2012 Sherco ST 305 "PXC" opinions/experience

Anyone have/had one?

Anything to watch for, any known issues, specific areas to closely inspect from a mechanical perspective? Or, just the usual like shock/linkage/grease/bearings and general motor condition, overall condition, etc.

Also, this one is a "PXC" which I can't find much info on. Are there motor differences that may create parts issues, or is it primarily hardware/levers/stickers that are different? I see the clamps say PXC on them.

Thanks

It`s a bike not for the timid. Would make a great bike for a top level rider. PXC = Josep Paxau. If you have time with the holidays read this for some recent history of the sport of trials. http://www.retrotrials.com/josep-paxau---engineer.html

Anything mechanical of concern? As a "pro" bike is it going to have one-off parts or unobtainable bits?

As far as being a "suitable bike" -- Will it limit my early progression to an overwhelming degree? Do more harm than good?

FWIW, I'm not timid; I'm fit, mid-40s, 170 lb. I rode off-road / trails at least once per week (the last couple seasons). I have 10+ years riding moderate-to-difficult Rocky Mtn. terrain on enduro/dual-sport bikes.

More and more, the slower, technical stuff is what I'm really drawn to.

Is this 305 close to you? I know of a excellent 2013 Sherco 250 (Dealer's personal bike)that is for sale but it would have to be shipped to you.(Shipping is only $200) I've ridden 250's,290's and 300's and definitely prefer 250's. I have a buddy who is learning on a 321 Gasgas and Wooo,it's a handful if cranked up. Makes him timid where he should be gettin' it. Slow turn throttle at the least on a 300+ engine.

PM sent

It depends what you're doing with it.
For a play bike it won't matter. In competition you'll do better on a smaller engine bike with softer response. And you'll learn faster.

Important to ride with other trials riders,You don't want to start with any bad habits to unlearn!
http://www.wmta.us/index.html I have confidence you will not meet a nicer bunch of guys than trials riders.
Looks like there's a National round out there next Aug 8th-9th,volunteer to help,you don't need experience to punch scorecards ot's very helpful to watch good riders in sections,watch the body,not the bike.

First thing I always advise is 1 finger on clutch,1 finger on front brake from now on on everything you ride,street bike,bicycle,whatever,clutch control is no.1 skill for trials.

It depends on what you are planning to do. Ride trials or trails.

I have ridden a Paxau 305 (pronounced possibly as Pashow or Packsow in Catalan), a white-goldish 2012 model, I think. It was potent.

It felt very fun around the parking lot. Sherco and GasGas handle similarly, and the Sherco has a great clutch and nice, fast suspension, so the bike felt very natural to me.

Would a Paxau 294cc motor be a handful at times in practice and competition? Probably. The great low end, however, means the bike can be constrained by a disciplined throttle technique biased toward low rpm and deep-throttle. Also, the same flywheel weight addition and timing tricks will apply as are documented in this forum. But with little trials experience you can count on some wide eyeballs every now and then :eek1 All that dualsport or other off road experience can't prepare you for how hard (but awesomely rewarding) trials can be. If you are naturally a great rider you can better absorb a powerful (by trials standards) bike. Trials will already kick your ego's ass around a while. A powerful motor will just magnify that effect. If you know that going in, it helps survive the initial phase.

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm planning a mix of trail playbike and trials events (for those who've asked).

I bought the bike. It's most definitely potent, as everyone has pointed out, and that was apparent just putt-putting around on flat ground. It takes a committed stroke on the old kicker, as well. No pussy footing. I'm hoping that riding above 5,000 feet will make power delivery slightly more manageable. Most/all of my local riding areas are 5k and up.

It will be a while before riding weather reaches Wyo, so I'll have some time to go through it, grease everything and re-jet for altitude.

Unless the weather surprises me, I won't get to ride it anytime soon. Maybe I'll take it to Moab for some trail riding in April.

Have Fun.

Fun is a big part of the plan.

I salute you for getting into trials with a quality modern bike! Too many will be ambivalent in their commitment and opt for a budget older bike or a beater. The cost of ambivalence is loss of yummy... of positive feedback.

Got a local fellow who balked at my excellent and affordable 2010 280. When I suggested he could sell one of his YMDMs (young-man death machine) it was like I was Charlie Brown's teacher (wah wauh wuk wuh).

Your 305 probably runs like my 300 Raga was set up when I got it... for quickness and power. That messed with me a while, but I learned both how to ride it (mellowing myself) and how to mellow it.

Altitude is a BIG plus for mellowing. Aside from a flywheel weight and the timing trick, 50% racing fuel (no more) mixed with whatever gasoline slows the fuel burn rate a bit for a bit more mellowing.

Keep us apprised of your discoveries.

Is there a thread in this forum on taming down bikes? This bike is definitely set up quick and eager to rev.

I've been there done that on buying "project" bikes, or buying purely on price. I've learned that I like riding a whole lot more than I like wrenching.

Cheapest 1st step is slow turn throttle,that may be enough.

I may try the slow throttle, depending on how the first couple rides feel.

The #1 thing I need is for it to stop snowing so I can get out and ride. But, being forced to do balance drills in the garage for several winter weeks will be good practice, too.

