dan williams

Didn't notice you are on a 125. I gotta agree with ShercoRider. The 125 needs a whole different attitude then us lazy big bore riders have. I still like the reeds for helping low down chug but that's limited on a 125. Clutch and throttle are your best friends for hard acceleration.

Since I'm doing a set now I suppose it's time for me to drag out the camera and document the procedure. Will post in a few days. Really.

Sorry I didn't get to this earlier. Busy at work and then flu. The heavy springs are there to compensate for the friction of the rough fiber plate tabs. If you just pull two springs without doing the whole procedure you will end up with a worse performing clutch, with a light pull. It works on the EVO. I'm currently giving the treatment to a set of plates for one of the top New England riders. He's ordered his 2010. I worked on the plates for his '09 EVO and after the last event this year he handed me a spare set of plates to put in the 2010. He was amazed at how good the clutch was especially when he saw his competitors fighting with their grabby, dragging clutches. He doesn't talk about the modded clutch though. I don't think he wants to give up any advantage. Oh yeah. Finding neutral on a Beta even with the modded clutch...good luck. Not really on topic but why do trials bikes shift so clunky compared to Japanese trail bikes of the '70s? I've head lots of explanations but the one that makes the most sense to me is that they use two shafts in the transmission instead of three to save weight and space and that makes it much less mechanically simple to shift gears.

Once the center nut is off the puller should pop it off. If it's been stuck on there a long time there may be some cold welding (can't remember the proper name) that sticks it on tight. Not trying to be a smartass but you may have to be less of a girly man with the wrench on the puller.

I love the VForce reeds on my Rev3. The same cage and reeds will fit the Sherco. My '08 also has the Keihin which runs great when clean but is more sensitive to temp and humidity and tends to get dirt and moisture in the pilot circuit more then the Mikunis I've always used. Try the reeds first with your old carb before springing for the Keihin. You may find it's enough of an improvement. Worth mentioning the difference I see with carbon the reeds is much more low end torque. The bike pulls hard off idle allowing me to feather throttle in places I couldn't before. It helps finding traction but more importantly gets me out of trouble when I do something over my head (often). The Keihin on the other hand wakes the bike up on the top end. Whack the throttle to full and it jumps like a scalded cat. I think you'll be really pleased with the ridability of your bike with the Boyesen or VForce reeds. Keihin's kind of an aquired taste.

Beat it to fit. Paint it to match.

Heh heh, You know how much I appreciate your technical prowess Jon but man you really "went to town" on this one. I'm sorry but I can't help but sit here chuckling at frustoconical shape, interpenetrating parts and cointegration. A good engineer can get your head spinning with technical jargon but a great engineer can make it sound dirty at the same time.

Couple bucks worth of flat stock, four drill holes, three bolts and a wing nut and some washers to make sure the screws all line up and don't dig into the stator coils. Cost about $5 and had no problem with all the torque I could throw at it.

The riders are young, the logistics are impossible and the sections are way over the heads of most. Still a bunch of kids from the US went out and rode on the international stage and were ambassadors for American trials. They don't travel in luxury. They are sometimes given less then their due by the arrogant even from their own country. I'm proud of them. I've met all of them and they're great kids. I can't think of better representatives for who we, as American trials riders, really are. Whether you believe it or not they have the respect and friendship of the top riders. The TdN is that rare event at the top levels of any sport where the pressure is off and all the riders mix like experts and novices at any local event. If you don't think Tony Bou or Adam Raga cringe when they see a young rider crash you haven't spent enough time with a top rider. They are hyper competitive by profession but they're good people and they know what it's like. This isn't a "rah rah Go America" rant. It's a, "Have a little common sense and show a little respect" rant. I was always amazed at how much crap the Wickers put up with but they just kept putting the effort into getting the team there. Now Kip is the man doing the thankless job. Thanks Kip for stepping up when others are content to sit on their asses and throw rocks.

My apologies. Only bike I had with a DelOrto '95 Beta ran much better with a swap to a Mikuni.

Ouch. Nice kid. Hope he's OK.

...and go Kip! Nice work getting a major sponsor. Missed you up in VT.

The screw sticking out the side is idle speed adjust. It determines where the slide stops at the bottom of it's travel. The other screw is the pilot mixture adjust screw. DelOrto's are different then Mikuni or Keihin in that this screw adjusts fuel where on the other carbs it is an air adjust. For the DelOrto, screw in (clockwise) equals leaner mixture. For the Mikuni/Keihin, screw in (clockwise) equals richer mixture. Typically 1.5 to 2 turns out from bottoming out is standard. This will affect how the bike responds off idle. Can't give you more then that as every bike is different so you just have to fiddle with it 'till it's good. Lean mixture will cause a "hunting" idle speed and a bog off idle when the throttle is pulled open quickly as well as pinging off idle or shutting down. Rich will run somewhat lethargic from idle to 1/4 throttle, will smoke a bit more but will start easier with the choke off when cold. Beta's also tend to run rich when pointed downhill because of the carb mounting angle which is made a bit worse with a misadjusted pilot circuit.

To the best of my knowledge that is the only significant difference with Sureflex and what got me started on this issue. The 30X series of Fantics came with Sureflex plates and their clutches were excellent.

Yup the washers keep the bolts from digging the coils as well as making it all line up. The rope in the cylinder trick is OK I suppose but it still applys twisting torque to one side of the crank plus it adds possible contaminents to the combustion chamber.

