Fastway linkage guard review for the Beta range

[GMP]

It's fine, I'll just knock the burrs off for handling safety. Looks no different than the Force skid plate which might need some work after another season. Great products that do the job, glad they were available. The bike itself is half torn down now and looks great.

[Survivor]

Hi! GMP,
I am always amaze to see all your knowledge and abilities. For riders with little knowledge and abilities like me, it is like walking in a classroom and having the chance to learn so many things that will help us through our life riding span. I am also sure it helps many riders with fair to good knowledge.
Thanks for sharing your expertise and your immense knowledge with us. Thanks also to all the others that helps us like Steve and some I don't remember the name.
Cheers and have a good day.

[iamovru]

Mines been taking a pounding as well. I have it set in the low position and raised the forks to match the drop in the rear. There is a bit of sag issue. I had to crank in a little more preload and back off the low speed compression a few clicks. I'm actually thinking of going up one rate in the spring to make up the difference. One thing to note is being careful of tire size when lowering these bikes. I found the 120/90 makes the Beta handle strange. Slow to turn and sudden darting with no warning. 110/100 is a much better choice and the bike is more balanced.

These are really good guards that work as advertised!



120/90 tire works really good as far as durability but slows the steering and gives strange feedback in tight terrain.



When using lowboy position. Forks raised and a few clickers soft on shock compression. If you're aggressive leave compression alone. Lowboy just makes the initial travel stiffer.



About the only thing left is to try out a 5.8 spring. I'm a bit nervous because it works pretty damn good right now. Sag numbers are good ( 20/30 and 95/105 ) but preload is cranked in quite a bit. It might just be due to the fact that I have a Race Tech spring which is longer than the OEM Sachs. For 100 bucks it's worth trying stiffer. If anything the stiffer spring will be great for bagged up adventure rides!

WOW! You run those forks really high! Do you ride the desert like that? Or is that for woods riding?

Marc

[ballisticexchris]

deleted

[andoman]

Chris, did you lower the front in increments or just drop it to match the back?

I dropped the rear on a KTM with a Synergy X Bushing but found that I only had to lower the front about half as much to get the same turning/stability characteristics. Any more than that and it got twitchy. Turned into a jack-knife machine in the sand.

[ballisticexchris]

deleted

[iamovru]

Mines been taking a pounding as well. I have it set in the low position and raised the forks to match the drop in the rear. There is a bit of sag issue. I had to crank in a little more preload and back off the low speed compression a few clicks. I'm actually thinking of going up one rate in the spring to make up the difference. One thing to note is being careful of tire size when lowering these bikes. I found the 120/90 makes the Beta handle strange. Slow to turn and sudden darting with no warning. 110/100 is a much better choice and the bike is more balanced.

These are really good guards that work as advertised!



120/90 tire works really good as far as durability but slows the steering and gives strange feedback in tight terrain.



When using lowboy position. Forks raised and a few clickers soft on shock compression. If you're aggressive leave compression alone. Lowboy just makes the initial travel stiffer.



About the only thing left is to try out a 5.8 spring. I'm a bit nervous because it works pretty damn good right now. Sag numbers are good ( 20/30 and 95/105 ) but preload is cranked in quite a bit. It might just be due to the fact that I have a Race Tech spring which is longer than the OEM Sachs. For 100 bucks it's worth trying stiffer. If anything the stiffer spring will be great for bagged up adventure rides!

WOW! You run those forks really high! Do you ride the desert like that? Or is that for woods riding?

Marc

Hi there Marc, That's to match the Fastway link in the low position. I wanted the bike balanced front and rear. I was worried it would handle funny. As you can see from the pics I'm nowhere near riding as much as Glenn and the other guys. I got the link to lower my bike a bit. Between that and the rear tire running very low pressure, it helps with preventing tip overs.

BTW, you can run high speed desert and pavement blasts with no headshake.

Gotcha

I have the Fastway on my bike also, but have yet to play around with it. I can say it works though

[andoman]

Chris, did you lower the front in increments or just drop it to match the back?

I dropped the rear on a KTM with a Synergy X Bushing but found that I only had to lower the front about half as much to get the same turning/stability characteristics. Any more than that and it got twitchy. Turned into a jack-knife machine in the sand.

This works good for everything from desert to single track. With very little head shake.

Ah, I now see the corner of the Scotts damper under your Flexbar cross-member.
My Gasser ('11) w/o a damper was so stable at speed, yet turned and tracked so well that its my goal to dial in my soon-to-be-delivered Beta to work without a damper.
I"m following this tread because I have decided to lower the rear with the linkage guard.
My Gasser suspension was stock height and I often wished that it was just a wee bit lower.

Thanks to all for the input here.

[GMP]

Chris, did you lower the front in increments or just drop it to match the back?

I dropped the rear on a KTM with a Synergy X Bushing but found that I only had to lower the front about half as much to get the same turning/stability characteristics. Any more than that and it got twitchy. Turned into a jack-knife machine in the sand.

This works good for everything from desert to single track. With very little head shake.

Ah, I now see the corner of the Scotts damper under your Flexbar cross-member.
My Gasser ('11) w/o a damper was so stable at speed, yet turned and tracked so well that its my goal to dial in my soon-to-be-delivered Beta to work without a damper.
I"m following this tread because I have decided to lower the rear with the linkage guard.
My Gasser suspension was stock height and I often wished that it was just a wee bit lower.

Thanks to all for the input here.

Andoman,
I would suggest you have Les, Steve, or another compenent tuner lower the bike with travel limiters at both ends and correctly balance it. Lowering just the rear with the guard is the kiss of death to confidence in the front end. Plus, the ratio change makes the initial travel stiffer. I really think the adjustable feature was never thought out for a Beta and just a KTM legacy part of the design. The bike is not a GasGas with a heavy front end, it sticks and turns well but you can't be sloppy with setup.

[twowheels]

The bike is coming from here, so it would be easy to do this as part of the set-up before it goes back in the box and shuttles west. It might even be easier to fit down the chimney with the shortened legs