dan williams

Also check to make sure the floats are not rubbing on the bowl gasket. There's not a lot of clearance and sometimes you have to get in with an exacto-knife and trim the gasket.

If the bolts are snug then it's probably normal free play for a floating disc. Many hubs have been ruined by people thinking there should be no disc movement and cranking down on the screws.

The surface finish of the triple clamp is anodized. Aluminum oxide = insulator. I know, I stuck a meter on it just to be sure. As for how I diagnosed the problem with my bike, when it was new the lights and the kill switch didn't work until one time I hit the kill switch with the light switch on. The lights came on briefly as the engine died. Look at the schematic and figure out where the current goes if the ground lug is floating. If both switches are on the kill switch finds ground through the lamp filaments. Feeding a high voltage low current signal (ignition) through a high current low voltage signal (lighting) is bad. Beta included a diode in the kill switch circuit on the '08 to prevent this from happening. Ah I see the reason for the confusion, the diagram above is how it should be wired. Sorry, grabbed the wrong diagram this morning as I was rushing to get to work. I'll explain better when I get home. Just another note that I don't think the manual's schematic is entirely correct as when I dug through the wiring it looked like the lights and horn actually run directly off the ac provided by the stator lighting coils. That would kind of make the diode a moot point.

Here is a series of schematics I drew while chasing a wiring problem on my 08. The first is how it should be wired with a separate ground for the kill switch which is routed to the frame. I connected mine to a point on the tab that the regulator mounts to as well as the mounting bolt of the ignition coil. The second is what it looks like in the manual. The little red arrows were to show how current can flow when the ground lug connected to the triple clamp is making poor contact. Suggest you use a two wire kill switch. One lead to black/white wire and other side to frame. I wired mine to a lug on the ignition coil mounting. The factory Beta wiring has all grounds return to a lug under the headlight. An extremely bad idea because if the ground contact fails then the current from the lighting switch and the kill switch feed directly into each other.

Just a guess but I think it's probably original. Honda's been using Keihins for years as oem.

Do the clutch mod. Problem solved.

Reading their "About us" blurb it's pretty clear they have an over-inflated sense of their own abilities. "We know more about Cams than say Honda or Porsche or Yamaha today", Seriously? EDIT: Oh I looked up X-Lite and it sent me to a pigeon English website. I guess I was in the wrong neighborhood.

I'm thinking this was just your basic local bike shop mechanic and not an experianced Beta/trials mechanic. For future reference a short across the thermo-switch will usually tell you if it's the thermostat. The fans are known to die occasionally. The stator lighting coils almost never and regulators are pretty rare. When a stator goes on the ignition side it's usually the trigger coil that gives up.

I do know Beta replaced a lot of frames on the '09 EVOs. I've seen the shelves of the US importer with the chopped off headstocks. (makes sure the frames are not used again) I think Shirty would step up if it was a manufacturing defect.

With the loose top clamp you can place a finger behind the stem nut on the top triple clamp and feel movement while rocking the bike back and forth with the front brake on. That nut can't hold tight enough to prevent the torque from moving the misfit pieces. The clearance must be dealt with. With the bearings not seated you can feel movement placing a finger between the top race and steering head of the frame.

"It is easy to check by either using your wife's lipstick (or yours)" Thanks Billy for starting my day with a laugh and the always sage advice.

Yeah my '08 had the top triple clamp hole too big. Some thin Teflon tape took care of it but I'd prefer something that didn't cold flow like Teflon. That's why I'd like to try the Kynar tape on the '13.

First event on the new bike answered my question of, "Will this bike have the same head clunk as every other Beta I've owned?" The short answer is yes. Every inattentive hit to the front end was met with a clunk through the bars. I've seen two reasons for this on Betas; First because the bearing races don't fully set into the aluminum steering head and require a retightening every few rides for the first month or so to settle in. Second because the top triple clamp stem hole is not the correct size being slightly too big so once the tension of the initial assembly loosens up the top clamp moves back and forth on the stem. Neither is acceptable as far as I'm concerned so the front end is coming apart for a little inspection this week. I'll try to document the procedures for your entertainment. Now if I can just get my hands on some thin kynar tape. Also thinking of going back up one size to the stock pilot jet as it was slightly laggy off idle. Other than that I gotta say it is an amazingly stable chassis.

If you want to change it just sign up to check and enforce the rule as written. It'll change.

It's glue. It's not just between the fiber pads. It's on the tabs and splashed all over some of the plates. Brand new plates that never saw the inside of a transmission had the same goop all over them.

My as---embly, as you put it, is fine since I landed on my head.

Curiously I had my first crash on my 2013 yesterday. Snicked it up into second, got halfway up a hill and it popped into neutral. Fortunately the rock at the bottom of the hill broke my fall. Got to test my new helmet as well. Popped out a few more times during the day with less dramatic results. Something to be wary of methinks.

Dude it could be hot pink with bat guano accents and I'd still want it!

Oooh, hell with the Beta I want one of these!

Well, finally got out for a day to ride the new bike. Once I got used to it a bit I tried riding the '08 and what a difference. I couldn't ride the '08 to save my life. Couldn't find traction, couldn't balance. Granted this was on snow and icy ground but wow. Hopping back on the '13 it all seemed so easy. I guess I can sell the '08 now. Ah, there goes a snow plow. Yup one day of riding on a few small patches of semi-bare ground and last night another foot of snow. Dammit!

... or I might be Shaft! Damn right! chunka chunka waa waa Only kids from the 70s will get that reference.

I warned you I might be daft.

Yup big gap and flimsy material for light weight. The two shaft thing is my opinion and may be daft but in other types of bikes I've noticed three transmission shafts. I think the mechanics of getting five speeds out of a two shaft transmission might make for more torque required in the actuator mechanism to get a positive gear change.

Here's how you cure a bad rule. Enforce it exactly as written. Once the fives start piling up for momentary stops the yelling will begin. Then the instructions to not take the rule so literally. But keep enforcing it as written and it will be withdrawn. Or nobody volunteer to check. That'll also cure the situation.

Long aluminum gear lever and two shaft transmission to save weight.