nzralphy

Hi Leave your bike as it is.... Assuming you are happy with the bar position . Over trillions of years of MTB cycle racing to high levels i have found my back pain to simply be tight leg mussels. Ehhhh! Yup it is true. I found it in a sport training book and it helped me out. Here the theory (and i am taking pages of info into one line here) is basically that your hips are a hinge point - and if your back is tight your legs will be in pain, and if your legs are tight your back will be in pain. Stretching is the key to become supple. It takes weeks of work and you have to keep it up when you get supple. Here are a couple... Look up leg stretches on Google. Try it... it is a free fix.

Being an engineer i'd have a bit of fun. I have built frames before and didn't do half as good as factory units.... Though i did save a bunch of weight. I'd buy a Beta 300 4t (does this have all the factory options) and rebuild it with Titanium; fasteners(every where), spokes, header, muffler, con-rod, fork and shock springs, foot-pegs. I'd have the factory whip up some magnesium cases. Ohlins shock would be cool (i wonder if they would do a special fork set?). Light rims. Tubeless front tyre. I'd work hard to get it towards 60kg. This would be parked next to my new Porsche 911 C2S.

Hi Your bike is not too big neither are you too small. Ride your bike with confidence, stay centered as you ride, and get a little coaching. Enjoy the sport. On saying that you may want to fit lighter springs to the bike - you should get 1/3 sag at both ends when stood on the bike. You may be able to drop front and rear tyre air pressure a bit. Move the bars around until you feel comfortable and the bike turns full lock on sand accurately (not pushing on tucking under) One shorter mate of mine removed the seat on his old bike so that he could move about. If you do struggle with this bike and are getting annoyed don't throw the sport away - try one of the low seat more modern bikes Ralph

Right this is tough to explain especially with the bike in the barn. Your hand book has a wiring diagram that helps. Unplug and remove the lights from the bike - all junk/heavy/unreliable gear anyway. Now you have two loose yellow wires - unplugged from stuff you removed - plug them in together. Half done now. The kill switch essentially electrically-shorts the ignition to an earth on the frame. So...... Crimp a 5 or 6mm bolt-through-terminal connector to one wire of the kill switch. Bolt this to where the coil is mounted/earthed on your frame. Next......Crimp on a spade connector to the other wire and plug this into the Black/white wire coming out of the black box (there will be a wire with a plug on it). Done. Ralphy

Hi Every bike i have had i have run in by really babying it along for 6hr. It is boring as hell. You put an old tyre on and very gently trail ride it. Then drop the engine oil out and start to trials ride it with care for another 6hr. It seems a bit OTT but all my bikes have lasted very well and never rattled prematurely. Drain you gear box oil into a clean container... if the oil looks clean then put it back in. Don't be daft and waste good oil. Only use the best petrol you can find. Normally the low octane stuff has a very poor manufacture spec. Ralphy

Hi Gosh if this is MX5 Putoline it is a blast from the past.... 20ish years... i remember reading an off road magazine about that time and it gave a really high rating for a mineral oil. The article was brilliant as they conducted the std international oil test (four ball ???) on all commonly available dirt bike oils. This oil was almost as good as the synthetics of the day and was cheep. I used it for ages in the UK, but couldn't tell you what it is like now as i use fully synthetics at 80:1 Gosh i remember all this and can't even remember 'her' birthday. Ahemmm. Ralph

I clean mine with a filter spray cleaner and rinse it with a garden hose. Then i sneak it inside for a round of hot water and dish wash liquid until clean water shows (gawd help me if she catches me at the sink with it!!!). Then it gets lots of rinsing. Then a fav' old out doors towel for a dry and leave it over night or 24hr to air dry. Then it gets a dose of warm (or thinned) filter oil with a really strong squeeze to remove the excess. Often this will happens after every day or two of trials Hope this helps. Ralphy

Hi Guys I have just ordered a Paioli rebuild kit from my Beta agent. I would really appreciate it if you could copy me in on any details talked about above. Ta, Ralphy

Hi A 125 would be a brilliant introduction to Moto Trials. Go for it - you won't be disappointed in the power and as you suggested slighly less power can be a good thing for a beginner. Anyway there are many grown men on 125cc bikes and they do really well. FWIW... the new 08 Beta 125 is epecially good. Ralphy

Kool project. I think CV carbs were mostly used to avoid the 'Snapping the throttle open flat spot'. A fuel pump carb does the same but uses way more gas. If you run a rich idle and a small cut-away slide you will also reduce the flat spot - but idle could be a bit rough. Actually if you run a smallish carb you'll get less hesitation. Two stroke carbs can be used but use slightly different needle jet system so you'll have to mess with most of the jets and are often larger than the equivalent 4T carb size. Sorry if the above is useless ramblings. Ralph

Now if you could weigh the stuff.... probably less than 0.1lbs. Sorry i couldn't resist that. If you find out from the Ohlins man please share it... it is likely he won't tell you. I'd be putting 100psi into it and see how it goes.

