t-shock 250 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 (edited) Yet another high profile electrical failure for Dougies bike. I'm no expert, & there probably are other factors involved, but SURELY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS Beta (and sherco) must be able to sort this stator problem. (assuming it is the stator) What is it now.........7 or 8 years of problematic stators on betas? John Lampkin must be furious with the factory for allowing this brand-damaging problem to continue. Please can someone shed some light on why this isn't sorted on what otherwise seems a first class machine? This is an honest question and not a slanging match against Beta. Edited October 25, 2010 by t-shock 250 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_scorpa3 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 It's been at least six years since the Beta brand name began to suffer following numerous elecrical issues on their trials bikes. There is no mention of stators being Dougies problem, but why would it suprise anyone that it happened? Private customers by the 100 maybe 1000's have had the problem and the factory hasn't resolved it, surely that should have been enough motivation to cure the fault if they were ever going to? Two faulty stators in six trials lost Beta my custom, perhaps forever. Still perhaps it was another problem, there is no official mention of what electrical issue it was. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ormplus Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 why bring sherco,s into it when were on about beta. dougie dosent seem to have much luck in the u/k. first of a brakedown at the ssdt and now the scott trial. better luck next year dougie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totalshell Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 perhaps its an issue of how hard you use your machine. ferrari' are very nice cars but when cars carrying the name race in grand prix they occasionally fail mechanically as do mercedes as do honda as do ducati as do yamaha as do Beta.. only by pushing machinery to the limit will that limit be found and then developed so that you and I can ride without fault. i'm sure that the bike Doug rides isnt straight from the back of John's emporium but will have had some 'devlopment' as such it may be more competative and equally may be more suseptable to individual component failure.. at the other end and i quite happily state that my Beta runs faultlessly .. it never gets revved never gets worked hard ( as i find that footing it out of sections is much more easier on it than expecting it to ride through them) i also do little tinkering to make it better ( non in fact) but i do remove the side cover after every trial and dont refit it till its about to go in the van for the next one.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dadof2 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 (edited) In my view it was from sometime in the late 1990s that manufacturers started fitting poor electrics to their bikes, and not just Beta in an attempt to reduce costs. Perhaps only Yamaha / Scorpa have continually had decent electrics. I have had ignition components, stator coils, HT coils etc apart and quite frankly a lot are crap, poor design is compounded by poor manufacturing. Add to this the harsh environment, bumps knocks, pressure washing and rider abuse (like kicking the bike over without having plug HT led earthed) and its surprising more don't fail. The previous posters comment about gentle riding and airing the ignition is valid. High engine temperatures (Dougie on the Scott?) is perhaps the most certain killer of electric components. The insulating varnish on stator source and trigger coils starts to degrade at not much above normal running temperatures. Perhaps its time manufacturers moved from polyurethane to more temperature resistant (& more expemsive) epoxy insulating "varnish" and using all soldered rather than pressed together joints. Another move that would increase reliability is to move to a battery based system, electronics much prefer a stable voltage supply and it would mean stator components could be thicker wire better able to handle peak currents without over heating. Cheers Edit - just corrected a few spelling mistakes Edited October 25, 2010 by Dadof2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_scorpa3 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 why bring sherco,s into it when were on about beta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedronicman Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 I've got one easy answer- WATER There was lots of it! may have been the problem don't you think But he shouldn't have that problem with his bike next year.............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graeme17 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 Totally agree with Dadof2 on the causes of these failures. It must be having a negative effect on Betas otherwise great reputation. My old bike (05 rev 3) was on its third stator at the end! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majman Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 I think rather than getting bogged down with the mechanics of the problem the main issue is that Dougie has been let down by his machinery yet again. Dougie is not getting any younger and I for one would love to see him achieve a few more victories at the highest level. It is important for him to win, its important for his fans to see him win and I am sure Beta and Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrcmonty Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 Don't worry about it. Next year he will be on a Gasser, so no more electrical probs for Dougie Doug Doug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan williams Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 Beta seems to be able to deal with internal issues quite well as illustrated by the frame breakage issues of the '09 EVOs which haven't shown up on the 2010s as far as I know. The external manufactured parts are a different story as is shown by the ignition and the clutch plates. My guess is Beta has little choice in situations where they have a bunch of components on the shelf and not enough pull with the manufacturer to force them to take material back and fix it so if 5% fail in the field they're willing to eat the cost in replacement for new bikes and reputation. In the long run I fear that is a flawed strategy with the trials world being so small and well connected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizza5 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 (edited) Please can someone shed some light on why this isn't sorted on what otherwise seems a first class machine? Yes I can as I was with Dougie all the time during his breakdown in the SSDT (I would say helping, but that's against the rules ) It has been documented before in the SSDT forum, but to make it brief, Dougs bike would not start at section 6 on the last group of the day and got it down to the road. The obvious thought after disconnecting the kill switch, new plug was the stator, so set about removing it waiting for Mart and Griff to ''Steadily'' drive from the Fort. When they arrived the new stator was put on in a matter of minutes (good job as Mart ran over the old one parking up!!) and still no spark, Griffs words were ''Well we will change the coil but I doubt it is that on a Beta''.............Fired up first kick and Doug albeit too late was on his way. John Lampkin has taken coils to the SSDT year in and year out and not used one, sure enough one day one would fail and it happened to be Doug's bike. The other thing I was told is the wiring loom is different on the works bikes too, so it could have been any number of things! So to say it was a stator problem is only an assumption!! and I beleive the Evo is far superior to the REV-3 stator? Yes you might still get the odd one but not the quantaties as before. As I said above Doug's stator was fine until Lampkin Senior ran over it Edited October 25, 2010 by GIZZA5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie_lejeune Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 Don't worry about it. Next year he will be on a Gasser, so no more electrical probs for Dougie Doug Doug. No- he'll probably just break the frame our something instead.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig10 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 Whatever the cause, the fact that the no.1 Beta Works rider's bike has let him down again has to be a total embarrasment to Beta. Not exactly inspiring for the potential customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benbeta23 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 (edited) Don't worry about it. Next year he will be on a Gasser, so no more electrical probs for Dougie Doug Doug. How many times, Doug has renewed for Beta & also Dabill has renewed for GG, End of. Edited October 25, 2010 by GasGasben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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