Ohhh the knocking ain't right. I think that's more then the clutch but I'm sure the dealer will straighten it out.
I polished both sides of the tabs. They get jammed into the basket one way under power and the other way when decelerating and I want them to slide easily in both situations. Besides I wasn't too picky about putting them back in the way they came out. Just to be sure we're on the same page here I'm talking about the sides of the tabs where they fit into the slots on the basket. I was looking into making a sort of UBER-clutch for the Beta with nickel plating the basket fingers and coating the tabs with some lubricant like teflon but I sort of ran out of interest once the polishing trick worked. I might still investigate it in the future.
I left the bolts out. They're in my toolbox next to my jet kit. I ordered an '08 but it won't be in for a month so I can't tell you if they have the same issues as my 05. Only way to know is to pull out the clutch pack and look at the tabs on the fiber plates. If they have the rough finish polish them, clean them and put them back and it's a world of difference. Don't just remove two springs without polishing the tabs. That would be a colossal mistake. My theory is the heavier springs are a stop gap fix for the poor bearing surfaces on the fiber plate tabs. If I'm correct then just removing the springs without polishing the tabs will cause clutch slippage.
I've been riding for two years now with four springs and the clutch shows no slippage yet. I thought I felt some yesterday but it was a patch of ice. I'm about 220lbs and ride the clutch constantly It is soooooo good now and my clutch finger doesn't get tired after four hours of riding unlike the the stock clutch. There is one thing that you may find with the clutch and that is the oil is particularly important to the engagement characteristics. A lot of guys will tell you to use automatic transmission fluid. I tried that once in a Beta and the clutch was so grabby it was almost impossible to ride. I use Spectro Golden-Gear oil now and I love the clutch on my '05. After you get a few hours on the bike for break in you might want to change out the gear oil. Sorry to say that if it is the gear oil making your clutch grabby it will take a few oil changes to purge the gearbox of the bad oil.
It's too bad you're not in my neighborhood. I'd have that clutch pack out of your bike and you lovin' that machine in no time. Let me know how it goes and If I can be of any help.
If you've found a bike that makes your heart beat a little faster and puts a smile on your face you win. I wish you many years of trouble free play and may you only need to pick up a wrench when you buy it a present like a titanium muffler. If you come to New England I hope we can go riding.
Really the heart of trials is the local club. That's where you'll find other people to ride with and places to ride. Nothing advances your ability faster then riding with more experienced riders. So the big question is what part of the US are you in.
I hate to ask but is this the DelOrto or was it replaced with a Mikuni? I replaced the DelOrto on my '95 with a Mikuni because I couldn't get jets and it was the best modification I made.
For the money you get a top of-the-line, state-of-the-art competition machine. The fact that you may have to do a little tweaking every few months is pretty amazing. Buy it, ride it and enjoy. You're only going this way once. Besides if you buy a new bike you'll want to spend more time riding then reading the silliness on the forums.
I seem to remember there being a 280 kit for the Techno. In reality if this is his first trials bike and it is in good shape then a 250 will provide all the power he can handle. Welcome to the sport.
Make sure you don't have the lever adjustment in too far. Try backing it off all the way before putting the whole thing back together. The brake and clutch system is self adjusting but to do that the piston in the master cylinders must be able to return all the way back past the hole to the reservoir where the fluid is stored.
It's also possible that the hole to the reservoir is blocked.
4RT no, you can ride them virtually straight off a cold start up.
Scorpa 4T takes some warming up for whatever reason (I've tried 2 and both the same) Don't know why as the YZ250F I was using in enduros warmed up very quickly
From what I've heard the Beta's are rather cold blooded and like a nice warm up. My friends '07 200 Scorpa liked a little warm up time too but what a lovely little bike that is. I got off my 270 Rev3 and putted around on the Scorpa and felt right at home. Could be an EFI vs carb thing.
OH NOOOOO you Dalesman riders are always picking on the Montesas!
he he he
Thanks to this thread you may be able to tell him to replace a sheared off bolt and be done with a $2 repair. Hope that's the case. Then he can ferociously defend his brand and make us all smile.
I was asking about Woody Hole because he borrowed my bike in '92 at the US world round/TDN and I wanted to give him "mad props". While the Italian minder who borrowed my buddy's bike abused it terribly, we have a video of him throwing it down a waterfall, Woody returned my bike washed, lubed and obviously pampered. Even better was in the Duke video for the event on which he did the commentary he said, "The bike I had to ride was, quite nice to say the least." That made my day.
Oh yeah the OP first sentence seems a pretty general question about four strokes. Looks like a good fit for this forum.
No point in being defensive and going into attack mode. I like the fact that such problems can be discussed. In the long run it helps bike sales knowing that a problem is acknowledged and can be fixed. The one thing that will turn me off of buying a brand is denial of a problem.
I'm a Beta rider for many years and I don't have any problem with postings on problems people have had on their Betas. It's how I learned to fix my carb leaking (Thanks Billy T.) and what gave me the impetus to fix my clutch sticking. Did it make me not want a Beta? No, I went from liking my bike to loving it.