ATF is good enough. The clutch doesn't slip and is very cheap. It does make for a slightly grabby clutch but you'll get over that in a few minutes. Change it often.

Oh flipp'n 'eck talk about dramatic. You can easily weld it. Vee grove out the crack to prep (this helps to get better weld penetration and you need to remove the surface anodizing!), Wash it out with good dose of Acetone a couple of times, Put an air line in it to blow it out for 15 minutes, 95% fill with water and plug the holes, Tip the frame to so the air bubble is at the top then weld up on the bubble, Use high tensile filler wire, Preheat the weld area a lot, The welder needs to be a very high end unit with ramp control down (most important) to stop a finishing pin hole, Oh and if you hadn't already guessed it.... you'll need to completely disassemble the whole bike (1-2hrs work) it so your friendly welder has an easy job to do on a very difficult thing. Check for remaining leaks BEFORE you reassemble it. Ralphy

Generally i'd leave them. I is very difficult to cut the mettal back on if you don't like them short so try someone elses bars for feel at a trial If you were short, i'd consider cutting 10mm off each side. If you are tall get adaptors to raise the bars 20mm. Ralphy

I often use a quick tap of the clutch to stop a spinning rear wheel on technical hill climbs. I tend to leave the throttle setting and tap the clutch then slowly feed it back out with the new found traction. It is also useful for lowering a rising front wheel on the same climb. I spend a long time adjusting the clutch - one finger only, shortie leavers, bleed it properly, and adjust it right in so the bite point is just off the your other fingers being squashed. Slow your shock down to gain a little more traction on wet days (it never rains in NZ so we have our shocks set fast ) Hummmm... tip time... watch out that the new bike doesn't end up the same as the beta. Measure the sag of the bike at both ends when you are stood on the bike. Write this sag on your shed wall and check you bike against it every 3mths. Springs sag and loose some of their height so keep on top of them. Grease linkages often to keep the suspension active and have the shock serviced every 1-2 years - you will get more control and thus more traction. Ralphy

Thanks guys for the replys. I have worked on shocks before. I hear what you are saying and will give it some thought. I did give the spring another couple of turns and this helped somewhat. Thanks for the tip. The rear isn't shooting back as if there was no damping so i figure it hasn't all gone west. I still have no rebound adjustment. So does anyone know if it is an emulsion shock?... it would explain the action i get from the shock whan it is off the bike. Ta Ralphy

Humm You are sure all the bolts are undone??? Try a bit of WD40 on the base gasget overnight to see if it could get it to let go. or you could try putting a filter strap wrench around the cylinder and giving it a tweak in both directions. or the base gasket may go soft with a bit of heat. or put the cylider head back on and Kick it over (quitely) Very very very very last option.... tap a small wedge between the two.... go through the base gasket in a few places (but i didn't tell you this. And i'd work for a week on the cylinder before trying this). Ralphy

Hi All I'm considering rebuilding my rear shock ('07 Beta Rev3 270). I had the Paioli shock off the other day to replace a bottom bearing and while it was off i noticed that without the spring attached the shock would go quickly through half of it's stroke. It did this with and air sucking sound. At approx the half travel point it felt that oil was encountered and the damping firmed up nicely. Allowing the shock to extend was the same but in reverse (obviously) - slow than fast with air sucking. The rebound adjuster at the top of the shock has no effect on damping. The bike will easily bottom out on minor hollows between sections even when being very light on the bike. Am i right does it need attention or are the above normal? ........I know i could send the shock off to the appropriate guy for the appropriate attention. But I'm an engineer and am happy to tackle anything. Soooooo..... Has anyone taken a Paioli apart and how? Any tips? What weight oil would you recommend? How is the nitrogen charged and at what pressure? Thanks, Ralphy