dan williams

Fortunately a friend of mine posted these so I can see the new ones do appear to be a press fit so yup I was wrong again. I’d still be very wary of a DIY solution for this. Good luck though. I hope you can find a solution that works for you but this might be one case where it’s better to spend the money and buy the factory parts.

Like the Top Gear Stig farm?

How long before Honda responds?

If it’s brand new it could have sat for some time with the pads in one position on the rotor. But first thing is to lift the wheel and eyeball it for true as noted above. If it’s true, It’s twue! It’s twue! Sorry, Blazing Saddles just popped into my brain. With clean dry hands feel the surface of the disk for rough spots. Careful though as new parts can be sharp. If it is a holdover from sitting too long you can probably just ride it until the rotor wears in. Otherwise dress very lightly with super fine emory cloth. It’s also possible some numpty sprayed something on the rotor while cleaning or polishing the bike contaminating it except where the pads were. Brake cleaner and some riding will usually fix that.

Adjusting suspension is a time consuming pains taking endeavor. Assuming the baseline settings are near correct is a real leap of faith. Typically I’ll start somewhere near the middle of the range and adjust to what seems to work best on what I usually ride. More important is to make sure your front and rear are working together. Is there a specific issue with your bike’s handling that you are trying to address?

Yeah I got tired of posting them out so I gave a bunch to Stewie at a certain trials shop that doesn’t advertise here (but should). PM me for details if you need more specific info. I don’t wish to run afoul of the rules.

Too be honest I didn’t design the spacers. IKB did but I haven’t seen him on here for a bit.

EVOs are sweet if not too ugly for you.?

If it isn't the woodruff key then something is very odd indeed. Typically the electronic ignitions are difficult to get running backwards unless something is not connected correctly in the wiring. The trigger coils are only pulsed by two special magnets in the flywheel that have their fields oriented 90 degrees off from the rest of the magnets in the flywheel so even if something were wrong with the coils they can't be triggered by the other magnets. A missing/broken ground can cause transient signals to be generated that can fool the CDI into thinking it has received a trigger signal. So the next thing I recommend is checking your ground connections. After that would be go through your wiring to make sure connectors are not in bad shape. Not on a Beta (Armstrong/CanAm) but I did have a bike where the wires from the stator to the CDI were swapped at the factory. The bike never ran great but it ran and occasionally it would run backwards. Took me two years to figure that one out. If your wiring is intact I'm thinking your CDI box which has a microcontroller in it may be on the fritz. In general the starting position for the stator backing plate on a Beta is in the middle. Please let us know if you find the root cause. We're all learning here.

Most likely scenario.

Actually yes and no. If the lever is adjusted too far in so the holes in the reservoir are never uncovered and the system has no leaks then the brake can permanently pressurize due to temperature rise of the hydraulic fluid which drags and causes more temperature rise and eventually locks the brake. By the same token if there is a leak in the system, and that can include fluid leaking past the piston in the master cylinder, and the holes in the reservoir are never uncovered then the system is never replenished and will go soft once it cools down. This is why I suggested start by making sure the piston in the master cylinder is returning all the way. If it is then the system is self adjusting and the cause is likely a mechanical displacement of the caliper pads. If the master cylinder is not returning fully then you lose the self adjusting ability of the hydraulics and have to go after the subtleties of the hydraulics starting with why is the piston in the master cylinder not returning and there can only be a few reasons. In order of likelihood; One being adjustment as you pointed out. The second being a damaged return spring above the master cylinder piston. The third being a damaged piston/bore in the master cylinder. The hydraulics on a trials bike are pretty simple once you realize they are not a closed system at rest but once actuated (and the master cylinder piston sweeps past the ports into the reservoir) the systems are closed and behave accordingly. But the throws are so small that it doesn't take much to bung things up.

Beta moves in mysterios ways. I can tell you from experience product introductions always take longer than expected.

The glue application is much better now which helps the old cold stick but I still plan to polish the tabs on my new clutch once the succession of blizzards stop here. I have to say though the stock clutch on my 2018 300 isn’t bad at all.

