dan williams

Yup perfectly normal. Beginning of season after winter layoff kills me even with going to the gym. You have to get used to a whole new riding position and as a newby you are probably much tighter in the core trying to hold the bike going where you want it to go. After a while you'll get used to the position and learn to relax and let your legs do the work of steering the bike. Unless you are really tall riser bars will just mess with your riding position and get you into bad habits. Make sure your bars are forward enough. A lot of guys start out with their bars too far back. This takes away a lot of the normal leverage you gain from opening up the rider space. The bars should be perpendicular to the ground or slightly forward. Remember to keep your knees bent and out from the bike and steer with pressure from your legs. When your back hurts take a break. Your body is telling you it's under stress and trying to do anything while a muscle is in spasm increases the risk of injury and will get you into bad habits that will pop out at the most inopportune time. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. After a while you'll get back on a "normal" bike and wonder how anybody can ride the things.

I have one on my 300 Beta and it helps. Low RPM power is still all you could ask for and the hit on top is still plenty. Only odd thing is wide open top of the rev range it starts misfiring. Not sure why but it might be the lower compression head is slowing the flame front so not fully burning the mixture. Haven't really figured it out yet and since it's only an issue chasing fast friends down fire roads it isn't a bother. I do recommend the VForce carbon reeds. I know the same cage fits the Sherco and Beta. It smooths out the power and lets the bike pull a gear higher. Makes it almost impossible to stall.

Very funny Billy.

Just need to get in shape. Round is a shape! I'm in the same area as heffergm and I could ride for another 30 years and never get out of the novice line.

Same here. Slippery from the frozen ground but enough bare ground to ride. Last few days with a couple of good snows and it'll be several weeks now before I can get into the woods. C'est La Vie.

Those look very much like the original clutch pack from my '13 which I gave away in favor of using 6 of the older plates that I had already cleaned up. They are cleaner than the older bikes at least as far as glue application.

or the buttery smooth clutch of the Fantic 305.

If you like the Beta good. Come join us. Feel the power of the dark side. Insert evil Palpatine laugh here.

I keep my VP C-12 in its original 5gal can until I need to mix up a batch. Then it's into a steel jerry can as temp storage and for filling the aluminum fuel bottles I use for transport/filling. If you keep it in an airtight, UV blocking container it should last forever. Gas degrades for three reasons; Oxygen, fuel burns by oxidizing. Temperature, pressure and heat accelerate this process but it still happens at atmospheric pressure and room temperature just much slower and some of the additives in modern pump gas are more prone to this degradation than say tetraethyl lead. Moisture, alcohol used in pump gas absorbs water from the atmosphere. Once this is in solution with the fuel it's possible for other compoments to steal oxygen fron the absorbed water leaving free hydrogen. I suspect the waxy buildup you find in pumpgas that's sat too long in a poorly sealed container (or carb) is a relative of the hydrolyzed oil that makes margarine. UV, UV light is high energy photons. If the energy of a photon is above what's called the "work function" of an atom it is capable of knocking an electron right off the atom. This is the basis of chemical reactions as that atom is going to look around at its neighbors and try to steal an electron from the weakest one of them. And that atom will steal from one of its weaker neighbors and so on. This tends to break down complex hydrocarbons, which are already none too stable to begin with, changing the behavior of the fuel. Fortunately very little of the sun's UV gets through the atmosphere and the residual is blocked by most plastics. So yeah keep it light tight and air tight with a minimum volume of trapped air in the container and any fuel should last a good long time. VP C-12 is as stable as it gets. The VP unleaded stuff is probably slightly less stable but still worlds better than pump gas. I apologize for the spewage but we got a foot of snow a few days ago and are expecting another foot tonight so I can't ride and my mind is running open loop.

You can expect to burn yourself every time you fall on it. For some reason the titanium pipes are always hotter. In my experiance the difference is minimal. You get much more benefit from buying a set of jets and taking the time to properly tune the bike. In general the length of the header pipe determines the tuning. Long header pipes are better for low end power as they have resonances tuned for lower RPM. The shorter pipes are great for the high RPM expert leaps but difficult to control for the average plonker. The pipe material really has no effect on the engine behavior. The pipe could be made of cheese and would work the same as long as it held its shape. Unless you're pushing your bike to the limit the main effect is probably psychological (and financial). Not to mention the spirit-crushing post-crash realization you just dented your $400 titanium pipe. Been there, done that, only it was an Akropovik. if you want one and can afford it go for it. But it won't make as big a difference in useful performance as a set of carbon fiber reeds.

As above. The master cylinder has a hole that allows fluid from the reservoir to replenish the system when the lever is fully let out. When you use the brake the fluid gets heated and expands. Normally not a problem as the pressure in the system is relieved every time the lever is returned to full rest and the hole is uncovered releasing the pressure into the reservoir. Some people will try to get the lever to stay closer to the bars by tightening the set screw that adjusts the lever position at rest too far. What happens is the piston in the master cylinder never returns all the way to the rest position so it never uncovers the hole to the reservoir. Pressure builds up in the brake system causing brake drag which makes more heat which builds more pressure which causes more drag.... Eventually the brake is stuck full on and the lever won't move. This can also happen if the hole to the brake reservoir gets blocked. There have been reports of cylinders with debris or misdrilled holes but I'd go for the simple solution first and check that when the lever is at rest the piston in the master cylinder is returning all the way against the circlip. Same thing happens on the clutch side though in that case it causes clutch slippage.

