mcman56

The seal did not fail. There was no leaking of fluid. Interesting comment about new hydraulics. I have a 1988 Hawk NT650 with 63,000 miles and the hydraulics have never been apart, only flushed.

I have a 2014 evo and the rear brake has always felt weak. I finally went to diagnose and found that the brake fluid was black plus there was some black grease like goop around the bladder that fits in the reservoir. I cleaned it up and flushed fluid but then noticed there was a distinct step of resistance in the travel of the plunger. I replaced the cylinder and when I pulled the old one apart found what is in the picture. You can feel those bumps with your finger and it sort of looks like weld splatter. It looks like some is also in the cylinder bore but it is too small to get a good picture. The bore also shows machine marks that are not that smooth. Is simple corrosion the likely cause? Could it have been something bad in the fluid from the factory? This bike has low hours and I live in a dry climate but the retaining ring was quite rusty.

A friend had an early 2002 200. The Gas Gas name was not cast into the cylinder. It is the only one I have seen like that.

Everyone I know uses standard MX style knee pads. I hit one hard enough to crack the hard plastic on the outside so it seems like a good idea to have it there.

any pictures?

Interesting topic. In the US, California, there are no restrictions related to age/ engine size that I know of. You can get a learners permit at 15 1/2 with the only restriction of not being allowed to ride on freeways. So, I believe a 15 1/2 year old kid can ride a 150 hp sport-bike. What does get you is insurance cost. I understand you could spend way more on the road insurance than a new GSXR1000. What I don't know is if the big cost is collision or liability. Liability only tends to be cheap. I'm at the other end of the age spectrum but can road insure 3 bikes with liability only for a little over $100/ year. Some time ago, the insurance companies tried to ban the super high horsepower bikes. However, data showed that the big bikes were underrepresented in crash data. The real crash prone group was the 600cc sport bikes. I suspect a big part of this may be cost. Big horsepower tends to cost big money which young people mostly don't have..

How does it idle? Is the gear oil disappearing?

I did not have this issue but tried a 26 mm OKO on a 250 Rev 3. Build quality is not bad but not quite as good a Keihin. I do understand that there are OKO copies that are poorly made. (copies of copies) The bike ran almost exactly the same. There was just slightly less acceleration when twisting the throttle. Due to the smaller size, there must have been less power at WFO but I never get there riding trials.

I have done this on a Rev3. The small end bush pushes out and the ID of the rod is hard. The 250 bearing slides right in.

I have a 2014 Factory model and noticed that the grommet that is the top mount is broken and there is some play. Is there a way to sneak in a new one or do you really have to pull the entire radiator, hoses, fan, etc.

Thanks for that one. I get the numb fingers too. How often do you do these and for how many reps? Is there a book? By magnesium do you mean mag, cal & zinc tablets? My pain was mostly forearm extensors and elbow. There was lots of arm pump too.

Moving the bars back did make me feel like I was going to go over the bars on down hill front wheel landings. Someone suggested that the 2014 bars could be the issue. Jitsie 5.0 bars have about 1/4 in more sweep, 1/2" more width and 1/4" more height. They feel much better. I could not make sense of the published bar dimensions so these are my own comparison measurements done side by side on a bench. This also helps arm pain. http://www.armaid.com/page/853-3029/armaidhome

I had an 02 sherco that eventually seemed to hesitate on disengagement occasionally. The hesitation to release was so minimal and occasional that it felt like I was imagining it. I now have a Rev 3 that also seems to hesitate momentarily to release regularly. The hesitation time to release is so short that it can only be noticed after riding a bike that does not do that. I have done the clutch fix but still have not tested to see if it is gone.

I found the same thing - no longer available. Has anyone tried a throttle from a KX85 or similar? They also have a 28mm Keihin. It would probably be too quick but could the ramp could be filed down to get a similar result?

What kind of oil is blue?

Not TL specific but I had this problem on a DT175. The regulators I have seen on dirt type bikes are actually voltage limiters. Voltage from the alternator increases as rpms go up. After about 15 volts, the regulator starts dumping to ground through a circuit to limit voltage. The energy is dissipated as heat. After market regulators were available and I think I used one by Malcolm Smith. On the DT, I could run the lights on AC so this worked. As I remember it was just one wire connected to the circuit and a ground. Like this one. http://www.motosport.com/product?psreferrer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com&pssource=true&segment=badger&key=Trail-Tech-AC-Voltage-Regulator&cc=us&adpos=1o1&creative=64385813905&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CJO3tujwpsoCFcZbfgod1OEAuA The rectifier converts AC to DC. DC is needed to charge a battery so if you have a battery you will need that also.

