neonsurge

You really need to lay off the vodka, dude.

I'd guess I spend 3-4 hours a week on bike maintenance. To be honest, a thorough clean, oil change, carb clean and the usual checks (spokes, bearings etc.) doesn't take that long but I quite enjoy tinkering ('er indoors calls it "pottering" - she doesn't know about the beer n' fags stash I have in the garage ) You see these kids have the most enormous offs but generally walk away unscathed because they chuck the bike away, safe in the confidence that dad and his bottomless wallet will replace the plastics, levers and silencer on monday morning. My policy is to hang on t'd bugger and if possible, cushion the bike with your body. <disclaimer>Obviously this isn't a good idea. Unless you don't have to work the next day and/or have very good health insurance.</disclaimer>

Thought I'd close the loop on this one. 37.5 pilot has cured it. Bike runs beautifully with not a hint of pinging. Big thanks to charlie and clarkp for all of their suggestions.

My local club while being lucky enough to own a vast area of land with lots of hills, gulleys, woods and a couple of rivers running through it have recently spent a lot of money importing a huge amount of rocks (about the only kind of section that isn't naturally common in the area). We're talking really big, car-sized boulders and they've built some really awesome sections, all of which have been designed to allow multiple lines through. However, while providing a challenge to the more experienced rider, there's not many novice-friendly sections. I'm not complaining really because it gives you plenty to aim at and there's so much other fantastic riding terrain, but it would've been nice if a few smaller boulders could have been placed in isolation so that the bike and rider aren't falling 4-5 feet onto more rocks if they have to bail out. A safe way to practise smaller steps before working up to the monster splats would be useful. Making sure that you cater for all abilities (unless you're specifically catering for experts for example) is what I'm saying I guess.

OK, one quick call to the nice people at Allen's Performance later and I've installed a 37.5 pilot (I bought every size from 30-40 and 37.5 seemed a reasonable starting point!). It started from cold with the lightest prod and just running it on the driveway it sounds a lot more... "open". Nowhere near as much smoke from the exhaust as usual although I don't see how this and the change of pilot jet can be related Just coincidence I guess. Anyway, we'll see how it goes at the weekend - 2 trials to ride! Thanks for everyone's help!

'04 rear mudguards are about forty quid at Feetup Trialsport.

Thanks Charlie. I've had the pinging problem since I've had the bike (as a quick trawl through the forums will show!) It's not severe but gets worse as the engine gets hot. To be honest, I've only recently noticed the fan coming on very quickly in the past month or so although it's so quiet I might just not have noticed previously. I've replaced the air filter, cleaned the carb numerous times (I do this every couple of rides as a matter of course) and checked the timing - all to no avail, hence my wonderings about the head gasket in the light of Heath's experiences with his GasGas. I've been thinking about maybe going up a size on the pilot jet as clarkp previously recommended but since I know lots of people with similar vintage Betas (2003 270), none of whom are experiencing the same problem (although a *slight* knock seems to be normal), I've resisted this route until now because it evidently shouldn't be necessary and may simply "mask" the real cause. HOWEVER, I've just downloaded the Mikuni VM series tuning manual and the exploded diagram shows a gasket between the float bowl and the carb body, something that's definitely missing from my bike and has been since I bought it. The manual isn't specific to the model 26 as found on the Beta, but I assume that it should be there? Could this be the cause of my problems? As always, all advice gratefully received!

I've just been reading r2w's site where he describes how he discovered that the cause of his Gasser Pro running hot was a pinched outer head gasket (http://www.r2wtrials.com/html_files/tech.html). I've noticed that my Rev-3 is exhibiting similar symptoms (fan cutting in after only a couple of minutes' riding) as well as an accompanying pinging that I'm STILL trying to eliminate. Being pretty mechanically naive, I'm assuming that the Beta cooling system is similar to that on the GasGas and that a pinched or otherwise leaky head gasket is a possible cause of the hot running (and possibly the pinging)... worth looking at the head gasket(s)?

Absolutely. I totally agree and share your concerns (as does everyone here, I'm sure). While I'd be prepared to shell out a few quid to subscribe to TC, like you I've seen a few sites that adopted this model disappear rapidly up their own bums - probably not worth it for the sake of "free speech". [ big voluntary edit to remove loads of redundant blather ]

If you've never been to the Sheffield indoor, buy your tickets now. No, I mean it - pick up the phone and dust off your credit card (hey, this is Yorkshire). I never thought that trials could be that intense and exciting until my first visit last year. And if you know your motorcycling celebrities, you'll see road racers, motocrossers, enduro-ers and top riders from all disciplines in the crowd. "Hey isn't that....?" followed by "Yeah. But look who's sat two rows down!"

I understand why you're saying this Andy, but making grey imports a taboo subject on TC is to deny the existence of a problem that's not going to go away anytime soon. As far as I know (and I'm sure Mr. Dabster will correct me if I'm wrong... ) grey importing isn't illegal and despite all of the potential warranty and after-sales service perils (most of which have already been mentioned elsewhere in this thread) as long as it's sufficiently cheaper to import than it is to buy from a UK dealership to make it worthwhile, people will do it. Global economics in action. FWIW, I'd agree that it's ultimately a false economy and I certainly wouldn't recommend that anyone does it (unless it's a really, really good "once in a lifetime" kind of deal) but as with most things in life, "you pays yer money and ya take yer chances".

