Beta rr <-> rs Question

[kdxkawboy]

There is a good chance a new bike is in my future and it will more than likely be a Beta. I've gone through most everything you can find for comparisons of the Beta to its competition. The lower seat heat is a big plus for me, along with most reviews stating the Beta handles more like the Japanese bikes than a KTM. Down to deciding between a 450RR and 450RS - out in western Nevada were a think the 450 is a better fit than the 350.

In Nevada I should be able to plate an RR, but the cost of a DS kit will puts the price between the two as mostly a wash, with the advantage to the RS having the lights from the factory. So its down to two questions: 1) Are the 48mm Sachs fork that much better than the 45mm Marzocchis; 2) Is there really a difference between the power on the two?

The only ting that would keep me from getting the Beta would be if I decide to stick with my old DRZ400e, which has been in moth balls since 2000 as I racked up nearly 150,000 miles Adventure Touring on my KLR. Its got untested Race tech suspension, an unmounted DS e-line Dakar DS kit and it would cost me a fraction of the cost of a new bike to add a big bore kit. While its not the same as a new Beta, it would leave enough money in my pocket the wife (who has her own KLR - over on AdvRider she is the former AzKLRGirl, now NvKLRGirl) and I could take several long vacations.

[hawaiidirtrider]

There is a good chance a new bike is in my future and it will more than likely be a Beta. I've gone through most everything you can find for comparisons of the Beta to its competition. The lower seat heat is a big plus for me, along with most reviews stating the Beta handles more like the Japanese bikes than a KTM. Down to deciding between a 450RR and 450RS - out in western Nevada were a think the 450 is a better fit than the 350.

In Nevada I should be able to plate an RR, but the cost of a DS kit will puts the price between the two as mostly a wash, with the advantage to the RS having the lights from the factory. So its down to two questions: 1) Are the 48mm Sachs fork that much better than the 45mm Marzocchis; 2) Is there really a difference between the power on the two?

The only ting that would keep me from getting the Beta would be if I decide to stick with my old DRZ400e, which has been in moth balls since 2000 as I racked up nearly 150,000 miles Adventure Touring on my KLR. Its got untested Race tech suspension, an unmounted DS e-line Dakar DS kit and it would cost me a fraction of the cost of a new bike to add a big bore kit. While its not the same as a new Beta, it would leave enough money in my pocket the wife (who has her own KLR - over on AdvRider she is the former AzKLRGirl, now NvKLRGirl) and I could take several long vacations.

The new Beta's with the 48 Sachs forks are a big question for all us Beta riders hanging in the wings. We are all waiting for what ever feedback from riders that have the 2012's to fill us in on whatever changes there are on the bike... and there just aren't that many Brand new Beta's out there and no one posting info yet. I like the 45's on my 09' Beta 525 RS but couldn't tell you which is better. I would think the 48's for sure. How much better? ...We're just waiting on that one. I bet the power is not much difference. If you are adventure riding ... money wise I would think the drz you have is definitely the cheaper route..and if you will be riding on the road a good amount of time that might be better. I love the Beta's and I see the Beta design more of a street legal full offroad bike. The question about saving money? You will most definitely save money by dusting off the drz . If you will be riding primarily offroad you have to ride the Beta. It's awesome... but your wife will want one too pretty quickly.?

[KX290F Pilot]

There is a good chance a new bike is in my future and it will more than likely be a Beta. I've gone through most everything you can find for comparisons of the Beta to its competition. The lower seat heat is a big plus for me, along with most reviews stating the Beta handles more like the Japanese bikes than a KTM. Down to deciding between a 450RR and 450RS - out in western Nevada were a think the 450 is a better fit than the 350.

In Nevada I should be able to plate an RR, but the cost of a DS kit will puts the price between the two as mostly a wash, with the advantage to the RS having the lights from the factory. So its down to two questions: 1) Are the 48mm Sachs fork that much better than the 45mm Marzocchis; 2) Is there really a difference between the power on the two?

The only ting that would keep me from getting the Beta would be if I decide to stick with my old DRZ400e, which has been in moth balls since 2000 as I racked up nearly 150,000 miles Adventure Touring on my KLR. Its got untested Race tech suspension, an unmounted DS e-line Dakar DS kit and it would cost me a fraction of the cost of a new bike to add a big bore kit. While its not the same as a new Beta, it would leave enough money in my pocket the wife (who has her own KLR - over on AdvRider she is the former AzKLRGirl, now NvKLRGirl) and I could take several long vacations.

