trapezeartist

That's interesting, and contrary to what I would have expected. Hence I found it necessary to check some other sources to see if you are right. (You are ?)

I corrected the oil level in the LH leg and it feels much better. Sag is still measuring 29% though which would seem to be a bit stiff. By way of contrast I found that the preload on the rear was not to spec. I wound on an extra 2mm to get to the baseline and 1.5 turns more for my weight. The sag is still not far short of 100mm so it looks like I need a stiffer spring. I only weigh 75kg so maybe 80kg dressed to ride.

90 deg of lock won’t do you any good as none of the tractive effort of your back wheel will be rolling the front. It will all be trying to skid the tyre sideways. Feetupfun’s photo could be a good guide, or measure any modern trials bike. Maybe you could weld on two threaded bosses and then insert a bolt in each as a lock stop. That way you could do a bit of testing before finalising.

Cheltenham Hawks run a monthly trial for mainly old bikes just outside Cheltenham, which would be about an hour from you. Golden Valley trials are just a little bit further. There may well be others closer to you as well, but that's outside my area.

Thanks for your comments thall1 and huski. Both valid points, I think. However I was thinking about it in bed this morning and I believe I made a silly error. The air gaps are supposed to be set with the fork on full bump. I forgot that and then because I couldn't get the spring out I filled the left hand leg on full droop.? So next time out in the garage I'll be trying harder to get the spring out and then hopefully refill to the correct level. I have some urgent grandfatherly duties over the next few days though, so it may be later in the week before I can do it.

Overbore sizes are generally marked as +0.020" or similar. Letters (typically A to D) are grades. Mass production isn't precise enough to make bores and pistons as accurate as they need to be. So they are measured after machining and marked accordingly. D pistons go in D bores, and so on.

You could have raised the same points about the Second World War. That went on far longer and cost far more in money and lives (we hope). In the end, every form of motorsport was better after the war than before. I hope I'm right.

I have the same problem. I'll try this suggestion.

And it was all going so well.... I dropped out the stanchions and drained the oil out of them. Both were low on oil: the right hand was 125mm below the top when it should be 65mm. The left hand should be 125mm but it was way less and I couldn't measure it. So I refilled with Putoline HPX 5W and carefully set the oil height to the spec. There were a couple of issues but I decided to park them for another day. I couldn't get the plastic tube out of the left leg (as mentioned in the other post on here https://www.trialscentral.com/forums/topic/70417-beta-evo-left-fork-spring-stuckurgent/) but I thought I could just leave it. The preload adjuster is thoroughly seized in the cap so I will have to get a new cap and adjuster when the house arrest is over. Meanwhile there appeared to be only a tiny amount of preload, so no worries. Once it was all back together I started checking sag. I was working on my own so my measurements weren't millimetre accurate but they were good enough. I was only getting 31mm of sag which equates to 19%. Bouncing down on the front showed that it was very stiff. For comparison the rear sag measured over 100mm. The manual doesn't give a figure for rear suspension travel but I'm pretty sure it's not 300mm so it appears pretty soggy, though it seems OK subjectively. So why has the front become so stiff? Possibly there's a much stiffer spring in there, and the previous owner compensated by lowering the oil level to reduce the effect of the "air spring". I tried cracking open the caps so that the air leaked out on bump. It didn't make much difference. I'm puzzled, so now trying to borrow a slide hammer so that I can get the spring out and hopefully identify if it's a standard or fat-boy spec. I could lower the oil levels and see what that does, but it seems all wrong to try to make two wrongs = one right. Final comment: pushing down on the middle of the bike shows an extreme difference between the deflection of front and rear.

I don't think I've touched the suspension setup on my 2014 250 Evo since I got it last year. But now being under house arrest, I've cleaned and polished everything, I stood beside the bike with rag in hand defying any speck of dust to land on it, and then I thought I would see if I can do anything to improve the suspension generally. I've just been looking at the Owner's Manual and that is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. My intention is to set up the sag by adjusting preload at both ends. I've seen figures of 33% and 38%. Any other opinions? I think it's best to get the oil out of the forks and replace it as I have no idea what is in there or how much. What weight of oil do people recommend? How do you measure the correct amount? Do I have to drop the stanchions out of the triple clamp and work on them separately? Finally I will have to adjust the damper screws. What settings do people suggest? I weigh about 80kg. Thanks.

Did I even say I am going anywhere to practice? Don't be a dick - stop jumping to conclusions.

The ACU considers trials sufficiently safe that they don’t mandate any medical cover for trials. But then tell us not to practice because we will be putting pressure on the NHS. Meanwhile walkers are stepping off pavements into the road willy-billy to maintain their 2m separation.

I find it staggering that people would sell or buy trials boots that are not waterproof. It’s like having a raincoat that’s not waterproof. Or a colander with no holes in it.

