Finally! A 300

[hawaiidirtrider]

On 9/2/2018 at 4:27 PM, shrubitup said:

I would re-try the Lectron with the stock head and then also re-try the Keihin with the stock head too. You need to determine which is at fault.

With my RK Tek head and JD Jetting the bike was more aggressive than a YZ250. Knock me off the back in whiskey throttle moments (I'm 250 pounds so that's some heavy punch). Withe the RK Teak head and the N8RG needle it was more controllable but still fairly hard pull mid-range wise but then it fouled a plug and my available gas/hours of daylight left were getting slimmer so I ended for the day. Next ride was the N8RG, adjusted float, and the stock head - wham, jackpot! Process of elimination.

What setup did you order with your RK head? My bike isn’t radical aggressive like yours seems to ave been setup like. I got the setup like the RK owner has on his 15 300. Pump gas and extra base gaskets lower elevation. I was clear that I wanted the bike to still work well in technical . Mine is still similar to stock in manners but just more power throughout the range. Its got more power but still excellent for technical. Its not like a yz 250.  My bike is still stock and I didn’t do the other recommended mods. Maybe later. I only dropped the needle one. I want to try a pro circuit pipe later as time goes on. The bike was great stock so the RK head adds cooling ang more of the same type of power. Im happy and I didn’t do any tuning really. No teal need.. but maybe later. 

Edited September 7, 2018 by hawaiidirtrider

[shrubitup]

23 minutes ago, hawaiidirtrider said:

What setup did you order with your RK head? My bike isn’t radical aggressive like yours seems to ave been setup like. I got the setup like the RK owner has on his 15 300. Pump gas and extra base gaskets lower elevation. I was clear that I wanted the bike to still work well in technical . Mine is still similar to stock in manners but just more power throughout the range. Its got more power but still excellent for technical. Its not like a yz 250.  My bike is still stock and I didn’t do the other recommended mods. Maybe later. I only dropped the needle one. I want to try a pro circuit pipe later as time goes on. The bike was great stock so the RK head adds cooling ang more of the same type of power. Im happy and I didn’t do any tuning really. No teal need.. but maybe later. 

Had it setup for 87 octane eth free fuel, sea level to 4,000 feet. Nothing major aggressive wise. 

I did refresh top end last weekend. I believe it was the original piston. Blow by everywhere but the rings were fine. Also switching to a 7 series plug this weekend. Hopefully the worn rings was my source of poor fuel mileage. 

I didn't isntall additional base gaskets. Was I supposed to? No input from RK on that.

[hawaiidirtrider]

1 hour ago, shrubitup said:

Had it setup for 87 octane eth free fuel, sea level to 4,000 feet. Nothing major aggressive wise. 

I did refresh top end last weekend. I believe it was the original piston. Blow by everywhere but the rings were fine. Also switching to a 7 series plug this weekend. Hopefully the worn rings was my source of poor fuel mileage. 

I didn't isntall additional base gaskets. Was I supposed to? No input from RK on that.

It’s how you order the setup. I wanted certain specifics so he gave me another option I guess. I don’t know how many different setups he has in line but it is interesting that he has 2 2015 300 rr that he rides and experiments with. He was a professional trials rider so that was encouraging for his version of a good woods setup and yet versatile for a 15 300 rr. I sure didn’t want a racetrack only bike. Bike is great. It’s just more of the same  like how I wanted. It’s pretty much like the description on the site which sounded good to me .

Edited September 7, 2018 by hawaiidirtrider

[Beta300REcat]

On 9/7/2018 at 1:24 PM, shrubitup said:

. Blow by everywhere but the rings were fine.

Excessive varnish in the ring grooves?

[shrubitup]

1 hour ago, Bermudacat said:

Excessive varnish in the ring grooves?

Doesn’t appear that way to me. 

[Beta300REcat]

Not to me either, but crazy blow by.

Shouldn't the ring gaps should be clocked at different locations?

Edited September 24, 2018 by Bermudacat

[shrubitup]

43 minutes ago, Bermudacat said:

Not to me either, but crazy blow by.

Shouldn't the ring gaps should be clocked at different locations?

As I recall they come fairly close to each other on the intake side but I may have slid them around after disassembly and removal from con rod. This was a vertex which has been replaced by a wiseco. 

