chewy

what oil are you using same as prior to the 3 changes? clutces often drag a bit usually cause of surface "tension" twixt plates various lubes affect this.. maybw worth thinking about

have alook at the existing forums re beta engine problems, are you sure it's not simply pinking.. does it knock as you "snatch" throttle open . I .ve just rebuilt mine and put some notes for others to benifit from my experiences (click box 2 on main bearings I think),got it going today i's not a bad job worst bit is putting cycle parts back together.

just a few more notes for poor souls who get the swishing sound...put motor together this afternoon. Don'y know if I did right or wrong by the manual (I didn't get one to tell me about this job) however I put the new bearings and crank assembly in the freezer set the crank halves on blocks so that the insides faced up, heated the crank halfs with my blowlamp until they good and hot (expanded) fitted seals from inside and bearings to follow didnt need to hit the bearings just pushed in by hand (but helped the seals into place with a piece of ally bar I had handy) due to tempreture differences,, allowed the bearings to grip and the heat to transfer to them put a wipe of grease on crank ..dropped drive side of crankshaft in first having greased and located new gasket onto drive side still faceing up , timing side followed (all this whilst drive side not moved all gearbox etc with it I wanted minimun moving it about in case bits fell out of place) when this lot was done( and I 'd had a cuppa to smugly concratulate myself) i heated (not too hot just enoughto get it to bite) the drive side pinion gear cleaned the taper and dropped gear on to taper and air wrenched it tight. ( i reckon that should hold, always dubious about tapers but realy they are incredible ) clutch assembly straightforward .don't forget shim (some would say washer) airwrenched clutch centre and remade lock tag. only other things to look out for are the spacer inside kickstart spring has a slot in it to clear the spring if it's not right the cover won't go into place. Also there is a shim/washer to go on the gearstick shaft. It took me about 40 minutes being ultra carefull and clean which was about twice as long as took to get it apart. Only thing I'm not happy about is best part of 50 quid (from BVM.. perhaps the most expensive trials dealer in the world) for a gasket set to do a job which really shouldn't be neccessary on a sixteen month old bike; the bearings and seals;.... well what can one say it's all been said. Hope this is of use to next fella who has to do this. I did hear of somebody paying local trials dealer c. 700 quid to do this job.. half that would be an easy days work for most folk.

i dont run the lawn mower with that sort of mix... i guesse they covering thier arses .. so far as I know most people run sythentic at 80 to 1 the conversations tend to go that more oil = less fuel = more air mix = running weaker = hotter bla bla bla

first reply most sensible frosty morning in uk not same as 40 deg in europe

top man betabegood (no relation to johnny?) hope all goes well can't wait to get mine back together. I have seen people drilling drain hole so that crud can get out quickly it could almost do with a "scoop" to catch that which is being whirred around by the flywheel . I ready to try anything but like you I guesse I'll just try to keep crud out with a silicon "gasket all round. It would be better if there were more bolts 3 with a plastic moulding is a bit on the "light" side..there it is lets hope our experiences can benifit others.

Thanks for that Gaz every bit of info is usefull (eg the guys at BVM say you can only buy full gasket set I only need centre gasket). considering what a substantial bearing it is there has got to be something peculiar to Betas which is causing this (Not bragging but have a doctorate in mech eng. so do have some idea of whats what). One (wild) idea could be that Betas seem to be awash with fuel half the time.... ie is it diluting the lubrication film?. I have always followed that method of running motor up after washing at least untill the fan kicks in. another observation wast hat there was an awfull lot of crud behind the flywheel cover, ...as it doubles as sprocket guard it may be that crud is really being forced in when chain is carrying mud etc and packing it in there..I dont imagine that would happen so frequently in Italy, couple that with pushing it on in with washing process may be contributary factor . However that crud would have to get through the lip seal which would be ripped to shreds ..mine wasn't. Incidentally my bearings were plain unshielded unsealed yet earlier in this forum John Lampkin is quoted as saying shielded bearings are standard. could it be a crankshaft balance issue?...Beta have just changed that part of the motor I understand. Whatever it is mains are a fundamental part of any bike. I would be a worried man if I was "running" a fleet of them through SSDT... I understand there is a fuel issues as well now that they using extruded section for fuel tank on the Evo's. I expect after all is said and done the problem is going to be either crappy bearings as original equipment or dirt either on assembly or as we all seem to be discussing. Hope BVM send me some quality bearings and seals and I will be sure to put together in clinical conditions and then I can expect never to have to go there again. One thing for sure is these forums are it seems the only way to get an overview of issues such asd this.

