Now that Rieju owns the rights to the old GasGas (lowercase) off-road motorcycles they are allowed to reproduce the motorcycles but under their own name. This is why the Rieju looks a lot like a pre-KTM model GasGas, because that’s exactly what it is. Thankfully for us when Rieju took over the GasGas models they got the latest model with the latest technology and not the earlier pre 2018 models. These later models were a GasGas-designed frame, paired with KYB suspension. They are far better than the earlier model’s frame with Marzocchi suspension. Those models were unpredictable and quite a handful to ride. The Rieju is the same as the GasGas model that World Enduro and MXGP rider Jonathan Barragan helped design. We got our hands on the fanciest of all their models; the 2024 Rieju MR Pro 300 to throw a leg over and to test out.
Before we even rode the bike we threw a quick video of our first impressions up on social media and were met with loads of comments. A few that stuck out to me were that the Reiju has a starter motor issue and was of poor quality. The other comment was people complaining that the bike was two hard to buy and after sales support was not sufficient. We hear you and we will address those concerns in Part Two of this feature next issue where we will pull this bike apart, including the starter motor to see what’s really going and look at where you can buy one and what your after sales support looks like.
This month you are going to get a rundown on the 2024 Rieju MR Pro 300 and a ride report.
The Bling
The 2024 Rieju MR Pro 300 is not short on bling. The jewellery hanging off this motorcycle would make a drug dealer jealous. It actually looks like an exotic factory race machine that just hasn’t had any race numbers stuck on it yet. It doesn’t matter what end of the bike you start from, there are fancy parts everywhere. T
he suspension is KYB both front and rear with KYB speed sensitive closed cartridge fork on the front has that diamond-like, coated lower fork legs. The KYB link type monoshock on the rear has adjustable compression and rebound dampening as well has adjustable spring preload and high speed adjustability on the rear. The KYB fork bolts into a set of X-Trig triple clamps which on top have a set of Renthal Twin Wall handlebars and Renthal grips. The wheels are made up of anodised billet hubs with Excel rims and with an oversized floating disc on the front and Nissin brakes with braided brake lines.
A complete OXA racing exhaust system is fitted which could easily be mistaken for being an FMF from a distance. Also on the engine side is a Funnel Web air filter and a V-Force V4 reed block and a two position map switch that is pre-programmed with a dry and a wet map. The drive line is completed by a heavy duty gold o-ring chain and an alloy rear sprocket.
Aesthetically the bike looks great with a complete graphics kit with some extra grip tape stuck to the side of the frame for extra grip and a full gripper seat cover. The frame is fitted with plastic protectors and so is the engine. Also on the protection side is a set of plastic hand protectors bolted to the master cylinders on the handlebars. The engine itself has an electric start with a kickstart for back up and a hydraulic clutch as well as a thermo fan to prevent any overheating.
This bike is loaded with anodised or shiny parts so everywhere I go with it on the back of my ute I get stopped and asked all kinds of questions about it. Going to the service station for fuel turns into an hour long job because someone wants to come up to me for a chat about the bike and I’ve never been known to shy away from a good chin-wag.
Power Plant
The Rieju has a very unique feeling to it. I feel it actually rides more like a motocross bike than a trailbike. If you have grown up like myself riding motocross bikes in the bush then this bike will give you everything you want. If you are after a mellow engine with no real power hit that will just lug along and labour then the Rieju is going to frighten you. The mid-range power hits hard and aggressive so you need to be ready for it. Below the mid-range though there isn’t much going on so you need to work the gearbox to keep the Rieju in the meat of the power curve. To me this feels like a race engine. Race bikes always require more effort to ride and the Rieju is very much like this. An experienced rider would love tearing through a course on the Rieju.
The clutch works really well and has a nice action point to it. First gear is very low so I found myself spending most of my time on the single trails in second and third and only needing first gear if I was taking off on steep up hills. The rain map definitely knocks some of the aggression out of the engine but for me, I just preferred to leave it in the dry more aggressive map and then I just manage the traction with the throttle and clutch like the old days.
The starter motor on the Rieju sounds like someone is choking a canary. So, as it is one of the complaints we got about this motorcycle, we are going to have a look at that and see if there is anything we can do with it that would make it last longer. Fuel-wise, we ran the engine at 40:1 and found the stock jetting to be very crisp. Even after a few hours of runtime we have no oil or spooge coming from the exhaust and the crisp nature of the power curve tells me you could richen it up a little if you wanted to smoothen out the power a little. When the bike goes past you on the pipe it sounds like a well-tuned race machine not a stock production bike.