[Raging Petunia]

Shrub,

So I have an issue, like a lot of Betas, i feel like my bike is running a little rich. Gas comes out of the overflow when it tips just a little to the side. So float level may be an issue. I used the video above in your post to inform my attempt. Here is the issues/ data. When I checked the float with the carb horizontal and blow in the fuel line it stops all airflow at about 9.2 mm which is far short of parallel. While I am ok with that I was expecting to find the carb shutting off gas when the float is parallel to the carb body. 

When I check the carb at 60 degrees it is the same. It is just resting on the jet at a little over 9mm. 

So my question (if I'm thinking correctly) should I continue to bend the tang up to get the gas to shut down earlier even though I am already far short of getting to parallel? The most I have really seen snooping around it 8mm, seems like over 9mm I could start moving to too lean? My gas mileage sucks by the way. 

 

Here is a pic with the float just resting and it is past parallel at 9.23mm

Edited December 8, 2018 by newk75

[hawaiidirtrider]

46 minutes ago, newk75 said:

Shrub,

So I have an issue, like a lot of Betas, i feel like my bike is running a little rich. Gas comes out of the overflow when it tips just a little to the side. So float level may be an issue. I used the video above in your post to inform my attempt. Here is the issues/ data. When I checked the float with the carb horizontal and blow in the fuel line it stops all airflow at about 9.2 mm which is far short of parallel. While I am ok with that I was expecting to find the carb shutting off gas when the float is parallel to the carb body. 

When I check the carb at 60 degrees it is the same. It is just resting on the jet at a little over 9mm. 

So my question (if I'm thinking correctly) should I continue to bend the tang up to get the gas to shut down earlier even though I am already far short of getting to parallel? The most I have really seen snooping around it 8mm, seems like over 9mm I could start moving to too lean? My gas mileage sucks by the way. 

 

Here is a pic with the float just resting and it is past parallel at 9.23mm

Yup just bend it a little more so when the tab / float moves up the valve shuts earlier. Just try it and see how it goes. Adjust it again if you like.. just try.  Drop the needle to the next higher clip and see how it goes. You can look at the jetting chart too to see if your elevation etc ...might make sense to try other jetting too.. but start simple and small first. With my Betas I’ve not needed to jet. I’ve loved it !!

Edited December 8, 2018 by hawaiidirtrider

[Raging Petunia]

16 minutes ago, hawaiidirtrider said:

Yup just bend it a little more so when the tab / float moves up the valve shuts earlier. 

So if it's a little rich at 9.23mm should I go another mm? what is acceptable without going too far?

[hawaiidirtrider]

1 hour ago, newk75 said:

So if it's a little rich at 9.23mm should I go another mm? what is acceptable without going too far?

The float level is to address the valve shutting off fuel going to the float bowl  at the right time so you don’t waste  gas spilling out of the overflow onto the ground every time you tilt the bikewhile riding or tilting too far over. Geez .. that’s a run on on sentence huh! Lots of times the float level is too high so the float bowl has too much fuel spilling and wasting gas on the trail. . You’re just lowering the float level like lowering the level just like a toilet.

There’s some threads on carb tuning already up for Beta  here to look at and of course look at the manual...but to make it super simple for now as an easy first adjustment ,,, adjust by dropping the needle one clip to lean out the bike just a tiny bit to start. Ride it and see how it works .

Start small and simple. If you make changes log so you don’t forget. I have a binder with my settings for suspension and carb etc info and when I bought stuff and a printed manual for each bike I have. If I don’t have a binder I’ll forget for sure. 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=beta+carb+adjusting&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=2+stroke+tuning+carb&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=svin&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8vM-Yr5HfAhUjHTQIHX5PD1gQ_AUoA3oECA4QAw&biw=414&bih=617&dpr=3

 

Edited December 8, 2018 by hawaiidirtrider

[shrubitup]

On 9/1/2018 at 10:12 PM, shrubitup said:

1. Installed jetting recommendations from RK Tek. Sea level and 70F, 87 eth free fuel, 50:1 Silkolene Pro 2 oil.

172 Main

N8RG needle (2015 Husky TE300 stock needle) set in the middle clip

Dumped that super rich RK Tek recommended jetting in favor of:

42 PJ, NECJ third clip from top (middle), 160 MJ. Much much better. 99.9% spooge free now. The N8RG needle resulting in spooge spray all over the right side of my carburetor due to a poor connection between header and muffler.

Bike is livelier AND.... it get far better fuel mileage. Went about 20 miles today and used ONE gallon of gas. Was using nearly TWO.