I was up at the Scarborough Youth 2-Day for both days this year and apart from the astonishingly high level of riding from all of the kids, a few of the sections got me thinking about the challenge facing both those fine people who lay out the trials and the modern style of trials riding. First of all, I'm a p*ss poor clubman level rider so my opinion may not count for much, but while all of the instructional videos and trials training school quite rightly place the emphasis on the basics of riding I'm convinced that a few of the sections (especially today) were simply impossible to get through without using what are occasionally referred to as "trick" techniques (nose wheelies, front and rear hopping etc.). Interestingly, nearly all of the youth riders seemed to have no problem with this, flicking their bikes all over the place; those that didn't had a very hard time of it and invariably fived the section in question by ending up riding out of the markers. So has trials turned a corner? Far better riders than I say that you ought to be able to get through virtually any section with a solid command of the basics but on the evidence of this weekend I'm not sure that this is true any more. This wasn't a national level event (although some of today's sections seemed to be at least as difficult as those I've seen at national youth rounds this year) but a well-developed "modern" technique seemed to be essential for the A & B class at least. This isn't some old fogey "it's not real trials any more" style lament, more of an out-loud wondering if what was once considered "trick" is now mainstream and necessary to do well at anything above club level?

From the scoreboard outside the office, Mr Brown won A by a mile on Saturday. Not sure about other classes or today (didn't look). Keep an eye on http://www.scarboroughdmc.co.uk - complete results should be there soon. Today (Sunday) was much more difficult than Saturday with completely different sections and some really big and scary (to me!) sections for A & B classes. I didn't see anyone make it up the rocks to the top of the main gulley, although most of the As had been through by the time that I got there.

Ah, crap. I've been planning a constantly variable transmission, fluid drive, electric trials bike ever since I first saw the Blade electric MXer a while ago. Looks like someone might have beaten me to it...

NP Disc, just messin' wit ya I like that photo because of the "opposide ends of the trials spectrum" aspect - world champion and kid just starting out (with TY80 to boot!) The only thing that could have made that pic better would be to have Martin Lampkin standing there as well: "Past, present and future"

Anyway, great photo huh? (I hate thread hi-jackers )

Check out the last photo. One of the best trials photos I've ever seen. If I was that kid's parent, that pic would be A3 and over the mantlepiece!

This month's TBM confirms that they're KTM (the 400EXC is still a current model, by the way). Hmmmm. I heard something recently that KTM were looking at moving into the trials market - they've said that they want to have bikes available in every category and trials is about the only one where they don't at the moment.

I owned a DRZ for a couple of years and it's definitely not a DRZ motor in that Beta. I agree with Dabs et. al: It looks identical to the 450EXC engine!

The new Beta enduro bikes (as pictured in this week's TMX) are red and silver so that might be some indication of the general colour scheme and graphics of the 2005 trials irons.

Bloody hell, I remember that! That's how I saw "On Any Sunday" for the first time. No idea if you can still do that kind of thing - someone out there's probably got a shed full of 16mm reels...

I read an interview with one of the Honda development engineers somewhere (can't find the link now, but it was about 3 clicks away from a link posted in these forums) where it said that Honda are in discussion with another manufacturer about an OEM supply of the 4-stroke trials engine. Beta? I know that they have an existing relationship with Suzuki for their Alp models, but those are the big, heavy old DR engines... Anyone know any more?

I didn't lie about not asking any more daft questions because this one's not daft... I think! Thanks to everyone's help, I managed to get the airbox off and removed the intake manifold and reed block. When I compared the bits on the workbench against the exploded diagrams, I noticed that I was missing a part (no. 32 on the diagram called "10-67362 special o-ring" in the parts list). I'm wondering if this could be contributing to my ongoing pinging problems? Furthermore, I have a gasket between the reed block and the casing that's not on the diagram. I'm slightly confused Can anyone shed any light on this? I guess that o-ring thing is pretty important for sealing the intake properly?

Thanks for everyone's help. Following Kinell's instructions, I had the airbox off in a couple of minutes and the intake manifold and reed block were in my hands in just a couple more. To use an obscure movie quote: "Jeez Frank, they come to bits easy!" (Any guesses? Big hint: Peter Jackson). Windlestone: I'm an ex-GasGas owner and I can honestly say that the Beta is far easier to work on than my old TXT (can't comment on the Pros). I can remove the carb, clean, re-jet (or whatever) and re-fit in less than 5 minutes using only a flat blade screwdriver. Maybe all the electrical gubbins are a bit more accessible on the Gasser, but there's not much in it.

My adventures in mechanical imcompetence continue. I want to remove the airbox to check the rubber boot for tears and get easier access to the intake manifold to check that and take a look at the reed block. However, I can't get the airbox off! I've removed the screws in the "subframe" and loosened the boot at the carb, but it steadfastly refuses to shift. I feels like it's still attached somewhere on the right hand side where the mid pipe meets the silencer but there's nothing obvious and I wondered if there's something I'm missing. I anyone could quickly outline the procedure for airbox removal I'd really appreciate it and promise not to ask any more daft questions for at least a month. Deal? Thanks in advance...