Getting gassed up for the road: Off-road specialist GasGas ready to take to the tarmac

GasGas are taking their first modern era steps into the road market, revealing their SM 700 and ES 700 single-cylinder middleweight range.

The supermoto-style SM 700 and dual-purpose ES 700 share much of their hardware with KTM’s 690 and Husqvarna 701 family – hardly surprising given all three belong to the same parent company.

Both will be finished in GasGas’ distinctive red livery with white decals reminiscent of their Moto3 racer.

Performance can be capped to meet an A2 licence, with the 692.7cc thumper producing a claimed 73.7bhp at 8000rpm in standard trim.

The engine boasts 10,000km service intervals and is housed is a steel trellis chassis, also used by the equivalent KTM and Husky, with the road-focused SM 700 suspended on a set of compression- and rebound-adjustable 48mm WP Apex forks and fully-adjustable rear shock.

These then lead down to blacked out 17in cast rims equipped with Continental ContiAttack SM EVO tyres.

The bikes have a suite of lean sensitive electronics featuring traction control and cornering ABS, with an up-and-down quickshifter. Both have dual riding modes, with mode two designed to provide greater riding performance in that machine’s designated discipline.

For the SM 700, this means ‘supermoto mode’, which provides a more aggressive throttle as well as less intrusive TC for wheelies and drifting into turns. On both bikes, the rear ABS is disabled in mode two.

The SM weighs in at 148.5kg without fuel and has a seat height of 898mm while the ES perch sits at 935mm and tops the scales at 147.5kg.