.TEST:' 1995 Gas Gas JT25
By Donn Maeda
'I
hen y o u' re on to p, s o me-
times the p re ss ure to perform is in cre d ib le . It h a s
been sa id th at the numberone plate "weighs" mo re, and that chasing after a cha mpionsh ip is quite often
easier th an defend in g one . Ask almost
any champion, and th ey'll most likely
agree.
But h ow a bout an entire facto ry?
Does th e same p ressure to p e r fo rm
app ly? Do the engineers toss and tum in
their beds at nigh t, worrying abo u t keeping their machinery on top?
If so, the 30 or so employees at the
tiny Gas Gas factory in Girona, Spain,
have done an incredible job of both dealing with the press ure, and of improving
upon what was al ready considered by
many to be the best trials machine available.
We know wha t yo u're thinking: The
bes t? C' mon - how could a few d ozen
Spanish guys hand build a b ike that's
bette r tha n the p roduction-line machin es
of the larger Montesa- Honda, Beta, Fantic and Yama ha factories? To tell you the
truth , we d on 't kno w. Mayb e it's th e
labor of love that goes into eac h of the
han d -bu ilt m achi nes. Pe rha ps it 's the
Gas G as fac to ry's ab ili ty to m ake
improvemen ts in the middle of a mod el
year. Or ho w abou t the input fro m the
und isp u ted Kin g of Tr ial s - s ix-time
World Ch ampion [ord i Tarres? Surely,
that can' t hurt.
In any case - best bike or not - last
12
(Top) The Gas Gas JT25 is a nimble
machine . In the right hands - in this case ,
those of Matt Moore - tricks like these are
not a problem. (Right) The look of the
newest JT25 has been toned down .
