Dual Sport Bike ?

[betajuice]

i rode a sherco 450 last year at a sherco ride day, seemed like a nice bike but i haven't done a lot of research on them. it feels small and nimble in the dirt but personally i felt it started to feel a bit twitchy at speed, unusual for a big thumper.

i'd agree with the comment above and say go for the bigger engine if you'll spend some time loping along sealed roads. a few years ago i had an FE570 that doubled as my adventure bike and woods bike.

the engineering behind the beta is very solid, the only issue that's cropped up really is just those plastic oil pump gears. i think the recommended replacement interval is 100 hours although some guys have gone way beyond that. when they are due just put in aftermarket alloy ones and forget about them.

[ricoyam]

There is a 2015 500 carb bike at a good price is the fuel injection worth the extra money ? I ride in the Northeast US and do not have elevations to deal with ?

Hmm, I replied but maybe didn't hit "submit".

In short, I'd rather have the carb bike. I'm not sold on injection on a dirt bike yet.

[Johnny Depp]

Hello,

I am new to the Beta forum .I just took delivery of my 2016 beta 480 rr. I am using the bike for dual purpose riding. The 480 has no problem what so ever doing 60mph on the open road with the 15/45 gearing ... I dare say its almost to tall of gearing. Love the new bike ! Light, easy to ride ...the power ..so addictive .
2 vices for dual purpose ... smallish tank and that seat ! I have the bigger tank on order and a seat concepts seat coming to fix those problems.

KP

If you get into some tighter single track the gearing will be too tall.
Definitely need the big tank.
I found the problem with the Seat Concepts seat is that you will tend to get lazy and sit too much. It is a big help for longer dual sport rides though. I still use the stock seat for most of my one day trail rides. I've ridden KTMs and ATKs for the past 20+ years so the Beta seat actually is a bit better right off the floor and it does break in after several rides.

Kevin welcome to The Beta forum! I look forward to hearing about your new bike, you are the 1st I have heard to have one. I am very curious about the new fuel injection, cams and porting and fork setup. I have the '15 500 RS. I'm surprised you have a 45t rear sprocket? The 15's came with 15/48 which is where I run it for all offroad use. I go to 15/45 for dual sport to keep the revs down. My engine took 10=15 hours to loosen up some and it made the stock gearing work when it did, before that it didn't pull clean with that much gear.

Gearing .... going 15/47 for open road and 13/47 for trail use .

[kevinperry]

Hey Thanks, yes the bike came with two sets of sprockets . 13/48 installed from the factory and 15/45 for "Street use". We had a little warm spell and I managed to get the bike out for 300k before winter reality came back .The fuel Injection works excellent ! I came from a 2011 Husqvarna te630 ...The beta is 100lbs lighter, more hp and it has run amazing from first start. I haven't touched the fork settings or rear shock ..to cold yet .Only real mods I have done is put a cree led bulb in and wired in a ignition/kill switch.

Loving it so far ...go away winter ...so I can start riding !

KP