Lovin' The 08

[dan williams]

Ah I've had about four weeks now to ride and tweak the new bike and it's really getting me jonesin to ride. I'm never quite sure what the reception will be when I post about problems and fixes with my bikes so here's my impressions so far.

Fixin's,

Got an Akropovic pipe

Got Vforce reeds

Removed the excess glue from between the pads and leveled and smoothed the tabs on the fiber clutch plates and removed two springs

Reset float level and re-jetted the Keihin with a 50 pilot and moved the needle clip up to the second notch

Removed the lighting harness and re-grounded the kill switch to the coil ground

Dropped the fork tubes in the triple clamps to the top notch

Added several turns of preload to the front and rear springs

Added a few turns to the damping of the front and rear suspension to control the additional preload

Backed off the rear brake

As far as I'm concerned this is just normal setup for a bike and the difference is amazing. The clutch is one finger and progressive with no stick. The new bike is very neutral handling. The wider and lower footpegs compared to the '05 make the bike extremely stable. Last weekend I aimed it at everything I dared go up or down and the bike never gave the slightest twitch. This is definitely the most stable Beta I've ever ridden on dropoffs. On climbs the front comes up easier then the '05 making the transition seem less jarring. I don't know how else to put it. The new bike does want to hold the front wheel in the air longer then the old bike after the initial hit which is probably a combination of less flywheel and rearward pegs. It's a little disturbing until you get used to it. The benefit is the backend sticks to the top of steps with a vengeance and any wheel trap that follows a step is easier to hit on top. It's almost scary the way this thing leaps up steps. The '05 required some clutch technique to build revs and slingshot an abrupt climb. The '08 will do the same with just a snap of the throttle. Still trying to get used to that.

The engine is a cross between my friends 250 '05 (fast revving no flywheel) and my 270 '05 (lotsa grunt, extra flywheel). Now that the jetting is closer to perfect it's easier to ride. I think I screwed up the float adjustment first time round as the bike was stalling on downhills. That and the rear brake was set to maximum touchyness. The behavior went away with the proper float level and I went all day without a stall. I went one size larger on the pilot jet because I noticed a slight knock coming off high revs on the loop trail when chopping the throttle. The flat spot on the bottom has been replaced with a smooth grunt that transitions to an arm pulling top end in a nice progressive curve. Last week I was showing a friend a practice technique to get him comfortable with getting his weight over the rear of his Sherco to feel for traction on a climb and I told him you could practice this technique in any of the first four gears. To show him I rolled up a 45 degree slope just above idle in fourth and the Beta just chugged away. I knew I could do that on the old bike but I hadn't tried it on the '08. I love that VForce reed. Knowing that torque is there lets me correct when I screw up on a climb. Just roll off the throttle to get re-centered and roll it back on. No problem. I wasn't sure I was going to like the new motor with less flywheel but I'm lovin' it. Anybody who's afraid of a 270 hasn't ridden a properly set up bike.

Tomorrow is the first event with the properly set up bike. Should be fun. Next week my buddy and I go to pick up his '08. Game on!

[skid]

bah! 270's are for women!

Real men ride 200's!!

Hey why don't you tell us about the event??

I bet the ride there and back was fun!!!

I had a great snooze sunday morning!!!

[dan williams]

Very funny. Back story for those that don't know is the event was postponed and yes Skid has kicked my butt on his 200 in slippery conditions.

[feetup69]

Dan,

does removing the clutch springs make a difference in the feel at the lever? Are there any side-effects? I've been toying around with the idea of lightening up the clutch pull just a tad to reduce fatigue, but not sure what is the best way to accomplish this. Also, I'm riding the beta 4T, so I have no idea if the clutch is different than the 2T. I'll check in w/ Ron to see what he thinks, but was interested in your opinion

tnx, rob

btw, I'm lovin' the 08 4T... everyone who has swung a leg over it has commented on how much fun it is to ride at all levels of ability.

[ron]

Hey Dan,

Hope all is well up there!~!~

Miss You all !!

Enjoy your new toy!

My Best

Ron Jr

[dan williams]

Hey Ron!

Yeah we miss you guys. Sonny couldn't get away for the world round and I just couldn't justify the cash to go by myself again. We were looking forward to hanging around with you but it just didn't work out. Congrats on the wedding. When we picked up my bike your Mom showed us the wedding pictures. Lookin' good. I see the young'uns are growing like weeds. Sonny and I are going up Saturday to pick up his new bike. He said he's going to go in the house first and ask your dad if he'll let me in. He told Sonny he'll prep the bike to keep me the hell away from it.

When is Ronnie heading to Europe? I'd like to post something to the NETA website.