[hawaiidirtrider]

6 hours ago, shrubitup said:

Dumped that super rich RK Tek recommended jetting in favor of:

42 PJ, NECJ third clip from top (middle), 160 MJ. Much much better. 99.9% spooge free now. The N8RG needle resulting in spooge spray all over the right side of my carburetor due to a poor connection between header and muffler.

Bike is livelier AND.... it get far better fuel mileage. Went about 20 miles today and used ONE gallon of gas. Was using nearly TWO.

Thanks! More options to note and try later..

[Andrew Puetz]

9 hours ago, shrubitup said:

Dumped that super rich RK Tek recommended jetting in favor of:

42 PJ, NECJ third clip from top (middle), 160 MJ. Much much better. 99.9% spooge free now. The N8RG needle resulting in spooge spray all over the right side of my carburetor due to a poor connection between header and muffler.

Bike is livelier AND.... it get far better fuel mileage. Went about 20 miles today and used ONE gallon of gas. Was using nearly TWO.

Still a tractor?  I’m looking for that nice low pull off idle you referred to.  My 2017 is at 100% stock setting.  I know my float is off as it does some of the above symptoms.  And the bike seems super rich off of idle. And probably rich all over. I NEED that low crawl you mentioned you have.  

 

I am afraid of going into the carb and wrecking the float or screwing it up.  I am fairly limited mechanically.  Not sure where to start.

[shrubitup]

3 hours ago, Andrew Puetz said:

Still a tractor?  I’m looking for that nice low pull off idle you referred to.  My 2017 is at 100% stock setting.  I know my float is off as it does some of the above symptoms.  And the bike seems super rich off of idle. And probably rich all over. I NEED that low crawl you mentioned you have.  

 

I am afraid of going into the carb and wrecking the float or screwing it up.  I am fairly limited mechanically.  Not sure where to start.

Yes. Huge tractor low end. I attribute that to its motor tune and the use of the 42 pilot during the winter (sea level). 

You can replace the float for less than $30 if you completely destroy it. If you can adjust a needle then you can adjust your float too.

[firffighter]

13 hours ago, shrubitup said:

Dumped that super rich RK Tek recommended jetting in favor of:

Hey Shrub, I'd be very interested in your thoughts on the RK head? 

Tons of reading from very satisfied customers and on the opposite side a couple of guys who weren't happy with results and found that they could acheive similar or better tuning through milled head, jetting, and PV adjustment. 

How long have you had the RK? What tuning did you do previous and how did it run prior to the RK? Did you do the full head or send in yours? 

I know Kels recommends very rich jetting, which by itself will offer good tractor like behavior. 

My impressions after riding the '18 300rr is that the stock head has a much better squish than any other stock 2-stroke I've ridden and with some needle, jet, and PV tuning would be really excellent for NW woods conditions. 

Your thoughts? 

[shrubitup]

1 hour ago, firffighter said:

Hey Shrub, I'd be very interested in your thoughts on the RK head? 

Tons of reading from very satisfied customers and on the opposite side a couple of guys who weren't happy with results and found that they could acheive similar or better tuning through milled head, jetting, and PV adjustment. 

How long have you had the RK? What tuning did you do previous and how did it run prior to the RK? Did you do the full head or send in yours? 

I know Kels recommends very rich jetting, which by itself will offer good tractor like behavior. 

My impressions after riding the '18 300rr is that the stock head has a much better squish than any other stock 2-stroke I've ridden and with some needle, jet, and PV tuning would be really excellent for NW woods conditions. 

Your thoughts? 

Lol, whatever I type here will be copied by Hera and used against me (blame customer instead of admitting the mod doesn't deliver the advertised claims) but here we go:

I bought the RK Tek head for one reason: fuel economy. I tried it with both a JD jet kit and RK jetting suggestions and it did not return any better fuel economy. I tried to return it but RK wouldn't honor his return policy.

IMO, this mod is unnecessary if one were trying to conserve fuel.

I didn't really evaluate the RK Tek head for power delivery but do recall it having spastic run-away idle as in difficult to turn motor off and then finally fouling a plug (after using his jetting spec). I haven't fouled a plug ever until then and haven't fouled one since after removing the RK Tek head.

I had the RK Tek head for about 45 days total with two rides logged with the mod. Purchased full billet head. Tuning prior to RK Tek head was jetting without float adjustment.

With the latest jetting change and a fresh battery installed, this bike is SO good at riding all NW woods conditions.

