Beta RR250, RR300 or Xtrainer?

[betajuice]

Owned a RR300 for a year, had plenty of rides on the Xtrainer and finally got to ride a RR250 for a few days. Heaps of guys asked me for a comparison of all three. What did surprise me was the Beta RR250 still had a lot of lowdown grunt and a very linear power delivery. Even with the softest power valves setting I remember my KTM 250EXC had distinctly less lowdown power than a 300, but still had a power surge as the power valve opened. However, the RR250 was very smooth throughout the rev range, and with the power valve turned in most of the way the power at low revs was good too. The 2016 RR250 has also had changes to the porting for more grunt. While the RR300 has a butter smooth engine, that extra lowdown power can get less experienced riders into trouble so the RR250 could suit less experienced dirt riders better.

BETA XTRAINER
The Beta Xtrainer? If you like your slow technical riding in hard terrain, this is your bike. It is also great for the less experienced or shorter dirt rider, with a seat height an inch lower than its big brothers, and similar power characteristics except they have knocked some of the top end power off. If you do like the occasional fast blast, then the Xtrainer won't be as capable with that deliberately soft suspension setup, light front end and mild top end power. But a major plus is it can be up to $2000 cheaper than a RR300 which allows a good budget for beefing up the suspension, a steering stabiliser for higher speeds and adding some RR300 parts if you want more top end power.

Remember like all bikes these Beta models do have known issues, some of which could cost you a lot of money and/or leave you stranded on the track! See our known issues vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TpjNBz0n4A

[canamfan]

Here in the middle of the USA the 250 and 300 RR are the same price while the x-trainer is $1000 cheaper. The race version is around $500 more then the RR. They seem to be flying out of the dealerships, though the dealer closest to me has 5 x-trainers in stock a race 300 and a 250 RR and a couple of 4strokes, no 300RR though. If the 250 doesn't move by the time the 17's come out there might be a deal to be had.

[betajuice]

Here in the middle of the USA the 250 and 300 RR are the same price while the x-trainer is $1000 cheaper. The race version is around $500 more then the RR. They seem to be flying out of the dealerships, though the dealer closest to me has 5 x-trainers in stock a race 300 and a 250 RR and a couple of 4strokes, no 300RR though. If the 250 doesn't move by the time the 17's come out there might be a deal to be had.

five xtrainers in stock?! i think there's a four month waiting list on those at the moment in australia. RR250s and RR300s can occasionally be found, but usually a waiting list at many dealerships.

demand is very high here for secondhand ones, my mate and i both sold our RR300s within three hours of advertising and no bargaining at all, they were snapped up at what we thought were overly high prices. then we both had calls for the next week from other buyers....

[typeone]

great stuff, as usual. thnx for the post.

question: by "- Screw the power valve in a few turns" do you mean further from stock setting? about how many turns in from flush are you guys liking?

EDIT: also, i've been testing the X-Trainer PV spacer this season, not sure what i think just yet but it strikes me as odd that XT guys REMOVE it for more grunt and RR guys are ADDING it for more grunt. how is this possible? i'm going to try a back-to-back comparison on my next ride, installed then removed.

[GMP]

I've played with reed spacers a few times on GGs and from my experience they don't add grunt at all. I think they soften the delivery a bit if anything.

My brother has a '14 300RR he would like to convert to a 250. If anyone would like swap all the relative parts, of equal high quality, keep this in mind.

[typeone]

I've played with reed spacers a few times on GGs and from my experience they don't add grunt at all. I think they soften the delivery a bit if anything.

reed or power valve spacer?

[GMP]

Reed spacer. PV spacer effect is dependent on the pipe. If you have a gnarly or other low end pipe don't bother. More noticable if you have a mid top pipe in reclaiming some bottom but its subtle. The Beta PV in the cyl is a refined copy of the GasGas system. At low RPM the chamber on the side is open to the port increasing its volume(good for low end), when the sub ports open and main flap rises this chamber closes. All this is dependent on good jetting.

[typeone]

thanks, GMP! :thumbsup:

[sasrocks]

good write up , thank you.

one more tunable aspect about the 250RR is it comes stock with the hot map enabled. The 300RR comes stock with the soft map. one can install a map switch, or ground the wire under the tank for a semi permanent switch to the soft map, to further smooth out the power curve of the 250.

i did this and like it, is still revs out plenty but the transition from low to mid range seems less abrupt than with the stock hot map

[Bandicoot]

I have always had the impression that the 300's are the more forgiving bike, allows for a lazier rider (If wanted), or you can blast & roost its way through the terrain like a mad man on a mission from God, and to my thinking the 250's have always been a riders bike, it needs more imput from a rider with clutch, throttle etc etc than what you would a 300 ????

Has this changed ????
Do we class the 250's as the easier lazy bike now to ride ??
Is the 300 now the bike that needs more of a rider imput and is less forgiving ???

Are my thoughts wrong Barry or have things changed ???