Working on a friend's bike I was concerned his flywheel key may have sheared so I removed the flywheel (key was fine) now how to re-install? Holding the bike in gear with the back brake locked is not an option. Not only can you not get enough torque on the nut you risk damaging the crank by applying twisting force to it. After scheming various machined and welded special tools I realized I was over thinking it. $6 worth of bar stock, four holes, three bolts, a wing nut, couple of washers and one hacksaw cut later...Voila! The Beta flywheel holding tool. Works like a charm. http://newenglandtrials.org/flywheel_tool.jpg

You know when you're in a rush at the end of the day and you shift into 2nd for some twisty climby section and realize five feet into the section you're in 3rd and there's no good place to shift so you just ride it? Well with the Vforce reeds the bike will just pull you through without a sputter. I can honestly pull a gear higher at low RPM with the Vforce. I did talk to one guy at the national this weekend who put Vforce in his EVO. His comment was, "I don't know if I can stall the thing now. With the stock reeds I was stalling all over the place." That pretty much sums up my experiance with the Vforce on my '05 and '08 Rev3. Luv 'em. I can't speak to the Boyesens as I have no experiance with them but I assume it is similar. The idea being a reed with less mass can react to changes in air pressure quicker so they maintain a higher crankcase pressure which means more power at low RPM. Effect at top end for the trials application is almost moot since the bike is making more power then 90% can use anyway.

Take a jeweler's file or an ignition file and remove the adhesive between the fiber pads on the fiber plates. Then look at the tabs on the fiber plates that ride in the grooves in the clutch basket. These are usually unfinished and are the cause of most of the Beta clutch problems. Essentially these are bearing surfaces and when the clutch must engage or disengage these have to slide in the groove of the clutch basket. This is what the plates look like from the factory. http://newenglandtrials.org/clutch001.jpg http://newenglandtrials.org/clutch003.jpg Needless to say this is less then ideal as a sliding surface. Imagine as the clutch is engaged these surfaces are torqued against the side of the clutch basket grooves and stick. This makes the clutch slip until the lever is released further and the plates let loose with a snap. AKA light switch clutch. Also why the Beta seems to have a heavy clutch. The heavy springs are there to compensate for the inability of the fiber plates to slide by forcing them into position. Now look at it from the disengagement side. The lever is pulled in but the plates are held in place by the torque forcing the rough surfaces on the tabs into the basket grooves not allowing the plates to slide apart to release the clutch. This is the famous Beta dragging clutch. Take a fine file and smooth the sides of the fiber plate tabs trying to keep them even with each other so they all contact the bearing surfaces of the clutch basket. This removes the rough edges. Finish with a polishing stone. It's OK if it rounds them somewhat. I've done this on several bikes and the result is a Beta clutch that is smooth and consistant. One of these days I have to write up a good description of the procedure but for now this will have to do. On my bike with the fiber plates cleaned up and two springs removed I have no slip and a light clutch pull that is on par with any bike I've ever ridden. It's a time consuming fix to do but it's free and it works like a charm.

V-force,no jetting changes just bolt them in and ride. As for the differences in the Betas over the years that's almost impossible to quantify. Beta tends to oscillate between clubman bike and expert bike. The situation the 270/250 was meant to address I believe. The big difference with the primary side flywheel weight is the same as adding any other flywheel weight. The bike won't rev as quickly with the weight and more energy is stored in the rotating mass whith the flywheel. What this means in practical terms is an engine with more flywheel will be less jumpy with the throttle in tight rolly rocks but also slower to respond when instant power is called for. When riding steep hills with the '08 270 a burst of throttle will lift the front end for the transition and the throttle must be held above a certain setting. Bump on the way requires a flick of the wrist to load and unload the suspension. The '05 with the extra flywheel is a little different. Starting at the bottom of a climb I'd rev the engine to store energy and dump the clutch to release it into the rear wheel. Similar acceleration but different techniques. At the top of the climb with the extra flywheel you just roll off the throttle and the bike finishes with the stored energy in the flywheel. Do the same thing on the bike with less flywheel and the result is usually a stall just before you're successfully on top of the obstacle. It's not all bad with less flywheel though as the more responsive engine lets you make corrections you can't make on the heavy flywheel bike. Having ridden both I can honestly say I prefer the less flywheel/quicker engine but it really has to be running right or it can be a real handful.

From '00 to '06 Beta had a primary side flywheel on the 270 and not on the 250. In '07-'08 the 250 received the primary side flywheel and the 270 didn't. The '08 has a Keihin carb that absolutely must be kept clean. It is much more sensitive to environment and if it gets a bubble of water in it's pilot circuit the bike will run awful down low. It won't evaporate either. It has to be disassembled and blown out. On my '08 270 the bike also comes stock with the fast throttle tube (white) I don't know if this is the same for the 250 but earlier bikes came stock with the slow throttle. I also went down one tooth on the countershaft sprocket whick made the bike much easier to control at slow speeds. Another big help was the use of V-force carbon reeds. The tractor torque added by the carb0n reeds helps make the bike a real trouper when I screw up at low RPM. There are a couple of other fixes I've posted about earlier including a clutch fix that cures the grabbiness/slip problems and a fix for the electrical gremlins. I think I should document the clutch fix better though. I'll work on it.

Apparently not but when I get an EVO it's the first thing I'll add. The difference in my 05 & 08 was immense.

and I was annoyed at a little dent in my Akropovic pipe last weekend. You guys put it in perspective. Thanks.

Only covered the top five pros. One camera shoot. Nice to have but obviously low budget.

I don't know who this gentleman is but I'd love to sit down with him for a chat. Charming fellow.

The problem is these tubes are meant to be atmospheric vents for the float bowl. Occasionally fuel will get splashed up into the tubes and because the ends of the tubes are below the fuel in the float bowl they act as siphons. If you cut a small hole in the tubes above the float bowl say about halfway up the carb body they won't act as siphons. An easy cheap fix. Can't beat free.