dan williams

Ding! Alright everyone back to their neutral corner. Ron's right about putting the bolts through the flywheel. If the flywheel turns and they go roundy round they'll chew up the internals. The trick is to put them into the flywheel so they don't protrude through to the inside but connect enough threads in effect making a holding tool for the flywheel. To do this properly you need to make a plate that the bolts go through first that'll sit on top of the flywheel with a hole for the flywheel nut and a long handle. And if you don't use high grade bolts you can shear them off so spend the extra few coins. Don't rely on the clutch gearbox immobilizing the rear wheel method to get sufficient holding power on the flywheel to torque that nut. Any method that could counter the torque required to properly fasten the the nut risks breaking the case/gearbox and tweaking the crankshaft as this puts twisting force directly across the crank. You should be doing this with a torque wrench anyway. If you use a torque wrench it will become painfully apparent how little torque you are actually getting on the nut without directly holding the flywheel. Either make a holding tool proper or have a friend who's handy with metal work help you and get a good torque wrench so you know how tight it actually is. An air impact driver is great if you've got one but I don't and am not likely to get one. I do prefer the feel of assembly with a torque wrench but it has to be at least a 100 ft/lbs wrench to get the required torque. Not that 100 ft/lbs is the number you need to tighten to just that a wrench that will do that much torque is long enough to do the job. Ahhh leverage. Hey Ron, if anybody would know you would, what is the torque spec on the flywheel bolt? Of course the other option is to bring it to a dealer. Sorry if this sounds expensive but this is the equivalent of major surgery and the proper tools are essential to prevent complications. This is one case where you can do an awful lot of damage if you're not careful. Dan

I run the VForce on my 270 and have the needle in the middle, 27.5 pilot and 145 main. The plug shows some residue from the Cam2 race gas (doesn't run as clean as VP C12 but is cheaper) There isn't much difference on top from the stock reeds (not like I could tell anyway since full throttle is the abode of trials gods and frightening to us mere mortals) but the bike will pull a taller gear at low revs. I can climb really slooooow when I need to. In a nutshell I think the VForce3s were a great investment on my '02 and '05 and since I'm seriously considering an '08 I'll put them on that too. I've run reeds for years and never replaced them. Unless they are visibly frayed or fractured they are probably OK. The spring tension on the reeds isn't what holds them closed. It's the reverse pressure in the inlet tract that closes the reeds. Even a reed that doesn't make a perfect seal is still going to let only a tiny amount of fuel air charge back into the carb throat at the lowest RPM. Unless you can see physical damage to the reeds or seats they're probably fine. One thing to note though is the stock Beta reeds,at least on my '02, are fiberglass. Yeah I know they're painted black to look like carbon but I've had them under a microscope and the fibers are clear. Of course if you're like me you'll just replace them for peace of mind because once it's apart it's a cheap way to feel good about your baby. Dan

This link looks active. It says they won't accept entry forms before December. http://www.motoramaassoc.com/motor_index.php Dan

