Testing, Testing ... E1, E2, E3

Transmoto’s man on the ground in Europe this month, Geoff Ballard, got the opportunity to throw a leg over the three machines that just clinched the 2014 EWC titles: Christophe Nambotin’s KTM 250EXC-F, Pela Renet’s Husky FE450 and Matt Phillips’ KTM 300EXC. Here is GB’s take on that enviable experience…

Okay… I think I need to explain a few things about how this whole “Hey, Ballard, you want to ride all the World Championship-winning bikes?” came about after the recently held final round of the Enduro World Championship (EWC) in France.

First of all, I guess I just must have been in the right place at the right time. And I also guess a lot of thanks should go to Jonty Edmunds from www.enduro21.com – a top UK journo who doubles as Transmoto’s European Correspondent. I’ve known Jonty for a while now and he just casually asked me, “What are your plans after this final EWC round is all over, Geoff?”. I said I hadn’t really planned a lot, other than just cruising around the south of France for a while till I headed to Latvia for the MXoN.

“Well, GB,” Jonty said with a smile. “After this event, a ride’s been organised on Phillips’, Nambotin’s and Renet’s title-winning race bikes. We should get you involved.”

I could hardly believe he was serious.

“I suppose you haven’t got any gear, but there are plenty of riders around here that we could borrow some stuff from,” Jonty continued. “What’s more, I think Robert Pairan – another journo, but from Germany – was looking for a test rider. I’m sure he’d have some gear.”

So there you have it. It was literally that easy. I certainly wasn’t expecting it, and I also wasn’t expecting my mates back home to get so horribly jealous that they’ve pretty much stopped talking to me since. Whatever; they’ll get over it!

The test area was a well-used EWC special test from the weekend’s racing, and it was about as hammered as they get. So I was a bit nervous about being able to adapt to these bikes and I certainly didn’t want to bin them. Luckily I had the chance warm up on an RM-Z250 that a young Italian rider had recently won the E1 European Enduro Championship aboard, plus a factory-prepared Gas Gas 250 – neither of which I liked very much. That said, I liked the idea of riding these two bikes first as they’d be more mellow. Plus, dare I say it, they’d be accompanied by less prestige and pressure than jumping straight onto the full factory, title-winning Husky and KTMs.

At the risk of alienating my mates forever, here’s the notes I took from what was a very interesting day’s testing…

E1: NAMBO’s KTM 250EXC-F

This bike was just flat out crazy good! Its power was so torquey and smooth and for a 250, there was lots of it – low, mid, high … wherever! It started quickly from the button and then was so hard to fault from one end to the other. I felt right at home with this thing, and that was from just a couple of corners in. It steered, it felt balanced and the brakes were great. But above all, its suspension was outstanding.

Another reason I think I felt so comfortable on this bike was that the bars, levers and ergos all felt spot-on for me. I have a really funky front brake adjustment that I usually run (it lets the front brake lever come into the bars a long way) and I’ve found that not many people like that set-up. I can ride most bikes any which way, but I certainly prefer it in a race set-up the way this bike was delivered.

The only thing that was a bit of a negative with Nambo’s 250 was the bike’s low-rpm rattle, and I could only think that it probably had something to do with the cam shape.

^ Geoff Ballard on board Christophe Nambotin’s 250EXC-F…

E3: PHILLIPS’ KTM 300EXC

I must say, this bike had me feeling a little nervous. Watching Matt race it over the weekend was so inspiring, but at the same time the bike also looked hard-hitting and really fast! But this thing genuinely surprised me…

Surprise No.1 was that there wasn’t a button. You had to actually kick this thing. Surprise No.2 was that its power was actually quite mellow down low, making it much more rideable than I’d expected. I did get arm pump pretty quickly on it, but I think it was more because of an anticipation of things, and I guess I was hanging on tighter than was needed.

Matt’s suspension was definitely too firm for me. Actually, it felt a bit brutal at both ends. I know Matt has maybe 10kg on me, but I just didn’t expect it to be that firm. Of course, it was still good. But when driving out of the deep ruts with all the harsh bumps, this set-up hammered me pretty well.

I really loved the brakes on this bike, the rear especially. It was so non-aggressive and once you were used to it, you could brake hard and it would flow comfortably into a corner or rut without being nervous of wanting to stall. The bars were a bit low for me, but the rest of the set-up was pretty damn good. With Matty’s brute strength and determination, this bike obviously works well for him.

^ Matt Phillips on board his KTM 300EXC…

E2: RENET’s HUSKY FE450

I only had a quick blast on this machine as the test day was nearly done by the time I got to it. I think that Phillips and Renet would be about the same weight, but as Renet is tall, the first thing I noticed was his bike’s extra tall (but soft) seat. It also had a decent step in it to help hold your arse in place – after all, it’s a factory 450, so of course there’s going to be plenty of mumbo on tap.

It was back to a button again on this machine (I love not having to kick anything these days) and sure enough, there certainly was lots of power. But that was coupled with stacks of torque, so it really delivered every bit of its power in a beautifully smooth fashion. As you’d expect, it felt heavier than the other two title-winners, but what really stood out about this Husky was its fantastically strong and linear power curve, and just how incredibly well it absorbed every bump that it fronted up to. The fork was magic and, in contrast to Phillips’ bike, Renet’s combination of a softer seat and compliant shock set-up delivered an effortless ride over every rutted, square-edge bump I could find. This thing hardly fatigued me at all. According to Jonty, Renet and Nambotin train together all the time, so perhaps that helps explains why their suspension set-up felt so similar. And so good!

All things considered, I reckon Nambotin’s bike was the best for my preferences. It just felt so right. It was super-light but it still had such a great power delivery for a little 250cc four-stroke.