We catch up with Grabbo who gives his GASGAS EC 250F long term test bike some love with a new piston at almost 100 hours.
Heading into what is looking like my last month with my ADB GASGAS EC 250F long term test bike, it was time to show it some love, especially since it hasn’t missed a beat after months of riding and minimal maintenance. Providing you do the minimal I’m suggesting, new piston and rings every 70 hours, Motorex engine oil every 10 hours and a clean air filter each ride, I have seen these 250F engines last for well over 200 hours . Considering my EC250F has clocked up over 100 hours and is still on the original piston I knew it was time to remove the top end and give it a shiny new piston.
Even though I find these engines very simple and straight forward to work on I do not recommend you changing a piston unless you are fully confident in your mechanical skills, as it will cost you way more than just a new piston if you get things wrong. As you can see in the picture, I have not had the fuel tank off this bike for over 80 hours and as well as the built-up of dirt, there was grass and leaves from one of my many previous rides.
Once I had the cylinder and head off the engine it was nice to see the used piston was still in great condition. It is crazy to think that this piston has been up and down in the cylinder over 60,000,000 times and it still looks this good. It really does show how good the current generation of Motorex oils are at reducing wear and protecting the engine. With the standard GASGAS piston proving to be very reliable I made sure the new piston that went in was also a genuine piston and gasket set.
Once it was back together and ready to ride, I fired it into life a few times to make sure it sounded sweet, then loaded it into the van as my next ride was going to be at Chuckys in Victoria, preparing for the next VIP GASGAS ride. The conditions were that good when I started riding at Chucky’s that I pretty much forgot about the new piston that I had fitted during the week. Instead of going easy on it for a bit to run it, I hammered it from the second it was warm. Even though it felt totally fine on my last ride with the 100 hour old piston it was nice to know it now had a fresh one that was good for another 100 hours of abuse.
BEN GRABHAM
