Beta Sag Recommendations

[Carlos Thomas]

I went up one spring in the back and the front. I am 190 lbs and with full cold weather gear I am 212 lbs.  I have it cranked down far as it will go. 

I am at 34 mm free sag and 103 mm rider sag. Thoughts?

 

Edited December 6, 2018 by Carlos Thomas

[FORMA MOTO]

Notoriously short shock threads is the problem

I had to make a spacer for the spring.

103/35 is fine though.  You can adjust from there using the fork clamp height.

The spring will fatigue though, and numbers will increase a bit...

That is fully geared up with some gas ?

[Carlos Thomas]

That is full gear and 2.6 gallons of fuel. 

[Johnny Depp]

IMO Beta's charts are off on weight recommendations to the soft side by 1 or 2 springs. The problem is exaggerated by a shock that could be a few mm longer to correct the chopper setup which has gotten worse over the last few years as they have increased the front fork travel but not the rear. If you are out of adjustment you have an obvious problem, maybe you could exchange it? I suggest about 1/3 of the travel for any bike, on a Beta that is 96.5mm if I recall correctly.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Johnny Depp

[Cullins]

Sag is a funny thing. People talk about a few mm’s back and forth, but if you shift your weight just a little it can change that much. Or do you measure it standing? We’ve had suspension tuners do it both ways when setting up Ty’s bikes. We have always gone with what the tuner recommends to start with, then adjust it if a different feel is wanted. 

Biggest thing is just be consistent. We do it without gear becuse that’s when the bike is getting worked on. As long as we always do it without gear and work off those numbers it works. 

BTW-I would say your 103 is good. Especially if that’s with heavy winter gear. 

[Goatse]

If you're bottomed out at 34mm of static sag, your spring is too short to get you where you need to be IMO.

34mm is fine, but 103mm on a Beta is too much sag from my experience. My personal experience is aiming for 95mm works best. I'm 195-200lbs geared up, and I'm running 1 rate higher than stock in my forks and shock. My shock spring is 10mm longer than stock as well. I ran out of threads on the stock shock spring with 29mm of static sag and 100mm race sag.

[motoxgiant]

1 hour ago, Goatse said:

34mm is fine, but 103mm on a Beta is too much sag from my experience. My personal experience is aiming for 95mm works best. I'm 195-200lbs geared up, and I'm running 1 rate higher than stock in my forks and shock. 

95-100 is where I'd run it, but like Chris said the most important thing is that you're consistent in how you measure. I use a MoTool Slacker sag reader with the remote readout on the handlebar (fabulous tool from a great company btw) and stand on the footpegs to take the reading.

Cold shock in street clothes? Hot shock in full gear? No problem as long as that's how you always measure it, and it works well after you get all geared up.

[Carlos Thomas]

2 hours ago, Goatse said:

If you're bottomed out at 34mm of static sag, your spring is too short to get you where you need to be IMO.

34mm is fine, but 103mm on a Beta is too much sag from my experience. My personal experience is aiming for 95mm works best. I'm 195-200lbs geared up, and I'm running 1 rate higher than stock in my forks and shock. My shock spring is 10mm longer than stock as well. I ran out of threads on the stock shock spring with 29mm of static sag and 100mm race sag.

So your saying I need to go up one more in the rear?  That would be 1 up in the front and then 2 up in the rear. 

[Goatse]

 

 

So your saying I need to go up one more in the rear?  That would be 1 up in the front and then 2 up in the rear. 

I'd try a spring spacer first. If you're on a 5.4 spring, that should be the right one for your weight. My 5.4 took very minimal preload to get me at 33-35mm static and 95-97mm race sag.

 

I'm 170lbs without gear, but I do wear over 30lbs of gear.

 

[Goatse]

95-100 is where I'd run it, but like Chris said the most important thing is that you're consistent in how you measure. I use a MoTool Slacker sag reader with the remote readout on the handlebar (fabulous tool from a great company btw) and stand on the footpegs to take the reading.



Cold shock in street clothes? Hot shock in full gear? No problem as long as that's how you always measure it, and it works well after you get all geared up.

That's a pretty cool tool. I'm constantly questioning my wife's ability at reading a tape measure.

[Carlos Thomas]

25 minutes ago, Goatse said:

I'd try a spring spacer first. If you're on a 5.4 spring, that should be the right one for your weight. My 5.4 took very minimal preload to get me at 33-35mm static and 95-97mm race sag.

 

I'm 170lbs without gear, but I do wear over 30lbs of gear.

 

Any recommendations on where to get a spring spacer?

[Odysseus]

1 hour ago, Carlos Thomas said:

Any recommendations on where to get a spring spacer?

Check this out-

https://www.mcmaster.com/thrust-washers

[Carlos Thomas]

I weight 190 lbs. I can easily drop weight to 180 lbs.  I have the 5.6 rear spring.  I wonder if that would get me to where I need to be by just dropping the weight.

Also while we are here, what recommendations do you have on the other settings?  I have them set to the stock settings for now.

 

[GP]

At 190 you should be using a 5.8Nm for sure.   I'm 185 and it works great and I've tried them all from 5.2 up.  How does the bike turn for you and how is the ride in the rough small stuff?  High preload on a softer spring has negative effects on ride and traction.  Many times you get acceptable numbers with two rates, JMO but I always have better results with the heavier rate and less preload.  Betas are particularly sensitive with the stock shock length / lower rear.

[ktm300]

An X-Trig shock adjuster and a Slacker is Da'bomb, you can make changes quickly and w/o a hammering on your 10,000 toy.

Is that a 19' ?  

[Goatse]

If you went up 1 rate, and are on a 5.6 spring - I'm guessing you're on a 4 stroke? The numbers I listed are on a 2 stroke. Unless the numbers changed on the 2019's.

 

My spring itself has barely 5mm (might even be 3-4mm) of preload, so I doubt I'd even be able to hit my desired race sag with a stiffer spring (5.6).

 

 

[Carlos Thomas]

2019 Beta 430 RR-S

 

[GP]

For sure heavier!  I'm on a 250RR with a 5.8!  I'd go to a 6.0 on a 4stroke.

[Carlos Thomas]

7 minutes ago, Goatse said:

If you went up 1 rate, and are on a 5.6 spring - I'm guessing you're on a 4 stroke? The numbers I listed are on a 2 stroke. Unless the numbers changed on the 2019's.

 

My spring itself has barely 5mm (might even be 3-4mm) of preload, so I doubt I'd even be able to hit my desired race sag with a stiffer spring (5.6).

 

 

My 2019 Beta 430 RRS has the 5.6 spring in the rear. 

[Johnny Depp]

Nice bike and house! It looks like you are doing the streets, I'm surprised this issue is important to you, since it mostly doesn't come up until you get into hard core fast dirt riding. Perhaps you do both? I run 1 6.0 on my 500 for MX and all around it works, it started a bit firm but I put on 10 lbs. to solve that problem?

By the way, it's funny how a lot of the regulars are on the site this morning, a bunch of coffee drinkers, although HDR might still be up from last night?

Edited December 7, 2018 by Johnny Depp