Beta Techno Shallow Fork Angle

[ssaulnier]

This is my first post to this excellent forum. 

I am just starting out in Trials at age 62 on a 1996 Beta Techno.

I noticed yesterday that the forks on my Beta have a much more shallow angle than the newer trials bikes. The Techno looks more like a chopper. 

I suspect that makes the Techno a little more stable while riding between sections.

Does this shallow angle make the front tire want to push and wash out when I try to make tight turns?

Does it make much difference for a beginner like me?

Any changes to technique required?

Thanks, Steve

[teamferret]

Check your rear shock is the right one, at that age anything could have happened to it - replacing a knackered shock with something that was available being one. If it is standard length make sure you don't have too much sag. I would carefully check the frame too for any signs of stress in case someone has done a huge drop off and bent it

[ssaulnier]

Stock rear shock. Sag and bike are good. The newer bikes just have a steeper steering head angle. 

This bike is still like new. Hasn't been used much. Photos added for your viewing pleasure

 

You can see that the older Bultaco Sherpa T has even more slack steering head angle.

[jonboy883]

The techno looks nice and clean and the fork rake looks about right. if your new to trials get a slow action throttle on her and consider a fly wheel weight. Good starter  bike.

As for turns it'll want to wash out with too much throttle action or speed, so precision is the key. Try some lock to lock figure of eight practice turns in each direction to get used to it.

good luck, enjoy!

Edited May 6, 2020 by jonboy883

[ssaulnier]

Thanks for the tips. Yes I need to work on my precision, as you say. I plan to spend lots more time with slow figure 8s. Also trying to static balance, but not getting the hang of that very quickly...….

The engine power is very linear and comes on slow and steady. I think Beta tuned this engine for torque and slow response. She can plonk along at a very slow rate just chugging along. 

Fuel runs out of the carburetor vent lines occasionally so I will check the float level and adjust if needed.

Clutch had very bad cold stiction so I cleaned up the plates per the Clutch Sticky and that helped immensely. However there is still a lot of clutch drag. I am going to try adding spacers under the clutch pressure plate to see if I can increase the pressure plate travel from the 0.9mm I have now so that it is closer to the 1.2 to 2 mm suggested by others. 

[feetupfun]

Turning any trials bike tightly requires training and practice. Your Techno looks completely normal. Yes later bikes have less rake. Later bikes are also lighter, have better brakes and better suspension.

[lineaway]

The "96 was a great bike. During the 90" s nose wheelies were the way to turn. THE '96 was also the ugliest Beta color scheme ever. Enjoy the bike.

[huski]

You have to have all your weight on the outside footrest and lean the bike in a lot when you turn to stop it washing out.The clutch never was the best on Beta (still isn't),some seem better than others.It looks a very clean bike you've picked up

[ssaulnier]

Huski thanks for the reminder to weight the outside peg to force the front tire to bite during turning. Making turns amongst the trees I tend to fixate on avoiding the trees and I don't consciously lean the bike enough on dry low traction ground. I will need to do daily drills to commit that practice to memory. Even so I have found that I am collecting small tree inflicted bruises on my arms. legs and upper torso since we have initiated a weekly Trials Tuesday at our San Antonio dirt bike ranch with a couple of the other Covid social distancers. I guess I need to social distance just a bit better from the trees.  

I inherited the Beta from a dear brother in law who lived in Maine, New Hampshire and Montreal. He rode the Bultaco Sherpa T in many trials events in Canada and the US and even got to free ride one cold rainy day in Canada the day before an event with Sammy Miller who lead him up and over things he never would have imagined he could clear. Wearing their leather riding pants, back in the day.....

He bought the Beta at the end of his trials career so it mostly sat in the barn with the occasional recommissioning over the years when he wasn't racing sailboats, or skiing, or doing work or family.

[dan williams]

19 hours ago, lineaway said:

The "96 was a great bike. During the 90" s nose wheelies were the way to turn. THE '96 was also the ugliest Beta color scheme ever. Enjoy the bike.

The ‘92 with the gold frame was hideous. Especially after the black and green beauty that was the ‘91.? The ‘96 was a lovely smooth bike. One of the reasons the Mikuni piddles fuel is the vent lines for the float bowl are so long they act like siphons once fuel get up in them. If you nip a small hole in the vent lines above the level of the float bowl they usually stop piddling.

 

[ssaulnier]

Dan thanks for that tip about nipping a small opening in the carb vent lines to stop undesirable siphoning of fuel.

I will give that a try since the bike runs like the carb is clean and properly jetted. I can always tear the carb apart later in the summer when it is too hot to ride if I need a carb maintenance fix.

i think I am going to pop outside, nip the vent lines and try to add a couple 0.005 inch shims under the clutch pressure plate in an effort to get more clutch release travel in order to stop the excessive warm clutch drag. I am only seeing about 0.9 mm gap between the clutch disks and the pressure plate with the clutch lever all the way to the handlebar. If I add all 5 of these 0.005” shims that will equal 0.025” or 0.635mm. That should increase the clutch slave travel so I will see about 1.5mm gap between the pressure plate and clutch disks.

I figure it’s worth a try. Not being able to find neutral at a stop is not good. I’ll report back.

[lineaway]

3 hours ago, dan williams said:

The ‘92 with the gold frame was hideous. Especially after the black and green beauty that was the ‘91.? The ‘96 was a lovely smooth bike. One of the reasons the Mikuni piddles fuel is the vent lines for the float bowl are so long they act like siphons once fuel get up in them. If you nip a small hole in the vent lines above the level of the float bowl they usually stop piddling.

 

 I loved my`96, especially since a guy traded me a 60 day old bike for my `95. I got a current bike just cuz he thought it was pumpkin colors. Oh, my `92 was one of the favorite bikes through the years. But it did have a complete WES tail pipe which killed some of the color.

Edited May 8, 2020 by lineaway

[ssaulnier]

Tonight I installed two 16mm ID shims 0.005” thick in between the washers that are under the bearing for the clutch pressure plate as shown on that Asian video. This increased the disengaged plate clearance from 0.9 to 1.3mm and has greatly reduced clutch drag so I can now shift gears and find neutral at a stop. 

In addition I installed two 1/4 inch ID washers 1.5mm thick under each of the 6 clutch spring bolts to reduce the spring preload and make the clutch pull a little more pleasant. I can’t really feel the effects yet, but the clutch action and hook up seems good with no slipping in 5th gear. Although I was using that really cool Techno headlight it is too dark tonight to play around in 6th gear. We have too many deer in our neighborhood and I hate crashing.

I got the clutch adjustment ideas from Dans clutch fix sticky. Full disclosure I have cleaned and polished my clutch plates per his procedure to eliminate the cold plate sticking.  However it seems that my bike also had 0.010” too much clearance in the hydraulic clutch actuators so adding those two 16mm ID x 0.005” thick washers made a noticeable reduction in warm clutch drag.

 Thanks for all the help guys! Steve

[lineaway]

Actually you got it from my posts, Dan prefers to waste hours polishing.

[ssaulnier]

Must admit that I do feel like a bit of a slacker if I don’t do a bit of clutch disk polishing now and again.....

Do you think I have a problem?

And yes thank you for your informative posts (and snide comments). Entertaining and informative!