Direct from the EnduroGP paddock, Enduro21’s takes a quick “snoop around” the GASGAS Factory Racing EC 250F Pro bike which reigning E1 World Enduro Champion Andrea Verona is racing in the 2021 GP season.

EnduroGP is back and that means Enduro21 is back, snooping round the World Championship paddocks checking out the bikes. How the best riders in the world set up their bikes, the mods the factory teams make and the details behind these rocketships always makes for fascinating viewing and we never get tired of unearthing a few of the gems they have hidden.

As the only official GASGAS entry in the EnduroGP World Championship, Andrea Verona’s GASGAS EC 250F is one special bike. Verona is the reigning E1 class world champion having taken the title in his first senior season in 2020 and switched to the newly formed GASGAS Factory Racing team in the off-season.

The Italian arrives at his home GP this weekend in Edolo as joint points leader and very much a favourite, not just for the class win but for the scratch victory as well.

For this Pro Bike feature, rather than a full sweep across the whole bike (because the bike had to be whisked away), we’ve focused on some details which stand out the most. 

Handguard hacks

Enduro21 began snooping along the handlebars of Verona’s GASGAS, checking out the billet aluminium throttle housing and standard ODI grips. The throttle housing is simply a stronger part which features on many of the KTM and Husqvarna factory machines in the World Enduro paddocks.

One nice touch we spotted is the cable tie on the Acerbis handguards. The cable tie loops around and back through a small piece of plastic tubing before securing on the hydraulic hose. They basically hold the guard in place firmly but easily bust as the weakest point if Andrea hits a tree or drops the bike. That way the handguard doesn’t get broken most the time and the cable tie is easily replaced ahead of the next test.

The Acerbis frame guards look tidy too, especially the right side one which neatly protects the rear brake master cylinder.

Low rise Renthals

Verona uses Renthal 999 bend handlebars which is a pretty low bend and not uncommon with the fast traditional enduro boys who prefer the leverage lower bars bring. The Renthal’s sit on solid bars clamps and the GASGAS Technical Accessories anodised fork clamps.

In terms of the brakes, they run Brembo calipers with the factory unit on the front which is also found in the GASGAS Technical Accessories catalogue. A MotoMaster front brake disc is coupled with a Brembo master cylinder, replacing the standard Braktec caliper on the stock GG.

Brembo sponsors the team bikes so it is no surprise to see the full system is swapped out for their parts. The main reason to upgrade the front caliper though is for more braking power and feel at the lever.

Another stock part replaced on Andrea’s bike are the rims. The team fit stronger Excel, black anodised rims front and rear, plus they use the Metzeler Six Days enduro tyres and “normally hard” mousses.

Leaning towards MX set-up

The word in the GASGAS factory awning is Andrea’s bike leans towards an MX bike set-up and as such is much stiffer than the stock EC 250F – as you’d expect.

For this first GP in Portugal they used a seven litre, motocross fuel tank. They have the option to fit the 8.5 litre EC 250F tank (you see it fitted in some of the images we used – these were pre-season shots) if needed when for example an event is running a longer transfer and overall lap. Generally they find there’s no need and the Portuguese GP was certainly a long enough lap to prove economy is not an issue, despite Verona’s full gas throttle hand.

They also run the stock MC 250F footpegs which are six millimetres lower than what’s found on the EC enduro model, which isn’t an uncommon mod found on many KTM/Husqvarna/GASGAS enduro race bikes.

Longer wheelbase

One set-up detail we also spotted was Andrea runs a pretty long chain – in Portugal for the first GP of 2021 it was sitting pretty far back in the swingarm. It’s all about the bike handling the team explained, simply the longer chain makes the wheelbase longer and that means a more stable but slower turning bike.

The gearbox is six-speed as standard on the EC 250F model but with 49 rear and 13 front final drive gear ratios on the Supersprox sprockets. 

Sexy sumpguard

Rear suspension linkage ratios are different to standard although we were not able to get exact details (don’t forget the GASGAS models run linkage rear suspension on the Enduro models like Husqvarnas rather than the KTM PDS, non-linkage system).

The linkage is protected by the Acerbis sumpguard and linkage protector which sits really nicely under there, protecting the suspension linkage arms.

The GASGAS Factory Racing team is new to the GP paddock but actually is the red arm of the same Farioli team which houses Josep Garcia on the KTM and this weekend in Edolo they also welcome Manuel Lettenbichler and Taddy Blazusiak. Their factory EC 250F, just as you’d expect, was looking immaculate ahead of the Friday night Super Test.

Photo Credit: Enduro21 | Andrea Belluschi