We all do.

You may have to pull the caliper and clean the piston bores. I plan to do the same to my '13. Worth a rebuild kit or at least replace the O-ring seals. I had to do my front caliper last year and no amount of finagling would fix it until I "bit the bullet" and just rebuilt the damn thing. Works perfect since. The Lampkin replica is a '99 so I'd say she probably deserves some TLC by this point.

A very sharp looking bike Heather. I take it no more demo rides? ?

I suspect we're not right in the head.

Hey Grant, Did you buy a Vertigo?

Set of main bearings went in my '05 from sitting in storage too long. Sounded like a rock crusher. Bike ran great but I had it fixed before it went catastrophic.

In my case has a lot to do with pulling my fat ass out of trouble... mud, hills, bushes etc. A 300 need not be tuned for max power. There's no denying that low end torque is mighty useful and I find fine control easier with the larger displacement detuned then a smaller engine. But Ron Commo Sr. always said a clubman didn't need anything bigger than a 125.

Check ignition timing. Check carb jetting. Look for case leaks around the crank and specifically under the reed housing. Check the condition of the reed. Use good quality fuel. Look for splits in the air boot between the carb and intake manifold. Remember a cold engine is a lean engine so air leaks are a possibility. Does it get better with the choke just slightly open? Does it change with mixture screw position? Gotta do the homework.

I have been fortunate enough to have ridden several friends' works bikes over the years (no I'm not worthy) and no they won't magically turn you into Toni Bou or any other rider far above what you can do on a regular old production bike. This is aptly demonstrated every time an expert hops on a duffer's bike and makes it do things that seem unnatural. The factory riders are so close in ability that any slight advantage is magnified by small differences in the machines but the one thing that was consistent on the factory bikes I sampled was impeccable setup. There wasn't a stutter anywhere in the power delivery, the brakes were powerful and predictable and the suspension was finely tuned. All things achievable with a standard bike if the time is put into it. A lot of the stuff you see on Toni's bike isn't for some super trick reason. It's there because he puts demands on his engine and frame that go far beyond what mere mortals can. Machining a billet case to make sure he doesn't break his engine in half mid-trial from repeated full throttle splatters is just smart engineering. He probably has things like stronger gears and shifter forks, thicker woodruff keys, reinforced frame welds, stronger connecting rod... All things that would make absolutely no difference to us wobblers and paddlers. But when you start into the custom components it adds up very quickly and a half Mil doesn't buy what it used to. As for making the duffer think he's Toni Bou I think we're all adults here. We all know putting down that piece of pie and practicing for an hour more would improve us more than having Toni's bike. Come to think of it how many of us actually take the time to tune our highly adjustable suspensions or have a jet kit to get that throttle response just the way we want it?

Mikuni has three tubes out of the float bowl. One is the actual overflow. It's the tube that comes out the bottom of the float bowl. The two brass fittings that come out of the side of the Mikuni are air vents to the float bowl. Beta made the mistake of using too long plastic tubes on these vents. The tubing goes below the floatbowl so if any fuel gets splashed up into the tubing it acts like a siphon and will keep peeing fuel until it's stopped or the tank runs dry. The solution is simple and free. Nipper a small hole in both tubes about half way up the carb body. That way any fuel that gets splashed into the tube either runs down to the end of the tube or flows back into the float bowl but the siphon stops.

Could have way too much preload also. New riders often crank up the preload thinking their trials suspension is "sacked out" The end result is a too bouncy suspension that is essentially a hardtail over small bumps and a pogo stick over large bumps. Another thing to consider is the balance front to rear. Too much preload on one end or the other tends to do odd things to the handling. Both suspensions should be extremely compliant and track small obstacles or you'll forever be dropping points on the little bumps setting up for hits.

Check the color of the throttle tube. (the plastic part the grip is on) There are two types, a white tube for quick throttle and a black tube for slow throttle. If you have the white tube you should get hold of the slower black tube as it will take some of the whisky throttle out of your life. Also remember you are new. You will get used to the throttle response of a trials bike and eventually you will start to rely on it but it takes a bit of a learning curve to get used to it. As noted the gear lever is high and far from your foot to prevent inadvertent shifts from your foot and the rocks you'll be riding through. After a while you'll not even notice that shifting is a foot off the peg affair. Shifting is rarely done in sections and certainly not necessary in the sections a new rider will ride. Welcome to the sport. It can be a lifelong obsession once you get past the initial weirdness of it all.

I'm late to the party but.... This looks to me like there was a "mild" heat/lube failure at some point. Stuck throttle type of event. I can't be sure from the pics but it looks like the aluminum from the piston isn't scratched so much as smeared. The electrofusion bore is so much harder than the piston that when this happens the aluminum is friction welded onto the cylinder wall. The cylinder itself is usually undamaged under the friction welded aluminum. This is sometimes removed with a chemical etchant that will dissolve the aluminum without affecting the nickel/chromium cylinder wall followed by a light hone. The best stuff for this kind of work is not something you want to play with at home and if you get it on the aluminum part of the cylinder bad things happen. The placement of the damage at the exhaust port bridge also points to a seizure. This isn't "normal" wear for a piston. I agree with Copemech though, send it to a pro but also make sure your mixture, timing and cooling system are working properly or you run the risk of repeating this.

Hi Steve, I did ping Dale but got no answer. No biggie, I'm sure Dale is a busy guy and he probably had no info at that time anyway. Besides he's Dale, and everybody likes Dale.