LONG TERM TEST
In the last eight months I ’ ve pointed the ES700 through pretty much every type of terrain I could find , taking on everything from tar seal to gravel , 4WD tracks and trail singletrack . I ’ m certainly not the best rider out there , but I can say the GasGas has helped me get through all of it .
GRAVEL RIDING On gravel roads the GasGas is a beast . Gravel is nothing to the ES700 . There ’ s heaps of power on tap and it goes like stink when it ’ s revved . The traction control in road mode ( Mode 1 ) cuts in early , but it would certainly allow a less experienced rider to get a feel for the back end breaking away before it cuts the power to regain grip . In off-road mode ( Mode 2 ), the TC allows for a decent amount of drift from the rear tyre and will spray gravel up the road , but doesn ’ t let it get out too far . The ABS works well on gravel too - in both road and dirt modes . As you might expect , the road setting intrudes a fair bit but it ’ s still good . Dirt mode turns off the rear ABS and the front recalibrates for more bite into the gravel before it starts doing its thing . ABS can be turned off completely on both wheels using the ABS button on the dash , but I ’ ve not found it needs to be off on gravel - it works plenty well enough .
TRAIL RIDING This is where might expect the ES700 to excel . GasGas bills this as an adventure and travel bike , but also has images on the website of it leaping off large rocks and taking on some extreme terrain . So far I ’ ve only ridden on the tyres that came fitted to the bike - Continental TKC80s . They ’ re a good all-round set of tyres that work on most surfaces covering everything from the road through gravel and onto dry dirt . They don ’ t like the mud , I can say this from experience . They ’ re a great tyre for bigger adventure bikes , such as the GS models , and get decent mileage . But for lighter bikes a more aggressive tyre can be used as they don ’ t load and wear the tyres in the same way . That said , the TKC80s worked way better than I expected on the trails I rode around the Rotorua area , probably due to the pumice we were riding on . On mud they ’ re not good . The front , especially , clogs up . Heading through the re-routed start of the Porika 4WD track , where it ’ s been logged , the mud is clay and slippery - the TKC clogged up almost instantly and it was a heart in the mouth ride through one section . With a set of more aggressive tyres - I ’ m thinking MotoZ RallZ or Pirelli MT21 - the ES700 would be a weapon in the dirt . The pumice I mentioned is fantastic for grip . It ’ s bloody terrible for your plastics . I went in with the bright red bodywork beautifully shiny … I came out with it rather matte and scratched . One ride on a wet day had literally grit-blasted the bike ’ s plastics , and no amount of silicon shine could bring the original sheen back . A top tip for trail riding is to take the mirrors off , or fit some folding ones - I tipped over and snapped one off . I ’ ll be getting folding mirrors . And as the bike comes in at only 160kg wet , picking it up again if you do