Damn a banana daiquiri sounds really good about now. As Mr. Nou has said it’s a solid machined piece. As for the non-weighted one it’s got no flange or provision for adding weight so you’re pretty much screwed there. On older Betas you used to be able to buy a weight that bolted to the ignition flywheel. If you have the inverted flywheel with the stator mounted to the outer cover that option is a non-runner too.

Seems to be much better.

Though it’s still worth a look into the resevior so no effort wasted. Nothing looks out of place.

No sorry, that’s the resevior. I meant the little round rubber bit that covers the end of the master cylinder where the lever pushes against the piston.

Yes it’s not a bolt on option. The primary gear is machined into the weight and it is sold as a set with the gear on the clutch basket.

Welcome to the sport Willy. Understand it takes a bit to learn the techniques and it can be frustrating on the beginning part of the learning curve but after a bit you’ll start to get the hang of it. Then it becomes fun. Then addictive. You’ll start seeing trials sections off the side of the road, in friend’s back yards wherever you go. That’s when you know you’re hooked.

Jolly old England is starting to look like New England. Time to get out the Top Gear Snow combine/gritter.

That's "Bold new graphics" to you sir.

It is possible to damage the return spring in the master cylinder. A crash onto the lever will do it. The caliper won't return the master cylinder piston all the way by themselves so it's left to the spring in the master cylinder to chase the piston to the end of its stroke. If that spring is damaged the master cylinder can, for lack of a better term, "pack It in" with repeated actuations. If there is any fluid seepage anywhere in the system it just gets mushy feeling. Remove the rubber cover from your master cylinder and hold the lever in for a bit. You want to see if the lever slowly squishes in over time which tells you the system is losing fluid somewhere. After a few minutes let the lever go and see if the piston returns all the way to stop on the circlip that holds the whole thing together. It should return without hesitation. If it doesn't you'll need to rebuild the master cylinder which Is fairly easy but bleeding is time consuming and requires patience. Also eyeball the front brake rotor. Spin the wheel with it off the ground and look for deviation sighted from the caliper body. If it wobbles you're pretty much stuck getting a new rotor. Getting one of these thin little stainless steel rotors to be flat again is almost impossible. It's possible the rotor is flat but something got into the floating mounts that is forcing it to be crooked but I've never seen this. Just mentioning it to be thorough.

OK so a few things I've seen on the 2018 make me fairly certain we'll be seeing significant changes to the 2019. I've seen what appears to be much larger electrical capacity on the stator with more coils and a larger regulator/rectifier. An additional vent (pressure tube?) on the fuel filler. A security screw on the intake manifold. Pushing of electrics (CDI, ignition coil, regulator) away from the center of the frame towards outer parts of the bike. So let's speculate, Fuel injection, all the cool kids are doing it. A fuel pump, injection body and ECU need space and power to work. A battery is necessary to make it work first kick. Electric start? Hey if we throw a Li-ion battery in for the fuel injection why not make it a bit bigger and start a revolution? Starter motors are a lot smaller and lighter than they used to be. Diaphragm clutch, They don't work better than a properly setup spring clutch but they are cheaper to manufacture and they are physically thinner than coil springs. I would like to see someone build a clutch with a wave spring just because nobody's tried it yet. ...and on the wish list, A rear brake that has a bleeder on top of the master cylinder. Now.......................Discuss!

A couple of questions, Does the lever firm up after a few pumps? Does your master cylinder piston return all the way to the stop when the lever is let out? Is the lever feel correct at the start of the ride? This almost sounds like you have a warped or bent rotor pushing the pads back slightly. A slightly misaligned caliper might also cause this. The throw of the pistons in the caliper is really short and rely on the elasticity of the O-rings around the pistons to pull them back. Any deflection by the rotor will push them back further than normal causing the symptoms you describe.

Some guys use the strap over the seat method. Some just grab the muffler. There are times I could’ve used a strap on the back. Whatever works for you is fine. Odds are if you fit the strap you’ll have a couple riders at each event commenting on what a great idea it is and wondering why they didn’t think of it.?