Where the EC has a meaty bottom-end, thin mid- and screaming top-end, the Ranger’s happy place is its bottom- and mid. The lower-compression head and Ranger-specific cylinder have stretched out the bottom-end and mid-range power. Shorter riders will probably like the seat height most but, for me, the Ranger’s engine is its biggest asset. It’s so far from the stereotypical characteristics of a 300cc two-stroke that Gas Gas could almost just call it the Ranger and drop the “300” so as to not scare people off. Ridden within its design parameters, the Ranger is a brilliant little bike. Gasser was starting with one of the best 300 two-strokes in the game when they went about building the Ranger and, even with the cheaper components, its DNA shines through. Everything was done in pursuit of making the Ranger user friendly and they nailed it.
Then Gas Gas dropped the seat height by 30mm, gave it a drinking straw for an expansion chamber, fitted a different cylinder and a lower-compression cylinder head. The Nissin brakes have been replaced with Braktec calipers from Spain with an AJP master cylinder from Portugal, the tapered handlebar is house-brand with a crossbrace, there is no kickstarter, it has a Technigas muffler and a heavier lead-acid battery. The Ranger ditches the legendary 48mm KYB fork found on the EC and uses a lower-spec 46mm unit from the same firm. The EC Ranger 300 is $11,490, one thousand bucks cheaper than the EC300 and this bargain price tag is down to a few key parts. So now manufacturers are providing purpose-built equipment just for that! Now it’s fully acceptable to spend an entire trailride dragging your dirtbike up one hill in the pursuit of hard enduro glory. That was until this thing called hard enduro changed the way punters looked at trailriding. They were great for learners but most trailriders with a few months experience or a masculinity complex would just fork out the extra cash for the unadulterated enduro versions. It was a shame people didn’t really know what to make of these watered-down enduro bikes. Lower-spec suspension, lower seat, detuned engine, cheaper price, those Gassers were ahead of their time. Do you remember the Pampera 250, 400 and 450 four-strokes from the mid 2000s? Or what about the Gas Gas 200 Hobby? These bikes were trail/enduro hybrids that were creating small waves in the off-road world long before the KTM Freeride was even a sketch flying around a Mattighofen boardroom. Like the now gargantuan SUV segment of the car world, the hybrid enduro market is growing fast, but if we wind back the clock you might remember Gas Gas has done it all before. One look at the specs and marketing material for the new Gas Gas EC Ranger 300 and it was obvious the Spaniards had their crosshairs firmly locked on the Beta Xtrainer and KTM Freeride. With a lower seat, de-tuned engine, softer suspension, cheaper price and go-anywhere aspirations, Gas Gas was giving us a hybrid enduro bike with the Gas Gas EC Ranger 300. There was a strange sense of familiarity when Gas Gas announced it was bringing us a tamed-down version of its two-stroke enduro bikes.
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