My 2017 Beta Suspension Lessons Learned

[basalt]

Currently I'm 250 ready to ride. The springs I went up to are .50 in the forks, and 6.0 on the shock.
The sag numbers are pretty good at 35 and 110.
Calling it unrideable may be a stretch, but it's not nice to ride, wears you out after 20 miles of trails.
The front end is fine as is, just the rear needs some help.
The rear works fine on the big stuff like trail whoops and water bars, it's the smaller junk it won't move much for.
I will make this bike work because it fits me good and it's a nice machine.

Mark.

With the 6.0 your problem isn't compression dampibg, but rebound. Put comp back where it should be, run rebound all the way slow and give it a try. Still won't be good, but will work.

I tried same setup w/ stock valving and shock was terrible and forks way too soft. Fine at slow 2nd gear stuff, but harsh (bottoming) and deflected anything faster. Rear was always all over the place.

[twowheels]

Mark, your sag is excessive for a Beta.

[mknutson]

aj_mariner, I'm down in Shoreline, just north of Seattle. The wife and I ride at Walker Valley pretty much all the time when we go. Only event we did was the iron man poker run over at Odessa.

twowheels,.. What is the happy spot sag #'s for beta's? Mine is a 2018 300rr w/Sachs oc forks. And I weigh 250totally geared up ready to go. Tight gnarly roots, rocks, etc., 1st, 2nd, and a little bit of third gear type trails.

Mark.

[aj_mariner]

I'm riding 105, which seems great for tight techy gnar...but it doesn't like high speeds on the road. The front seems a bit squishy. I plan on getting another shock spring to get 35 static, 100 rider. I did hear that 95 rider "steers on a dime" from a racer. Not sure if he is MX or Enduro.

How do you like Walker Valley? I heard it's a front tire killer. Going to hit up Canyon Ridge trail tomorrow and wish I had a GoPro to share it. There is a video on YouTube of and it looks pretty insane. Just got done trying Boundary Way trail right next to it as a precursor, kicked my ass in a good way.

[moto367]

I'm running 95mm and 35mm static. Steers precisely for enduro a in hilly, clay, rock terrain in ohio. I plan to play around a bit with sag to see how things react with this bike.

[mknutson]

Been working with this machine for a bit now, and figured out what the major issue is with the forks...
The seals had no lube at all between the seal lips, totally dry, so they were dragging on the fork sliders creating way too much stiction.
The forks just didnt want to move over any of the small stuff, now it's a lot better.
Drew Smith suggested .48 fork springs and 5.8 rear instead of .50 and 6.0 for the kind of riding that I do.
Loosened up the valving in the front and back to help it move a little easier, it's getting better!
Now need to just ride it more to get it loosened up and working smoother.
Waiting on the Rekluse to get here, then put on the left hand rear brake.

Mark.

[Johnny Depp]

I'm up here in western washington where we too have ignorant tight goat trails like back east.
Every single KTM I've owned, and theres been a bunch, have had to be reworked to make rideable.
I'll get this thing worked out if it kills me.
The next addition to the bike is the auto clutch, (which they don't have made up yet, but it's in the testing phase), and the left hand rear brake.

Mark.

Congrats on the new bike. They are awesome. I'll 2nd the too much rear sag comment. I run 96 and don't worry about the static with barely any preload using a 6.0 at 215 lbs. not with gear and do all sorts of riding types including MX. Others have lengthened the shock to get more weight on the front end, especially for hard flat high speed turns.You might find inside lines easier by sliding the forks up also. By having too much sag the shock rides too low in the stroke riding in the harsher valving and makes the bike choppered out. Try reducing your sag and going up on the high speed compression to hold it up in the stroke, with a 6.0 you'll also need more rebound than normal. A shock oil change for me brought it into a more usable clicker range, the shop used showa oil 2.5 IIRC?

[Antimullet]

Just got off the phone with my local suspension service shop, and am feeling better about Sachs suspension. I wanted to ask about any aftermarket fork bushings that could be an inexpensive upgrade to my Sachs CC forks. Just trying to get my winter servicing parts ready.
Of course I mentioned the fork problems that others are having with their Beta and what I've done with my limited experience to make sure I don't have the same issues. Figured it would be helpful to some to put it on here.

His main points were:
Sachs is a solid product out of the gate. WP can need close to $1200 in upgrades just to get it on par. Most of the issues he's seen are due to either problems with bike assembly, or the bike getting tweaked during shipping. The increased wear he is seeing is usually from having the lower triple clamps torqued too much, from incorrectly installing the front wheel, and triple clamp misalignment.

Solutions:
In other posts it was noted that the lower clamp fork tightening torque should be closer to 9 or 10 Nm. This definitely helps and doesn't create any new issues.

During every fork installation, always loosen the upper triple clamp steering head bolt (item 5 in Tab. 34) and retorque after the forks are torqued in the triple clamps.

There are many videos on how to properly tighten a front wheel so the forks don't bind.

Do your own research.

New to Betas, what do you guys recommend I start with as far as springs and oils. About 230lbs with gear. Beta 500RR-S.

[hawaiidirtrider]

Just got off the phone with my local suspension service shop, and am feeling better about Sachs suspension. I wanted to ask about any aftermarket fork bushings that could be an inexpensive upgrade to my Sachs CC forks. Just trying to get my winter servicing parts ready.
Of course I mentioned the fork problems that others are having with their Beta and what I've done with my limited experience to make sure I don't have the same issues. Figured it would be helpful to some to put it on here.

His main points were:
Sachs is a solid product out of the gate. WP can need close to $1200 in upgrades just to get it on par. Most of the issues he's seen are due to either problems with bike assembly, or the bike getting tweaked during shipping. The increased wear he is seeing is usually from having the lower triple clamps torqued too much, from incorrectly installing the front wheel, and triple clamp misalignment.

Solutions:
In other posts it was noted that the lower clamp fork tightening torque should be closer to 9 or 10 Nm. This definitely helps and doesn't create any new issues.

During every fork installation, always loosen the upper triple clamp steering head bolt (item 5 in Tab. 34) and retorque after the forks are torqued in the triple clamps.

There are many videos on how to properly tighten a front wheel so the forks don't bind.

Do your own research.

New to Betas, what do you guys recommend I start with as far as springs and oils. About 230lbs with gear. Beta 500RR-S.

If I started picking springs again Id go a little stiffer than the beta spring chart lists for my weight Maybe include your weight with all your gear on ready to ride. Thats just the spring rate just to start.

http://www.motosupply.com/beta-motorcyc ... dn2i7eb247

My experience is take your info on threads with a grain of salt. Gather information and take note and know that there are a wide variety of terrain guys are riding and a wide variety of rider abilities. Choices for what some considered best are greatly varied even in similar terrain and rider ability. The springs stiffer are simple to start. Then there’s trial and error and simply taking a chance on what works better unless you are able to ride a suspension worked Beta in similar to what you tide terrain. For me Im lucky that my suspension tuner rides Beta and is bigger than I am and an A rider. Ive just gone toward his settings for suspension. I’ve ridden his bike and just said I want my bike like this. No matter what you have to go trial and error for where you ride and what you ride. Sometimes suspension can be like tire threads. What is good in one place can suck in other places. Good luck!! Happy choosing!!

[Ed Lew]

I am suffering from the dreaded sticktion too, what do you guys suggest to use between the fork seals and dust wiper then?