Moto Tassani VForce3 carbon fiber reeds. I have them on my '05 and they really smooth out the grunt at the low revs. Makes it much easier to pull higher gears when going really slow. http://www.vforce3.com/ The other thing I did to my Beta and I'm not sure if they've fixed this on the '08s or not was to pull out the clutch pack and dress the tabs on the fiber plates. Beta clutches have always been sticky and used large springs. That was a mystery to me until I decided to figure out why the Beta clutch was such a bear. When I pulled the clutch out and visually inspected the plates under a microscope I was horrified. http://www.newenglandtrials.org/clutch001.jpg http://www.newenglandtrials.org/clutch003.jpg These are photos of the fiber plate tabs with about three months of wear in. Essentially these are bearing surfaces that must slide to engage and disengage the clutch. It's apparent that these are forged but not dressing the tabs leaves an uneven surface. When the clutch is engaged these ridges are driven into the side of the clutch basket slots grabbing as they go. This causes the clutch to slip. as more power is fed to the clutch more side torque drives these ridges harder into the basket. The green between the ridges is residual adhesive from the fiber material. The fix that has been used is heavier springs to force the plates to slide together. On the opposite end when the clutch is disengaged the plates don't have the heavier spring pressure to push them apart so the plates stick together because of the side torque. This also makes the release much more sudden then it should be as a moment with the engine torque released will allow the plates to separate suddenly. The other issues caused by this is uneven wear of the clutch basket so even replacing the plates may not fix it on an older bike where the plates and basket have worn into each other. What I did to my bike was pull the clutch pack out and dress the ends of the tabs with a jeweler's file. (every toolbox should have a set) and then polish with a polishing stone. I used a Dremel tool but a hand stone will work just fine. Wash the plates thoroughly before putting the clutch pack back in. Soapy water works fine just make sure you rinse all the soap off as a last step so it doesn't damage the tranny oil. I left out two clutch springs on mine and have been riding the bike almost every weekend (except winter) for two years. No clutch slip and the engagement is super smooth and consistent and I weigh around 235lbs and really beat on the clutch. It's worth it for any Beta owner to pull the clutch pack and have a look. Dan

Fair enough but it is still a great bike no doubt, went through a tank of fuel on people just wanting a play on it after sundays event. As you would on the superb Sherco 08 Great Gas Gas08 magnificent Montesa or so good Scorpa, just that you don't sell them? Wow, How touchy are some people that a Beta dealer saying how much they like the new Beta on the Beta forum is required to give equal time to the other brands. If this were posted on the Montesa or Sherco forum I could understand but seriously now... Dan

Yup. Been running 100:1 in my Betas since my '91 Zero. Dan

I find it a little amusing the talk of "extra" power between the 270 and 250 Rev3s. If anything the 270 is smoother and has better low end torque then the 250 making it easier to ride. Hey fuma It's a shame Sonny had his 250 loaded or you could have tried his bike for a direct 2005 250/270 comparison. The 250 has a slightly higher compression ratio which gives a little more pop but the big (and often overlooked) difference is the primary drive of the 270 has an extra flywheel mass attached to the crankshaft. The other difference between my bike and stock is I have VFORCE3 reeds which make the bike pull harder in the low end. I don't know what all the griping is about the Mikuni. I've had them on all my Betas since '87 even replacing the DelOrto on the '95 with a Mikuni and all my bikes have run perfectly. Yeah you have to tune 'em but hey it's a competition bike. When you do get the new bike let me know. I'll help you dial it in and even do a few of the mods I've learned over the years to make it better then stock. Dan

I went down one tooth on the countershaft on my '05 and it made a world of difference. I stopped overshooting corners and had much better control. I had an '02 before and the stock gearing was fine but the '05 was a handful with the stock gearing. Dan

The Beta pipe is here. http://s3.servergirona.com/index.php?pid=1..._id=48&new= It looks like the "stock" titanium pipe on the Raga Gas Gas is probably made by these guys. Dan

I had to do this operation last week. Cleared up the clunk quite nicely.

Heh heh somebody needs to switch to decafe. Thanks for the effort of putting up the results. Often a thankless job. Dan

Before you get to the hardcore parts removal check the kill switch. I've seen several problems from Beta's with intermittant shorts. Also make sure nothing is rubbed bare on the wire harness. Hopefully you can get away on the cheap. Dan

Make it fun and make it accessable and they will come. Beat up the novices and they will quit. Make information hard to come by and they will never show up. Guess what year we stopped beating up the novices? Dan

