dan williams

Ron Commo was also riding Fantics in '89

I had a CMT310 with the Hiro motor. I could never get the thing to run properly. Different carb, the only spare cylinder in the US, months of engine noodling then one day when I was setting the ignition timing for the umpteenth time I noticed something odd. As I revved up the engine the timing retarded! This WTF moment was a real head scratcher. After reviewing my options I realized I only had one and swapped the two wires going to the CDI. From then on the thing purred like a kitten. That is a kitten that got traded in for a Rotax powered Can-Am (Armstrong) So try throwing a timing light on it just to make sure your advance is advancing.

What are you using for coolant?

I would normally agree but a ten+ year old bike could have sacked front springs especially if it was stored or often transported with the forks compressed. I'll tell you this, I went up to the higher rate front and rear springs on my EVO and the bike handles much better now.

I've found both Jitse and TRP made springs for your bike.

Possible it's missing a spacer. I seem to remember a 1.5 inch plastic spacer on the early forks but I could be mistaken. The springs could just be sacked out. Could try the old Bultaco trick of dropping an old chevy valve spring on top. I don't see any heavier springs listed for that year bike but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Try calling Saunders Extreme.

Steve, I checked day one in Vermont with a couple friends but we had to bag the second day as one of my friends has some health issues and was hypothermic after day one so we weren't going to risk it. Instead we went and visited Ron and Lana for a few hours. We didn't know they were moving the next week so it was the best visit. we told stories and laughed and got a little teary eyed. So yeah the Commo clan have always been much more than a dealer to me. I consider them family.

Funny that the genesis of this thread was me ordering a couple of NZI carbon helmets from Spain because I couldn't find them here. My email to a major dealer about price and availability of the Mots carbon went unanswered. That bugs me no end. It's not like I haven't supported local dealers over the years but if I can't try it on I might as well buy from europe for less money. I am greatful that the discussion has been mature.

Avatar change in honor of Zippy. Yow sir. Yow!

Yes unfortunately it's become the new morm. Even before Commo was the importer he always had a large stock of parts. He also was race support at the nationals. The new leaner model of business isn't just trials. Go into a local bike shop and ask about anything off road and you're likely to get a blank stare.

Should change your moniker to That's an Expert! Bad mojo using an aluminum/steel or magnesium/steel contact as a main circuit ground. Beta did that with a lug on the triple clamps for a while and it was a really stupid idea. You might want to run a separate ground wire if possible just to be on the safe side. A high resistance ground with electronics, especially ones that deal with high current pulses, is just asking for trouble.

There's a critcal mass necessary to support any sales infrastructure. The term is SAM serviceable available market. Good explanation on Wikipedia, as always. Unfortunately as trials shrinks the SAM drops below the point where it can support large numbers of dealers carrying inventory. This is a problem as the way trials is structured most dealers have a group of riders that form around the dealer. The dealers become a nexus for local clubs. This is why the megadealer undercutting prices is detrimental to the overall health of the sport. Poaching a few deals here and there is no problem but drive the small dealers out of business and the SAM shrinks as local groups dissolve. Eventually the megadealer fails and you hope the market can reset and go back to a distributed market and resume growth but if SAM has dropped too low that may not happen.

I keep hearing that and I once believed it but the expert help isn't expert anymore and nothing is stocked so what is the value added?

With the loss of my favorite dealer (Commo) I'm finding it easier, and for the most part cheaper (if I buy enough stuff to cover shipping) to just order on-line from Europe. Anybody else finding this to be the case. I'm all for supporting the local dealer but find it hard to justify when all they do is make a phone call to the same distributer who drop ships it to me.

You go wildman.

Wow, that simply bearings site is impressive.

...and the chocolate. Oh GOD the chocolate! The "Belgofries" not so much.

Get him into the technique of working the rear brake against the clutch/throttle as well.

0.4mm to 0.6mm is a pretty small range. Sounds more like just making sure the actuator pulls back enough to disengage but not too much. As Cope pointed out the thingus is supposed to be self adjusting so the effect of the shims without some range limiting mechanism is kind of meaningless.

The above suggestions are spot on. Also worth noting is some clutches like the Beta use heavier springs than necessary. Lighter springs can help with the tendonitis though you may get some slip in top gear. A 200 with a reworked clutch sounds perfect for you.

You could try less oil with thinner viscosity. Overfilling the box can cause drag and Billy Traynor did a nice bit on different oils.

Great. Hope to see you at some NETA events this year.

When you actuated the clutch without the ball you caused the piston in the slave cylinder to hyper extend. Sometimes the piston gets stuck because it usually won't travel out that far. You might want to open the bleed valve to see if the piston comes back from spring pressure. Unfortunately sometimes the over travel damages the seal in the slave cylinder.

Hi Bestrial, Sorry I didn't get back sooner. Busy week. Yeah the newest EVOs have the different plate setup and it does preload the clutch pack springs a little more which makes for a more abrupt engagement. Still slippage shouldn't occur even with the old setup of all six plates the same. You could try the light sanding of the steel plates. What are you running for oil? If you're using anything that has some super slippery additive like PTFE (Teflon) you could be reducing the friction. You also have to be mindful of what oil was used in the past as some oils could contaminate the plates and change their friction characteristics. Something like Prolong or slick50 would probably really screw up a wet clutch. Even going from just one type of gear oil to another requires a few changes to get it to completely switch behavior. I don't think free play in the clutch throw-out bearing is all that big a deal as that is sort of self adjusting and as long as it comes back to a position where it's not exerting any pressure against the bearing it should be fine.

Google 2000 Beta Rev3 for images of the bike with a kick stand. I seem to remember the bolts being on the inside or underside of the swing arm. I probably still have the one from my bike floating around as that's usually the first thing I take off. Then again for all I know you could have my old bike since you're in New England.