Any Beta snow bikers on here?

I have a 2017 500 RR-S and am thinking hard on the DTS 129 as I have a dealer where I bought my bike from, Naults Manchester, that sells the kits, and want to get a kit before the snow flies, install it and enjoy the first winter with a snowbike.

My bike is e-start, FI, has a great 200W output, already has a Baja Designs squadron pro headlight, and is just the DTS 129 and some heated bars away from being ready for the winter.

I wonder if there are any other Beta owners on here?

This past winter I wanted a dual sport as the wife said I could get a motorcycle-ha! I wanted a dual sport to commute the 5 one-way miles to work, but to really ride the trails when I could and thankfully, I have been able to ride quite a bit this past spring, summer and fall and once the winter comes, my brother in law has a place in VT where we have permission to ride a LOT of land and where a snowbike would be perfect.

$4,800 for the kit. I saw some heated handlebars that look like they will be worth the money, and as I'll read, and read, and read, about all the mods/tips and tricks that you have all shared, I know this site is going to be my #1.

Yes, Camso makes the kit for the Beta's. My salesman sent me this teaser the other day.

wwillf01 said:

I have ridden with some betas... I know they have said without putting a new exhaust they are really plugged up and almost sluggish feeling...

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That is interesting.

Thankfully, the very last concern about converting my bike is power.

At least my FI'd 478cc'd 2017 bike runs hard. It has more power than I ever need on the trails. At least on my bike there is nothing holding up the power and with a quick turn G2 throttle and Jimmy Twister I get all the bark and all the bite, all the time.

I had come from a 1985 then a 1995 CR500R and the 500 RR-S does not have me missing any of the power I was used to from either of those two bikes.

Any Ragrets? Nope, not a one.

I'll be the only Beta snowbike rider on here, for now. I can imagine that until there is snow all over, not many are on the board, yet.

I'll be getting happy when I order the kit and then I get all 160 lbs of it home and start taking the bike down to get it all installed.

I am glad that it is still dirtbike season though, the happiest/best of the seasons. I'm psyched to be at the brother in law's where I'll get to ride some dirt tomorrow and maybe on Sunday and with fantastic weather.

I spoke with my parts guy and put my order in for my kit late on Thursday. I'm sure that he put the order in on Friday.

He called me this afternoon to say that the kit is at the shop. I'll have to wait until Friday morning to go and pick it up. I'll be spending the weekend doing what I can to get things ready for the install. I may just tear my bike down and get the kit installed and forsake any dirt riding there might be as the snow will be coming up north soon enough.

usmc8511 said:

Older post, I know, but excited to say that I take delivery of my 18 500-rrs with TS ARO 137 today. I can't wait. Oh and from what I have read and been told the Beta is not lacking any power or "clogged up" as they are considered a small company and do not have to follow the strict EPA rules like KTM and others. Mine comes with a FMF s/o anyway though. I would like to ask you some questions if you don't mind? Mostly just about airbox, must haves etc. Thanks

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You'll be the only one that I have seen with a Beta and the TS ARO 137 on it. I'll be looking forward to reading what you think about it.

I have a 2017 500 RR-S and it has been an awesome Triple Sport bike and kills in the snow-I've a 2018 Camso DTS 129 kit that will be going back on sometime this upcoming December. There is no question that the power the bike puts out is more than enough as the track will spin in every gear in every condition.

Ask us all the questions you want.

I got an Outerwears pre-filter that I just slipped over the air filter cage and it worked great all last winter. Nothing else needs to be done to the airbox at all.

I got a PST Engine Jacket-I would not bother with the $20 cold weather panel that blocks off the upper right side -above the kickstarter/header pipe as the bike runs just great/perfect temps with the regular engine jacket.

I added some Bikemaster heated grips and used a fuse-tap for a simple plug and play installation. I also got a spare pair of handlebars to leave the grips on so there is no chance of damaging them when swapping the bike from snow to dirt.

I also got a MotoMinded Squadron Pro headlight and the output is stellar in all conditions, like wicked-bright.

You probably have a LiIon battery and I'll bet it will suck in the cold and you'll need a jump pack to get it fired up in the cold mornings unless you have a heated garage you will be riding out of. I had some issues with the stock AGM in the very extreme cold, like -10 and single digits but a jump pack got the bike fired right up as the FI in the Beta is awesome.

One last thing for now, the bike learns the weather/climate/temp when one starts it up and leaves it to idle until the fan runs and one lets it run for a few minutes more, called a passive reset after which the bike will run well in the cold, or the hot. After I had last done one this past winter I have not had to do one since as my bike has now run in all conditions and has "learned" how to run.

Our bikes have thermostats so we don't have to worry about that. We have FI so we don't need carb heaters.

I had cut out pieces of plastic to cover the radiators with but after one or two rides I ahd realized that I didn't need them as the bike was running from 160-220-F so it was right in the sweet spot all the time.

I put in a Rekluse Radius CX this past summer so I won't have to worry too much about clutch drag as last winter I had to wait until the engine had warmed up to at least 160-F or the clutch plates would stick and every time I would click into first gear the bike would stall. The Rekluse should solve that but letting the bike warm is a good idea anyway.

My bike never made oil last winter.

I ran a 5W 30 in the engine and a 0W 40 in the clutch. I will go with a Mobil 1 0W 40 in the engine side as it is rated for JASO MA2 and will go with the same snowmobile/motorcycle 0W-40 Mystic oil for the gearcase to help on the cold startups.

needpowder said:

That’s strange you had clutch drag like that. Did you try different oils? I have never seen or heard of any newer bike doing that.

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It is, and was the oddest thing as Beta had changed the clutch design in 2018 so no more clutch drag. Beta knew that the clutch was dragging and fixed it this year-finally.

It was a "drag" having the bike wanting to pull or creep forward in gear with the clutch pulled in.

Neither oil brand/viscosity or oil levels helped anyone. It was a flaw in the clutch design that was causing it.

With the Rekluse, the drag has gone away and I can also find neutral at a stop with the bike running. A $900 fix but the Rekluse has lots of other positives.