Theoretically... The stock Beta reeds are fiberglass. Yeah I know they paint 'em black to look like carbon but they're not. I know because I took a set and stuck them under the microscope at work. The carbon reeds weigh less but are stronger then fiberglass. The heavier a reed is the more air pressure must be built up behind it to open it. Also a heavier reed requires more tension to close quickly once the pressure goes away. It's a real balancing act that penalizes one range to make another stronger. The carbon reeds should require less of a compromise to make the bottom end run a little stronger and cleaner because they open at a lower pressure and close faster allowing less blowback through the carb. At high RPM the reeds stick open anyway so the only real difference is the restriction to air flow in the reed block. The Beta reed block is pretty good as it is for top end but my guess is the Moto Tassani block will let it rev out a bit further. I'll let you know once I stick the block in my bike and run it around a bit. Hey anything that says carbon fiber is a must have A couple of years ago I walked into Commo's shop and he handed me a pair of prototype, plasma-cut, titanium brake rotors. OOoooohhhh. So light, so expensive. Needless to say he wasn't going to let me do more then look at them. Dan

If anyone's interested Ron Commo has been working with Moto Tassinari on a Vforce carbon fiber reed block for the Rev3. I managed to talk him out of the last prototype, haven't installed it yet, but Ron Sr. says they'll be in production any day now. pictures here http://www.newenglandtrials.org/reeds.htm Call Ron if you want some. http://www.usbeta.com Dan

Wow I thought I was the only person to own one of these. Here in the US they were called the Can-Am 300AT. It wasn't that bad a bike and would go over quite large steps if you had the nerve to wind it up and dump the clutch. I ended up putting the front end of a TR33 Beta on mine for the disk. I have no idea what ever happened to that bike. probably gathering dust in a barn somewhere. I also had one of the Can-Am 350s. I'm amazed the damn thing didn't kill me. It tried. I still remember the frame number 853200001. I don't know if that means I got number 1 or number 32 but I still remember it. Dan

Ahhh I got an EMAIL to tell me they fixed it on the web, and they did. Maybe they do have some respect for plonkers. I feel better now. Dan

Is it just me or is anybody else insulted by the AMA membership application saying "observed trails". Dan

AMA rules. No short sleeve shirts allowed. Safety thing. Seems a little silly to me but...

Great Ron, do the one piece spandex suits come in my size? Whoops! Sorry about your lunch buddy. Here let me help you clean that up. Actually I could use a few new jerseys (there's that state again) since we can't wear tee shirts anymore. ohhhohhhohhh the new Beta. Sooo sweet, drool drool drool.