We spend real money on these things and the free exchange of information is the most useful function of a community like this. The, "Let's attack the guy who brings up an issue" mentality is the most sophomoric aspect of a public forum and the most likely to turn it into a useless fanboy slugfest. Save it for slagging your buddy's football team where it will do no real damage.
Dan
P.S. Hey Woody, are you the famous Woody Hole of world round renown?
Let's see.... by next endurocross season that'll be about 25 euros or a tank of gas.
Come to think of it the Montesas do pretty good at the endurocross. Maybe the importer should show up with a bunch of bikes and sell them at the races. Could be the greatest guerrilla marketing campaign in the history of trials.
I typed that as a joke but the more I think about it the less odd it seems.
Nikon D2x. Most taken with a 17-55 F2.8. I've added more and split them into three pages, still available from the original link. I have a bunch from the national on Friday that I'll add next.
Thanks, I've got more to put up but this is a good start. There's a lot to be said for a good camera, fast glass and a powerful flash. It was overcast and dark in the woods most of that day so I really had to push the envelope to shoot. One of my favorite things was I got to talk to Mario Candelone and that was a thrill. He is THE MAN! Absolutely the dean of trials photographers and a real gentleman.
I think my favorites of this series are Fujigas in the air and almost off the bike at the top of the big step in practice and the second looking down on Marc Freixa going up the big slimy rock. Technically not the best shot but the hardest angle to get and have it stay in context.
You should see the raw shots. They are considerably higher resolution.
I put some of my pics from the 2006 Tennessee world round up on the NETA web site. They make good screen saver material at 1280X1024. Hopefully I can get down this year to shoot some more.
Or you could just nip a hole in the vent tubing above the level of the float bowl. I just put a nick in with cutters at the bend. Works just as well and if you're not in water up to the tank it won't make any difference to the bike. The problem is the vent tubes are so long they are below the level of fuel in the float bowl. Any momentary burp of fuel up into the tube starts a siphon which will keep going until the tank is empty or your buddies go, "Hey is that gas?" and you shut the tap off.
Ding! Alright everyone back to their neutral corner.
Ron's right about putting the bolts through the flywheel. If the flywheel turns and they go roundy round they'll chew up the internals. The trick is to put them into the flywheel so they don't protrude through to the inside but connect enough threads in effect making a holding tool for the flywheel. To do this properly you need to make a plate that the bolts go through first that'll sit on top of the flywheel with a hole for the flywheel nut and a long handle. And if you don't use high grade bolts you can shear them off so spend the extra few coins.
Don't rely on the clutch gearbox immobilizing the rear wheel method to get sufficient holding power on the flywheel to torque that nut. Any method that could counter the torque required to properly fasten the the nut risks breaking the case/gearbox and tweaking the crankshaft as this puts twisting force directly across the crank.
You should be doing this with a torque wrench anyway. If you use a torque wrench it will become painfully apparent how little torque you are actually getting on the nut without directly holding the flywheel. Either make a holding tool proper or have a friend who's handy with metal work help you and get a good torque wrench so you know how tight it actually is.
An air impact driver is great if you've got one but I don't and am not likely to get one. I do prefer the feel of assembly with a torque wrench but it has to be at least a 100 ft/lbs wrench to get the required torque. Not that 100 ft/lbs is the number you need to tighten to just that a wrench that will do that much torque is long enough to do the job. Ahhh leverage. Hey Ron, if anybody would know you would, what is the torque spec on the flywheel bolt?
Of course the other option is to bring it to a dealer. Sorry if this sounds expensive but this is the equivalent of major surgery and the proper tools are essential to prevent complications. This is one case where you can do an awful lot of damage if you're not careful.
I'm about 220lbs and ride the clutch constantly It is soooooo good now and my clutch finger doesn't get tired after four hours of riding unlike the the stock clutch. There is one thing that you may find with the clutch and that is the oil is particularly important to the engagement characteristics. A lot of guys will tell you to use automatic transmission fluid. I tried that once in a Beta and the clutch was so grabby it was almost impossible to ride. I use Spectro Golden-Gear oil now and I love the clutch on my '05. After you get a few hours on the bike for break in you might want to change out the gear oil. Sorry to say that if it is the gear oil making your clutch grabby it will take a few oil changes to purge the gearbox of the bad oil.
Tuning/trick Bits
in Beta
Posted
Ohhh the knocking ain't right. I think that's more then the clutch but I'm sure the dealer will straighten it out.
I polished both sides of the tabs. They get jammed into the basket one way under power and the other way when decelerating and I want them to slide easily in both situations. Besides I wasn't too picky about putting them back in the way they came out. Just to be sure we're on the same page here I'm talking about the sides of the tabs where they fit into the slots on the basket. I was looking into making a sort of UBER-clutch for the Beta with nickel plating the basket fingers and coating the tabs with some lubricant like teflon but I sort of ran out of interest once the polishing trick worked. I might still investigate it in the future.