dan williams

A big factor in the corrosion is the ionic contaminants in the water you throw into the cooling system. Don't use tap water. Either use de-ionized water or one of the premixed varieties like engine ice or Maxima Pro-cool. They're cheap enough compared to an engine case. I have yet to see a corrosion issue on a Beta and I've had all of mine for at least two years and some up to five years. Don't use spring water either, it isn't the same as the de-ionized. My guess is that the guys with the big corrosion issues all used tap water that is rather nasty. Basically forming a battery by providing an electrolyte (contaminated water) with the magnesium as the sacrificial terminal and aluminum/steel for the other. It would be interesting to do a scan on the other components the coolant touches to see where that magnesium deposits. OK so I geeked out. Sorry.

The best method is still a timing light.

Check the basics first like stuck kill switch, shorts in the wiring (rubs to frame), poor contact for grounds, whisker of carbon on the plug tip.

You're welcome but remember the fluid has a lot to do with it as well. Some fluids like ATF contain friction enhancers which can make the clutch very abrupt too. Having said that though I can tell you I love the modified clutch on my '08 as much as I loved the clutch on the '05 with the modification. They behave exactly the same which is unusual for Betas with the clutch in stock form. Finding two Beta clutches that act the same is like finding two peanuts exactly the same shape. It happens but it's pretty rare. Having a 2000 you might also want to have a look at your clutch basket for wear from the fiber plate tabs as well. If you do the modification it will take the plates a few hours to settle in as they have to wear in slightly to the basket grooves again. The optimum would be to have a jig that exactly matched the basket dimensions and dress the fiber plate tabs as a pack to precisely match the basket but that was way too much effort and money for me to get into. Just dressing the tabs and cleaning up the plates gets you 90% of the way there.

Tough call. You really need to go see it for yourself. It could be a case where the original owner put really bad fuel in it or the ignition is too far advanced or there is a blocked needle jet in which case you get a good bike from somebody that is just clueless how to adjust. The other case is a mechanical issue where there is a bad bearing or a broken gear tooth or some other mechanical malady that will require many quid to fix. Impossible for anyone to know without seeing the bike first hand. My advice would be, if it's near enough, to take an experianced mechanic with you to check it out.

See my post here. http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/index....st&p=138860

I have a set of the Diadoras and they ripped in front after the first few rides. Stitched too tight I think. THe other thing I don't particularly like about them is the stiffness of the soles makes it really difficult to feel the rear brake on my Beta. If the job holds out to spring. (no guarantee) I think a new set of Garnes will be in the truck.

I've been around Betas a long time and only seen a gear tooth in the oil once on my buddies bike. Wasn't the whole tooth just a shard off the top. Still it went back to Ron Commo for a health check. Other then that I'm unaware of a Beta breaking it's gearbox. I think if you ride one like an MX bike it's possible since the gearbox isn't as stout as an MX bike but it's pretty rare to have that kind of failure. The only other scenario that I can think of is jamming the shifter on a rock but that rarely happens at the kind of throttle neede to shatter a gear. Usually that shatters the rider as well. I did have one guy, that wanted to test ride a bike I had for sale, stand up on the pegs and pound down on the shifter as my friends and I watched in horror. When I said, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!???" He calmly replied with a "Well duh." expression, "I'm trying to start it." Fortunately the bike was fine as the shifter just flexed and his foot rolled off but I can assure you he won't be riding any more of my bikes. Come to think of it he's the best friend of the guy with the broken gear tooth I mentioned earlier. Hmmm.

Not "bagging out" the Chinese. No emotional attachment whatsoever. Simple economics. The cost of labor is cheaper and there is little incentive for the government in China to enforce patent, worker protection, environmental laws. China is pragmatic. If they can kill the competition to be the only supplier they will. Basic supply/demand/resource equation. THe idea that China is a huge market for anything is true to the extent that there are a lot of people. The projected demand for any company outside of China getting a huge benefit from that market long term is oblivious to the aggressive nature of Chinese industrial development. The Chinese government will gladly accept foreign industry while dangling the carrot of domestic market knowing in the long term the domestic capacity to manufacture goods will grow to the point that China will become self sufficient and not only not need foreign companies but will be able to actively displace them in their home market. For years I've been predicting that one probable outcome from the growing use of debt to finance our toy obsession was that China and the other debt holders like Dubai and Saudi Arabia would end up having to forgive a large portion of debt from countries like the US. Simply to keep the US government from going bankrupt. So am I bagging on the Chinese. No, I'm impressed with how fast the "communist" government has learned to play the capitalist game and the aggressiveness they are showing to win at all cost, in time. The end game is most impressive. I'm more frustrated with the local governments in the US and Europe that open the flood gates to imported goods while not acting to protect their local manufacturing capacity.They are truly selling out their own people. Only now is the full impact starting to be felt. So yes you will be able to buy an inexpensive trials bike of "acceptable" quality from a Chinese manufacturer... or you could buy food but you won't be able to afford both because when somebody can do your job for 20% of what you get paid now you are worth 20% of what you get paid now. Like it or not, labor (you) are a commodity.

