wayneg

Yes I did it too - after the bottom part of the airbox door wouldn't seal on my '00. I had to file away the material where the rear shock connects to the frame. It looked good in the end, and was much more waterproof. It ended up only costing me about NZ$200 from memory.

And you beat NZ and the Ozzies too..... :-( Enough about Rugby lets focus on Netball now instead

The rear mudguard, subframes, airbox and air filter worked out to cost about NZ$400, although our local Beta distributor keeps his prices very low. You do need to remove some metal from the frame on the top rear shock pivot, and also move the rear muffler mount for everything to fit. I was lucky and had my brother's '04 bike to compare it to.

I stuck the airbox, mudguard and rear subframes from the 2004 model on my 2000 Rev3. I hated the old airbox setup, and my rear mudguard was knackered. The newer design of airbox is much better as it makes air filter servicing much easier, and it is also more waterproof. The new mudguard was shiny too....

Try adjusting your clutch a little bit - sometimes the clutch will not fully disengage because the clutch plates are a bit worn etc. This worked a treat on my '00 Rev3.

I have the tapered bars that were originally supplied with the '98 Beta Technos - as Ron says they come with both an upper and lower clamp, and will fit straight on with no machining. These bars have about 1" lower rise than the normal Tomaselli handlebars supplied with the '04 Rev3, so once they are installed with both the upper and lower clamps they work out to be about the right height. These handlebars have been on my '00 Rev3 for the last year or so and will be moved to the '04 Rev3 that I have just purchased. I can vouch for their durability, and have crash tested them relentlessly. I do go over the handlebars quite a bit, so with not having a cross brace, I get a greater freedom of movement on my way over. This opens up much greater marks for artistic expression. (I think that some of the observers at one particular event late last year are probably still laughing at one of my better efforts - pure poetry in motion!)

Be careful not to overtighten the bolts holding the inlet manifold and reed block in place. I did this and suffered major pinging for a while because of an air leak which only happened when there was lots of vibration (higher revs that I should probably be using due to rider incompetance!). The inlet manifold bent a bit because of the overtightening which opened a bit of a gap between it and the reed block which caused the air leak. I have learned from this mistake and won't be so brutal with spanners ever again.....

Yes the bars are off the '98 Techno - and surprisingly haven't been bent just yet. I have also spent quite a bit on the bike such as tyres, chains and sprockets etc, and for its age it really isn't all that bad. The main difference between my bike and a 'real' 2004 model is the front end - the newer bikes steer a lot better, so yes I hope to move to a newer bike at some stage, but are still pretty happy with the one that I've got at the moment.

Someone asked about changing the airbox on their '01 Rev to a later model; I have just recently changed the airbox, subframe and rear mudguard on my '00 Rev3 for the '04 parts. It really didn't cost that much NZ$400, which should be about GPB140 or US$200, but will depend on the parts pricing from your lcoal importers (I think that I got a pretty good discount from my local importer as he was trying to stop my whinging!). It has made a huge difference with the power characteristics on the bike. This is mainly because I am not a jetting guru, so the bike was not set up all that well. I really hated the old '00 airbox and airfilter arrangement, and I am much happier with the '04 setup. We ride in creeks a lot, and I used to drown out quite frequently with the old system no matter how much silicon sealant that was used. Originally I had a lot of pinging problems, especially when the weather was cold. So when BillyT came up with the float level adjustments I tried to follow them to the word. I had lots more problems then getting any low end performance out of my bike even with a 45 pilot jet. So I readjusted the floats to about half way between BillyT's instructions and stock. I then kept trying smaller and smaller jets as the bike was too rich, and have ended up with a 27.5 pilot with the airscrew at 1 turn out. This seemed to be pretty much spot on for me and my riding style. After the airbox change the bike has run much better again, but more in the mid range which logically should mean that the needle was a little bit rich. My conclusion is that the airbox swap was well worth the money because; (1) the bike wasn't setup properly by me, so performance improved (2) I really hated the '00 airbox/airfilter setup and am happier with the '04 (3) the rear mudguard was pretty scungy looking and needed replacing anyway, which has tidied the bike up a fair bit (4) my local importer can sleep better at night knowing that I won't be whinging at him at the next trial

I use a very small G clamp to press the pistons back in - saves on scratching anything and you get a nice even pressure.

Yes I have had them for at least a year, and have bent both footpeg mounts, one worse than the other. Anyone who hops on my bike for a try out seems to think that the handlebars are bent, but its just the right footpeg bracket I must straighten it one day.....

Are you over tightening the bolts on the cover warping it a little bit?? Just a thought.....

I had a similar noise once only it turned out to be something really silly. I had broken the headlight off inside the plastic bracket and every time I went a bit faster it would bang against the steering head making an extremely strange knocking sound. It took me ages to find the problem as it only happened when I was going faster. It never occured to me to look at the headlight.....

I did a bit of a brochure for our club which we hand out at events, and to new prospective riders. If you want I can email it to you, it is quite large as it has several photos on it (around 2mb). Send me a mail if you want it.

Stu It will probably be difficult as there aren't that many riders over here, and the market is a bit limited. The best way is to contact the distributors to see if you can get a bike off them, but don't be too surprised if you get a luke warm response as most would be lucky to sell 10 new bikes a year!! Beta importer is Kapiti Motorcycles phone/fax +64 4 2970240 Sherco importer is TrialsportNZ phone/fax +64 3 579 2106 Montesa and Scorpa importer is Nelson Trials Centre phone/fax +64 3 572 7599 Gas Gas importer is Peter Boettcher phone/fax +64 9 522 4810 There are however many companies that rent out normal off road bikes, and some companies that do guided off road tours. I have a friend in Christchurch that does guided tours around the south island - they are more like extreme trail rides with some pretty amazing scenery. Saying that he can also cater for more inexperienced riders as well - his web site is http://www.adventureride.co.nz so go and have a look if you are interested. I will ask around to see if any of the trials guys can come up with something anyway. Cheers Wayne