The 45 Zokes are ok for dual sport because they flex a little more. The 45 zokes are easier to work on too. I have (2) 2008 RR's. A 400RR for Enduro that I put 48MM Kayabas on for racing and 2008 540RR that I dual sport with the 45mm Zokes. Talk to Capitol Yamaha in Sacramento they have (2) 2009 Beta RR's. A 450 and 525. I bet you would be pretty happy with either compared to the DRZ.

[weantright]

From the review I seen the Sachs forks are just a little better in the rocky washed out sections of the trail vs. the zokes. They said if you had the choice get the Sachs but not if you had to pay extra for them. How many shops know sachs forks?? This might be a bigger issue as to where to get them service and tuned. They also said the 50mm factory zokes were great. I have the open design 50mm and hate them. Way too stiff and harsh for DS.

Desert wide open type of riding get the 450+ bike. Unless you are riding more off-road, dust off the DRZ and take the vacation!

[CRFJeff113]

1) Are the 48mm Sachs fork that much better than the 45mm Marzocchis; 2) Is there really a difference between the power on the two?

.

1)I hear they are, so YES

2) Between the RR and the RS? Not much difference between the bikes at all. Only smog, which is EASY to remove. It is, in its truest form, a plated dirtbike.

[kdxkawboy]

Tand if you will be riding on the road a good amount of time that might be better. I love the Beta's and I see the Beta design more of a street legal full offroad bike. The question about saving money? You will most definitely save money by dusting off the drz . If you will be riding primarily offroad you have to ride the Beta. It's awesome... but your wife will want one too pretty quickly.?

The KLR keeps me happy when I am mostly on pavement. This will be a bike where the only pavement it sees is to get between single tracks. BTW, the wife has an XT225 that is perfect for her and her current skills. She calls it her baby dirt bike.

[WallyWhirled]

I would definitely go with the 2012 RR over the RS if there were an option to have a street legal RR in California.

With the RS you will want to re-jet the carb and remove and re-route hoses and remove canister and probably remove black collector box. In addition you will want to replace sprockets and possibly chain. The time and expense for the conversion would be just about a wash toward horn, license plate mount and turn signals necessary to transform the RR to street-legal, Nevada form.

There are other nice items on the RR that to me make it more attractive than the RS. The exhaust is better, the frame has larger tubes, the rear sprocket is drilled, etc. I noted the most noticeable differences in another post somewhere in a different thread on this site. Plastics are red.

RaceTech makes a fine upgrade for the 45mm Zokes that makes them into very good forks but that's more money when compared to the the 48mm Sachs which is pretty nice stock.

I can't comment on the aspects of keeping the old bike versus getting a new bike. That's an economic choice on your part. I can say that my Beta, my local dealer and AmericanBeta have treated me very well.

Personally I would sell the old and buy a new RR.

Excerpt from my post 118 on the 350 RR review thread https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1015043&page=12 :

My recommendation for a Dual Sport would be to get an RR and license that if you can in your state. Not an option here.

Both RR and RS 2012 have Red frames. The RR frame has larger diameter tubes wrapping around the lower part of the engine. The RR has the 48 mm Sachs fork which feels much better than the 45 mm Marzocchi on the RS. The 350 has a smaller diameter header pipe, probably for better torque. The RR has a more sleek looking muffler than the RS. The triple clamps are machined (billet?) on the RR and appear to be wider on the bottom. Non-DOT tires on the RR. Of course no turn signals, emissions or horn on the RR. RR is red and RS is white. The red frame pops. On the RR one set of nuts on the engine mounts are held in place by metal tabs on the frame making engine removal a one-wrench process. The rear sprocket is drilled on the RR but is a solid hunk of metal on the RS. The headlight/number plate mounts to the fender slightly differently and the front number plate has some cool looking slots in it on the RR. All-in-all the RR is a better package but not street legal and personally I liked the RS look a bit better.

[kdxkawboy]

Anyone have experiences with fitting a DS kit to the RR? I've got the old e-line Dakar kit that I could start with. Problem is I lost the wiring diagram and its the old kit where the electronics module is located on the backside of the front headlight/number plate.

The money savings is definitely something I'll be working out with the wife. In my favor she says I've earned the right to get a new bike (I take care of all my honey dos with a big smile and go the extra mile).

[tnkayaker]

Don't know about the newer ones, but I have a 2010 400RR that I converted. It has the full wiring harness as the RS already installed. I just had to buy some parts and plug them in. I used a horn, bracket, and tailight from beta. I used turn signals and a key switch from SAR offroad. Stator and such is the same on both bikes (at least for the 2010 model year)

Either way is going to cost you some money. If you start with the RR, you have to buy lights, horn, etc like I did. You also need to purchase DOT tires.

