dan williams

Titanium isn't stronger than steel for an equal amount of material. It is stronger as a strength to weight ratio. Depending on the alloy (titanium 6AL4V) is stiffer but will micro-fracture when flexed beyond its elastic limit. Like aluminum bending it back weakens it severely. Anyone who's had a street riding friend sit on their trials bike while the stand's down knows how easily they bend. Street riding friend is always shocked but never offers to pay for a replacement I've noticed.

I just put a bunch of titanium screws on my bike. I'm a big fan of the bling factor. Any effect on my riding? Nope. Sheer vanity. I will say the titanium pipe on my '08 gave it a lovely growl.

Only twice the price? You must have connections.

If you're new to trials bikes you may be unaccustomed to how much compression a trials bike actually has. It's not uncommon to be sitting in line at a section and be hit by a pulse of air from a bike some distance away. A healthy bike will sound poppy at low RPM.

It's all shape. The pipe material has no effect on engine characteristics. The main benefit is weight saving. One downside is the titanium header seems to be hotter near the exhaust port than a steel pipe. Possibly because titanium is not as good of a thermal conductor as steel so it doesn't distribute the heat as well. If you can find a copy of Gordon Jenning's book, "The Two-Stroke Tuner's Handbook" on-line (I've seen it as a PDF somewhere) it does an excellent job of explaining wave behavior in an exhaust system. As odd as it seems electrical signals behave in exactly the same way. When I started to get into laying out transmission lines on circuit boards it all seemed very familiar because of my understanding of expansion chambers.

Do you have an exhaust leak at the header?

I don't believe there is packing in the mid box, just baffles.

Haven't heard that one before but interesting.

Yes very common to roll them forward.

IKB replica washers installed. Now to just ride the beast and see what it's like.

Beta used the Mikuni from '86 to '94. Dellorto was only on the '95. I hated it because you couldn't get jets then. Swapped it out for a Mikuni. Ran much better. At the time the Delorto was a new design and had two piece pilot jet assembly. Beta went back to the Mikuni in '96 and stayed with the VM26-208 until 2008 when they switched to the Keihin PWK.

No reason you can't put one in parallel with a traditional push button. I also am not keen on the elastic as it seems like a stupid way to do things that it will smack you every time it comes off. The non-stretch lanyard from Microcenter fits the magnet. I think the better answer is something that senses RPM and whether both hands are on the bars and then limits the engine speed and then shuts down after 10 seconds. The elastic really doesn't seem like a well thought out "solution"

There's always bringing it to events. Not only trials as enduro riders are likely to buy one just for cross training if the price is reasonable.

YES! Good work sorting it out.

...and another thing, the failure isn't at the world level. The failure is local as that is where the sport grows from. People often bemoan the lack of competition at the top. Nobody starts at the top. Taking care of the beginners and newbys is what builds the sport. Unfortunately it's a process that takes decades to get a healthy crop of world riders and it starts with the beginners.

There's a niche sport and there's a dead or dying sport. There are fewer spectators because there are fewer riders. There are fewer riders because there are fewer spectators to say, "Hey that looks like fun. I think I'll try it." There are fewer dealers because there are fewer riders. There are fewer trials clubs because they can't make enough money to cover expenses. There are fewer places to ride because there are fewer clubs. The largest manufacturer of trials bikes just went belly up. This may not seem a big deal in England because there are so many clubs but it's coming. Here in the states we're slowly going back to an unknown sport as the best riders leave for X-games and Nuclear Cowboyz. No major press shows up to the nationals. Sponsorship is some local garage owned by a rider or a local deli. Dad's just making an observation. The knee jerk reaction is always the same and is the reason the sport is shrinking.

It occurred to me today that the calculated clutch preload is probably a bit different with the two thick friction plates on the new bikes. Anybody got one of them plates and a caliper handy? I gave mine away. Actually I gave my whole 2013 clutch pack away.

Where's the button for me to like this whole thread. Damn good looking machine. Congrats on the new bike.

Nice bike. Look at the clutch fix pinned to the top of the Beta forum. I believe Beta and Sherco use the same friction plate supplier so the fix may help your bike. You didn't buy a turd. What you got there is a very capable machine. Oh yeah, it's better to have slightly too little gear oil than, well, a poopload too much. Don't do ATF. Makes Beta clutches grabby as hell. Great for experts but not for a newby.

That's not a lot of range.

The spacers are..... still coming. They were supposed to be here Friday. I wait with baited breath. Kind of a disgusting phrase that.

You would hope that when you get a bike, or have to buy "matching" case halves they would at least machine some of the surfaces and holes with them bolted together. Otherwise what's the point. Sounds like you're on the right trail though. Pity there's no substitute for taking it apart and having a good eyeball. Something I have to do with my front caliper. It's sticking on and I'm wobbly enough without the bike making control decisions for me.

Yeah could be a leaky center case gasket. Check your case screws.

Oh yeah second the "Don't pull the HT lead" comment. Did that once. Never again. I'll let a motor blow itself to smithereens before I try that maneuver again.

See the top of the Beta forum for a clutch fix. I think it should work for the Sherco as I believe they buy their clutch plates from the same supplier. Thus the same sticking problem. All the suggestions for checking air leaks are good. Taking the cable out of the throttle housing and making sure it snaps back with a loud thwock from the carb body. There is the obvious chech of the idle screw. I'm not sure WD40 is useful for leak detection anymore. I'd heard they stopped using propane as a propellant though I could be wrong. Starter fluid will work. Spray in short bursts and let dissipate between. You don't want to be in a big cloud of ether when you are taunting a sparking machine.