1 week? Ouch. I'd have a serious talk with whoever you bought it from.

So how about a Chinese built Scorpa? One of my fears with the bailout of the US auto industry is that much of their production will end up overseas in China and India. I can easily see this happen with the trials industry. Welcome to Wal*mart... The trials section? Over there between the electronics and boys departments.

No matter what it sounds like you're in for a case split. Either something is bent like a shift fork or broken and floating around in the case like a gear tooth. Locking up the wheel while shifting often means something jammed in the gears or the shifting mechanism is trying to engage two speeds at the same time. Happened to me on a Hyundai. Very exciting at speed I assure you. The only way to know for sure is to split the cases. It can't be ignored because even if it frees up there is an extremely high risk of blowing the transmission apart, literally.

A one month word of mouth? Remember the old saying about a contract not being worth the paper it's printed on? In this case you don't even get the paper. It sounds like BVM isn't actually selling the bike, just lending their name to the employee who's selling it. If that voice in the back of your head says, "Wait a minute, this doesn't seem quite right." then maybe you should listen to it. I agree the idea of getting BVM to give a longer warranty is important and get it in writing. Buying from a dealer means paying more then you would from a private sale and if they can't stand behind the product you might as well not bother going though a dealer. If they won't extend the warranty then they have no confidence in the bike meaning either they don't trust their own work or the rebuild was done by somebody else (i.e. the kid in the parts department) under the name of BVM. Take a good look at the prevailing price of used '08s and decide if the price of this one is worth the extra risk but I don't get any of the warm fuzzies I would want from a "dealer" bike the way you're describing this deal.

A friend had a custom spring wound by Cannon Racecraft in Oklahoma for the rear of his 2005. He told them what bike and rider weight and is quite happy with the result. The website is here. http://cannonracecraft.com/catalog/default.php

For $500 it sounds like a good deal. Wider between the feet is not necessarily bad. Both Beta and GasGas have made the newer bikes wider at the pegs to improve stability. The only weakness for the

Trainspotting, still one of my favorite movies. Brilliant, funny and terrifying all at the same time. "For a vegetarian rents you're a ****ing EVIL shot!"

Doesn't take much. If the engine is unloaded then it's free to really wind up with just a little more air in the mix. If you had the choke on that would also help supply fuel. An engine can run quite happily on a very lean mixture once its going. Since you were not at operating temperature and it was going at high revs you probably wouldn't have noticed if it was in pre-ignition or detonation anyway. As for the kill switch they are not as hardy as you would hope. At full rev there is quite a lot of current coming out of those ignition coils and any resistance in the kill switch circuit, which works perfectly at lower revs, might be enough to impair the function of the kill switch circuit at full blat. That's why clean connections and nice fat wires to hard ground points is essential for a kill circuit.

Yeah the EVO is tempting but the finances aren't there just yet. I bought the '08 with a loan out of my retirement fund though which is working out great. I pay myself back with interest and by far it has been the best investment I made all year. Everything else in the investment fund has just gone right in the dumper. Plop!

OCD, heh heh yeah probably. Common among engineers to some degree. We like puzzles and will tune out everything around us to focus on the why of a problem. Yanking the Keihin out to clean it is really no big whoop now. About a 20 minute job but the difference is night and day. There are two reasons I brought it up though. One was the '95 Techno I had with the Dellorto that couldn't be tuned because jets weren't available. I thought it was an animal too until I put a Mikuni on that I could get jets for and it turned into a pussy cat that still could roar. The other is the times the Keihin on my '08 was dirty and the experiance of just hating the way the bike ran. The 270 can be a handful but it's usually a very well behaved novice bike when it's running right. I'd hate for someone to spend all kinds of time and money to fix a problem that can be fixed for free. Like nippering a hole in the vent tubes on the Mikuni to stop the fuel leaks. Simple and free.

