THE EVERYMAN ENDURO

How does SWM’s easy-going off-roader stand up against the ‘ big name’ competition? We hit the trails to find out.

I’ll be honest. Enduro motorcycles are my bag. For me, there’s nothing better than gearing up and hitting the trails. And with a numberplate, lights and indicators, you can ride them on the road, too. That means that you can tear up the trails at the weekend, and then splice through town traffic on your daily commute. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

If I’ve peaked your interest, and you’re starting to like the idea of a motorcycle that’s happy on- and off- road, then you’re spoilt for choice. There’s a raft of top-quality bikes available from some of the biggest players in the game. The orange ones from Austria tend to be the most popular. That's no surprise though. They've been winning the biggest competitions for years. But they’re also the most expensive. So we thought it was about time to give SWM’s RS300R the chance to prove itself.

What do you know about SWM? Very little? Don’t worry, here’s a potted history of the Italian factory, which made a name for itself building a range of innovative, small capacity machines for Trials, Enduro and Motocross in the early 1970s. Founded by Piero Sironi and Fausto Vergani in Milan, as a reaction to the off-road successes of Japanese manufacturers at the time, SVVM (or Sironi Vergani Vimercate Milano) enjoyed some serious success on the world circuit for 20 years, taking titles across a wide breadth of off-road competition.

But it didn’t last forever. Sadly, SWM went in liquidation in 1984 and production ceased. And that was it for 30 years, until Ampelio Macchi (formerly an engineer with Cagiva, Aprilia and Husqvarna) got his hands on the SWM brand and joined forces with Chinese businessman Daxing Gong (the head honcho of Shineray), and together they kicked off its resurgence, unveiling six new models at EICMA 2014. Interestingly, despite the Chinese connection, SWM has chosen to keep manufacturing in Italy and maintain its historic roots to the region, basing the brand at a former Husqvarna manufacturing plant in Lombardia. It’s been making steady progress ever since. Ok, so it’s not doing anything particularly revolutionary, but over the last few years SWM’s started to mean something again to those in the know. We’ve spent a bit of time on a few of its bikes over the last couple of years, and they have impressed. That’s why we jumped at the chance to put the RS300R through its paces. Here’s how we got on.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I’ve been waiting to ride this bike for a while, and as it rolled out of the van at More Bikes HQ my expectations were high. Poking around the SWM, my first impressions were overwhelmingly positive. It looks great and clearly a well-made machine; there’s some top-quality parts fitted to the bike too, from its Brembo brake calipers through to its KYB suspension and Michelin tyres,

Settling into the saddle, everything’s where you’d expect. It’s comfortable and lightweight, and although it’s fairly tall with a 955mm seat height, I found it surprisingly easy to get on. Admittedly, I am 6ft 1” and a bit with long, gangly limbs, so it was unlikely to cause too much trouble for me, but regardless, I’m confident shorter riders would also find the RS300R perfectly accessible.

It’s a comfortable place to be, too. Ok, so there’s not a huge amount of padding on the seat, but I spent a few long days in the saddle without a problem. Its height also made getting up on the pegs easy. Quite often, I’ve found standing up on 250 and 300 enduro machines a little tricky. They’re generally a fraction too small, which means I end up having to bend my knees to get comfortable and be able to reach the bars. It means I’m working harder than I have to, which is never ideal if you’re hitting the trails hard all day. Not on the RS300R though. I immediately felt at home.

The SWM tips the scales at 111kg dry. That’s pretty light. In fact, it’s lighter than most of its direct competition, even if it does have a little less power. Most importantly, that low weight makes it easy to pick the bike up when (not if ) you drop it.

The RS300R is also surprisingly fancy for a cheap ride. It’s got a hydraulic clutch, an electric start, and a Mikuni EFI. Not bad at all. It helps it stand out. Most of the other bikes in this price bracket tend to make use of cheaper in-house parts to finish their machines, but not SWM.

THE CHASSIS

Ok, so let’s have a quick rundown of what’s going on under the surface to make this bike tick. It’s constructed from a single beam double cradle frame, and there’s a detachable alloy subframe, too.

Up front, suspension’s offered by a pair of 48mm KYB USD forks that have rebound damping adjustment, and at the rear there’s a KYB monoshock with compression, rebound damping and preload adjustment.

Brakes are a pair of Brembo hydraulic floating callipers, which grip a 260mm disc at the front and a 240mm disc at the rear. Its wheels are ready to tackle the trails too, with a suitably appropriate 21-inch front and 18-inch rear, which are fitted with a pair of Michelin's Competition IV tyres. Just for reference, there's 300mm of ground clearance, too.

THE ENGINE

Alright, so the RS300R isn’t the quickest bike you’ll ever ride. Its 297cc motor kicks out what sounds like a fairly meagre 14bhp. That’s not much more than your average 125cc learner-legal machine. However, it’s not all about the power. Instead, it’s about torque. And there’s plenty of that. It’s smooth and reassuring in its delivery too, even when you’re wringing its neck, which means even the most ham-fisted of riders would do well to get caught out when grabbing a handful of throttle. Although that might make it sound like its underpowered, trust me, it’s not. There’s plenty in the tank to make good, solid progress either on- or

I felt right at home on the bike and within a matter of minutes I was out on the trails, up on the pegs with the back end sliding around in the mud.”

off-road. Just for context, I got up to 70mph on the road, so you can rest assured it’ll hold its own in traffic too, should the situation call for it.

Power is distributed via a six-speed gearbox. Interestingly, the ratios are pretty close together, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be up and down the box all the time. For anything tight and tricky, you’ll likely find that second and third offer the perfect spread of power.

Oh, it’s also worth mentioning that the bike only has an electric start. I think that’s a bit of a shame, but then again, that seems to be the way things are going. Just be careful with the battery.

HANDLING

If you’ve never tackled some trails and ridden off-road before, don’t worry, the RS300R isn’t all that aggressive or intimidating – meaning you can still have a lot of fun honing your skills without the risk of causing too much damage to you or the bike when you come off. As a result, I felt right at home on the bike and within a matter of minutes I was out on the trails, up on the pegs with the back end sliding around in the mud.

First time out, the short gear ratios took a little bit of getting used to. I couldn’t quite work out where I needed to be, and on more than one occasion found myself in sixth without realising. I got to grips with it fairly quickly though, and after half-an-hour or so, I’d worked out how best to use the box. Strangely, the RS is almost two-stroke like in its power delivery. Basically, you’ve got to absolutely thrash it to get the best out of the motor. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll trickle along with low revs quite happily, too.

Where I live in Lincolnshire, the trails aren’t all that tricky or technical. There are no dramatic uphill climbs and there are very few tight turns. There’s plenty of mud though. The SWM handled it like a pro, squirming around, but finding enough grip to keep plugging on. It handles water well, too. After a particularly heavy downpour, I came across a stretch of trail with what looked like a very long puddle running straight down the middle. I went for it. Turns out it was a bit more than a puddle. I was quite quickly up to my knees in water, but I kept the throttle pinned and the RS kept on pulling me through. Thank goodness for those upswept exhausts. Of course, I was absolutely drenched when I got to the end, with water dripping from my helmet and pools settling in the bottom of my boots, but it didn’t matter, I was just happy to make it across. In short, the RS is a thoroughly capable bit of kit. It’s no racer, but if you want to hit the trails hard, it’ll stand up to the test no questions asked.