Hi first outing on the Evo this weekend,all good apart from the clutch slipping in 5th & 6th gear.This might be down to a few factors,it might need new plates or it may have the wrong oil or to much in it,Motul 300V 10/40 to the top of spy glass.All other gears OK no drag from cold,apart from that well impressed.Cheers.

Did you back off the adjuster & try it?

Hi t-shock yes backed off the adjuster as there was no free play on the leaver.It was'nt slipping from cold just noticed it after second lap when riding between sections.It was my first outing on the bike let alone a beta so it took a while to get used to.Always rode gassers so I was quite impressed.

what year evo & engine?

As always check the clutch mod thread at the top. The EVO plates are much better gluewise but the tabs still need to be polished for smooth engagement and to reduce slip.

Oh yeah and you could use less oil. Some recommend 500cc and filling to the top of the sight glass is probably 600cc plus. It won't hurt anything just gives a little more hydraulic drag.

Edit just reread and noticed no year on thread. 2013 and after have two thicker plates so more spring preload. Makes slippage unlikely unless someone before you put in some superslicky oil not meant for clutches. I find it usually takes three or so changes to really get things back to normal in that case. Other possibility is something like slick50 or Prolong which can permanently affect the plates. If you do the clutch mod take the plates out and give them a good wash.

Edited May 27, 201412 yr by dan williams

I have a 2013 250 and the clutch drags all the time and slips occasionally. I think its time Beta put this to bed & designed a new clutch for their 20 year old engine, or better still, a new motor!

New designs will work pretty much the same if they don't do the finish work to the pieces. Look at the trouble GasGas had with their new design until they got it sorted.

The bike is an 09 290

Cheers.

Ok so you probably have the old style 6 fiber plates all the same. If your bike was owned by an expert the plates could be worn from high RPM dumps. If it was owned by the typical rider your plates should be fine as far as wear. Try the mod. I think it will help.

Thanks for all your replays the bike itself is very clean and does'nt seem to have had a hard life.The clutch might just need replacing,I will replace oil to see if that helps.Thanks.

my money is on the previous owner has removed a couple of springs to make the clutch lighter....

Knowing how marginal the Beta clutch is, removing 2 springs would render it completely useless!

Removing springs is really not the core of the mod. It was done just as an experiment to make the pull lighter and some tried it and had slip in the higher gears. The real benefit comes from polishing the tabs (slip and lightswitch engagement) and cleaning the glue out between the pads (cold stick). I'd be really surprised if you need a new clutch pack. Try the mod first.

I have a 09 EVO 290. I did the DW clutch mod and put 1.5m-2mm washers under the spring retainer bolt and washer assembly to reduce the spring preload which softened the lever pull. The cross hatch needed to be removed on the clutch cover or the clutch spring retainer bolts will scrape them off when you pull the clutch lever. I lowered the trans oil to 480cc or watever is close to that on the ratio right. I use GM type 2 transmission oil and the clutch works great.

Edited June 1, 201412 yr by liviob

Presumably these settings are able to be applied to the 290 as well? There are 5 settings, 3 of which Beta notes will cause the clutch to slip in 5th/6th (I ended up leaving my clutch pack standard and just flipped the tophats around... makes a world of difference for my achy fingers, and I haven't noticed any clutch slip. I'd swear the clutch also drags less and it's easier to shift gears and find neutral (which I had no prayer of doing with the stock setup)).

http://www.betausa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/STT-2012-3-Evo%20300%20clutch%20set%20up.pdf