Ensign Motors took the Cektek Gladiator to Enduroland this weekend, it was an ideal place and ideal conditions to give it a track test! Somehow I was nominated as test driver. Conditions were very wet and very muddy with some twisty sections, water crossings, bogs, flat out straights, steep climbs, some long hills and some big (drifting) open corners. All told it was a superb track so thanks go to Enduroland for another great venue and a great set-up.
I didn't know what to expect of the CEKTEK, I had ridden it on the road only for a mile or so, so all I knew was that it was a stable flat-cornering set-up with engine braking strong enough to make you think someone had put the brakes on for you. The 500cc engine felt like it had a lot of guts for road riding, probably more power for a 500 than any other utility/sport crossover.
There is a bit more to select in your set-up on this bike than others on the market because it has open front and rear diffs that can be locked individially as either both open, rear locked/front limited slip or both locked, as well as the usual 2WD, 4WD, High, Low. Brakes are individual front/rear.
I tried it with the diffs unlocked with 2WD for the first lap. It was so slippery that I was drifting about and wheel spinning more than I was going forward but what a laugh! So I locked the rear diff but it didn't make that much difference, just a bit more stable so I stuck it in 4WD with the front diff open and that was it... spot on, it went like stink through absolutely anything! The main thing that took some getting used to was the engine breaking, if you shut off power completely just before a bend it had the same effect as rear brakes so it sets up for the corner almost perfectly to drift and get back on the power as soon as the nose points at the apex.
You can really hoon this bike into bends, the steering lock is really good so you can flick the back end round at will, the overall impression though is that it is so stable, hardly any roll but the suspension set up is soft enough to jump it and have a decent landing. One thing is that it feels nose heavy in the air so you have to lean well back
. I definetly felt like it had all the power I could use on this type of track. Bearing in mind that I had just changed over from my own Rene 800 I had a good comparison.
In the stream crossing and bog the traction was amazing and crossing the stream it climbed 12-15" steps from a standstill by just climbing them... very impressive, especially when there was a Honda Foreman well and truly stuck at the same place!
So, I guess you can tell I was very impressed! At just over £6k it is a hell of a bike and felt like it could just keep going and going I rode the track for about two and a half hours none stop and it never faltered apart from the odd 'operator error'
CECTEK Gladiator 
just as mines all bacon cobs ,chips and beer 
good review me thinks some of those pictures of you .................. erm .... you sure thats body armor
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