off anywhere and upshift to 4<SUP>th</SUP> no problem. The gear gap is probably the biggest drawback to seemless trail riding. I finally addressed this by gearing the bike up to unheard ratios with special sprockets. So my 1<SUP>st</SUP> is like most trials riders 4<SUP>th</SUP>. Still low enough to climb any pitch with traction, clutch out. 70% of the time I&#8217;m riding in 5<SUP>th</SUP>, which can go from about 5 mph to 40 mph. On flat ground you can actually start in 5<SUP>th</SUP> if you want, with no more clutch work than your KLR. The bike runs like a swiss watch at anything over 0 rpm, when the sweetest 4 stroke is clunking and knocking. I&#8217;ve never been on anything like it.

The next issue is overheating. On our terrain every bike boils over on the big climbs&#8212;even my SX with those fancy radiators. The thing about the GG is that it does not hold a lot of water, so if you let it boil&#8230;&#8230;.and in the stock setup you don&#8217;t notice it easily, well the motor knocks and will sieze if you don&#8217;t shut it off shortly.

Adding water


The good news is that if you let it cool and put water back in it, it will start up and get you home. The bad news is that if you got to this point, you will need to replace the O-Rings in the head to avoid constantly overheating from here on out. This only involves 6 bolts, and some clever seating, but it must be done.

O-Rings:


Outer one is fried:


New Nikosil coat


Base gasket, probably went because of early over heat


Replacement, you get an idea of the compact motor


After years of struggling with this issue, I finally have it under control, with two mods. Most important is an overflow tank, and less so, a manual fan switch. Stock, the fan relies on a thermostat to turn on the fan. Problem here is that if the fluid is below the thermostat, it doesn&#8217;t turn it on. It only has to happen once. Then it&#8217;s back to the o-rings etc. So I turn mine on on any climb or hard riding. Today I can make huge climbs, really on the gas, and it&#8217;s no problem. The over flow tank is in my view, so I know if it&#8217;s boiling. Worst case, I shut off the motor and it sucks the lost fluid back in and off I go---3-5 minutes tops.

Overflow tank:


Too much mud in radiator, cause I left off the guard..


Next potential fun stopper is your kick starting technique. If you stab at it, you risk breaking the kickstart gear, which then falls into other places and causes all kinds of damage. Thank God I&#8217;ve never done this, but early on I was changing the tranny oil, and&#8230;&#8230;.




This is why it&#8217;s nice to have two bikes up here. If one is down you can ride the other. I was lucky, and the importer fixed this for me NC, but I did have to send him the motor. No problems and many miles since then.

Jesus, uhoh7, why do you put up with these quirks? Is it really worth it? Oh yes. To the point that today I ride this bike almost exclusively, even though the SX is modded to enduro perfection. The preference goes far beyond the increased mobility in technical terrain.

The bike has unmatched handling on &#8220;normal&#8221; Idaho single track. Front and rear it grips like super glue, and steers like a laser. You have line control which is inconceivable on ANY enduro bike. That means you can rip and rarely fall. If you ski, it&#8217;s like the difference between 1981 223cm downhill boards and modern 170cm carving skis. On top of that they are dead quiet, and have less trail impact than a hiker.

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My riding partner finally broke down and found one for himself, and since he got it he barely rides his 09 YZF450.

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The crazy thing is that all the quirks mentioned above could be easily addressed by the manufacturer with a &#8220;wilderness&#8221; edition. All it really needs is different tranny ratios, a little better cooling, and a bolt on tank/seat combo. Unfortunately Gas Gas is oblivious to this fact. There is the Scorpa &#8220;T-ride&#8221;, but this bike is 200lbs. Forget that&#8212;well I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s fun, but you give up too much.

One clue that this is all true is that trials bikes are now banned in the premiere enduro-cross class.

2010 GG 300 TXT PRO

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Whenever I feel like I am all by myself out here, I always find that I am not...
Far from it in fact, now a days I know that there are eyes keeping track of my every movement, just so happened to catch this fella' keeping an eye on me.







The Farm Boss is my choice of log removal, does a fine job and fits well in the Dakine pack.





This evening I was in the Boulders early spring exploring and happened upon a camp looking for a place to rest as darkness set on me quicker than I had planned. Wild locals, Poi spinning and other activities kept me entertained through the next day!


