dan williams

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.

Make sure you don't have the lever adjusted in too far. At the rest position for the lever the piston in the master cylinder should be all the way out resting on the circlip. It's common for people to adjust the lever such that the piston doesn't return all the way so it never uncovers the resevoir. What happens in that case is the system is closed so it never equalizes fluid pressure that builds up as the fluid heats causing the clutch (or brake) to be partially on. With the clutch it's like feathering the lever. The reason a clutch slips first in the higher gears is because the load on the engine is much greater. On a trials bike the top gears are loop gears and spaced much further apart than the lower 3-4 gears.

Er, not really sure what the question was. Do the tab fix glue clean to the fiber plates. Check that the basket grooves aren't notched. Use a good gear oil and you should be good to go.

The desciption of the sneaky ball escape made me smile.

When I got my 300 dropped the needle thinking it was a bit rich. Wrong direction, I ended up with it next to the bottom groove. Second richest needle position and it runs much sweeter. Only way for you to really know is to try it and see. Each bike is a bit different.

It's not that common for a watercooled engine to warp the head without seizing up other stuff. Usually it's pretty clear you have to stop before it reaches the point of warping the head. Is the head leaking fluid? Did you fix the radiator? Cooling systems work by being pressurized. Under pressure the boiling point of water goes up. That's why a pin hole in the cooling system can cause a boilover. The system never pressurizes properly so the boiling point of the water stays low and when it reaches the boiling temperature the water undergoes a phase change turning to water vapor and causing a rapid and dramatic rise in the system pressure which opens the safety in the cap. I'm inclined to think you still have a small leak somewhere. Then again I could just be full of hot water.

Awesome. Now go out there and ride the beastie.

Worn bearings pretty much means damaged seals. Two things happen with worn crank seals, air leaks into the crankcase during the negative pressure phase causing a lean mixture that is dependent on RPM and loading. Impossible to compensate for with jetting. This also reduces crankcase pressure causing a loss of power at higher RPM where cranking pressure should be highest.The other effect is transmission oil leaking into the bottom end further weirding out the mixture. I think once he gets it back together, hopefully with a set of rings (why the hell not?) the bike will run like the proper beast it is.

Excellent, a fun toy, a place to play and friends to play with. It don't get no better.

It looks good. Nice restoration.

I've got nothing for you on this except gears always seem harder to shift when the motor's on the bench and you're doing it by hand. To be honest Beta's are notchy shifters anyway.