Seen this on a couple of bikes that were only cured with a carb change. Then one day a friend’s bike started behaving the same and it turned out the choke was on just a bit. So check your choke circuit to see if the seal at the bottom of the plunger is not sealing properly or the plunger travel is not going fully down.
it’s kinda left field but I stripped, cleaned and checked float level on two seperate bikes that were later worked on by dealers and nothing worked. So the choke incident was the only correlation I’ve been able to find.
Maybe why it was cheaper, scared the previous owner. I think this can work to your advantage though. There is no substitute for displacement for sheer grunt.
And it’s much easier to get right than this #%*+~#% Win10 computer I’ve been trying to sort out all week!?
If he's trying to torque the flywheel nut by a method other than holding the flywheel then he might be shearing it off while tightening the nut. And twisting the crank out of alignment too. I'll say this, he's got guts for even trying this. That expansion chamber's going to have a very strange effect with the trials engine porting.
I loved the look of the RTLs. Modern bikes in general look good but I think the Shercos have the best styling. The Ossas looked badass. The only Betas I think looked really good are the white framed Factorys. Other than that Betas are kinda fugly.
Do the math to figure out what it'll cost to swap vs change parts. I'll not debate the 200. It's a great bike and you'll really enjoy It if you get one but the 300 can be tamed without losing the best part of the power. On my 300s I've swapped the gearing by going to a 10 tooth front sprocket on earlier bikes or up two teeth on the rear for the 2018 (has a 10 front stock). Installed a low compression head to soften power and make kicking easier. Installed carbon fiber reeds (VForce V351C or V351B with medium reeds) which smooths out the bottom and makes it grunt like an old Bultaco.
Only the pros really need the hyper hit of the stock 300s. Us mere mortals can enjoy them with mods but even the pros who've ridden my bikes with the mods say they're really good and they'd like them only a little sharper for big hits.
In any case understand that the first time out on any modern trials bike is intimidating no matter who you are and it takes time for your body to adjust to the stance and the reactions necessary. Happens every winter in New England when we come out of hibernation. We always look forward and dread the first rides after the snow melts.
And we really do understand a 300 has a very high pucker factor. The GasGas pros are even sharper!
Stick with it though and welcome back.
Ouch, sorry to hear that. Hope your back gets better soon.
There is one odd thing that has happened to me with the master cylinder. I once damaged the internal spring in the master cylinder in a crash. This caused the lever not to return properly and made for some funky adjustment. It's rare but it can happen.
So you're saying you have 3mm travel of the pushrod before it engages the throw-out bearing. That's a little odd since the mechanism is meant to be self adjusting. It sounds like somebody reassembled the actuation mechanism without the ball bearing that goes between the push rod and the shaft of the throw-out bearing. See parts 19, 20, 21.
Don’s been riding as a minder for his grandkids I think but yeah he’s definitely still around at the NY, CT events and just as smooth as always. Still looks like he’s in his forties and in better shape than any of the rest of us. It’s just not fair I tell ya!
Thinking about it the other guy competing with Donnie was probably Mike Komer or Jack Stites.
Mike owns the Tryals Shop in NY. I just read that Jack passed away in August.
I know mine is. The biggest problem is the ethanol. Without the ethanol the most likely problem is losing some of the lighter hydrocarbons changing the fuel vaporization characteristics but nothing should harm the engine. Just make it a bit of a pain to start. It’s less of an issue when it’s cold and when it’s really cold even the light hydrocarbons pretty much stay put. I usually leave VP ethanol free fuel in my tank all winter and since some will evapoarte just top off before the first ride and go. It’ll smoke a bit more because the ratio has changed from the evaporated fuel but it won’t harm anything.
The sheared woodruff key is very common in these situations. Having the primary gear spin off is not something I’ve heard before.
Learn something new every day. ?
If you look at the 2017-2018 engine service manual it looks like these are intentional oil passages.
https://www.betausa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/trialsservicemanuals/2017-2018 Evo 2 stroke engine service manual .pdf
Could be too much preload on the rear. The front and rear suspensions need to work together and if they are unbalanced the geometry will change in unpredictable ways as the bike responds to terrain and input.