Two bits of advice, one short, one long and rambling. Go down one tooth on the counter shaft sprocket. Mellows the bike considerably. I think a sprocket from a techno will fit but talk to your local dealer. Another thing to check is the carb. The Keihin has very small exit holes for the pilot jet circuit. These can easily be blocked by a speck of dirt or even a bubble of water too small to see without a microscope. I know this because I take my Keihin into work to clean under the microscope every month or so during the riding season. What happens is the pilot circuit gets blocked and the bike runs weak off the bottom. Most riders will just turn the idle screw up. The problem is the bike isn't coming off the bottom cleanly so when you roll the throttle on the bike hesitates until you get to the throttle setting where the needle jet starts to dominate and all of a sudden the bike will become interested in making power and rather abruptly. Most riders will think that since the bike is making plenty of power that it is running properly. Unfortunately when a bike is running this way it's very difficult to ride slowly with control so you start hitting everything a bit harder and can never seem to get your timing right. To test this try riding up a steep hill just off idle in fourth. I can do it on my '08 when it's running right but the bike just won't pull when the pilot circuit is blocked. The need for frequent cleaning is my only beef with the Keihin. Take the carb off and make sure the airbox and manifolds are properly sealing. White litium grease helps the sealing along with some quality hose clamps. Disassemble the carb and remember cleanliness IS godliness with this carb. Lay all the internals down on a nice clean paper towel. Don't run anything through the jets but compressed air. I know some will tell you to use a copper wire or some other such poking device. Don't! In a pinch the cans of compressed air you can get for cleaning camera lenses will work. You can spray the holes with carb cleaner if the beast is really dirty but do it outside away from any source of ignition (wearing safety glasses is a good idea since you never know what hole the spray will come out of). If you're really gung-ho about it you can remove the center pillar of the carb body with a torx "security" bit. I think it's a T-20 but I'm not sure sitting here at the computer. Just as long as the last thing you do is the blast of air in all the holes. The reason I say that is you really want to make sure there isn't a water bubble in the pilot exit holes. Seriously the holes are so tiny a bubble of water won't evaporate for weeks because the bubble is so small the surface tension of the water keeps it in place. OK maybe a third bit of info. On the older Rev3s the 270 had an extra flywheel weight on the pimary drive side making the power build slower and making it easier to get over obstacles with engine momentum. In '07 Beta started putting the weight on the 250. This means that the '07-'08 Rev3s rev up quicker which can make them a handful if you're used to the older bikes. Personally after having an '00, '02', 05 and '08 I can say now that I'm used to the "less flywheel" engine, I'm loving it. I was a little scared of it at first. It always seemed to be on the verge of getting away from me. After a full season though I can say it never has.

I seem to remember one called an Alpha at the same time frame as the Alfer which caused considerable confusion.

Welcome. Any well maintained machine of the past decade is an excellent starter bike. We all have our favorites and the opinions and brand loyalty usually come pouring out in a torrent of good natured ribbing. The one thing I'd suggest is making sure there's healthy dealer support for whatever bike you get. There's no substitute for a good supply of parts. Don't stress about the Tony Bou videos. We can all do that in our dreams but... The simple truth is trials is all about the little personal victorys. Getting over the rock you've never made it over, cleaning that nasty section on the last loop, beating your buddy that you know is a better rider just once. That's what makes it worth doing. It's all about feeling like a ten year old again. If only for a little while.

May not be totally kosher but I use a pair of channel lock pliers. Works fine. Just to be clear we're talking about turning the spring preload right?

Yeah Donnie's still the smoothest thing I've ever seen on a bike. When the RTL Hondas came out and Donnie got one it was poetry in motion. I saw him a few months ago when he came out to spectate and watch us duffers flail about. The man is definately a class act.

My first bike was a basket case Bultaco Matador that my ex-brother in law brought back from the air force in four boxes. So my parents didn't have an issue with him giving it to me as they never thought it would run again. The next two bikes were Alpinas in the same shape. The Alpinas planted the seed and then reading Dirtbike Magazine, (remember when they covered everything and not just motoX and Enduro?) fanned the flames. The clincher was a trials demo at a motorcycle show in Boston where I saw Ron Commo Jr. face plant going over a van. I said I gotta try this. So I sold the Maico and bought a Can-Am CMT-310 and headed up to my first event in Vermont run by Ron Commo of course. It was so slippery most of us beginners had trouble getting out of the parking lot and only did one of two loops with lots of entertaining crashes for the checkers. Ron knows talent because there was one young kid he personally took around on a second beginner loop while the rest of us duffers licked our wounds back in the pits. The kid that did both beginner loops? Geoff Aaron