I tried a number of oils in my 2014 Evo. I've now settled on Nanotrans as it gives me the best clutch.

I loved the video too. And I thought stop-allowed combined with the time limit worked well. No-stop would be a nightmare at that level. It was a real problem at the Southern Experts last year when we were told to be super strict on stopping.

I carry one bike in a Berlingo car. Seats removed and an infill in the rear lh footwell. I put the front wheel against the BC post on the passenger side and the back wheel then needs to be fairly close to the driver's side to shut the tailgate. So one bike is easy and doesn't require any precision or fiddling about. I can see how benbeta's solution for two bikes would work, but I really wouldn't fancy driving with the front wheel of a bike between the seats and blocking the handbrake. If it really has to be a Berlingo (I understand that. Nothing bigger would fit in front of my garage.) then one bike inside and the other on a bike rack seems like the best solution.

I suppose it depends how often you wear them. My 2-3 year-old Gaerne's are standing up well. I was amazed when I came in to trials that they were the only boots that claimed to be waterproof. It seems like such a fundamental requirement. Anyway, I'm very happy with mine, my feet stay dry and warm and I only wear an ordinary pair of poly-cotton socks with them. (I would wear some thermal socks, but I should have bought the boots a size bigger.)

Let’s agree to disagree. The world would be a boring place if everyone thought the same about everything. (But you’re still wrong.?)

Tank tape on the frame triangle just in front of the air box, as advised by Beta UK in their SSDT prep document. I’ve only been doing it for the last couple of trials but it seems a big improvement. Previously the air filter was wet, muddy and had a few bits of leaf and twig every time.

Much as I usually respect your opinions Lineaway, in this case you are totally wrong. I've never had the magnet pop off, it only once got pulled off by a bush (but I now re-route the lanyard to keep it well away from stray twigs) and I really can't think of many places where an itch can appear that can't be scratched with the right hand. On the other hand I've had numerous occasions where I've parted company from the bike and the engine has dutifully switched itself off, and I've seen quite a few people do the same and have their engine screaming its nuts off because they didn't have a magnetic switch. The only downside to a lanyard switch is when you lose it (it only happened to me once). I've now split the wiring of the switch in two with a plug in between, so I can undo the plug and finish a trial if I lose the magnet.

There may be a bit of a terminology issue over "two tone". Two tone as in "nee-nah" is definitely illegal except on emergency vehicles, as is any multi-tone that plays La Cucaracha or whatever (remember them?). Two horns of different tone sounding together is legal, but not mandatory.

I tried that yesterday and it didn't seem to do much. Maybe I didn't get it hot enough.

Mechanic sorted the bleeding for a tenner. After all the hours I had put in!? The travel was still a bit long and once I started riding the brake was horribly noisy and ineffective. Riding about dragging the brake for a while solved the noise and lack of friction. By the end of the day the travel has shortened slightly so it now seems all good. I’ll show the pads and disc some brake cleaner and emery this week, just to make sure.

Welcome to the world of Beta. Clutches have given me plenty of aggro on my two Betas, but everything else has its issues too. My 250 Evo had a bit of cold stick when I got it and also was difficult to get a good adjustment of the bit point. I did the “clutch fix”, which achieved nothing. I bled the hydraulics but I don’t think there was any air in it anyway. I was also keen to lighten the action slightly so I put a washer on each clutch bolt. One washer was as much as I thought would be safe without risking touching the cover but it wasn’t enough. I’ve now removed two springs altogether and like it that way. I also tried 3 or 4 different oils and only Putoline Nanotrans made any difference. That was the best mod I did. Until this week I was using Nanotrans with whatever residual oil wouldn’t drain out. I’ve just done another oil change so should be 99% Nanotrans now. I’m hoping it might be even better.

I haven't!? I did get the pistons to push out properly in the end but I'm still stuck with the long travel and spongey feel. I tried reverse bleeding. I tried taking the whole assembly off so that I could have a nice smooth uphill run for the air to find it's way to the bleed nipple. I used a T-bar to push the m/c piston to make sure I was using the full stroke. Having reached the point where I was just about feeling something at the end of the pedal travel and I had done numerous pumps with no air coming out, I decided the air must be caught in the banjo on the master cylinder. So I cracked off the banjo bolt and gave the pedal a squeeze. Fluid came out without any sign of bubbles (it's hard to be sure) and then I completely lost the pedal again. More conventional bleeding and I got back to the spongey long-travel brake, but no further. I've now given up and I'm taking it to a motorcycle mechanic tomorrow. It seems to me the integral reservoir in the master cylinder is the problem. You only get three pumps before you have to stop and top-up. If there was a remote reservoir it would be possible to disconnect it, put a big syringe on instead and push through a whole system-full of fluid in one smooth action. I thought about getting another m/c top and aralditing in a piece of metal tube that I could then put a syringe on, but it's easier to just take the bike to someone else to do (I wish I'd done that from the start).