heffergm

Is there a big difference in how hard it is to kick a 300 vs a 250? I'm a small guy, and I'm used to starting the 300, which basically entails me finding TDC, both feet on the pegs, and drop all my weight. It's not something I like doing all day long, and when I watch guys like Bou and Raga kick through their bikes like they're running 2:1 compression I'm a little jealous. It's not the end of the world for me to start the 300, but given that I rarely see anything more than half throttle, if the 250 starts noticeably easier, I can see the appeal...

Awesome comment. Cheers for that. Spero che hai una buona sera.

That I can't argue with... my Beta master cylinder leaked from the off. If they're like this from new though, what's the point of a rebuild kit? Presumably it's made with exactly the same crap components, so I wouldn't expect it to solve anything.

Mine did exactly the same thing ('15 Sherco 300). I never really dug into it to figure it out, but yup... exactly as you describe. Bled it a few times, no change. I have a hard time believing it needed a rebuild... especially since it did it from brand new.

http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/topic/51154-front-end-clunk-sort-of/?fromsearch=1

I'd be way more into t-shirts as prizes rather than trophies (in local club events... Nationals is different story obviously)

Oh, and the radiator shroud easily pops in and out on the beta. On the sherco it doesn't. This is example of very small but sensible things on the beta that are missing on the sherco. On the downside with the beta, all the hardware (nuts/bolts) feel like they're made from soft cheese. I didn't find this to be an issue on the sherco.

The TRS has some really nice looking custom machining. My only complaint is the silencer, which looks like a giant sausage.

The left side kicker never bothered me but I do see guys starting them off the bike with their right foot so apparently it is weird for some people.

Well, last year I made that same decision and went with the Sherco. I'm probably going back to a Beta this year (still slightly up in the air) but I'm not buying another Sherco/Scorpa. I like a lot about the bike, but a couple things bug me. One is the oil drain bolt, which has an 8mm head on it. That, and it not on the bottom of the motor, but rather horizontal. I looked at it the first time I changed the oil and thought "this could be trouble". Sure enough, somewhere around the third change some swarth from the transmission ended up on the threads, and while I was putting the bolt back in it got hung up. A tap from the other side cleaned it up, but that was annoying, and never would have happened if the stupid thing was where it should be. That and the fact that the bolt is tiny bug me... something that goes in and out of the motor that often should be beefy (the Beta drain plug is like something you'd see on a cars oil pan). The other thing that worried me, but that I haven't actually seen break, is the footpeg mounts. On the Scorpa/Sherco, they're a welded, integral part of the frame. On the beta, the footpegs are hung off a separate mounting bracket that's bolted to the frame (the TRS is the same). This makes infinitely more sense to me. Not sure if anyone has ripped a footpeg mount off a Sherco before or not, but it looked too vulnerable to me. Another bummer was the rear mounted gas tank, which I figured was neither here nor there. But the thing seemed to swell in the heat and made the gas cap impossible to remove without pliers when it was hot out. The first time I discovered this at a trial was a little annoying. Something really simple I liked about the Beta: quick connector for fitting the factory wrist strap lanyard. No removing bodywork and wiring, etc. Just unplug the old and plug in the new. Another one on the "simple" front: adjusting the rear shock damping on the Sherco is impossible without removing the rear bodywork and gas tank. Beta can adjust on the bike. Same goes for other simple maintenance stuff, like the rear brake fluid resevoir... can't get to it on the sherco without removing things. On the Beta it's easily accessible. The Beta also turned a whole ton better, so if you're not a hopper I'd go with the Beta. In Sherco's defense, I've forgotten most of the things that bugged me about the Beta at this point... oh wait, I remember: sticky clutch (fixed with the Beta clutch fix) and a slight clunk from the headstock (fixed with a bit of tape). Other than that, I miss it. In short, the Beta felt much better engineered to me... things are where you can get to them, less likely to break, and generally more friendly to use.

So now it's marginally heavier than your average Beta... which is more or less irrelevant to me if the difference is minimal (it is), and it probably comes down to the battery it's toting around for the FI. There's a lot that looks really sloppy to me though. Not the bike itself, just all the materiel surrounding it. It's enough to give me pause were I ready to lay down that kind of money.

