lowside

I'll try to keep this short. Keihin PWK 28. Completed rebuild on carb, cleaned. Fitted after market idle and mixture adjusters. Also fitted inline fuel filter. Fitted new grips and levers. Fuel was present throughout starting procedure, no leaks as far as I can tell, manifold boots all seated. Play in cables correct at all angles of steering. Initial start with choke bike went to full throttle, did not respond to lanyard. Blipped throttle and bike then returned to high idle. Adjusted idle screw, bike idled normally but slow to return to idle after blip. Believe that will be mixture related. I think the after-market adjusters are slightly different specs to OEM, as I recorded the number of turns when removing then OEM parts and installed in reverse. Will re-adjust tomorrow. What I would like to know is, if I've not touched the throttle sliders or needle, why would the bike suddenly launch into max throttle? I had noted that the clack from the carb upon releasing the throttle was not as loud as I'd expect prior to the first start. The click heard from the carb at full throttle (bike off) was normal. Could it be lubication of the sliders? They sat for 2 days wrapped up in towel. I believe for some reason, the sliders became stuck, but as I've not touched them aside from removal and installation (they are complete), for safety reasons I'd like to try and understand why this may have happened? The sliders now make the expected sounds in the carb, whereas on initial start they did not, but nothing has changed that I'm aware of. As it stands, the bike runs and idles in and out of gear, but I think the mixture needs adjusting slightly. Will test again tomorrow. I'd appreciate any suggestions of what to check given the above, with emphasis on potential issues with the sliders. Other than this, everything went pretty well for my first serious go at spannering. lol. Thanks for reading, hard to explain when you're new at this

Cheers. I've ridden it for about 5 hours so far. It doesn't run particularly well. It's been struggling in 3 and 4th and stalls intermittently when idling in gear. Hoping the carb clean will sort that but it's as much about getting to know the bike at the same time really.

Thanks, thats kind of what I thought. I'm going to see what a strong magnet picks up tomorrow as I saved the contents. I'm starting to flirt with the idea of the bike needing an engine rebuild, or at least a full check over. I just can't believe it wasn't serviced at all prior to sale. The air filter being bone dry was a dead giveaway, as was the airbox contents and all the crud around the rubber intake manifolds. I am pretty disappointed with the dealer as things stand.

Theres also the YOTC at South Milford, which I thought was great. It's about 8 acres of woodland to muck about on. Only opens periodically. Link below. https://www.yorkshireec.co.uk/trials You don't say where you are, but there are clubs all over Yorkshire, some big, some small. Still finding my own feet in trials.

Hello all, After washing the bike I went to take the float bowl drain plug out to make sure no water had found its way in. The fuel inside had quite a lot of crud in it. There is no inline fuel filter on my bike and the fuel hose, whilst Sherco branded, wasn't clipped but was incredibly tight fitting. Had to cut it off. I guess I'd need a longer one for an inline filter anyway. Is this typical for a float bowl? The bike is only a year old. I am starting to think it's never been properly cleaned or maintained. Engine inlet manifold (correct name?) from carb was mucky and tight fitting, don't think it's ever been off. Original air filter was dry as a bone and then degraded from gentle squeezing during cleaning. Air box was full of muck and dust. Rear linkages are going to be next, look so dry. I think I'm going to do wheel bearings too just to be sure. Overall, the bike looks like it's been repeatedly washed with something really harsh like Muc Off and not regreased afterwards or had anything other than cursory maintenance, then it's been traded after a year and here I am with it. A lot of tinkering and not much riding so far, but it's a great way to get to know how a bike works in detail. Never done my own motobike servicing before and this is my first offroad bike, so a lot to learn. Luckily I do have experience of MTB's, and theres some overlap. Not what I wanted to find on my first carb removal, but glad I did it. No use putting a fresh air filter in then running a carb like this. Cheers

If its a domino throttle then a white tube is fast action, black is slow.

Looks awesome. More powerful than you'd imagine aren't they? I've ridden my sons and was amazed.

I can't take credit for anything I'm afraid. Just a confused newbie. Jitsie market the fuel tap and just guided me on installation as it wasn't obvious to someone as devoid of knowledge in the mechanical arts as I. Nothing stopping you getting a tap, I think they cost about £10

Just to close this off and in case anyone else has the issue in the future. I emailed Jitsie customer services. They have been excellent, going so far as to find a photo of the petcock (Jitsie Part: FTSHERCO3638) installed on a Beta Dealers sons' bike! Can't really ask for more than that can you? Photo attached. The fuel does appear to run against gravity in the example and needs a longer hose, so I'd never personally have installed it that way without knowing for certain it would not affect the fuelling, but apparently it works just fine. Cheers

Right, thank you for this. I will keep in mind when I do the job. Parts for the carb are quite expensive, a new float valve is £7 on its own!