It may depend on your throttle control. I have a 2014 Beta 300 and there is nothing abrupt about the power. It is powerful but very smooth in response so not hard to manage. Many people feel that 300s are actually easier to ride. But if you take big stabs at the throttle, a smaller engine may be better.

My throttle can open on its own in certain situations and this can be a bit alarming. The cable must get caught on the little velcro tab on the bar pad. Are my cables routed correctly? It looks like the throttle cable could go over the clutch line but then the clutch line may pull the cable also. I could try running the pad cover inside out or maybe attaching the the pad on from the bottom with tie wraps. Or...is this why Betas come with the special pad...which I don't have.

I currently have a 2008 250 rev 3 and 2014 300 evo factory. tight turns feel the same the Rev 3 suspension is much softer. I would say that is an advantage in a rocky creek bed but a disadvantage on larger obstacles. Softer suspension is less tiring to ride. The evo is a little harder to kick and has sharper power but it has the larger fresh engine. Both start easily. Power is still smooth and controllable on both. Rev 3 suspension has less maintenance Rev 3 has a bigger air filter that may let it go longer between cleanings, Evo gets better traction but requires better throttle control. Evo requires more force to pull in the clutch. Overall, the evo feels like a sharper tool, more capable but requires more precision from the rider. Evo uses more gas Most of these differences could be from comparing a fresh 300 evo to a well worn 250 Rev3.

I found a picture. A smaller diameter rotor would be easier to fit.

First I set it up and ran it on a milling machine to figure out exactly when it fired. Then, I drilled holes in the stator plate to mount in the right location on the BSA studs. The rotor was bored to the correct size and the key way added. The rotor sat out pretty far so I needed to make a custom mounting nut. After that, it needed various aluminium spacers to get everything spaced correctly. It was interesting from a project perspective but a bit of work if you just want to get something done. It also brings Japanese reliability. The chain saw one was easier because the rotor was aluminium and easier to cut while also being much smaller. The fins were trimmed off. It was a really clean installation because the magneto/ coil was one unit and was mounted in the primary case. The spark plug wire simply came right out of the case. There was just one additional wire for a kill button. I'll look for a picture.

If you have access to machine tools, you can adapt an ignition from something else. Below is a Yamaha PW80 ignition on a 1960 C15. I would send it to you but it probably would not be worth the shipping cost. After this, I ran one from a chain saw or weed eater like the one in the link. The chain saw ignition had a much lighter flywheel but I could not tell the difference. It is an interesting task from the project point of view but these only have about 6 degrees of advance so probably perform like the BSA OEM no battery ignition. It started and ran well. Power was pretty soft on the bottom but once wound up felt about as powerful as a modern 2 stroke 250 trials bike. It was the only pre 65 type bike I had ridden so I have nothing similar to compare it to. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ignition-Coil-and-Flywheel-For-Husqvarna-ChainSaw-372-371-365-390-385-AND-XP-NEW-/291636961695?hash=item43e6eae19f:g:pngAAOxyuDpSD4j9

Lineaway...Are you saying you pull the clutch in as the front tire just touches the obstacle and drop it at full fork compression?

I'm at a point where the double blip is not adequate to get up some obstacles. I just can not twist the throttle fast enough. I see the need for a zap with clutch dump but realize that in order to release the clutch, it must first be pulled in. So, when do you pull in the clutch? I have not been able to convince myself to do this when the front wheel is far away from the obstacle. It feels like I'm trying to crash. I can sort of do it after the front wheel has touched (stab and release) but that seems a bit late. Are there any easy progressive ways to learn this? I have no natural tallent for this support so the learning process is slow. What I think I'm doing or trying to do may be quite different from what I'm actually doing.

A friend recently had a Beta 125. The engine response was surprisingly quick, quicker than my 250 rev3. It started easily, had nice suspension and handled well. He did better on it than on his previous 250. It did not have much of a flywheel so he said it does take more use of the clutch. It also felt very light and easy to ride.