ChrisCH

Both mine and the missus' road bikes need MOT in March and so they got tested and a short run and new petrol "ready". Of course what I was getting ready for has not happened... I'm back to winter mode and run them for a few minutes every so often and charge the battery from time to time. At least with a trials bike it is easy to take the tank off and they still have a petrol tap that lets you empty the carb if you need to. I had a VFR750 that the petrol turned to gel in after nearly two years, but that is the only time I've had a need to do anything other than top up with fresh petrol. The lawnmower overwinters and still starts first pull.

Store it in you front room and practice static balancing. By the end of this no one will have an excuse for not being Bou level balance. ?

Beta have a dealer network and importers in Romania. That might be a good brand to look at. You would probably be able to get spare parts and service items easily. The Beta Evo 250 2T is a good bike to start on and popular here in England. If you can find a local secondhand bike at the right price then I guess that will make the decision for you. 250cc is more than enough to start with and probably all anyone will ever need until you get to a very high level.

What are you trying to say? We are all sad old men on here? ?

The manuals are here: https://www.beta-uk.com/index.php/downloads

https://betausa.com/trials-hisotry/

On old tractors there was a built in hours meter, rather like the mileometer on cars. It worked by being turned by the cable on the rev counter, (tractors don't have speedometer) I don't know if this crosses over to small two stroke petrol engines but it is pertinent. The "hours" is dependent on the revs rather than the actual physical time the motor is running. Tractor service intervals are therefore dependent upon the number of revolutions the engine has made rather than chronological time. If you apply the same to a trials bike the need to service it is dependent on whether it is running at quarter throttle round sections or revving it's nuts off jumping up a huge obstacle. My gut feeling therefore is that the service schedule of any trials (or other competition bike for that matter) bike is really guesswork. A factory team with a big budget and a pro mechanic or two might well service the bike far more than it really needs, but at least it keeps the bike competitive. Me, I am rubbish and usually come last so being "competitive" isn't really an issue to be honest. Another benefit of being rubbish is never revving the bike up either. I don't think I've ever opened the throttle past half way. So really the need to service and to replace items like pistons is really dependent on the individual use. Well IMHO anyway.

I wonder if the business rates relief will apply? Are trials bikes "leisure"? That would sure help a lot of people.

There is a playlist. Looks as if they have added English subtitles to them https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_EU7WNasz1i6KYKr7KyURh9GNLb_aa4a

I like this chap, but as this is an English language site have not shared with everyone my "find". However this has English subtitles and I found it very informative with the slo' mo' and breaking up into sections. It's better to watch without the subtitles as they obscure some of the vid. so you can re-run bits without the subtitles switched on as an option. Or brush up your French ?

I always wondered why Honda fitted brakes that had a bit of front and back for this reason. Also if you want to brake hard in the snow I would be very very wary of any front brake without the back wheel already locked up. I put off buying a VFR800 for that reason until they (Honda) gave up on the idea in 2014. (Still have not got the VFR as spending too much on trials bikes). As I understood it at the time the thinking was the "born again biker" mob who instinctively use the foot pedal as they are really car drivers not motorcyclists. As someone that had a bike before I could spell 'automobile' this is not really something that affects me. I find it difficult to modulate the rear brake with trials boots and the bike at an angle that I am not accustomed to as a long time road rider. I tend to over brake and lose the wheelie. On my mountain bike I for some weird reason tend to forget the brake lever completely and fall off the back. (No fun at all). The TRS has a superb brake but the wife's Beta has a poor rear brake by comparison and it is actually a bit easier as it doesn't work so well and needs more pressure and does not brake as hard. I am sure that better balance makes it less critical. So just another two million hours practice....

Well I've found a picture on the advert from SW trials. No idea.

Intercooler? Is it a turbo?

There are some good spray products about like X20 that work for long enough to do a trial. If you want to waterproof things where it is possible to do so a shrink wrap is the best way to go.

I found the Nano Trans improved the clutch over time - by the third or fourth change it was noticeably much better. I hate to think what chemicals are in it ? I found a lot of good advice from people on this forum and have gone with the idea of using half a bottle (0.5L) each change to get two changes per bottle. As the clutch got better I have changed the oil less frequently than before and found it is absolutely OK. This really made a big difference on the old Rev 3 and has also improved the Evo (which was not anywhere near as bad to start with). I hope it works for you.

The Beta clutch is not great. The Nano Trans is definitely an improvement based on the two Beta bikes I have had. But I do agree with you a 2020 bike should not need modification from new, but if the clutch is the same one that was in all the other models then yes - it does.