Swishing it is.. Just got mine apart dead easy job..and boy are those bearing knackered!; for all those who are going to have to do this job it's worth remembering that all of the gearbox stays in the clutch side , the primary gear (taper fit on clutch side may ping off and smack you in the face if you are using levers/ heat and of course getting bearing out is much eaier with a little heat to expand the ally faster than the bearings, ofcourse an air wrench makes it so much easier to get the clutch centre nut undone ..and don e back up I imagine. I don't know about putting it together as I now have to wait for bits to arrive ( gasket set seals and bearings) I had thought about moaning at John Lampkin as my bike is only 17 mjonths old and I am not the sort to thrash a bike ( I wouldn't be at 58 years young) but there is evidence of condensation/wet although the piston and bore are spotless and unmarked (you would expect an engine thats has a "drink" to be evenly affected by the dirt, or for it to have blown the head or barrel of or bent a con rod...water doesn't compress); I can't recall ever giving it a "drink" of water but then I can't imagine why a factory would assemble a motor with corroded bearing. It just seems bizzare that so many Betas are having this problem and it would be helpfull if there was any preventative medicine available ( thats opened the door for Beta bashers !). Its not really a difficult job I reckon its taken me longer to write this than t did to get the engine apart it's just that it shouldn't be neccessary.

thanks for that guys It's been a long time I had motor with "shot" mains your comments about feeling it and grating roughness have been a big help I think I'll go on believing it's a bit of piston slap 'cause it isn't a harsh "serious" noise. PS i

I.m probably a bit late in this conversation....... how do you know it's the mains? I have a similar quandry with my 08 200..to me, for all the world it sounds like piston slap at exhaust port with the screwdriver to the ear. Some folk who have had a listen say all beta's are quite noisy mechanically ,some say its definitly the mains , some say its primary drive noise. I think the noise has got louder since i changed gearbox oil to A.T.F. which certainly made clutch action better.One guy whose opinion I trust (him having been around even longer than me) reckons it's mains but that they could go on grumbling like that for a long time yet. I remain reluctant to strip it down without being sure it's neccesary so any comments or pointers wouldbe appreciated.

Why can't I work out who you are? I.m from Bristol member of Kingswood and know most folk, and you are probably a fan of Simsons.( that remindss me of an old joke ..bloke went to docs ,said doc I think my hearing is getting dodgy...doc asks what are the symptons..guy replied, cartoon character, homer is a fat yellow git and marge has blue hair..ha.ha Are you the guy who came to our last open to ctr. trial with an Iveco van?

failing all above stuff is is simply something like knackered crankshaft seals...

does anybody out there know of a tree or four day trial on border of Austria with Italy it runs annually around about 2nd weekend in August., We went to Swiss Vestiges trial and French vielles tiges last year and overheard talk of an exellent trial thee weekend before as described above ..seems like a good plan to do that whilst we are ther next year but can't find any info at all

That wouldn't be Ralph Rackstraw would it?????

