BETA USD FORKS

[Wheelin]

With a little bit of luck some may be able to point me in the correct direction. 

I have a 2000 rev 3 with the USD front forks. Being the only year Beta did the USD forks in the Rev 3 there is no information out there on them or parts. Although mine are working ok however they are a bit on the sad side of things and are sagging. 

All the replacement springs i have found so far say they fit Techno, Rev 3 and Evo but there is no information as to if it fits USD models. 

I know a few of the Technos had USD forks so does anyone know is they where the same as the Rev 3 and the spring's fit and are still available. Or if there is any other springs out there that will work. I believe i am just a little bit to heavy for the stock spring as with my gear on i am 85kg.

With the stock spring i have 135mm of travel  but with the max preload and me on the pegs it is sagging about 50mm with min preload it is sagging 62mm. The bike is sagging 22mm under its own weight. 

I have been told you want about 1/6 of your front travel to sag under your weight. So i only want about 22mm of sag with me on it 

Thanks for the help.

P.s im located in Brisbane Australia not that it matters to much lol

 

[lineaway]

 I weighed exactly the same when I had a brand new 2000. The bike came very soft front and rear. You could add a spacer in the left fork as they only had one spring. I would just ride it as is. In trials it is better to be soft than hard. Sag really has no place in trials.

[reggie]

These forks were only used on the m/y 2000 Rev 3    they are not the same as the forks used on any Techno or Zero .  They were made by Paioli. There is not much information available on these forks.  Good luck.

[Wheelin]

I did think about fittng a spacer in there. 

I was sort of concerned that i was losing almost 1/2 of my travel with just me on the bike so i was a bit worried about bottoming out.

[feetupfun]

A friend of mine had your model Rev 3 with USD forks and it developed more sag than normal and he discovered that the fork spring was broken. If yours is a 270 it might even be the same bike.

My memory is telling me that those forks were standard on the first model Rev 3 and were optional on the second model Rev 3. Yours looks like the second model which I would call the 2001 model. This is what the first model Rev 3 looks like

Edited June 26, 2020 by feetupfun

[Wheelin]

I remember reading that post the other day. 

Yeah mine is a 270. 

You are right my bike looking like a 2001 but it is a 2000. Someone has fitted the 2001 fenders on to it. I know that the 2001 had the option to fit the USD forks but from what i have been told non where bought into Australia. 

I would like to convert it back to the correct colours being the red and black but you can't find rear fenders at all for the 2000 and 2001 never mind being picking about the colours and i hate to even think about the cost ?

 

[lineaway]

 Well, at least you have the aluminum fork brace. With out it it felt like it had a hinge in the middle of the bike.

[Wheelin]

Yeah i have been told that. 

I cracked one of the fork protecters the other day so im going to make a set out of aluminium. 

[feetupfun]

On 6/26/2020 at 4:38 PM, Wheelin said:

I remember reading that post the other day. 

Yeah mine is a 270. 

You are right my bike looking like a 2001 but it is a 2000. Someone has fitted the 2001 fenders on to it. I know that the 2001 had the option to fit the USD forks but from what i have been told non where bought into Australia. 

I would like to convert it back to the correct colours being the red and black but you can't find rear fenders at all for the 2000 and 2001 never mind being picking about the colours and i hate to even think about the cost ?

 

You got me wondering if I was imagining USD forks on my friend's bike so I went looking for photos.

Here are a couple of photos of my friend's 2001 Rev 3 270 showing the USD forks that it came with (the bike that you have been told none were brought into Australia). Photos taken in 2004 or 2005 when the Queensland Trials Titles were held near Dayboro. From memory the first owner was Kris Hammond. Second owner (shown in photo) was Ken Cutmore.

[Wheelin]

I was told mine was a 2001 but i check the frame number and it is 2000. 

It is interesting that there is 2 bikes that look very similar of that age in QLD. Mine has the headlight but no wiring and the front guard has no decals on it. 

I only bought it about 2 months ago. The guy before be only had it for a few years for what i was told and they guy he got it off was a bike mechanic..... but everyone says that lol

I apparent mechanic rebuild the motor and i have checked the compression and piston and it looks to be true. 

But i think the bike has had a hard life at some point. I found a that the frame/tank has had a big hit and cracked one of the welds that had been repaired.  

[jbrandt]

Not sure if you saw my reply to your post in my other thread, but I'm running ~65mm sag in the front on my bike 2000 Rev 3 with the USD forks, and that seems perfectly rideable, but granted I haven't really ridden it since I first bought it (except tooling around in the back yard). 

 

I weigh 175ish (~80kg) without my gear on, so I'm not that different from you. 

