dan williams

Unless the bike was ridden every day a piston is unlikely to need replacement from wear. Watercooled electrofusion lined cylinders don't wear pistons like the old steel sleeves unless a lot of dirt gets in. Having said that I realize it doesn't answer the question but newbies to trials bikes from other disciplines where pistons are changed like socks often make the mistake of thinking the need a new one. have him check his rings first. If the cylinder is clean and shows no wear and the piston is undamaged it's probably fine. The will be a bit of play in any bearing that operates hot when examined cold. Have him examine it for flat spots or damage to the rollers and cage or scratches in the top of the connecting rod. If it looks good it probably is.I think I torque head bolts to 15.5 N/m but to be sure search this forum for "torque" and you should find a thread from a few years ago with a bunch of torque specs which I don't think have changed for many years. Found it searching for "torque settings". http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/topic/28936-torque-settings/

Sorry, I spend all day with other engineers and forget to be clear. If you have a bad connection it looks like a resistor so anything that doesn't draw a lot of current, like a voltmeter, will be relatively unaffected but something like the fan that needs a big pulse of current at startup might not operate. Ohm's law says E=IxR Voltage = Current x Resistance so if the resistance is low like a proper ground connection a lot of current can flow without a voltage drop. With something like a loose connection where an oxide layer builds up the resistance of the connection causes a voltage drop as more current is drawn. The same effect you see when your lights dim when the ac comes on. The high current draw of the ac causes a voltage drop because of the resistance of the wires. Does that help or did I just make it worse?

Why are you apologizing for a possible solution that vexes us all regardless of brand. Well done sir.

I know the fan takes a fairly robust supply to start. I had one in the lab once and had to set the current limit of the supply I was using to test the fan at 10A to get it to start. Running current was much less but the initial draw is quite large so a resistive ground can be problematic.

I remember on my '08 the lights came directly off the coil and only the fan went through the rectifier/regulator. I'd have to look at the schematic for your bike to see if that is the same.

and cut back the wire.

Did you replace the plug cap?

Overkill? Hell yes! Awesome bike to start out with? OH YEAH! Congratulations. The new bikes have different ignition systems with the stator on the cover meaning a smaller internal rotor. I believe the crank wheels were modified to provide more rotating mass. I'm not sure how that affected the charge handling in the crankcase. The factory bikes also have a different exhaust system. Compared to my 2013 standard 300 the 2014 Factory 300 felt lighter and softer off the bottom of the throttle without the hit on the top that my bike had before I changed to the low compression head. Just like my bike there is torque available right off idle. I think the only change I'd make on the bike I rode would be to turn up the idle. It's that good. Oh yeah, the clutch was perfect. Unfortunately the weather didn't allow for anything more than a brief ride

Finally got to try out my buddy's 300 Factory today. Good god is that a pretty machine in person! I figured it would be a beast of a motor. Man, did I have it wrong. What a sweet,tractable motor.

No worries.

I've never had an easy time starting GasGas. The 2013 EVO 300 I have is easy to start but as stated you can't pussyfoot it or it can kick back. About three months ago I put an S3 low compression head in and it got easier to kick. Also mellowed the savage hit on top to something a little more user friendly.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed "the ballet of motorcycling" perfomed on the Zero was often "The nutcracker" Still I loved my '91

As I've said before the best way to get rid of a stupid rule is to enforce it. Exactly as written. Partial enforcement is like having no rules or worse different rules for different riders.

Odd my 2013 is a hex.

As far as looking for cracks it's easy to mistake cracks in the anodizing surface treatment for cracks in the aluminum. A fact shown to me by Ron Commo Sr. when I asked him about what looked like fractures on a Techno frame. He grabbed a piece of steel wool and ground down that section of frame to bare aluminum. Pointed to the now unblemished bare metal and said, "See, no problem" Not one to waste time that man.

I remember the Top Team bikes were black framed. Maybe that is the seller's definition of "factory". You should be able to get frame numbers off the headstock which should give year infomation. I know in the US the importer had to cut the head off of any 09 that had the frame replaced to make sure the old frame couldn't be reused. I think that effectively retired the original VIN.

I love the in-oven shot.

Hmmm late to this party but.... I put an S3 low compression head on my 300 Beta to make it less of an animal. Much cheaper option then a full cylinderectomy. It's a good mod. Keeps the grunt while removing the brutal hit on top. Well reducing it at least.

I seem to remember there was a stretch where GasGas was having a problem with Marzocci. Political or financial I don't remember but there was an issue that caused a shortage that slowed production. Perhaps you got an oddball proto bike. I also don't remember ever seeing the logo on the top of the slider on a Beta.

Here's hoping. Cheaper is better.

Any results yet?

... as lineaway says this could be a stator starting to go but try the cheap stuff first.

Hopefully just a need for a couple mm cut off the spark plug wire and a new plug cap. It sounds like it's not the plug but the removal and replace of the cap that is repairing the bad contact in the wire/cap junction. Try removing the plug cap and nipping off the end of the wire and screwing the old plug cap back on. Note: I don't remember if the stock cap unscrews. If not pardon my ignorance.

Hmmm. Learn something new every day.

Yeah not a typical trials thing to do. Usual idle adjust is; Are you stalling in sections? Turn idle up. Does the vibration when you're sitting in line waiting to ride a section tickle your gentleman bits? Turn idle down. Two stroke dirt bikes are notoriously unpredictable with inductive pickups. One other thing I've noticed on the beta flywheel is two trigger magnets 180 degrees apart. Whether this causes the ignition to fire twice or just serves to ping the microcontroller in the CDI with a timing signal to set advance I don't know.