GasGas 280 pro

 " I wanted to have a go on this to compare it with my txt280, and I was a little disappointed to say the least. The suspension felt very stiff and I found it hard work stopping the front wheel from pushing out on turns. On the rocks the suspension seemed twitchy and this equated into me nearly having a couple of spills, I put this down to being a brand new bike or my bike is completely knackered! The clutch seemed stiff as did the front brake. On the occasions that I stalled it I was having major problems starting it, and looking around I wasn't the only one, but I suppose you would find the correct technique with time. A final point, the bars seemed too low for me which caused my arms to pump up in a very short space of time.

Beta Rev3 270

." The bike looked very nice, just like 200. When I rode off on it I felt so comfortable on it, also just like the 200. I took the bike straight into the woody bit of the quarry to see how it steered and tracked and yes as expected exactly the same as the 200. The lever position on this bike was slightly better set up for my tastes and again the suspension felt spot on. In fact the only difference between the 200 and the 270 was the 70cc but this made such a difference to how I rode it, I knew it would pull me anywhere with minimum throttle and the power was so smooth ( this is what I lacked on the 200, better throttle control ). When I went to the rocky bit of the quarry my confidence just grew and grew I was loving it even jumping off a few rocks that I wouldn't have tried on my own bike.... but then I had to give it back!!

GasGas 250 pro

.. " Last ride of the day was the GasGas 250pro. I thought this bike was gonna be identical to the 280pro except for a smaller engine. how wrong I was. The suspension, Clutch and front brake all felt a lot softer and easier than the 280, reasond for this I am not sure.. perhaps this 250 had been ridden a lot more since it came out of the box, or it could be the inconsistent build quality or initial set-up that we hear about with the Gassers, anyway for what ever reason I liked this bike a lot better than the 280. It steered and tracked a little better than the 280 and I got on a lot better with the smaller engine than that of the 280. I still had the problem starting it, 3 or 4 kicks before it would start. Again after 10 minutes riding my arms started to pump up which had a knock on effect with my confidence, again I think this was due to the low bars.

So there you go for whats it's worth the bike I liked best was the Beta 270 (excellent) second Beta 200 (very good) third the GasGas 250 (good) and forth GasGas 280 (OK). If I had the money I would buy a Beta270, but I haven't so I will stick to my good old reliable txt280 for the time being. "