It's a good question. Starting a club takes a great deal of patience. It takes years to develop a core group which will be self sustaining and every club teeters on the brink when they first start. It doesn't hurt to have a plan to start with. Adopt a goal such as gaining 100 members or the ability to put on a national in 5 years. NETA is a little odd in that we are a club but we're also a sanctioning body. Essentially we make it possible for the smaller local clubs to operate within a common framework in the region. NETA doesn't put on events per se but a club wanting to put on an NETA sanctioned event gets a ready made regional ridership and rules. In the event the club is not AMA chartered NETA becomes the club for the day taking care of insurance and AMA paperwork and other details like having an NETA officer current with the AMA safety course. This allows very small clubs to hold events. This seeding strategy has worked well as the small clubs have grown and are starting to get their own AMA charters and established riderships in their local areas. All clubs wax and wane over the years. One of the biggest factors to remember is the pipeline gets filled from the bottom. It's very easy to get wrapped up in the whole debate about making riders better that the fundamental reason for a club, to have fun, is lost. Never lose sight of the fact the lower classes are there for recreation in the form of friendly competition. If the bug bites them to get better they will move up the classes but you cannot force it. Riders will just quit and the club will cease to exist. Another problem is accessability. If the people who are likely to be trials riders don't know when, where, and how they ride trials they won't. The beauty of the web is it's power to distribute information but most of the riders just starting out are still introduced the old fashioned way. Through one on one invitation. As politics go it is dangerous to put too much authority/responsibility on individuals. It's important everybody understand they own some responsibility for the future of the club. If you want to complain about the rules the place to do it is at the annual meeting. All riders have the right to be heard and the responsibility to listen. There are some who think that makes the NETA annual meeting too long but at our current membership levels I think it is a necessity. This includes every dues paying member. If a ten year old has a beef with something it is important to show the same respect for his opinion as for a fifty year old rider. Why? Three reasons, 1. The club belongs to its members. It is the membership's responsibility to determine the future direction of the club. Take away that feeling of ownership and you damage the group dynamic by removing responsibility riders have for each other. 2. Great care must be taken not to segment riders by "importance". One member one vote. Little Tyler on his GasGas 50 is as much (actually quite a bit better) of a trials rider as I am. We all have a narrow view of what the sport needs. Trialsmasters would like to make money. Experts are worried about sections that are too boring. Novices are worried about sections that are too scary. Seniors are worried about work the next day. Only as a group is it possible to see the whole picture. 3. You never know where the leaders for the future will come from. One thing for sure it isn't going to be us old guys. The best way to teach someone how to run the club is to make sure they have a hand in running it year in - year out. Yes that includes making sure the kids know their voices and votes are necessary for the health of the organization because....Psssst (whisper) in a few years they'll be running it. I did the NETA vice president thing for three years and president for two. The job mostly consists of troubleshooting. Chasing missing AMA paperwork, finding contact information, settling rules disputes. Even these are mostly handled by the membership. The missing paperwork...call the trialsmaster and have him dig through the box his event stuff got thrown into. Contact information...call the trialsmaster and tell him his number is going on the web unless he gives you a valid alternative. Let him go chase it. Rules dispute...If a protest isn't handled by the trialsmaster (which it usually is) then as a group (board of directors) make as fair a ruling as possible and stick to it. When it comes to making the rules the word of the membership is paramount. The only exception, and this had to be granted by the membership, is in extreme cases regarding safety to the riders, spectators or the organization, the board of directors can make a rule change without membership approval. Fortunately this hasn't happend yet. When you distill it down NETA is much like the US government (without the bloat) The membership is the legislature who pass the laws. The trialsmasters are the judiciary who interperet the laws with the vice president/scorekeeper the supreme court. The president is the executive branch who runs the annual meeting and tries to set a general course for the future of the organization. Er...and gets blamed for stuff. The advice I gave to next year's president is to trust the membership. They're a pretty bright bunch of people. Well taken as a group anyway. Hehehe. Dan

One of the "features" of Boston is the pranks pulled by some of the more enterprising MIT engineering students. One year back in the fifties they decided to measure the Harvard bridge (MIT guys have a real hard time calling it that) in a new unit of measure called a "Smoot". The way I've heard it a Smoot was actually a freshman who was flipped end over end to measure the bridge. Years later when his son attended MIT they "recalibrated the bridge in "New Smoots" Apparently the bridge is something like 350 Smoots and a nose. Dan

I've been using a Sony F707 for a couple of years. One of the problems most beginning photographers have is when they're told to use fill flash even outdoors and not realizing many cameras will automatically set the shutter speed to 1/60 of a second. Too slow for many shots. On the Sony it is possible to use fill flash in "shutter priority" mode. This forces the camera to use the shutter speed set by the photographer. This works exceptionally well on the Sony because it uses an iris (leaf) shutter which opens from the center so even if the shutter is not fully open for the full flash duration the effect on the the image is a difference in the light contributed by the flash vs ambient. Unlike my old Minolta film cameras where a partially open (focal plane) shutter caused a dark area of the image. I've been able to shoot at 1/500 with fill flash. I have, on the New England Trials Association web site, some sample images from the yearly photo disk I do for the club. I hope Andy's not mad if I put the link here but I don't want to suck up his server space either. My favorite image is the guy on the vintage Yamaha. Unfortunately I didn't shoot the photo. I loaned the camera to a buddy who shot it. Damn that's the best trials photo my camera's ever taken. The other photographer is someone I loaned the camera to on a couple of days I had to work the event and she shot entirely different, in a way I never would have imagined. Real eye opener about how different people see. Dan www.newenglandtrials.org Really Andy it's not commercial, honest! P.S. Oh yeah, all the stuff that MalibuDon said. Especially the stuff about get close. If he is who I think he is. He's THE MAN! with a camera. P.P.S. Remember to have an escape route if the rider loses it in your direction. A high ledge with no way out is a bad place to confront a trials bike.