If you start with the RS, you will have to buy sprockets to change the gearing (if you truly ride offroad) and maybe a chain. The emissions stuff comes off easy, and a rejet gets you the exact motor as the RR.

Either way you go, I'll bet you will love the bike!

Mark

[CRFJeff113]

Either way is going to cost you some money. If you start with the RR, you have to buy lights, horn, etc like I did. You also need to purchase DOT tires.

If you start with the RS, you will have to buy sprockets to change the gearing (if you truly ride offroad) and maybe a chain. The emissions stuff comes off easy, and a rejet gets you the exact motor as the RR.

Either way you go, I'll bet you will love the bike!

Mark

I'm with Mark here.

I would say going from RS and de-smogging it and changing the sprockets would be easier and cheaper. If not, you'll have to go through the trouble of adding all the wiring you'll have to deal with for blinkers, and a baja kit is usually in the $500 range.

You don't have to spend any extra money really. Yes, the RS won't be as spot-on when it comes to power delivery without a desmog, but it's still a much better off-road bike than any of the main brands have... Kawi, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and I would say Huqvarna and KTM as well, but we can debate that all day.

[happy seal]

Anyone have experiences with fitting a DS kit to the RR? I've got the old e-line Dakar kit that I could start with. Problem is I lost the wiring diagram and its the old kit where the electronics module is located on the backside of the front headlight/number plate.

The money savings is definitely something I'll be working out with the wife. In my favor she says I've earned the right to get a new bike (I take care of all my honey dos with a big smile and go the extra mile).

Buy the RR,, then buy front blinkers and the blinker realy, and the blinker add on switch from American Beta. Then buy the horn and bracket from American Beta, Buy a pair of Sicass flush mount rear blinkers. The bikes wire harness is already set up for this 99 % of the time. plug and play all the parts and there's your street legal Beta. The only thing they could bust your stones on would be a license plate light and there are ways around that.

For less than $150.00 you'll have a street legal bike instead of spending money on a DS kit.

Buy the RR!

If the bike comes w/ Michelin comp III's, they are DOT tires!

your bike will already have

headlight

tailllight w/ brakelight - microswitches for both front and rear brakes.

left hand switch assembly - add turn signal switch to that already existing switch ( dovetails right in and screw holds it in, genius idea ).

stator and battery to handle new add ons.

[kdxkawboy]

I have the old, 2000 vintage e-Line Dakar DS kit. It has the rear sub-fender with taillight, turn signals and license plate bracket built in. Has the headlight/number plate with the turn signals built in. Has the little e-line module bolted to the back that has the turn signal flasher relay and other parts built in, and the wiring harness comes out of this box. Just figured out what had been my mystery ... the power for this module plugged into the connector for the stock headlight, that was fed power from the ignition switch. Makes it easy to strip the bike back down to simple pure dirt mode.

The switch gear with the kit has tactile buttons, like on a micro-range. Just need to find the headlight wires and put a on/off switch and I'm good to go. That should take care of of the lighting. The TrailTech Vector has the non-resettable odometer Nevada requires.

[kdxkawboy]

but it's still a much better off-road bike than any of the main brands have... Kawi, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and I would say Huqvarna and KTM as well, but we can debate that all day.

No debate here. I love Italian craftsmanship. I confess, I had a '87 Cagiva 500 WMX that I purely loved. Dealer helped figure out how to drop the rear of the sub-frame two inches, carve two inches out of the front of the seat and drop the foot pegs/shifter/brake lever two inches so both feet at the end of my 32" long inseam could touch ground. She came with both a 2.2 gallon MX tank and a 5 gallon desert tank. Her only flaw was it came from the factory geared to run the Baja. Even with the smallest counter shaft/biggest rear sprocket first gear was so tall you had to ride that gear like a 250. But once you got to speed in first, four shifts later you were doing over 90 mph with a close-ratio gear box. I took that bike to the Six Days of Michigan. Had several guys riding KTM 500s that discovered they couldn't keep pace my my 500. had a couple of local MX Pros that swore it pulled harder than either the CR or KX 500s. I mean when I pinned the throttle the last place you wanted to be was in range of the roost.

That's me in Michigan

[happy seal]

I have the old, 2000 vintage e-Line Dakar DS kit. It has the rear sub-fender with taillight, turn signals and license plate bracket built in. Has the headlight/number plate with the turn signals built in. Has the little e-line module bolted to the back that has the turn signal flasher relay and other parts built in, and the wiring harness comes out of this box. Just figured out what had been my mystery ... the power for this module plugged into the connector for the stock headlight, that was fed power from the ignition switch. Makes it easy to strip the bike back down to simple pure dirt mode.

