My BETA REV3 200

[Craigus77]

I hope this is the right place for this thread..

After grabbing my first trials bike and riding about the back yard for a couple days I had a list of repairs I needed to make before getting to into riding. Now, I got this bike VERY cheap so I was happy to spend a few $ on it to make sure everything was in order mechanically. Before touching a spanner I had a good list of required repairs, here is a pic of the bike as I picked it up..

Note: I may have an issue with requiring perfection, I know about it and I'm OK with it. My wife on the other hand... Not so much!
Almost every bolt on the bike will be replaced as they are old and rusty :)



Usual things to check first: Wheel Bearings, head stem bearings, swing arm bearings, brake pads, air cleaner, fluids.





As things came off I continued to find problems, mostly due to a long time in storage as well as very poor maintenance So the list of parts grows: Levers + adjusters, fork seals and sliders, brake pads, rear brake bearing, new air filter, new boot between carby and air box, grips, bars, chain and sprockets. Whole exhaust came off and got cleaned, replaced o'rings, repacked the silencer and painted the header to match the rest of the pipe.

Carb off, cleaned, jetted and applied recommended mods. All ready to go back on







I'll continue to add more as I progress :)



Cheers
C.

[KTM39]

Good work. I'm currently going through the exact same thing with my first trials bike.
I bought it reasonably cheap from a very fast and experienced rider who should know everything there is about bikes.
Unfortunately, my idea of "well maintained" and his are very different.
I've replaced the wheel, headstem, swingarm, linkage and shock bearings, new secondhand forks, new spokes, rear tyre, various fasteners, airbox to carby manifold and lots of other little items.
My cheap 2006 trials bike has now cost me more than a very good 2012 model would have. Lesson learned.

They build these things to be light - not to last!

[Craigus77]

Good work. I'm currently going through the exact same thing with my first trials bike.
I bought it reasonably cheap from a very fast and experienced rider who should know everything there is about bikes.
Unfortunately, my idea of "well maintained" and his are very different.
I've replaced the wheel, headstem, swingarm, linkage and shock bearings, new secondhand forks, new spokes, rear tyre, various fasteners, airbox to carby manifold and lots of other little items.
My cheap 2006 trials bike has now cost me more than a very good 2012 model would have. Lesson learnt.

They build these things to be light - not to last!

Good to know I'm not the only one in this situation. Lucky for me I got this bike ridiculously cheap so after I throw some $ into it I'm hoping it will still would have cost me less than an average bike of it's age. Not to mention I'll know the bike inside-out :)

Cheers
C.

[Brigalow]

whilst it may be true that modernish trials bikes are built light & not to last, the same can't be said for earlier models, those Spanish machines from the 70's, carefully made by true craftsman are well worth the restoration efforts, should they ever require the need. I would recommend Montesa as the best marque for endeavors of this kind although if you really seek a challenge & don't mind riding a lesser bike Ossa's & Bultaco's are also good. Nipponese rides from that era can also be worth the effort if you can stand the embarrassments of riding such things.

[KTM39]

Have you had to replace the lower shock bearing? I don't know what setup Beta use, but the spherical bearing and bush arrangement that Sherco/Olle' use is a mongrel to replace.

We put so much force on it that I was expecting the shock to break. When we got it out, the outer case of the bearing was cracked, which is what was causing most of the slop in the rear end. I also replaced all of the linkage bearings with an all balls kit. For any one else's benefit - the All Balls linkage bearing kit for the Sherco includes the lower shock bearing and O-rings, but NOT the bushes. I had to pay another $66- to get the OEM Sherco kit which includes the bushes.
After reassembly with all new bearings and bushes, there's still a little bit of vertical free play in the rear suspension.

How did you go with sealing the rear tyre on the tubeless rim? That was another fun job and big learning experience. Not to mention having to re-spoke the rear wheel three times due to a series of mistakes (mine was not recording the offset of the rear wheel before disassembly, the rest of the problems were faulty spoke nipples and the wheel builder making the spokes too short).

If I learn as much about riding as I have about trials bike maintenance from this bike, I'll be happy.

[Craigus77]

Have you had to replace the lower shock bearing? I don't know what setup Beta use, but the spherical bearing and bush arrangement that Sherco/Olle' use is a mongrel to replace.

We put so much force on it that I was expecting the shock to break. When we got it out, the outer case of the bearing was cracked, which is what was causing most of the slop in the rear end. I also replaced all of the linkage bearings with an all balls kit. For any one else's benefit - the All Balls linkage bearing kit for the Sherco includes the lower shock bearing and O-rings, but NOT the bushes. I had to pay another $66- to get the OEM Sherco kit which includes the bushes.
After reassembly with all new bearings and bushes, there's still a little bit of vertical free play in the rear suspension.

How did you go with sealing the rear tyre on the tubeless rim? That was another fun job and big learning experience. Not to mention having to re-spoke the rear wheel three times due to a series of mistakes (mine was not recording the offset of the rear wheel before disassembly, the rest of the problems were faulty spoke nipples and the wheel builder making the spokes too short).

If I learn as much about riding as I have about trials bike maintenance from this bike, I'll be happy.

I was lucky.. This bike has spent most of it's later life in storage so all the rear end bearings were like new, just needed a clean up :) Even the swing arm was in good condition (full of crap, but bearings in tact) Biggest problem I've had so far is the headstem - Talk about nightmare to get off!

Funny you mention the tyres, they are old and perished, will need replacing but they are currently holding pressure (touch wood)

Would love to see some photos of your project man. Sounds like fun :)

Cheers
C.

[Craigus77]

Sunday arvo fun.. got the forks out, just need to fab up a seal driver and put it all back.

Was a little weird only finding one spring in the front end I tell you. I've done a bit with enduro suspension over the years but wow.. talk about different!

[KTM39]

Are those forks Paioli 38's with spring preload adjustment on one leg and dampening on the other? The internals look exactly the same as the ones that came with my Sherco.

They are very easy forks to work on, especially compared with the cartridge forks found on most motocross and enduro bikes.

I'm going to start a thread with pics of mine as I don't want to hijack this thread.

I found a couple of good YouTube vids showing how to re-seat the rim liner in these spoked tubeless wheels. Once fitted correctly, mine is holding pressure. I did cheat and use some silicon.

[Craigus77]

From what I can tell they are the same forks in both bikes, maybe some adjusted valving across the years/makes.

One thing that has me stumped is the spring side when fully extended is 30mm shorter than the other. This was the case before I pulled them down, at first I thought nothing of it. Now I've put them back together I'm thinking there is somthing not quite right?? Trawling the internet looking for a proper exploded diagram of these without much luck.

[PA]

Here you go.

http://www.trialsport.com.au/beta/Parts ... 202003.pdf