dan williams

It doesn't matter where the system looses fluid from it still replenishes from the reservoir. Definitely sounds like a leaky cylinder. Good job of isolating it though the travel of your throwout plate might be smaller than I'd expect.

My latest experiment. Read it on-line (so you know it’s true). Spray helmet with vodka after a ride. So far it seems to work. Doesn’t degrade the foam and is readily available. No information yet if expensive vodka works better or if flavored makes for a better smelling helmet. Lemon might be nice.

Yeah I’m an idiot. Or maybe just a Clarksom fan. Poweeeeerrrrrrr!

Need clarification when you say clutch engaged do you mean lever pulled in? In higher gears you’re going faster which causes your chain to bounce around a lot more. The torque from the engine and loading from the back wheel and deflection of the swing arm make the whole thing a very dynamic system so a little too much chain slack can lead to large swings of the chain both above and below the swing arm. Is your chain tensioner functioning properly? Have you adjusted your chain slack? Is your chain worn? Do you lube your chain? All things to check first.

Thanks to Heather for naming my new bike. Alrighty then. First impression from a section scouting ride not much section riding. It feels a lot like my 2013 300 EVO. Clutch is surprisingly progressive with no stick but pull is harder. Not surprising as the stock spacers have yet to be replaced. Handling and suspension seem very close to the ‘13. Tough to tell though as both ends are just starting to loosen up. The new rear master cylinder makes the rear brake a little more sensitive. Front brake is the same. Engine is still breaking in so it feels a little flat on top and bottom. I can feel a real difference not having the carbon reeds as I stalled quite a few times when the going got tricky where the ‘13 with the VForce carbon reeds would have just grunted and pulled me through. The real shocker is how this bike shifts. The ‘13 has always shifted, well, like a Beta. Notchy, clunky and with a tendancy to drop out of second into neutral if I wasn’t careful to make sure I felt every bit of the shift mechanism clack into place before proceeding. The first crash I had on the ‘13 was from it popping out of second on a climb so it wasn’t just wear. The ‘13 has actually gotten better over time but it’s still clunky. The 2018 snicks into gear like a Japanese street bike. Just a short tap and it’s in a new gear. Downright freaky for a Beta rider. The ignition coil is on the other side of the bike and the CDI seems very exposed dangling down from the right side of the frame. This makes the choke on the Keihin, once difficult to access, now impossible to access. The fuel shutoff is also now much more difficult to get at. The voltage regulator is mounted behind the headlight and is larger with a heatsink. The new stock footpegs are quite nice. The fuel filler neck has a vent tube along with the vent tube on the new gas cap. Brought to you by the Department of Redundency Department. The suspicion is things are being moved around to make way for a future fuel injection system. The larger regulator would certainly lean that way. So that’s about it from day 1. Still feels like the bikes I know and love. Now to start fettling to make it my bike.

You have the needle jet thingy upside down. Common mistake. It’s held in place by the main jet holder.

On a Keihin the hole at the botton is microscopic and can be blocked by a bead of water. I have no idea about the Dellorto. You may be fooled by the size of the opening at the top into thinking the bore is the same all the way. If it is like the Keihin you can bung up the carb by opening it more. The problem with sticking anything mechanical through holes is if what you’re poking in there (wire) is harder than the oriface you can ream it out larger. Something soft like fishing line won’t damage the jet/passages but can peel off threads that you’ll never get out of the hole. Compressed air is the way to go making sure it has some place to come out. You want enough pressure and air flow to dislodge obstructions but not so much pressure it damages o-rings or seals in the carb.

The resevior is only a resevior. Aside from keeping the fluid in the active system filled it’s pretty much out of the circuit once the lever is pulled. The question is do you have a leak somewhere that caused the fluid to need to be replenished by the resevior. First fill the resevior. Then do the simple test of pulling in the clutch and holding it to see if the clutch stays disengaged and the lever pull doesn’t change. If it does you have a leak and it’s time to go hunting. Check all the connection points (banjo bolts) for any sign of leaking fluid. The most common place for leaks and the one that can’t be seen is around the slave cylinder. If that’s leaking you need a rebuild kit. All systems use some fluid as even the microscopic surface of the best hydraulics weep some fluid. So there is still the possibility that this is just a normal loss of fluid or unfilled system and you can just fill it and forget about it.

The reseviors on the Beta have rubber bladders to prevent overfilling so there’s always space for fluid expansion. I don’t know if the Montesa is the same.

