dan williams

Sorted with new carb. Waiting to get the old carb from dealer so I can dissect it and find out why.

I did the rebuild on my '13 with an AJP kit though I believe it is a Grimeca caliper. From what I've read they are made by the same people. Anyway the pistons in the rebuild kit measured out to .003" smaller than what was in there. I split and cleaned out the caliper. Put a little fluid on the replacement seals and slid in the replacement pistons, poured fluid into the brake line hole, reattached the hose that I had ty-wrapped to the handlebar to keep from draining. Remounted the caliper and did the lever pump bleed until there were no bubbles and my front brake is back to excellent. Practical upshot is, don't be afraid of the "AJP" rebuild kit. Works fine.

Good bike but the previous owner was obviously a hack. I feel for ya.

Problems with the IRC and Dunlops on Betas as well. Michelins for me too.

Also make sure the spark is in the right place. Not uncommon to see a sheared woodruff key when the flywheel isn't torqued properly.

I put an S3 low compression head on my 300 and it made the kicking easier. If you're down in Meriden Sunday come give it a try.

The new bikes have a stem pinch bolt on the top triple clamp.

Betas tend to be more front heavy than other bikes. They are good machines but so are the other brands. They all have their peccadillos. With Betas its the trigger coil on stators on bikes before they went to Hall effect sensors, corroding water pump housings, cracked frames on the '09 EVOs, piddly carbs on bikes with Mikunis, Sticky clutches and most recently leaky rear rims when fitted with IRC or Dunlop tires. One thing I like about Beta owners is that when something is screwy they nod their heads and say, Yup, we've seen it. Here's how you fix it." I've noticed a tendency with owners of some other brands to have a bit more of a fanboy attitude and deny there's a problem or blame the owner for using the "wrong technique" and causing breakage. As for looks, I've owned a lot of Betas but I still think the Shercos are amazing looking bikes.

Hmmm I just bought sheets of PTFE to use as optical diffusers for work. Maybe I should try to see if I can make a shim out of the .005 sheet.

Replace with titanium

Love my Betas. Though the TRS looks mighty tasty.

I've never been able to start a GasGas and it always felt to me like there just wasn't enough energy stored from the kick to get it fired easily. Very interesting that a flywheel weight makes that much difference. As for 74, I regularly get my ass handed to me at events by guys in their 60s and 70s. I keep telling them I want to ride like them when I grow up. They just laugh. As they have for the 30 years I've been riding with them.

Depends on economy of scale vs market share gain due to multiple brands. If Sherco selling GasGas bikes steals sufficient market share from other companies it makes good sense. If Sherco selling GasGas bikes steals a large share of market from Sherco probably not. There is a business model that has become fairly common in saturated markets. When the possibility for "organic" growth has stopped due to stagnation of market size growth comes through absorbing your smaller competitors. It's rampant in the semiconductor industry these days.

That Mikuni is a workhorse. If set up per Billy T's instructions it works perfectly and doesn't leak. The only carb I ever swapped out on a trials bike was from the stock Dell'Orto to a Mikuni on my '95 Techno. Since it is a 15 year old bike I'd check the slide, needle and needle jet for wear. Possibly replace the float valve but usually not necessary. Check the floats for wear marks and make sure they aren't rubbing the float bowl gasket. Trim the gasket with an x-a to if necessary. Around here the pilot jets are usually switched to a 27.5. Then go ride. Welcome to the sport.

Heh heh I had to look up "seeger ring". I put the impeller kit in my '13 without any problem. I wonder if Beta thickened up the castings in the newer bikes.

What exactly are they bidding on though? The name? The facilities? The patents? For Sherco I can see it as an expansion of manufacturing capacity. A bicycle manufacturer that makes kids electrics is very interesting. No telling what their plans are. I agree an investment fund is likely to polish it and divest as soon as possible (profitable). Perhaps the bicycle manufacturer is looking to expand into adult electrics. That would be very cool. Just have to wait and see I guess.

The return of the Alpina'ish type of motorcycle. It's been a long time coming. Trail bikes for people that want something they can actually touch their feet on the ground yet with decent performance.

Just curious WTC what mods you have made.

I agree with flat steels. Patterning them just reduces surface area but several people have had luck cutting holes or oil channels to allow oil to escape faster from under the friction pads. Perhaps there is a need for a design that has a quicker engagement just for pros? Maybe something like a continous pad ring and patterned steels like disk rotors to clear oil. It would be interesting to see what difference having engine driven steels and transmission fibers would make too.

A ride on one might just push me over the decision threshold too. We need Ryan to come up to Mass to sell us on it.

Come to think of it I had a front brake acting odd because I crashed and the lever hit with enough force to deform the return spring in the master cylinder.

My EVO's fronts were sticking as well. Tried all the above to no effect. Try the above first though especially the lever play. I ended up rebuilding the caliper which wasn't a bad job at all and it fixed the sticking.

I was kind of wondering that myself.

I wonder if Beta got a bit over extended. With GasGas going under Beta could sell everything they could produce perhaps even a few bikes that shouldn't get out the door? It's not an uncommon scenario when a manufacturer falls into a windfall of demand.

Probably not but since he said he just replaced his pack I thought it might be a third party plate set and those have been known to suffer the too much glue issue.