The switch gear with the kit has tactile buttons, like on a micro-range. Just need to find the headlight wires and put a on/off switch and I'm good to go. That should take care of of the lighting. The TrailTech Vector has the non-resettable odometer Nevada requires.

Oh, you already had those parts and are gonna use them! gottcha! Sounds like your on your way.?

[CRFJeff113]

I say RS, someone else says RR. I think that shows how close they are, and, either way, you're really going to enjoy it.

[kdxkawboy]

Sounds like I should go with the RR.

Finished my research on what the DRZ could become by googling "WORCS DRZ Keidrowski". While Mike was successful in the WORCS series on a heavily modified DRZ, when he started racing the GNCC series he did it on a 2T RM250. I think the potential was best summed up in an old Dirt Bike article comparing the DRZ with a Honda XR, Yamaha WR, KTM, Husky, Huseberg and VOR 400s. They summerized the DRZ as being a modern version of the XR with potential, but why bother with the modifications when so many superior out-of-box bikes were available (BTW they picked the KTM for east coast riding and the WR for the west).

While I could plate the DRZ, and build it up to be something of a Kiedrowski WORCS replica, I don't feel the connection to the DRZ that would motivate me to showing it the love. These days I'm more of the get something out-of-the box type. So I think the right thing to do is get the DRZ running and sell it, taking advantage of the fact that many websites claim the 2000-2002 DRZ400Z/DRZ400e are the best of the breed. It has the Race Tech do-over for the suspension and several billet parts that should help get $1500 - $2000, being it is an extremely low mileage - the engine was just broken in ready to switch from dino to Synthetic when I lost the water pump and put the bike up on the stand 10 years ago.

Then I can fill the empty space with a 400RR, fit it with that old Dakar DS kit and get a plate.

[happy seal]

Sounds like I should go with the RR.

Finished my research on what the DRZ could become by googling "WORCS DRZ Keidrowski". While Mike was successful in the WORCS series on a heavily modified DRZ, when he started racing the GNCC series he did it on a 2T RM250. I think the potential was best summed up in an old Dirt Bike article comparing the DRZ with a Honda XR, Yamaha WR, KTM, Husky, Huseberg and VOR 400s. They summerized the DRZ as being a modern version of the XR with potential, but why bother with the modifications when so many superior out-of-box bikes were available (BTW they picked the KTM for east coast riding and the WR for the west).

While I could plate the DRZ, and build it up to be something of a Kiedrowski WORCS replica, I don't feel the connection to the DRZ that would motivate me to showing it the love. These days I'm more of the get something out-of-the box type. So I think the right thing to do is get the DRZ running and sell it, taking advantage of the fact that many websites claim the 2000-2002 DRZ400Z/DRZ400e are the best of the breed. It has the Race Tech do-over for the suspension and several billet parts that should help get $1500 - $2000, being it is an extremely low mileage - the engine was just broken in ready to switch from dino to Synthetic when I lost the water pump and put the bike up on the stand 10 years ago.

Then I can fill the empty space with a 400RR, fit it with that old Dakar DS kit and get a plate.

I just came off a DRZ400S

A heavily modded bike. Everything but the suspension and internal engine. It was a pleasure to ride on the road and light singletrack. But at 300 plus pounds it was freakin heavy in the hard core trails. It is old technology on an old platform. Your doing the right thing, sell it. You will be absolutely amazed at your new bike and it's capabities right out of the box. You will wonder why you didn't make the move ten years ago.

I know your set on using that DS kit but you really dont need it.

Beta is an awesome bike.

[kdxkawboy]

I just came off a DRZ400S

I know your set on using that DS kit but you really dont need it.

Beta is an awesome bike.

If I was only looking to ride in Nevada I wouldn't worry about the plate. But I want to use the bike for organized DS rides like the Reno 200 and being a short distance to California I want to also ride anywhere with roads or trails there. A plate is a must.

[turbo993]

ok guys i own a 2012 450 rs the bike is great i change the gearing put on a fmf Q4 a new front tire and ordered a rr switch

The suspension soaks anything that you throw at it with a little adj.

The motor need a little more bark the switch will fix that

It rips through big whoops ,up biggggg hills

shifts great, the jetting is right on from factory:moon:?

[weantright]

If I was only looking to ride in Nevada I wouldn't worry about the plate. But I want to use the bike for organized DS rides like the Reno 200 and being a short distance to California I want to also ride anywhere with roads or trails there. A plate is a must.

Then why dou you want a RR? EPA has made many states re-think issuing plates to off road bikes. With a risk of losing your plate in the future, I just don't see it is worth it. The RR fork is not worth the extra hassle getting the plate. Price wise when you add your time, it's a wash.