Steering and Handling
My favourite feature of this bike is how it handles and sticks to the trails. When GasGas originally designed this chassis they got praise from all over the world. It was leaps and bounds ahead of their old chassis and just as good and even better than other big brands on the market at the time. This model never really got the praise it deserved because GasGas scraped the model when they were bought out by KTM and it never really reached its true potential.
The front-end sticks to the ground with no deflection. The triple clamps along with the Twin Wall handlebar gives a very precise feeling. For a racer, this is something that would impress you but for your average trail rider, you might be better suited to a set of tapered handlebars as the Twin Wall handlebar along with the X-Trig triple clamps are very rigid with little to no flex meaning you have a great feel through the front tyre but it can be a little rough on the hands for someone not conditioned to riding long periods of time. A set of tapered handlebars would allow for some flex and a slightly softer ride.
I’m quite impressed with the suspension. I like a slightly stiffer trail set up, it just gives me more confidence to push it harder and go faster and I feel the rear suspension does that just perfect. The front suspension was a little softer than the rear so I had to stiffen it up a few clicks to make the bike feel more balanced for me. If you are a smaller rider (I weigh about 93kg) you might find the front-end perfect and need to soften the rear shock.
The brakes are very strong and have a good feel about them but Rieju uses the same Nissin front master cylinder as the Beta which is an older master cylinder that feels a little out of place. The newer style with a nicer lever profile and more adjustment is what we’ve come to expect compared to the limited adjustment on the older style fitted to the Rieju.
The cockpit of the Rieju is comfortable with plenty of room to move around. The plastics are all slim with no edges to grab your boots or knee braces and the gripper set is a welcome addition.
Ignore the noise
We see the Rieju being called out-dated on social media just because it is an older GasGas model. The only thing that is out-dated on this machine is the carby. The suspension and chassis are just as good as any current model dirtbike and the carby is also what means it is drastically cheaper than other brands. It is true, the industry is moving towards fuel injection. We can argue over whether that is for the better or worse another time but for now the Rieju is one of the last carby-fed enduro bikes left on the market. Rieju know that in the near future for this brand to continue to grow and develop they will need to make some changes to this model which if the rumours we’re hearing are true might be sooner rather than later.
But for now, the Rieju MR Pro 300 has to be one of the best value for money bikes on the market. If you were to buy all the parts that come on this bike as standard and bolt them to a bike that comes out with OEM parts, you’d be looking at well over $20,000. The suspension and chassis are excellent for racing, the motor has loads top-end and if you can get used to turning it over using your left hand, then there’s no reason why the Rieju MR Pro 300 shouldn’t be added to your shopping list.
Second Opinion – Jeff Briggs
The Rieju at first glance has all the bells and whistles and is a great-looking bike. The ergonomics feel familiar and quite comfortable and similar to a Sherco. Once I got going, the bike was really compliant. The suspension is exactly what you come to expect out of KYB and was soaking up the bumps with that predictable feel you want. The motor was the odd one for me providing bottom and top but no mid-range range torque. What I mean is that it would crawl in the low RPMs up hills okay but would switch into the higher rev range more like a switch kind of feel. It was still very capable, just different. The bike itself is a pretty decent package and with the value for money should be on more peoples radar. Some updated jetting specs and maybe a different power valve, you could really push this up the order in the 300 hierarchy. A good bike but a few tweaks could make it great.
2024 Rieju MR Pro 300
ENGINE
Type: Single cylinder, two-stroke
Displacement: 299.3cc
Bore & Stroke: 72mm x 72mm
Cooling: Liquid cooled
Compression Ratio: N/A
Fuel Metering: PWK38 Keihin Carburettor
Tank Capacity: 9.8 Litres
Transmission: Six speed
Clutch: Wet multi-disc, hydraulic
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 1480mm
Seat Height: 950mm
Ground Clearance: NA
Claimed Weight: 105kg dry
SUSPENSION
Front: 48mm KYB inverted telescopic spring fork with adjustable compression and rebound dampening and DLC coatings
Rear: Link type KYB monoshock with adjustable dual-range (high/low-speed) compression damping, adjustable rebound damping and adjustable preload
BRAKES
Front: Single 260mm semi-floating petal disc with dual piston caliper
Rear: Single 220mm petal disc with single piston caliper
RUNNING GEAR
Handlebar: Renthal Twin Walls
Front Tyre: 90/90-21 Michelin Enduro Medium
Rear Tyre: 140/80-18 Michelin Enduro Medium
PRICE & CONTACTS
RRP: $15,990
Browser: www.rieju.com.au
Blower: 1300 123 863
Warranty: Two years
Words | Mat Boyd
Photos | Mitch Lees
