totalshell

not wanting to sound repeatative but Tesco value..

to time my pvl on the cub i set tdc then set the rotor so that the little moulded mark on the rotors outer edge is at approx 5 oclock aligned with a small pimple on the stator plate technical but if yours looks like mine ( and they dont all) then youll know what im talking about..

excellent chemistry lesson ( and i have the very great pleasure to be married to a chemist, although she would be the last person i'd ask about chemistry!) with the water pump been so easy to get off i'll be doing it once a month or so when i've completed the repiar. although i had a leak it was certainly not as bad as all the other examples i've seen and i've been 'lucky' so like you whip the flywheel cover off to let condensation out BETA owners would be well advised to do the same with the water pump to keep the water in! thanks for everyones support and advice..

WARNING.. i'll say its dangerous syphoning brake fluid, not only does it not do your stomach any good but as you were sucking on the pipe your more likely to get the stuff in your lungs and thats pretty much FATAL i saw a mate end up in intensive care doing the exact same thing 18 years ago and he can barely breath now.. in fact if his next door neighbour and her husband had not been doctors i'm sure it would have been much worse!

I cant believe how similar your bike is to mine triton i had to look twice my tensioner is exactly the same..

happy to add a couple of photos showing the inside of the water pump.. and the repair after the first coat of hammerite i intend putting a couple of coats on like this over the damaged areas then an overall coat to protect the un damaged areas with pump cover off

problem part solved thanks to FERRET FLASHER! took water pump off to check for corrosion.. inside quite badly corroded and hole right through on very underside of pump about 2mm diameter taken small screwdriver to all corroded areas to remove loose and to get back to a decent surface and have applied first of a couple of coats of hammerite before applying the asprin of the automotive world 'Araldite..' obviosly this is only a medium term solution if i replace the side cover what will i find underneath and is it fairly easy to replace..

to get the tank off your beta approach cautiously climb up onto the turret and ask the driver politely to reverse gently if that fails from behind a tree shout BANG and if its an American tank it would probably drive away from the 'clear and present danger' fairly quickly, and be reported on CNN later as a marvellous American victory in the face of overwhelming enemy forces

THANKS FOR THE LINK FERRET FLASHER IRONICALY I CONTRIBUTED TO THIS MYSELF WITH A SOLUTION INVOLVING ARALDITE AS A SEALER FAN WAS DEFINATELY WORKING AS I HAD IT WIRED ON PERMANENTLY, AND CHECKED IT DURING THE TRIAL BLUE ANTIFREEZE WAS IN BIKE (CHANNELS IN HEAD POWDER COATED BLUE) AND WHEN I TOPPED IT UP I PUT IN A 50.50 MIX TOOK OFF THE WATER PUMP AS AN EASY WAY TO DRAIN RAD AT ITS LOWEST POINT SO WHEN I DID NOT GET ANY COOLANT AT ALL IWAS SURPRISED! DID NOT PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO INSIDE OF PUMP BUT I'LL WHIP IT OFF BEFORE I REFILL DRAINED GEARBOX OIL NO WATER CONTAMINATION BUT IT WAS QUITE DARK FOR NEW OIL WITH HEAD OFF BORE WAS FANTASTIC ABSOLUTELY NO DAMAGE HEAD AND PISTON SURFACE WERE QUITE HEAVILY CARBONED ALTHOUGH THIS WAS SOFT AND CAME OFF VERY EASILY NO PLAY APPARANT ON FLY WHEEL OR ON PISTON HEAD (THOUGH NOT SURE I 'D FEEL MUCH UNLESS THE BEARINGS HAD BADLY GONE WEST WHERE HAS ALL MY COOLANT GONE HAD READ BETA SSDT TIPS AND AS THE TRIAL INVOVED WET MOORLAND HAD TAPED UP THE SIDES AND BOTTOM EDGE OF THE FRONT MUD GUARD I WAS VERY SURPRISED WHEN I CHECKED THERE WAS NO THING AT ALL IN THE RAD GUARD OR RAD ITSELF WELL EFFECTIVE

yes coolant in only on sat am when i checked before leaving home and i topped it up with about 100 ml max did trial sat lunch time, bike ran for 2 hours then started 'knocking' so i stopped..

