Evo 2T Clutch Effort

[cmichigan]

Wife is thinking of going from her 2010 Gas Gas 250 to a new Beta 250. The amount of effort required to pull the clutch could be a deal breaker. She has ridden my 12 300 Beta and some other locals 250s and she has a hard time one fingering the clutch. My understanding is that you can reduce the pull at the lever. Anyone done this? Does it work well? No slippage? If you've done a mod for this what exactly did you do?

[0007]

Move the master inward on the bar so you get as much leverage as possible

Dan talks about removing 2 springs but I would expect clutch slippage

Edited October 29, 2013 by 0007

[jfc]

Spring removal makes a massive difference to the effort needed and we have not had any slippage problems!

[benbeta23]

Use Lighter springs instead, I think S3 sell them, Don't take any out or else the clutch will slip at mid/high rpm.

[sparky898]

I have a 2012 evo 250 and have removed 2 clutch springs. There is definitely no clutch slip. This has made a massive difference to lever effort. I would recommend this mod to anyone,it is detailed in the beta section

[dan williams]

OK this is kind of bike/rider specific at this point but here are my learndings with the old and new Beta clutches.

Point 1. I assume she's not riding advanced level stuff and so clutch slippage in the top gears on the loop or zapping a step is not likely to be a problem for her.

Point 2. Progressive and easy clutch actuation is her main concern.

Point 3. Clutch plates are easier and cheaper to replace than a wife.

So down to specifics, look at the pinned topic for the clutch fix first for making the clutch nice and progressive to get an understanding of the basics of why Beta clutches have been hard to pull and inconsistant. This was all done on older bikes with 6 matching fiber plates. On the new bikes Beta has made some changes. The two outer fiber plates are ~1.5mm thicker. This makes the clutch pack about 3mm thicker increasing the spring preload. The spring retaining washers are now stepped but as shipped from the factory mine were turned around so the step was facing the bolt head.

So what does this have to do with the price of potatoes in Peoria? On the old clutches I'd do the clutch fix and yank a couple of springs. After a few years on a 270 there will be some slippage on the loop trail in 5th and 6th gear when hauling. A small price to pay for a light and progressive clutch pull.

On the new bikes the thicker fiber plates make the clutch act quicker and seem to exhibit some hydraulic drag due to the reduced clearance in the clutch pack. I did the clutch fix on my '13 300 but I was still getting a somewhat unpredictable clutch action for my mediocre talents.Turning the spring washers around reduced the spring preload by about 1.5mm which helped lower pull. Saturday night I put a set of fixed fiber plates from an '08 (yeah I have extra sets of plates lying around. That shouldn't surprise anyone by now). Sunday was the first ride on the '13 with the '08 fibers and what a difference. Even with six springs the pull was light and the action progressive and predictible. There was no slip and I went all day without putting a foot down for the first time in 28 years of riding events. To say I'm pleased would be an understatement.

So if you get her a new Beta get the thinner fiber set and polish the tabs/clean the inter pad glue, flip the step washers, run real gear oil (not ATF) and put some VForce reeds on it to help the bottom end torque. You might want to consider the 200cc engine too as it's very capable and a lot less intimidating.

Me fail English? That's unpossible! (Ralph Wiggum)

Edited October 29, 2013 by dan williams

[cmichigan]

Thanks for the replies. No problem with being intimidated, she'd love a 300 if she could kick it over. 250 seems to be a good size for her, easier to start than a 300 and more zip than the 200. I am gaining confidence that we can make the clutch enough easier to pull that she could get along with the Beta. Both of us are long time Gas Gas riders and making the switch is a little odd. I do feel like the EVO is pretty good for me (had the 300 for a year now) but I agree with her the clutch lever does take a bit more strength that her little hands don't really have.

[micm]

As Dan W has already noted, cleaning the glue off between the clutch pads is worth doing for the average rider, it seems to make the clutch more progressive and transformed a local 2010 250 Evo I rode recently which before had a very sharp clutch action.