Enduro21 takes a closer look at the X-Grip Racing GASGAS EC 300 race bikes the Brightmore brothers are challenging the factory riders for podiums and moto wins in the 2025 SuperEnduro World Championship.

When Mitchell and Ashton Brightmore made the switch to a new race team in the off-season you might have wondered two things: why the move when they had been so successful (consecutive Junior Hard Enduro World Championships for Mitch and both winning the Junior SuperEnduro world crown in consecutive years) and who the heck are X-Grip Racing?

The answer to question one has become increasingly clear over winter as the promising pair have been able to turn professional in their sport, concentrate on the training, fitness and racing to the point where they are now challenging Billy Bolt and Jonny Walker for Prestige class podiums in SuperEnduro – that’s not something to be ignored for the two young riders from Derbyshire, England.

The answer to the second question is even simpler. X-Grip is a tyre and mousse (and accessories) company from Austria. Born in 2016, their growing tyre product range stretches across off-road with a focus on enduro and hard enduro. It’s matched by an expanding parts catalogue which, as you’ll see from Mitch Brightmore’s bike here, is all about practical application for our sport.

We don’t want to look or sound like an advert for X-Grip but it’s some list which you can find on their website (details below).

The team itself has been in the major paddocks for some years now but only in recent years have they stepped up with a full-time race team which we’ve seen most prominently in the Hard Enduro World Championship.

To their credit, X-Grip signed both Brightmore brothers at the end of the ’24 season for SuperEnduro and the outdoor HEWC series and boy did their plan to support the best of young talent pay off.

That’s enough about them though, let’s look at the bikes…

It’s not just about the tyres

There’s a whole lot more to it than that of course and we’ve taken a deeper dive into the parts and set-up on Mitch’s bike.

The stock 2025 GG 300 two-stroke engine has a couple of significant upgrades including X-Grip’s own ‘Factory’ exhaust header and silencer – a like-for-like match for the standard parts.

Two Stroke Performance

You’ll have spotted the TSP logo on the graphics and Mitch’s 300 has a nice line-up of the Australian tuning specialist’s parts onboard including the ERM reflash with a TSP map and adjustments to suit Mitch’s preference.

The bike also has the TSP medium compression head insert and oversize power valve cover (though that wasn’t fitted when we took these photos).

Spanish suspension specialists

The other major performance upgrade over the standard Gasser is the WP Pro Components suspension front and rear. The tune and suspension is via Spanish specialists, WP Eric Auge, who have an EnduroGP and Spanish Championship race team in their own right but also a year-on-year presence in some of the major hard enduro paddocks including Romaniacs.

The Brightmores have been working with the WP Eric Auge crew while living and training in Spain during the winter months. The ability to train like that, spend more time away from home in drier conditions has been a massive boost to their riding and the results are clear.

A showcase for X-Grip products

Looking around Mitch’s bike and you see there’s more going on than just Jack The Gripper tyres and mousses with these guys – though the team are keen to point out they consider the tyre set-up one of the major performance upgrades on the bikes.

From top to toe, it is littered with the full gamut of X-Grip products and the philosophy here is genuine race-developed products is clear to see – this is some show pony. 

That list of X-Grip parts is a long one:

• Seat cover
• Sump guard
• Rear disc protector
• Chain guard and swingarm protector
• Clutch cover
• Billet throttle housing
• TBI sensor cover
• Radiator coolant hoses
• Radiator guards
• Bar ends
• Titanium footrests
• Full exhaust system (header and silencer)
• Rims and hubs (full wheel set)
• Rear sprocket (gearing is 13/47)
• Jack The Gripper tyres with SSE 2 mousse rear, Wavebreaker EV1 mousse front
• Brake discs
• Axle adjusters/blocks
• Hour meter
• Brake and master cylinder pump clamps

Parts from other suppliers are rare but meaningful

The triple clamps holding the front forks are XTrig ROCS adjustable parts, common on many factory race bikes (that’s XTrig not X-Grip!).

That list from other suppliers also includes the Renthal bars and the Acerbis front disc guard – though it feels like only a matter of time before the Austrian manufacturer makes their own version of these products!

Up on the bars themselves, the team has swapped the standard KTM start button/kill switch cluster and replaced it with the older type kill switch on one side, starter on the other. It’s a popular mod for many in enduro due to the old style being more precise and easier to connect with on the bars while you ride.

A throwover from the sport of trials, the bar end cap on the clutch side to protect the end of the grip if you drop the bike, plus the rather neat billet aluminium throttle housing is stronger than standard.

The team switch out the standard Braktec brakes for the Brembo calipers and master cylinders with, again, their own bar clamps. A couple of other small details include the hour meter, the titanium footrests and rear brake tip pedal.

Full wheel sets

The X-Grip parts list continues to the ground with a complete rim, hub and brake disc set wearing those tyres listed above. For our money, upgrading the standard wheels to black improves the look of the GASGAS 10 times over and the front and rear wheel package are from the X-Grip parts catalogue.

Shining on the world stage

It’s been quite a season in the SuperEnduro Prestige class for the Brightmore brothers and for X-Grip Racing. It’s a company and team trying to put themselves on the world stage and, from the outside as far as we can see, they’ve hit gold by giving two talented and dedicated riders their chance to shine.

More information on the parts list: www.x-grip.at

Photo Credit: Future7Media | Andrea Belluschi