Ah OK, thanks anyway. Got to admit, this has me stumped. Hope someone eventually comes along with a photo of it in-situ.

Thank you for your advice. I had emptied the float bowl fully on the previous ride by idling, but yesterday, I ran it down but probably not fully empty. I think I didn't quite turn the fuel tap far enough towards off, as I've now found it had a very slow drip on the way home. The carb shouldn't leak like that anyway from what I can gather. My understanding so far, is that the carb float functions in a similar way to a british toilet cistern, in that the float should cut off the fuel if the level gets excessive? With that in mind, it seems like the basic problem (other than an incorrect manual) is that the float needle is either damaged, or being impeded, or theres crud in the float chamber of the carb. The bike is only a year old, so my money has to be on muck as you suggest. As cleaning carbs seems to be a routine maintenance task, rather than run it back to the dealers, I think I'll spend some time familiarising myself with its removal and cleaning. I can't keep taking it back to a dealers forever and I'm sure it wont be anything too complicated this time around. Whilst I'm at it I think I'll fit an inline filter too. I just wonder if the dealer cleaned the carb before they sold the bike. As it's also been stalling at idle periodically, I reckon what you said is entirely accurate. A learning opportunity for me, and I'm grateful for you folks who take time to help out in situations like this. Edit: For anyone looking at this in years to come, the carb on the Sherco 250 Fajardo 2022 model is a Keihin PWK 28.

Welcome to the forum and also the club of having a few bike related issues. I just started in trials, for similar reasons to you, to give me son a new adventure. Spannering seems to be a big part of all this but feel like I've dropped myself in the deep end already despite buying what I thought would be relatively trouble free (i.e newish) bikes!

Just to update my original post. It seems that the Sherco manual is wrong and that what is documented as RES, is actually OFF. I've tentatively confirmed this by looking at multiple photo's from different dealers of used bikes for sale and all of them show the petcock in what the manual calls "RES". I can't imagine all these dealers failing to shut the fuel off, so I must therefore conclude the manual is incorrect, or I'm reading the wrong manual, but it's the right year and model. It adds up, given the symptoms I've got. Still, it does seem there is an issue with the float valve, so I'll have to speak to the selling dealer. If anyone reading this has any advice, I'd be glad to hear it. I don't have much experience in this to be able to fight my corner. Thanks again for reading.

Photo's of various positions I tried, to no avail. I was trying to keep the fuel outlet oriented downwards as the system is gravity fed, but even so, it was very tight in there. I wasn't the only one who looked at this either! lol

Hello. Thank you for this. This is the same tap I had, but I couldn't find a position where it didn't conflict with the other components of the bike. I see how fibre washers may help tighten it down into a specific rotational position, but to me it seemed as though there was no suitable position at all. I had the tank off and was there for hours mucking about trying to orient it so it would both function and not kink the hose. I don't want to impose, but would it be at all possible for you to take a photo of your installation, so I can have a look. I've taken a bunch of photos to supply to Jitsie in case they ask, so I would be most interested to compare.

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can give me an idea of what the problem might be. Bike is a 2022 Sherco 250 Fajardo. Carb is Keihin. I bought it about a month ago as a good used example. I rode it for an hour, then stored it for around 4 weeks. No issues. Took it out today for a couple of hours. No mishaps, falls or anything unusual. Not sure if any leaks, but didn't notice any smell. Bike ran fine and I'm just a beginner, so it was just gentle riding around, mostly watching my son ride. Drove it home once cooled and put it in the garage. Realised whilst browsing manual for something else, that the petcock position i thought was off, is actually reserve according to the manual. To prevent possible leaks, I went out and moved it to what the manual calls the off position. An hour later I'm in the garage again and theres a strong smell of petrol. Looked and the entire garage floor is flooded with fuel. Almost whole tank has drained. Further inspection shows that the fuel was coming from the carb overflow and it wasn't dripping, it was gushing out. However, fuel only comes out if the petcock is set to what the manual calls the "on" or "off" position. When in the "reserve" position, it doesn't leak at all! To be honest, I think I'd stored it for weeks with it in the reserve position too, having got it wrong from the start. I'd periodically checked for leaks and there had been nothing, so I'd convinced myself I'd got the correct position. I've been reading around and I can understand how certain issues with the carb that would cause it to overflow, but that doesn't explain how the tap position is affecting this so absolutely. If it was an issue with the float valve, surely it would happen in all positions that allow fuel, so, reserve and on. However, as explained previously, the leak only stops when the tap is in the reserve position! Fuel tap looks original to the bike, as far as I can tell. If anyone can offer any insight as to how this might be happening, it would be a great help! Thank you!

Then thats very strange. Thanks. I'll have to wait for their reply I guess. The OEM one is just a bit stiff for little finger and I prefer a tap for the visual aid.