AS a manufacturer of footrests I reckon you would be better off modifying the bike to take any of the aftermarket footrests availabe. One it gives you more choice, two it will be easier to replace in the event of damage and thirdly it it easier to modify your frame than to desighn & make a pair of footrests. I had three 348's when they were " fashionable" ( read a long time ago) but can't remember how footrests were mounted. If you are determined to go ahead with making one pair of footrests; most footrests are around 100 to 105 long x 40 wide. Its a trade off for getting between rocks etc and having leverage on the bike. Good luck with your project

This can't possibly be a new topic but it is for me! Just had stator plate "meltdown" on 10 month old rev3 200. have replaced whole stator with OEM spare @

Quite amusing for me . I make footrests and was happily selling to MRS.. Malcolm got me an enquirey from Sherco to supply as O.E.M. I duly quoted a crazy price of less than a tenner a pair and didn't get order because I was too expensive. Next years and for several years all Sherco's had my desighn of footrest as standard equipment, I can only guesse they took my desighn to somewhere cheaper (maybe even china) and got it it made up as standard Sherco component. So you see, really all this fuss to me appears like Karma for Sherco. They aren't the first and they wont be the last to find themselves in this situation, litigation will only serve to embarass them and they may well end up paying costs on top. Back to the game ..if only somebody could make a bike with reliability and build quality of Montesa/Honda rideability of Gas gas and price of Xispa I'll order 2 tomorrow!

After 15 years of gassers and trying the Mont 4rt for a year I got rev 3's (me & the missus). I didn't like the footrests so fitted my own ("control footrests" although it would be understatment to say I'm a little biased in that area!) Only gripe I have is the crap electrical switches and wiring to same as recently mentioned in other forums; however as 99.9% of riders sling this away at outset it's not a problem for Beta. You wont find John Lampkins outfit lacking in customer service (although they can't be expected to suffer fools gladly).

Dont know answer to this but have to agree with you in hope that Beta read these forums and do something about it.. One of the reasons I bought Beta was because all switches etc looked to be tidy (we keep light etc on for scrutineering in Europe)

I had one of those ( albeit a 250) I rode it for two years including 2 SSDT's without any major mechanical problems was a good bike as the guy I sold it to used it for a further 5 years with only usual running repairs. Gassers are notoriously fragile and need good maintainance and a considerate rider to to get best out of them. So when looking at second hand gassers attention to all bearings seals and sighns of hard riding also all fasteners appear to be made of chocolate so you can see telltale signs of repairs and of course the airbox is very prone to leaks. If or should that be when you have to make repairs to gasser it is normally pretty straightforward work but you must have good tools gentle hands and clean workspace.

Hi Nigel just read your enqy. out of interest to see if anyone has encountered your problem which appears to be getting oil to feed through the bush, Firstly remember phosphor bronze is "porous" so it should soak up oil from any pressurised supply. Is it possible to hand machine the oilway in the case to ensure supply at the "feedhole" in the bush (if this is what you are describing) using for example a small tungsten carbide burr in an airtool? Finally I don't know this engine at all but if the pressure release valve is to be of any use surely it must be on the pressure or supply side of the equation,.. is it funnctioning correctly? This may all be dribble " but it always helps to talk things over eh?

Bottled fermented grape juice is used a lot on the continent or if its a warm day a mixture of anniseed, water and a smidgen of alcahol is often compulsory. Clearly there are many variations and opinions and you need to experiment and work out what is best for your metabolism; as you have identified a problem with stamina perhaps a few interstitial (between sections) quaffs of a mixture of beverages would help you feel less tired.

I think i'll give it a try provided price is right Like most I try to minimise gassing other riders at trials (queus are a fact of life nowadays!) at least they will be gassed with a sweet scent PS I know i cant spell

On a very (as seems usual nowadays) grey summer day here in the U.K. that sounds like a great idea! Janet & I have been going to Europe for several years which is brilliant but as P.A has realised you only actually live once... good luck to them it would be great to hear any feedback they may have regards logistics etc. Jealous , fed up with taxes,credit crunch ,recession, weather , health service etc etc here in UK

Yea excellent & the music was excellent too Thanks for sharing it guys