Disk brakes are inherently self-adjusting to compensate for disk and pad wear by allowing the pistons in the caliper to have a range of motion which is far greater than their actual working travel. The throw of the pads is very small when actually braking. The majority of the restoring force, the force that pulls the caliper pistons back, comes from the Viton o-rings that seal the pistons in the caliper bores. In a properly working caliper the o-rings will only flex so far before slipping on the outside of the pistons. For example when you rebuild a caliper or even just push the pistons in to change pads you are sliding the o-rings to a new rest position on the piston. When you put the caliper back on the disk you have to keep pumping the brake lever/pedal to push the pistons out far enough to get the o-rings to slide so if it’s working correctly, each pump of the lever slides the o-ring a tiny bit on the piston until you have moved it enough for the piston/pads to be within the working distance of the brake. Once there additional actuations of the lever move the pads out until they contact the disk and can’t displace any further. Since the travel of the pistons is now limited by contact with the disk the o-rings are within their elastic limits and stretch without sliding on the piston. The self adjust is done and now the brake works as intended. When you think about it it’s quite clever. What happens with a bent disk is the disk can force the pistons back into their bores outside of the working distance of the brake. This starts the self adjust cycle again which is why you will have no brakes but can pump them up until they work but as you ride the bent disk pushes the pads back and again you need to pump the lever to get the pads back to working distance. So a bent disk will manifest as almost the opposite of what you are experiencing.

You have the adjustment in too far on the master cylinder. There is a hole between the master cylinder and the reservoir that opens when the brake is fully off. This allows the system to depressurize. When you actuate the brake the piston in the master cylinder moves past the hole so the pressure builds up in the system and actuates the pistons in the caliper. If the adjustment is in too far the hole is never uncovered so the brakes can drag a little, build up heat in the fluid which then expands causing more drag causing more heat continuing until the brakes lock up. The good news is the adjustment is easy. Just make sure the piston in the master cylinder returns all the way bottoming out on the circlip.

Probably fit they just don’t update their catalog. I just found out MotoTassinari doesn’t make the VForce3s for Beta anymore. Bummer as that was usually my first mod.

Ok, I ask because I believe the reason for Beta’s use of the heavy springs is to overcome the friction of the rough tabs so less spring pressure can cause drag and slip. Removing two springs without doing the tab polish is very likely to behave poorly. While the original clutch fix worked like a charm for the old bikes it’s possible Beta’s variations in plates and throw height (3mm, 2.7mm friction plates. Six thin or four thin + two thick friction plates or six thick plates on the four stroke and the two different sliding faces on the metal plates) have made the results of the fix somewhat less predictable. In my experiance the glue application now is much better than it was but the tabs are still rough. Slipping with two springs out is the reason I had the custom spacers made as they add a bit more spring pressure while still being very light. I pick up a 2018 next week so I’ll see what the clutch looks like this year.

Did you do the fix first or just pull a couple of springs?

Done to mine; S3 low compression head. Reduces the need for race gas too. Carbon reeds VForce V351C smooth out the power delivery and make it easier to control. Smaller countershaft sprocket reduces the low speed hit but makes for a lot of compression braking which can surprise you if you’re not careful. Clutch fix. Ride more and get used to it.

Oh I’ve got it. The device focusses cosmic rays through the airbox, (and your crotch). It probably contains a small black hole.

There are patents for improving combustion efficiency by ionizing the air entering an engine. But to ionize enough air to be noticable requires a strong electric field, think that crackling corona discharge you hear under powerlines on a damp day. A whole lot of enegetic photons from a UV source. A source of ionizing radiation, i.e. a block of cesium big enough to kill you or at least drastically damage the dingleberries with a minutes exposure.

Sounds like it’s time for one of these Lojack like devices that transmit location to become stadard issue. The technology is there to make these small enough to be unnoticed and cheap.

TANSTAAFL There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. This is pure snake oil.

Just make sure when you release the lever the piston comes back all the way to rest on the circlip that holds it in the master cylinder. I have crashed and damaged the return spring in the master cylinder but that is unlikely to be your problem as the pressure would force the piston back until it opened the bleed hole. The lever would feel funky but it wouldn’t cause clutch slip. The only other possibility I can think of is you have some weird oil that gets more slippery when hot but that would be some weird stuff indeed.

Sounds more like your lever isn’t returning all the way out and opening the bleed hole into the reservoir. So as the fluid heats up it pressurizes the system and gradually disengages the clutch. Also could be debris blocking the bleed hole.

So did anybody try the bike at the dirtbike show or are you all sworn to secrecy?

It looked sheared off. I’m not trying to incite trouble. Just that this is such a non-trivial failure that it needs to be put out there. I have a lot of friends with TRS bikes who love them.

The stud that attaches the handlebar clamp to the top triple clamp.

I just got a private message from somebody stating their son's bike snapped two and that it was discussed with the US importer Jim Snell who can recommend better studs. This is very serious as it's a major safety issue and really demands a recall/replacement of these studs if not a redesign of the top triple clamp. As the importer is now aware of the issue he opens himself to negligence lawsuits if he doesn't address this. Of course this is also a risk for TRS.