Just finding my feet with a bit of spannering. As part of a series of upgrades on my lads 80 small wheel today, I wanted to fit a better fuel tap, as the Beta OEM part isn't particularly easy to operate. I picked up a Jitsie part: https://www.jitsie.com/en/fuel-taps/53781-fuel-tap.html Got the fuel tank off to fit it and whilst it does fit the tank thread, no matter which orientation I put the tap in, it conflicts with either the engine itself, or the coolant hose off the top of the cylinder head. There just isn't enough room as far as I can tell. Two hours faffing didn't improve the situation. I've put a query in to Jitsie directly to see what they say. It's clearly sold as compatible for the Beta Evo 80, but I suspect it's only compatible with the Senior version, which presumably has more space due to the larger frame, yet Jitsie do not state such. I just wondered if anyone had managed to fit an upgraded fuel tap to an 80 junior and if so, which one, please? Considered an inline tap such as those used on mowers etc, but I've already fitted an inline fuel filter so theres little room, plus I feel like the OEM part might sieze eventually, if left permanently open. Thank you

Thats quite a bit worse than here in terms of new prices. I've just seen an ex-demo 2022 Beta 250 standard for $6.2k and a 2018 for $4.2k from dealers, so figured target prices at private sale might be within budget in the US. It must be one of those rare things the USA isn't cheaper for. On the bright side, I don't see values coming down any time soon as I reckon the manufacturers have now cottoned onto the fact that building vehicles for stock is counter productive, it's far more profitable to build to order as people have shown a willingness to wait crazy periods of time for new vehicles. No more cheap lease deals from overstock, not over here anyway Hope your missus likes her new KLX. Sounds ideal for starting out and you might make a profit on resale once she moves on.

Admittedly I don't have experience in trials specifically, but thats almost a 10 year old off-road bike. Regardless of how much or how little it's been ridden, you're looking at a full strip down and inspection of every last little detail, then repair/replacement/upgrade where necessary to get it into decent (safe) condition for riding. If you have the skills for that, that may not be such an issue. I don't know what your local market is like, but I feel like it's priced high for its age. Whatever bling it had on as a special edition, has long been surpassed. Whats the situation with parts availability? I was under the impression GasGas had a solvency problem at some point, but I'm sure others have better info on that. Would $3500 get you a 3 year old Beta Evo 250 in good condition? If so, I'd go with that. If you're not particularly mechanical, I'd go with whatever your local reliable dealer has.

Your dilemma is not dissimilar to the one I faced with my son. The not knowing if he'd like it, figuring out what to buy and as you say, the strong used values at the moment. After going around in circles for a while, I received some advice on here and made a kind of plan. I'm heavier than you and been having lessons on a Beta Evo 125. My son isn't tall enough yet for a 125, but had he been, I'd have gotten us a new 125 to share between us, no question about it. Reasoning as follows based on reading and taking advice from kind folks here and elsewhere: 125 has plenty of power for the majority of beginners to learn trials, even *ahem* heavier ones, like me. Residuals were so strong as to make the purchase of a used 125 almost pointless, particularly when you consider they are often used by beginners, or teens for racing the upper junior classes. Who knows if the bike has been abused or what state the transmission is in? I didn't feel confident enough to be a good judge of condition. The history of a used bike can be difficult to verify. Availability on used 125 bikes was poor locally. I found a couple far away, meaning a long journey and little come back on the purchase in the event of a problem. I also figure I need dealer support until I get used to things. It was unlikely we would be riding at the same time, as I'm going to be walking alongside my son (almost total novice) for safetys sake. This made sharing a bike a reasonable proposition, at least for a while, by which time we'd know if we liked it or not. The plan was, after we'd passed that stage, I'd give my son the 125 to use permanently and buy a 250 for myself. It didn't happen like this, as we've had to go the Beta 80 route due to size and as there were almost no 125's locally, I ended up with a 250. Not sure how it will pan out yet, but hopefully it will be OK. I'm used to big bikes, but trials is a totally different animal. If you can get some lessons, I'd recommend it based on my experiences so far.

Hello again everyone, Planning ahead a bit for our first adventure on the new to us bikes. Got some fuel mixed, some semblance of a tool kit and bike stand. What I'm missing I think are spares for on the day. I figured a pair of levers would be one item, but are there any other items we should carry with us routinely on days out? We're just beginners, so we won't be riding hard. Thanks

Welcome, I found a club and I've sent you the details by PM. I hesitate to say the club is local, because MO is huge, but they will know which direction to point you I'm sure. Keep in touch with us here. People do reply, it's just slow on all forums these days, since everyone went to Facebook (which I dont use).

Give Beta a shout. All the information I've read is that they are very helpful, even if a bike is bought used. Someone may well help you here (great bunch on this forum), but theres no harm in asking Beta directly.