[Eric72]

Do the 2018`s have the float bowl issue? I am getting fuel leakage when i lean the bike over. Strange thing is i do not remember having this issue when i had the oil injection. Wonder if i hooked some thing up on the carb wrong when i reinstalled the carb. My next project is doing some jetting. Its not bad stock, but could be smoother off idle. Seems like it runs better on the rain map than it does the sun map.

As for northwest wood weapon, well i think this thing kicks ass. With about 15 hour on her, i have very few complaints. Been riding mostly new trails that we have just built at SDR and this thing seems to thrive. The stuff we are riding is a little nasty and tight right know. These trails will get better as they get more use. The bike eats this stuff up and would be even better when my skills get better.

[shrubitup]

1 minute ago, Eric72 said:

Do the 2018`s have the float bowl issue? I am getting fuel leakage when i lean the bike over.

Generally there should be no fuel drips on bike lean angles less than 45 degrees. 

[firffighter]

34 minutes ago, shrubitup said:

Lol, whatever I type here will be copied by Hera and used against me (blame customer instead of admitting the mod doesn't deliver the advertised claims) but here we go:

I bought the RK Tek head for one reason: fuel economy. I tried it with both a JD jet kit and RK jetting suggestions and it did not return any better fuel economy. I tried to return it but RK wouldn't honor his return policy.

IMO, this mod is unnecessary if one were trying to conserve fuel.

I didn't really evaluate the RK Tek head for power delivery but do recall it having spastic run-away idle as in difficult to turn motor off and then finally fouling a plug (after using his jetting spec). I haven't fouled a plug ever until then and haven't fouled one since after removing the RK Tek head.

I had the RK Tek head for about 45 days total with two rides logged with the mod. Purchased full billet head. Tuning prior to RK Tek head was jetting without float adjustment.

With the latest jetting change and a fresh battery installed, this bike is SO good at riding all NW woods conditions.

Thanks Shrub, much appreciated! Guys get way too sensitive about these mods and I have found it's difficult to guage from one guy to the next as you have no idea if someone even has a base understanding of a property tuned bike. 

The RK reviews are generally over the top in their claims which leads me to believe that customers are either justifying their purchase, haven't ridden a properly tuned 2-stroke previously, or too lazy to spend the time jetting correctly and adjusting PV.  Or, they truly have found a product that delivers the goods. 

One thing I notice is how rich RK recommends his jetting. Rich jetting alone gives you gains in low end power delivery feel and old school technique on getting better traction with 300's. 

So hard to know. With about 25 miles of seat time on a bone stock '18 300rr I can say it's an amazing motor that needs little to fine tune to specific terrain, conditions, and ridng style. It was a little lean and after some tight woods I noticed some pipe bang, so needed some richer winter ridng jetting. 

In talking with Ron a while back, he said he wasn't going to do Beta head mods any longer as there wasn't much material to work with and the squish was close to my liking right from the factory. 

This leads me to think, a little jetting and PV adjustment can get these 300's pretty spot on. 

You're running the NECJ? Seems like the go to for others here in the NW with Beta 250/300. 

Anyway, thanks for sharing the details and my brother is getting a RK head so I'll have first hand experience between it and a RB head mod which he currently runs. 

Might be a 300rr in the works in my shop, so the curiosity is selfish as well ?

5 minutes ago, Eric72 said:

Do the 2018`s have the float bowl issue? I am getting fuel leakage when i lean the bike over. Strange thing is i do not remember having this issue when i had the oil injection. Wonder if i hooked some thing up on the carb wrong when i reinstalled the carb. My next project is doing some jetting. Its not bad stock, but could be smoother off idle. Seems like it runs better on the rain map than it does the sun map.

As for northwest wood weapon, well i think this thing kicks ass. With about 15 hour on her, i have very few complaints. Been riding mostly new trails that we have just built at SDR and this thing seems to thrive. The stuff we are riding is a little nasty and tight right know. These trails will get better as they get more use. The bike eats this stuff up and would be even better when my skills get better.

I've been really trying to make it up to SDR but lots of obligations with kids in basketball and a pretty long drive for me from Southeast of Portland. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can talk with Jon and get on up there as it sounds like you guys are doing amazing work! 

My buddies '18 has no leaks from float and he's getting great fuel mileage. He's running OI and has over 100 hrs since getting the bike in May. 

Sounds like the 300rr is to your liking and a great NW woods weapon!