radiator seems water tight despite odd shaped core, ive had the head off the bike (that rear head bolt is a real a~~e to get at) much as i expected the head and piston top were heavily carboned up, now all cleaned up and reassembled, hopefully that was the source of the koncking going to use 98 octane fuel from now on with Ipone (70 ml per 5 litres) dont know where the coolant went engine and rad were bone dry i've checked all the hoses etc and will use rad weld when i fill her up in the morning checked thermostat was working by standing in boiling water ( the thermostat not me) and putting a circuit tester on it though you can actually hear the switch 'click' after about 45 seconds in the boiling water pS Lampkins quoting '' 90 quid '' for a new radiator

nice try there actually is a quoted UK Plc 'star energy' with the upstanding mr. wessell at the helm (AOL money short code STAR, and the shares rose today!) they actually are building a gas /oil plant in hampshire ( verified via hampshire council planning and 'Singletrack mountain bike magazine '!!) the private email address ( laposte.net ) is proving hard to track down but time will tell

just opened up my new 03 beta as it was knocking with the intention of cleaning up the piston / head as reccomended else where on the site to find NO water in the radiator or engine.. i've literally had this 2 weeks from a respected dealer, I suspect that the radiator is crushed ( is it suppossed to have a crushed core and appear bent on the offside?) looking at the frame closely it looks like it has fallen very heavily on the frame and that has been bent back, what do you think or am I PARANOID!

had the same experience as lee, although the falcons were good after a year they did leak now have Girlings on my cub.. Sorted

I was looking at an American website yesterday cant remember which one ( probably a link from gasgas usa or sherco usa) and although the plastic tank was listed and had photos/price etc the blurb said it was not available at present..

makes you appreciate how local things are here on the Lancs /Yorks border a dozen trials dealers falling overthemselves to sell you bikes and stuff within 12 mile radius and more bikes than you care to look at to choose from and if you want the Montesa and Beta importers both within 20 miles sherco 40 miles GasGas 30 miles I'd have to travel almost 100 mile to get to the Scorpa importers good luck in your search for a bike!

had a similar problem with the bottom of my cylinder on my villiers two stroke , the missing lump was maybe 1.5 cm x 0.5 cm looked like someone had taken a bite out of it if filed away the rough edges never had a problem again with it ran like a train no probs..

you'll love this unclebuck i use only expensive Ipone in my beta and it blew up at the weekend.. in my cub which i ride at least twice a month i use Tesco value at 93p a litre in 18 months i'm on my third can bike runs true and strong had it in bits and its as clean as new inside so for even my heavily used trials bike it still does less than three hundred miles a year including the half dozen road trials, which as far as oil goes must be a fairly easy life so Tesco Value oil gets my vote.. I would be interested in using an oil filter though but like you i've yet to see one mounted decently ( not really anxious about the oil been filtered it would just add capacity and cooling to the limited amount that the top tube tank holds)

good observation about the spring being 'wrong handed' Id forggoten I had the same problem with mine, cant remember how but i modded the original spring to fit got to spend time on bike on friday (1st round of PJ1 series on Sunday in the flat lands of Lincolnshire) so will check out what I did and try to describe Friday night

Spent time recently looking at an 'otter' framed cub 'project' that the owner had given up on and deposited the bits of the puzzle with a man who can, although even he had to resort to moving lugs and such like if the mcdonald frames really are built by the same guy who used to build Pace mountain bikes they really were the business back in the early nineties when i was slim and fit, now fat and unhealthy i'd give him my money ( if i had any left!) those mountain bike frames were just short of a grand then! what price a cub frame today?

chain tensioner moved to arm on my cub never had a problem, just tilt it back a smidge ( a 2lb hammer is probably best) so that the chain doesnt just touch the rear edge and wear through it too quick.

I've no woodruff key on my rotor and i've never had a problem, just put a new clutch and primary chain on no probs. the guy at Greystone tigercubs has all the bits and mails tham that day only once have i had to wait more than the next day for stuff.

just had my carb off my new beta for the first time today, what a pig to get off.. rear guard off, rear section of exhaust off, airbox and rubber gaitor off cant believe how much 'dirt' has got in the airbox in just two trials and two 'short ' jet washes, looked ok till i got the box out and looked right down in the bottom about a 1/4 inch of silt hiding down there. rubber boot to carb was also a hiding place for the stuff little or none at entrance to carb and none at all in carb. question is though... there are 3 exits for excess fuel and only the overflow actually has a tube on it should the other two ( the one on the nearside of the carb and the one underneath?)

we should'nt assume that not finishing near the top is not worthwhile, in 2000 i pulled myself out of a hospital bed (heart replaced by plastic bits 3 months earlier) braved the isle of man steam packet then tugged carried and occasionally rode my 350 enfield round the manx 2 day classic finished last but one who won, i dont know and it didnt matter to me, been there was what counted we ride for ourselves mostly, some to drop least marks, some to beat the next man, some to finish and some to prove a point all equally good reasons and all worthy of an equal chance in the ballot

go along to any 'club' trial and ask to ride the easiest route, do a full lap on that and where the sections were too easy, ride the harder route on that section, your not there to win only for practice and experience. watching or observing a trial and sections is okay but sections always look easier when you dont have to ride them. so just ride and enjoy,