Slow throttle, retarded timing, flywheel weight, thicker base gasket (a hack to lower compression) or machine cylinder to lower ports and machine head to fix squish clearance and maintain or lower compression.

I keep forgetting about that option. For some reason my brain remembers there not being a whole lot of difference between the smaller-radius black throttle pipe compared to the slightly larger radius white throttle pipe. But it's been a long time....

Yes, lower compression. It looks to me like the Shercos (not sure about the Paxau), may not come standard with the S3 Stars insert-type heads, so lowering compression is not about changing head inserts. But you can buy the bits:

https://secure.rypusa.com/catpage.cfm?cat_selected=202&startrow=25

I put the low-compression orange-anodized insert in my Raga as yet another mellowing trick. The bike came, as stated earlier, with all the bits biased toward scalded dog, so I jumped over the silver standard compression insert and went immediately to the low., and that was like going up 3 or 4 thousand feet in altitude. If you ever wanted to bump compression back up, the stock head goes back on. Swapping heads on these things, given it's all just re useable O-rings and copper washers doing the sealing, is a very fast job. Just remove the tank and swap heads.

My pop and I start a lot of riders, which helps these people get fairly good at trials, and it is all based on what THEY wish to do with "trials as a sport."

Let me ask you a couple of hopefully related questions, I assume you rode another sport on motorcycles. Trials, the basics you need to learn just might be easier on a beginner to buy an older less top of the line bike. BUT, that is all about the rider, who has to be able to LEARN completely new techniques, who if left alone can develop really bad techniques, attempting to cope with what is the proper way of riding, IF YOU ARE GOING TO ACTUALLY RIDE TRIALS, ONLY. if you are getting this bike because it is light, and you think buzzing down a trail you feel uncomfortable on a 900cc dual sport, that IS NOT THE SAME THING.

it is like any other sport, the Globe-Trotters can throw the ball over their back, roll the ball down both arms, stick the ball in their pants, then bounce a halfcourt shot right into the goal... when competing against the professional team they pay, to show off with, but I don't think for a minute, they could beat the Bulls when Jordan was playing actual basketball, not any day of the week. that is what I am saying about skills vs tricks for show, or what I call bad habits when competing in trials.

the 305 could be more than a handfull for 90% of the people who visit this board daily, but for someone who is more than fleetingly thinking to get into trials, practice, and proactively get better at this sport, the bike wont hold you back for more than a couple hours at first.

Detuning the hell out of a top bike, is useful, only to the point that some things we call de-tuning is so slight, it usually takes a seasoned veteran riding non de-tuned bikes to feel/see the difference. My point, the flywheel weight, slow throttle, is (slightly) compensating for lack of a perfectly razor sharp skill, to say it in extremely bad way, it is like the inflated bumpers installed at the bowling alley for the kids who roll the ball without any perception of control of the ball or anything, with the sole goal of hitting a pin once in a while... Throttle tube and some stuff is no where near this exageration, but technicaly IS headed this way... SO like bowling in the kids lane, aka riding "trials" without riding or learning the skills, TRIALS is used very loosely in this case...

bad analogy 2... I bought the best pool cue I could afford, it was 100 times better than the house cues, and with right technique and care and maintenance made my correct techniques seem easier, however I win as many games with a house cue when drinking and playing for fun. so what the hell did I need the $400 cue for? there are $3300 cues, does it help you ride? I can't say they will hold you back, but at first it might more likely expose what you don't know about the skills needed (make you look bad). l bought mine, because I was decent at the sport, when I was competing in leagues, that was just so I had one of 3 things I did exactly the same, instead of a variable like lighting, and age of the tables and all the other crap.

Any trials bike is going to be this non-variable, older or less magical versions (cheaper, used and maybe less top of the line, are like house cues) do everything the best riders in the world do on the best bikes in the world, and most have in the past, hell Jordi Tarres, Raga, and Lampkin, won EVERYTHING there was to win on bikes some consider out dated now. I say they could have done as much even back then against any of us plonkers, on 70's machines, because the the technique was sharpened into razor perfection.

that is the Allure of trials, as a sport, 98% user, 1% tools Luck helps sometimes, just sayin...

My first suggestion is, and this has been true for me and all of my newbies, is the spend time getting control of your BIKE and your muscles.

I spend the first 10 hours getting our users to never let the clutch out all the way, to slip it, to have a finger on the clutch at all times, to know that when something goes wrong, pull the clutch in. when the clutch is in, or releasing power to the wheel, it needs to be not finally when your finger and lever are smashing the other fingers on the handlebar. the clutch, release is as far away from the bars as you can adjust it to, with free play, you learn to be the automatic torque converter like aparatus in a family vehicle with auto trans. you load rear wheel with 1% or 98% of the torque the bike has. then the horspower and all that shit is irrelevant.

last thing I like to see is a 200lb person buy a 125, because people here convince them they will be safer or overwhelmed with power from the "big ol 300" Bull crap, my boy's 125 revs up quicker, than my 300, the biggest difference is when things go really really wrong, a trail 70 has hurt more people than a 300 cc trials bike.

Good luck. I want to make training vids, but so many have more fun to watch vids out there, but would be more about how to use existing controls of the bike, and whatever power it has or doesn't have to your benefits.

I dunno, probably wasted a lot of typing if you can't see my point, I am NOT a literary talent...

-Sting32