The other thing that makes the front seem to be pushing is bad technique. You steer a trials bike with your feet. By that I mean pressure on the pegs and bending your knees to stay centered. Most riders especially ones coming from enduro bikes have the bad habit of keeping their legs too straight. To compensate they twist their torso and throw their ass to the side. This is a very weak position as there is no way to compensate for variations in speed caused by the terrain. Beta's are especially unforgiving of this. They also reward good technique with being able to turn inside almost any other brand. If you can ride a figure eight on a hillside and stop and balance at any point in the figure eight you are doing it correct. If you find yourself constantly dabbing on the inside of a turn you are riding with your legs too straight. The best way to demonstrate it is to stand on an incline perpendicular to the fall line (facing across the slope). The natural stance is to bend the uphill leg and straighten the downhill leg with your weight evenly distributed. This is exactly what your stance should be on a trials bike during a turn. Shoulders level and weight centered over the line between the contact patches of the tires. As you lean the bike the inside leg/arm straightens and the outside leg/arm bends so the body position doesn't change. That's critical. No leaning into the turn because as soon as you dip a shoulder you're in a much weaker position. Try the same standing on a slope experiment and straighten your legs and pay attention to how you have to rotate your torso and counter balance with your butt. Have a friend knock you off balance in both positions and you'll see how much stronger you are in the proper stance.
It takes practice to make it habit but once you start to get the feel of staying centered you'll be able to turn that thing like it's on rails.
Couple of things with Beta steering bearings. Because of the aluminum frame they tend to take longer to seat so often owners will crank down on the retaining ring to get rid of the front end clunk that develops. This is usually a short term thing as the bearings eventually seat after a few small adjustments and time on the bike. The other thing that is a problem is the top triple clamp before 2018 has no pinch bolt on the steering stem. On every Rev3/EVO I owned before the 2018 the top triple clamp stem hole was machined just a few thousandths too big. I'm sure it made for easier assembly but it also introduced a clunk in the front end that took me months to find. By tightening down the nut above the top clamp the clunk will go away for a short bit but it will return and eventually you can strip the threads on the steering stem. The best solution is to shim the hole but it's a bit of a pain to find the proper material. I used to use Teflon pipe tape wrapped around the stem and trapped between the top clamp and nut. It would stay for about a year before getting compressed and having to be redone. On the last bike I had with this issue I got some brass shim stock and made a thin sleeve to shim the steering stem. That's held for several years now..
Typically this is a titanium nitride coating which is intended to reduce seal stiction. If the forks are properly aligned then the effect is pretty small. More importantly you should ask to pull the water pump cover off and look for corrosion of the case.
You'll get it in time. Right now your conditioned reflexes are tuned to the bicycle but with practice you will develop a new set. You can't force it since you are connecting neural pathways. Time and practice.
You're doing the right thing. Only way to have peace of mind is to tear it apart and be certain but as thall says the most likely is the throttle cable and once it's reseated it's like a little kid saying, "What? Me! No I didn't do it.".
Ignition can't hold the throttle open and the engine won't rev without access to a lot of air so I'd not bother with that line of investigation.
One thing that seems counter intuitive when this happens is to grab the throttle and pin it to full for a split second. It often seats the cable allowing the engine to come back down. Of course when it's revving its nuts off that's the last thing that comes to mind but it often works. As for grabbing the spark wire I'll let the thing explode before I ever do that again. I'm rather fond of my heartbeat.
Gotta be a throttle cable pulled out as noted above. The only other possibility is a split open intake manifold or debris in the carb to hold the slide open. If it was a relatively short term event the bike may be fine. The damage to the owner is severe. If the bike runs OK there is most likely no damage to the top end as the chrome bores are pretty resistant until the piston actually starts fusion welding itself to the bore. If you still have normal compression your rings are not stuck (first clue of a seizure) and you probably dodged the bullet. Best to get into the habit of twisting the throttle before you start the bike and making sure there is a good solid thwock sound from the carb when you let go. Not only is it reassuring but it seats the cable.
As many as possible. I’ll work the first one and may work one of the Vermont days because they are always looking for checkers.
The July event will be pulled from the schedule as the club has cancelled.
Not sure I’d call that clean. Also that’s one of the 3mm thick plates. I take those out and replace with the 2.7mm thick plates on the 2T. What’s that groove in the pads?
I’m out of the 3mm spacers I had made so I can’t send any to you.
Well yes and no. The CDI has a microcontroller in it that looks for a trigger signal. If it see a pulse in the wrong place or just one when its expecting two it's entirely possible for the CDI to get confused and fire at the wrong time. Unless your stator plate is rotated far from where it should be I think you have a bad trigger coil and the CDI is just doing the best with what its got for a trigger pulse. You're correct that there is no real help from Beta for determining how good the stator/CDI is working other than the thing runs.
