We told you all about Fantic Motorycles hitting SA’s shores? Well, we managed to scrag one and roped in two very experienced riders and took it long to Wild West Enduro Park to try it out.
The Fantic 300 is effectively a fuel injected 5-speed Minarelli 300cc two stroke engine, fitted into a Yamaha YZ250X chassis.
That’s the bones of it.
Fantic has then fitted a different 9 litre fuel tank with a remote reservoir that accepts a fuel pump, new plastics, an electronics package, headlamp and display.
Electronics?
Two rider modes, blue for a softer hit and green for a lot more go.
You also get nine levels of traction control.
Engine wise, the engine is made entirely by Minarelli Fantic with an integrated electric starter and it boasts a Hydraulic clutch.
Fantic has mounted bigger radiators and a cooling fan comes as standard, kinda – the correct recipe for riding hard enduro.
The bike we rode has some protective goodies fitted by Shimwells, Enduro Engineering disc and fork protectors, a carbon fibre pipe guard and swingarm guards.
We met up with Ryan Hunt and Wild Wests owner Francois Marais at the track and headed for the hills.
If you’ve ever ridden Wild West, you’ll know that it’s a perfect testing ground with trails of all kinds, bad ruts, big climbs, lotsa rocks and riverbeds.
We sent the guys for a short loop, got them back in, had a chat, sent them out on to more technical terrain, came back in and chatted.
Once the pics were dusted, our slightly more portly rider went out on the route to get a feel for the bike.
We played with everything, even stopping on the climb to get Zac from Shimwells in on a video call to ensure that we knew what we were doing in the electronics department.
It’s all pretty logical and we’ll tell you for free that it all works.
Ryan:
“The beauty of this bike is in the suspension. I love the forks. It absorbs all the square edges. The YZ Frame has always been incredibly stable, which is why it has remained unchanged for so long – but KYB suspension is always a really good option. You seldom need to spend anything on it to make it work for your riding style. This bike feels well set up, nothing strange, really balanced. Ergo’s are very familiar – no complaints, the bike is slender and feels light (107kg’’s). The clutch is soft, gear changes are slick. I’ve always felt that traction and power is all in the wrist, but now that I have played with all the modes, I’ve come to understand the benefit of having it. Without traction control – or with it set at the lowest setting, I found that I needed to dab a couple of times. With the system set up halfway, no dabbing. The power modes do make a difference, my personal preference is full power mode.”
Naturally we quizzed him on the engine – and he seemed suitably impressed.
Starts were faultless throughout the ride with a nice crisp rev from the stock Arrow exhaust.
“We can’t really go fast out here – but for the intended purpose, the bike delivers great power and lug for everything we rode. Super smooth, smooth grunt – plenty there off the bottom. With EFI, there’s no loading up. Instant power, no surprises. And I don’t think I’ve stalled…”
Pictures always flatten stuff out and on the trail there’s a mighty step-up. Ryan sort of looked at it a couple of times, road around it and as soon as we weren’t looking, he hit it. “All in the mind,” he says. “It’s just another climb!”
“It’s a great choice and the single biggest thing for me, is the KYB suspension.”
We then gave the bike to Wild West owner Francois Marais. He’s well experienced, he’s done The Roof and he lives on the rocks.
“I love the linear power. It’s stable and predictable with power for days. The KYB suspension works great. Ergonomically, it feels a lot like my old 250X, slim, handles nicely and corners beautifully.
I do like the Fuel injection system, it makes power exactly where you need it. We rode some tech stuff – the happy button is a great thing – and the bike never got hot – I didn’t hear the fan kicking in at any stage…”
“Most of the guys who come here want to chug along – and this bike does that – but in saying that, it feels like it has power for days!”
Once the guys had concluded, we took the bike out for a bit – bear in mind that the previous weekend was spent blasting around on a 350 GasGas, so this was a different kind of ride – and we were glad to be on a “Little” two stroke. It makes life so easy. Engage the mellow button, traction at the halfway setting and hit the blue route which is full of ruts and stuff. The power is smooth off the button and she just kind of idled through it all, no sweat.
It does all feel very familiar, having owned and ridden many Yamaha’s, you understand why this chassis has been selected. One thing – this one has braided brake lines making the front brake ridiculously sharp and causing a couple of ohhhhh-gats moments… so just basop and get used to it.
Conclusions:
We all enjoyed this one – a lot. There are so many choices these days and this is another great option if you are looking for something that is – perhaps a little out of the ordinary. European builders focus on the world of hard enduro and the Fantic is no exception. They have built a machine that is easy to live with, a fun bike to ride and we reckon that it’s great option for the hardcore racers out there.