 

So I don't think you should be trying for ~20-25mm sag with your weight on it. That seems pretty hard for a trials bike.

[Wheelin]

No i didn't see it untill just now. 

 

It could be a bit to hard.... I went to one of the local trials group web pages as they have a lot of YouTube videos on learning techniques for trials and they also had a section on how to set up your suspension for Trials. 

I also thought it was about 1/3 sag both front and rear which i can get close to as i get just over 1/3 sag on the front. But in their set up guide it say 1/6  for the front. Here is a copy of it. There is more information they this i just cut the part about sag out. 

Here is a link for the full guide

http://wdtc.org.au/training-tutorials/suspension-setup/

SAG SETUP ON TRIALS BIKES

Setting up the sag on a trials bike is similar to that of a dirt bike, at least on the rear. As a rule of thumb, you want to use about one third of your rear suspension when you are in your normal riding position wearing your gear. The front is a bit different – you only want to use about one sixth of the fork travel. Most modern trials bikes have around six inches front travel and four inches rear travel but check with your manufacturer to confirm.

For the front, simply place a zip tie around one of the fork legs to get a position when you are standing on the bike. Then suspend the front wheel in the air and measure the difference. If your bike has six inches of front suspension travel, you should have about one inch of sag. If you need less sag, use washers or spacers on top of the fork springs to suit. If you need more, then you need to buy softer fork springs.

On the rear, measure from your rear axle to the rear fender while the rear is in the air. Get a friend to measure the distance once you are standing on the bike. You can spin the lower collar of the rear shock to adjust the sag as required. There is a tool you can buy to do this easily – some tap away with a hammer and punch but it does mess with the notches in the collar.

[jbrandt]

55 minutes ago, Wheelin said:

No i didn't see it untill just now. 

 

It could be a bit to hard.... I went to one of the local trials group web pages as they have a lot of YouTube videos on learning techniques for trials and they also had a section on how to set up your suspension for Trials. 

I also thought it was about 1/3 sag both front and rear which i can get close to as i get just over 1/3 sag on the front. But in their set up guide it say 1/6  for the front. Here is a copy of it. There is more information they this i just cut the part about sag out. 

Here is a link for the full guide

http://wdtc.org.au/training-tutorials/suspension-setup/

SAG SETUP ON TRIALS BIKES

Setting up the sag on a trials bike is similar to that of a dirt bike, at least on the rear. As a rule of thumb, you want to use about one third of your rear suspension when you are in your normal riding position wearing your gear. The front is a bit different – you only want to use about one sixth of the fork travel. Most modern trials bikes have around six inches front travel and four inches rear travel but check with your manufacturer to confirm.

For the front, simply place a zip tie around one of the fork legs to get a position when you are standing on the bike. Then suspend the front wheel in the air and measure the difference. If your bike has six inches of front suspension travel, you should have about one inch of sag. If you need less sag, use washers or spacers on top of the fork springs to suit. If you need more, then you need to buy softer fork springs.

On the rear, measure from your rear axle to the rear fender while the rear is in the air. Get a friend to measure the distance once you are standing on the bike. You can spin the lower collar of the rear shock to adjust the sag as required. There is a tool you can buy to do this easily – some tap away with a hammer and punch but it does mess with the notches in the collar.

Interesting.  I've heard more that you just want the front and rear to match, so that it feels balanced.

 

Sounds like this is your first trials bike (mine too).  Do you come from a trail/mx background?

 

While this is my first trials bike too, I do come from a fairly extensive mountain bike background (and 15 years of moto trail riding, too).  I used to teach maintenance classes and riding clinics thru the shop I was managing.  The main thing is to not really get too wrapped up in the numbers. Suspension is so personal.  Just like where you like your brake/clutch lever to sit, it's all personal preference. Just go find a bit of trail or a section where you can repeat it over and over. Ideally it will have a fairly varied terrain (rocks, ruts, jumps, whatever).  For a trials bike, this mainly depends on your skill level, it may be as simple as just some slow circles, and a rocky semi-technical trail somewhere...  Make sure it's something you can do fairly easily, because you want to be able to concentrate on your settings, not getting thru the section.

Then start messing around with your settings ONE at a time, and repeat that section of trail.  When you only change one setting at a time, you know for sure what changed and how that affects the ride.  Keep changing that one thing until you feel either it getting better, or getting worse (then go back to where it felt best).  This is my plan once my shoulder heals.  Just get out to the local OHV park and mess around with the suspension for a couple hours.

From the videos/tutorials I've seen, especially coming from a trail bike back ground, the setting will be softer than you think.  Like that video I posted, you're probably going to bottom out on anything over 3 feet. 

 

Anyhoo, best of luck