Yeah I'm grooving on the new bike. I shed about 40lbs this year and I'm riding better then I have in a long time. That's why I was so psyched about the last event but it didn't happen and we couldn't even ride for fun so I couldn't let people test ride the new bike. Bummer.

Hopefully one of these days I'll either make it down south or you guys head up New England way again. The local events are much more boring without the Commo clan to spice it up.

[dan williams]

Hi Rob,

For me the biggest difference comes from cleaning up the tabs on the fiber plates. It makes the clutch engagement very smooth and progressive. I don't know if the 4T uses the same clutch but if it does then leveling and polishing the tabs is a big improvement. I wouldn't take the two springs out without cleaning up the tabs first. As far as feel the lever pull is obviously lighter but it isn't really noticeable until the end of the day when you realize your forearm muscles aren't pumped up making it difficult to hold the clutch in all the way through the section. I used to get finger fatigue as I tend to be a real heavy clutch user so at the end of the day I'd spend the last loop being dragged through sections because I couldn't hold the clutch in. That's not really an issue now.

[ron]

hey Dan,

Thanks for asking about Ronnie, current plans Land him in italy first or second week in June in Florence .Staying until August. We have been accepting any and all donations we can get. Its really expensive and I think thats all he is Sweating.. but he is doing very well. We raised some money at the USA WCT in a raffle .. see results in usa forum.. thanks again for any thing you can arrange from up north..lol

Edited May 7, 2008 by Ron

[dan williams]

From the box the same one that fits the Sherco. I'll get the number off the box and let you know but don't be surprised if it is the same one as the '05. I have both the stock reed blocks for the '05 and '08 and they are identical.

"giggity"

[dan williams]

Hi r2wtrials,

I don't have to look down the intake throat. Asked Ron Commo Sr. while picking up a US world round minder's bike for my buddy. Ron said that the VForce on my '08 is machined out to 26mm for the Mikuni and he is talking to the Moto-Tassinari guy about making a batch machined out to 28mm for the Keihin carbs. Ron also said, and I have to agree, that unless you can ride a Rev3 wide open there's going to be very little difference between the 26/28mm throats.

While I was there I did get to try a used 125 Junior WR bike he had in the shop for sale. Impressive. I tooled around the driveway for about ten minutes. Just to see if it would pull my fat ass I tapped it into third and snapped the throttle at a crawl and the front end snapped right up and stayed till about 3/4 of the rev range at which point I decided to stop goofing around and give it back before I hurt myself. Nice motor though. It obviously doesn't have the grunt of the 270 and I stalled it a few times (yes in third) but I could easily see riding this bike in an event and having a blast.

[dan williams]

I got to compare a stock '08 270 to mine yesterday. Interesting to see the differences the clutch mods, Akropovic pipe and VForce reeds make when you can hop off one bike onto the other. For one thing my clutch is very progressive and the pull is significantly less. My buddy's clutch is like a light switch and I don't think I could ride a whole event pulling in that clutch. The engine feels very different on the bottom. Mine is very smooth, almost soft from idle to about 1/4 throttle feeling like there's more flywheel then there is. His snaps right off idle and quite frankly almost got away from me a couple of times. Above 1/4 throttle the power curves converge so above 1/2 throttle they feel virtually identical. At least that's how they feel for the very short amount of time I can spend in that part of the power curve without kissing a tree. Also worth noting I had to change my jetting for the VForce reed his seemed right on stock.

It'll be interesting to ride his bike after he puts the heavy spring on the rear.

[ron]

Dan,

On Ron III 's bike i used as barrel sander to size up the stock v force inlet to 28 mm .. it is not noticable until you hit nearly 3/4 throttle on really nice sized walls..lol.. other wise itmay also smooth ever so slightly the bottom .. but remember he is on a rcs 250.. send me your email and i'll shoot you a picture as I can not figure how to put it on here..

my best

[dan williams]

Heh heh like I'm ever over 3/4 throttle.

[jimw]

Just done Dan's clutch mod on my 07 250 rev 3 -- I must say I was a little sceptical but thought I'd give it a go. Well Dan is clearly the man! The difference is fantastic - I also use an '04 clutch master and lever which makes everything a bit more progressive .

I also tried my best to get it to slip - big hill climbs in 4th from a standing start but nothing.

Go and do it - you won't regret it.

Cheers

Jim

[dan williams]

Glad to be of service. Good thing I'm a better mechanic then rider. Got my butt handed to me this weekend in Sr B. I'm looking into a set of shims that one of the other guys on here has made for his bike. It would allow the use of all six of the stock springs and I think reduce the plate chatter I get with the four springs. More even pressure on the pressure plate.