RIDE REVIEW I 2023 SHERCO 300 SE FACTORY
P64
POWER
MONGER
We are in the golden
age of two-stroke off-
road bikes right now
and the Sherco 300 SE
can hold its own among
the best of those
options. It has a great
motor, KYB suspension
and comes with high-
quality items that are
options on other bikes.
I
f you follow trials or hard en-
duro racing, you are probably
familiar with Sherco motor-
cycles. Pat Smage just won his
13th U.S. Trials Championship
on a Sherco and the French
manufacturer has a strong U.S.
off-road team that includes Cody
Webb, Cooper Abbott, Keith
Curtis and Louise Forsley. On
the international scene, Spain's
Mario Roman earned a win and
multiple podiums en route to
second overall in the 2022 FIM
Hard Enduro World Champion-
ship aboard a Sherco 300 SE
Factory two-stroke. And in the
U.S., Curtis took a win and Ab-
bott earned a couple of podium
finishes in the AMA Hard Enduro
Championship on that same
model. So, the small but potent
brand has proven its carbureted
two-strokes can compete with
the fuel-injected KTM/Husqvar-
na/GasGas bikes from Austria in
extreme off-road racing, but how
does it perform for a normal skill
level off-road rider? We got to
spend several weeks riding one
to find out.
A look at the entry lists at any
U.S. or international hard enduro
event shows that two-strokes are
alive and well with around 90
percent of competitors choosing
BY CYCLE NEWS STAFF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DUANE CABOT, BEAU LAW & JESSE ZIEGLER
WE SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH THE
SHERCO 300 SE FACTORY