One person in our club had the TRS 250 - the "One" not the RR. This has a Dell'Orto carb on it and is supposedly less fierce than the Keihin. He had a TRS 300 prior to that and said it was too much. I liked that bike and wanted one but couldn't find one so settled on the RR 280. I am surprised that you find the 250 RR such a handful. I was wary of the 280 but it really was all I could find at the time and the guy in the shop was very reassuring that it (280) was smooth power and I would be OK. It took a few weeks to get used to but I find it OK. There is more power there than my wife's Beta (but it is an older one). My bike is standard and fast throttle. I think I must be so bad I am not getting into bother ?

Is there really a "bad" choice? As a new person in the sport I am a keen viewer of lots of You Tube training videos and I also like the X Trial and championships too. All the different bikes are clearly capable of more than I am. My club has a wide range of different bikes and riders and most of them seem better than me no matter what brand of bike. The push bike blokes that fill in on the X Trial look rather better than I think is possible for an oldie like me and they have no engine!

My goodness this is a TRS love fest ? As I have a 2017 TRS 280 I suppose I should join in. My observation is that a 30 minute ride is not enough and you probably need to ride a bike for 20 hours or more before you can really say if you like it or not. I like my TRS but I have never had anything to do with the other bikes (only Beta) so they might be as good or even better. That said the TRS is a very popular bike and so if you want to sell it in a few months if you really don't like it then that should be easy. (My wife's Beta is also a good bike and I really like it but the brakes are not as good as on the TRS. )

It's not the technology to be fair it is what you can buy as a private individual. There are acid bath products that would almost certainly give a near-new finish with little effort. All of those kinds of products are restricted as they are environmentally hazardous and usually dangerous to the end user too. If you haven't bought paint stripper in a while you will be very disappointed if you try to strip paint with Nitromors. The active ingredient is carcinogenic and has been banned. The new formula is about as much use as the wheel cleaners you describe. If you have a bead blaster or powder coating place near you it is worth asking, often a couple of little items can go in with a batch for a tenner cash and a big smile.

Define "grubby". If the stuff to be removed is grease/oil based dirt then a degreaser is the best way to go. Rust needs a derusting product and a combination of rust and grease needs both. Alloy wheel cleaner is a catch all for all sorts of detergents that might or might not shift whatever is on the base metal. Like all cleaners they are there to make money for the detergent company. We sell an industrial level cleaner that is very similar to muck-off and that will shift most stuff. Muck-off is pretty good and if you brush it in will shift a wide range of things and then rinses off. You can buy it most places (push bike shops are a good start) and it would be my first option. A specialist grease product like Jizer is good for grease/oil. But no, there is no wonder product that does it all and the only way to get your particular task done is to try different products to find the one that relates to the material that you want to shift. The least effort possible would be to take it to a bead blaster and let them do the work.

I'm sure you are right. The UK is a "wet location" ? i will give stainless a try next time I need some.

Has anyone tried stainless steel bearings? The 6004 rubber seal bearing is very cheap (I can see them online for less than £2) and the stainless is not too bad (£7.50) We sell trailer wheel bearings and for boat trailers they only last a year or so as they are routinely dipped in seawater. The stainless versions last a fair bit longer as they don't have the same corrosion issues. As jimmyl says it is not a big job to do so really a non issue, but I am lazy - if the stainless lasted twice as long that means only half the faffing about. PS I can see the ceramic for a bit more (£12) - might be a better option still?

You guys need to ride more - what is this "few weeks"? I've never had fuel last that long ?

I am. Oh yes. We used to live in Luxembourg and the south of Belgium is full of such wonderful delights - it is a requirement of us Brits to drink as many as possible in the interests of good relations with our European friends. I love the xmas markets too. We have a place in Montpellier and go every xmas for a fortnight as we have shut down at work. The xmas market there is not quite as good as some of the more rural ones but there is a good selection of stands and an ice rink that all the kids seem to love. Down the coast a bit there are loads of oyster stalls to cater for the rather odd French tradition of oysters at xmas. The channel hypermarkets are awesome. Not been to Dunkirque for ages but we do shop at Carrefour in Citi. The falling pound and our decision to mess about aren't helping but they are still well worth a visit. The little street markets are fantastic too for fruit and veg and cheese in particular. We used to have some great markets here when I was a kid but they are few and far between these days. Big one at Walthamstow that we used to shop at when we lived in London. Go when the stalls are closing and you can get a week's veg for a fiver.