Meaning you expect the 2016 factory bikes to be out next month? That doesn't quite seem right since that's when the regular model release is, so I'm guessing it's more like the 2016 factory won't be out till the end of 2016. Which rules that out!

I can't be the only one slightly dissuaded by the amount of typo's in the advertising material and website, can I?

Just a general note about t-shirts to people doling them out: get the best materials. If I buy a t-shirt and it turns out to be a horrible coarse material, it's never going to get worn no matter what's printed on it. Spend the extra money and get a lot more return for it in terms of hours worn (i.e. advertising).

Does Jarvis ride the Scott these days?

Bingo. They'd have blue, orange and red painted frames. All with the same motors and parts but different branding. Works for KTM and they only have orange and blue.

Speaking of which, what exactly is the difference between the two models other than 3kg (which comes from weight savings where?). And since the two models are apparently not just different colors, what's the price difference? Vertigo's website is atrocious.

The high res photos I've seen of it do look nice. But I can I take a moment to mention what a horrendous name 'Vertigo' is? It sounds a non native english speaker picked it out of the 'sounds cool' list, without noting that it's sort of the antithesis of what you're striving for when riding a trials (i.e. not feeling dizzy and losing your balance). Don't get me started on 'combat' and 'ice hell'.

I guess, but if you add the fact that it's the first year for a never before produced bike from a manufacturer that has zero history as such, it's a bit of stretch. Which isn't to say I'm not interested... fuel injected two stroke sounds great. But are they going to be around in 2 or 3 years? I'd really need to weigh that before choosing it over anything else, especially given the price gap.

Does Beta generally release factory editions at some consistent amount of time after a new model release, or do they just magically appear at some point?

Emma (and a few others) look like they caught a face full of roost. Good times!

Was just quoted $9500 USD

Neither the wait nor the price tag (although I'm being quoted just under $10k) don't particularly surprise me. It's a niche bike in an already small market, so the fact that they're able to produce it and have remained in business this long is pretty impressive. Whether it's a performance equal to a 300cc factory gas bike doesn't really concern me... I'm never going to ride at a level where the bike is the thing holding me back. But I do have a lot of fun on a 300cc gas bike, which is why I'm generally more concerned with how fun (or not) the EM is. At the end of the day it offers a lot of upsides: no clutch (I work at a keyboard and have all kinds of hand issues, so slipping a clutch all day is a problem for me) 10% of the maintenance of a gas bike... no fuel, no carb, carb cleaning or jetting, no gearbox and fluids, no air filters. I appreciate the simplicity, and I still get to change the fork oil once a season and grease up the linkage over the winter, which now that I'm 40 is enough to satiate my need to spin a wrench every now and then no kickstarting... I can't stand pre-riding a loop for the simple reason that every time I stop it means another kick or two. I'd be happy to never kickstart another bike as long as I live it's quiet(er) than a gas bike, which opens up riding at my house that I otherwise wouldn't do. Plus, although I love the sound of a nice motor, on a trials bike I could really leave the noise... they really aren't terribly nice to listen to my son has an oset, and he wants me to get an electric... he's had enough exhaust in the face On the downside: it's $2k more than a new gas bike there's basically a single manufacturer in this niche of full size trials bikes, which worries me a bit I have no idea what resale value is (and this is probably my biggest concern) I'm not 100% sure I can get through every event in my season on a single charge... there have been a few this year with really long loops (although that said, I'm probably going to end up around mid pack in my group anyway, so if I DNF it's not the end of the world. It's not like I get paid to do this). it would be the one and only electric that I'm aware of in the club I ride with, and I could do without the attention I still haven't seen any video of anyone doing a real zap on one, so I'm wondering if it's not possible. Which would be a bummer, because it's my favorite thing to do.

Massachusetts https://www.google.com/maps/place/Massachusetts/@42.0595237,-72.839537,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x89e3656de973bffd:0x45c6d03655830d1c

How's that compare to other things?