The old Beta hasn’t seen the light of day for a while, so it was time to take it out in the sun!
I fitted a Dellorto VHST flat slide carb a year ago and it was certainly an improvement on the very old standard Dellorto but i have to say i was still feeling a little underwhelmed …. when i had a tr34 back in the late 80’s it was always considered a powerful bike but this 260 of mine wasn’t anything special.
Of course one issue may have been that for the last 5 months i have owned and been riding one of Toby Martyn’s ex world round bikes with a ported barrel and high compression head etc etc … most things feel a tad slow after that !!
… so it was time to try something different. When i sold my old TRS to my mate Francisco he wanted it smoothed out and put back to standard, so i removed the Keihin carb i’d fitted and put the original Dellorto back on. This meant i had a nice pwk28 ready to go on something else, and it would appear it would fit on the Beta. One concern was the choke position, it’s on the wrong side for the Beta. But upon fitting and putting the seat/tank unit back on I found that there was a perfect gap to get your gloved finger through to pop the choke up and down easily. The airscrew and tickover are also a bit hard to get too but I found I could adjust with a long thin flat blade screwdriver with a bit of a fiddle … hoping that once it’s set I shouldn’t have to muck about with it further.
A visit to Frys Practice wood was undertaken and as soon as i went up the first climb and popped it over a tree I knew this was the right carb for the job. It’s so much more responsive, and cleaner all the way through the range. I haven’t changed a thing on it … still jetted and set-up for a 2016 TRS 280 !!
Another thing that needed looking at was the front brake. I had taken the old front brake from the TRS a while ago and fitted it, but that was actually because i had a newer one to go on the TRS. But i’ve been finding that the brake was a bit random, sometimes locking up with very little lever movement but often just not locking at all … sort of like the Grimeca’s fitted to Beta Evo’s, they are always vague and change from minute to minute!
I had a new 4 pot Braktec mono block as well as a new Braktec lever assembly sat on the shelf so fitted them, along with the longer banjo bolt on the calliper that is needed. It took a while to bleed it but it’s now as good as my new TRS front brake … or will be when the new pads have worn in.
After 4 hours out in the sun I think we have cracked it … it’s great fun to ride. Yes it’s a bit noisy and i need to either find a stiffer spring for the rear shock or just get a nice Ohlins, but it rides nicely.
I originally put it together in a bit of a hurry to meet the deadline for the Trial Magazine UK article, so i just replaced the main bearings when i had the engine apart. It probably needs barrel measured and possibly recoated and big end/conrod replaced … along with the paint refreshed all over the bike … but it’s for riding and not looking at. I’ll go with as it is for a while longer and maybe even ride a few events!!
