Sherco 2024 300SEF review︱Cross Training Enduro

http://www.crosstrainingenduro.com Our 2024 Sherco 300SEF review! I'm old enough to remember when four strokes were a bad choice for serious dirt riders due to their weight and lack of power. Not in recent years. And the 2024 Sherco 300SEF is a great example. We managed to get our grubby little fingers on one last weekend. As usual, we will list the things we liked. And what we didn't like. We first got to ride the Sherco 300SEF back in 2015 when Sherco was still seen as a boutique brand. Very light. Plenty of power. Quick steering. It was brilliant for the everyday dirt rider. The only real question was whether it would be reliable in the long term. The end result? Quite a bit more power. And less weight. The weight reduction? Here is a list of the lighter parts. Sherco claim a dry weight of 102kg or 225lb which is roughly on par with the lightest four stroke enduro models in the 250 to 350 class. Over the years we checked in with owners who confirmed there were minimal known issues. A quick bit of history for this 2024 Sherco 300SEF review. We rode a 2022 model during our one week outback tour and enjoyed it, although the 500SEF models were more suited to the wide open spaces of the outback. So what has changed for this Sherco 2024 300SEF review? Quite a lot. Plenty of changes to the Sherco 300SEF engine. Better cooling. And more power. Frankly, I was stunned at how much power a 300cc four stroke can create nowadays. There are claims of five extra horsepower. I haven't seen dyno charts confirming this, but I wouldn't be surprised. With our dodgy riding skills, there were only a few areas we could get into the higher revs. And each time there was a real danger of soiling our pants with the Sherco 300SEF. We are two stroke riders so we would need to change our clutch technique to avoid stalling the four stroke in tough terrain. The mapping switch is great. Need hard enduro training? Work through our video lists. Hard enduro techniques are covered in our training vids. Extreme enduro training vids are our focus. If you are enduro riding get into our enduro training vids. Unlike it some, it really does make a big difference, especially in wet terrain. It feels more like a 250 four stroke. Very smooth six-speed gearbox. We couldn't find any false neutrals. The transmission ratios reminded us of the 500SEF which had fairly close ratios. Great for keeping the engine on the boil. But if you do a mix of slow and fast trails the ratios might feel a bit narrow. The handling? Into enduro and dirt bikes? Check out our dirt bike videos. Try our training vids for working on your extreme enduro techniques. We found it much safer to use the very meaty mid-range power. And there's more than enough for everyday dirt riders. There's plenty of grunt at low revs as well. A lot more than your typical 250. However we did stall the Sherco 300SEF a lot in slow technical terrain. The Sherco 300SEF steering geometry makes it perfect for whipping through twisty single track. It's still stable at speed, although a fatty front tyre would be a good idea if most of your riding is in fast terrain. The KYB suspension is going to work well for the majority of dirt riders. Like every Sherco model we've ridden, it's on the firm side and works better the harder you ride. We found it a bit too firm in our usual slow technical terrain but then the Sherco 300SEF isn't designed for that sort of riding. What didn't we like? If you are aware of any, let us know and we'll put these in the pinned first comment. Would this Sherco suit you? It does seem to suit a lot of riders. In Australia it's Sherco's second biggest seller after the two-stroke 300. Why? 250 four strokes are very popular with beginner dirt riders. But the mapping switch is so effective on the Sherco 300SEF that you can use the soft setting to emulate a 250. Our dirt riding tips are great for developing your hard enduro skills. If you want extreme enduro training see our playlists of enduro skills to learn. Then as your skills improve use the hard setting more often. As with most recent enduro models, there's no kickstart on the 2024 Sherco 300SEF. Personally this doesn't worry us. But some riders like the option of installing an aftermarket kickstart and you simply can't do this with Sherco models. The midrange and top end power are more than enough for even experienced riders.... with the advantage of more nimble handling. Riding 450s on tight single track can feel a bit like pig wrestling. Whereas this 300 four stroke feels almost identical to the 250 two stroke as we kept swapping between these two motorbikes during the day. Ever ridden a Sherco 300SEF? Or another four stroke in the 300 to 350cc category? Did you like it? Let us know in the comments. Most manufacturers have been making their clutches progressively lighter over the past decade. We did our usual googling to find common known issues in recent Sherco 300SEF models and couldn't find any.