So I'm told, this camp spot was the set of Pale Rider.

As the hours past, the debauchery compounded.




No sleep this night, sunrise upon me and out on a ride to smell the roses!




Up to snow level, messing around the remaining snow drift.


As I worked my way back into Ketchum for at least a few hours rest, my bungalow did not care, "hold it for me" snarled Mr.



And so the summer unfolds.

Sometimes I venture on my own without the companionship of uhoh7.

hehe, don't let him fool you, he's far more boring and responsible than his pics let on.....

Typical converstation:

thursday
me: OK what about sunday?
him: oh yes, absoulutely
saturday
me: OK we are set, right?
him: ahhh, well I have to watch my kid in the morning, and I think one of my employees is sick--I might have to fill in.

He does play the wildman online.....hehe.

Here's the worst thing I ever saw him do:





and of course, in the backcountry, that's were the rangers will tell you are supposed to pee----well a stream is better.

Read EVERY word and looked at every photo

Wow, what a place! Great report and photography

OK time to get back up to the Stanley Basin. Haven't been there in few years and your report is giving me withdrawals.

Glad you guys are enjoying the thread, much more to come.

here is the latest bombshell in the trials bike world

fuel injected two-stroke

nice riding,insane scenery can't wait to see it.We ride two strokes and trial'ers over here too.Those little bikes are awesome,just not built tough enough for a 240lb rider on a budget.
Idaho looks like the place to ride,I hope all the secret trails stay a secret.I've seen our riding areas shrink down to almost nothing in the past twenty years,now its 99.9 percent( ride at your own risk of prosecution )trails or pavement.

That's happened all over, but idaho is the anomaly. While cross country travel has been basically banned, it is permissible to leave the trails in many areas to access your camping site---which of course could include lunch, hehe.

The legal single track trail system is almost unimaginably vast, and is now being documented, ranger district by ranger district.

The biggest enemy are the clubs and groups who come in and race each other, tearing up the hillclimbs and cutting the corners. About 30% of the riders just behave like complete assholes.

The saving grace is that the riding population is small. We very rarely see anyone out there. I'm not to worried about ruining the place with this thread, because the logistics of getting to the trails is very daunting, and riders are going to be too beat up to explore beyond small parts of the system.

Even at it's most abusive, OHV travel damage in idaho cannot compare to mining, grazing, forest fires, and climate change.

I maybe should add wildlife, because the backcountry is riddled with game trails. Those damn elk, don't they care?

A very nice way to spend the day when you can't get out and ride, thanks for the report.

A super good collection of photos! I've been waiting for a chance to make the 9 hour drive with at least 4 days off work... not all that easy to find.

I'd like to hear more about the overflow tank.

Rise of the angiosperms.........





















































Yes, he is on a trail designated for two-wheeled motorised travel. Do you love it?















No two springs the same----well I say spring, but the peak is mid july.

Next: the backyard. The 20 mile area around the house has some pretty fine riding.

Close to 10,000 people live in this valley, a few hundred have bikes ready to go, maybe 60 ride regularly, aside from the tracks. For the most part they stick close to home. Here's why:





























































almost home:

Wow, nice pics!
Looks like a little Poison, Mars, Deer...

Got Castle?

hehe shhhhhhhh, that's like givin the address of the house where you shot the porn

ist ridin pic is actually castle, but here's the rock, but oh, hell.....

SICK ride report and pictures!!! :eek1

I need to get out to Idaho!

Great pics. My FJ lost its virginity in Idaho. 10 min outside Boise, got lost on some of those thousands of miles of trails, in the rain/mud/snow, with no map, no gas and no winch. Awesome. On a bike it would have been sublime. I think I know where I'm going when I get an SMT!

bring that 3hun over next year and we'll ride

As the angiosperms awaken from their winter slumber, the mountainous watersheds are still melting away keeping our water levels high and a rain storm can raise water levels significantly within minutes!

uhoh7 was yanked down by a pissed off trout for disturbing his watering hole.


The water was frigid, at most, 40 degrees Fahrenheit...
sorry, but it was...


Good workout to prepare for a long summer!









Smile:



Time to dry out and try to warm up.