Long Term Test Bike | BETA RR350
Last month I babbled on about fitting a fresh set of Pirelli Scorpion tyres to this Beta RR350 but I am here to advise this did not happen. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the cooler weather has brought us some rain and the ground is soft so I haven’t exactly been able to tear the knobs off the tyres. Secondly, I haven’t ridden a whole lot this month so wear and tear on the bike has been minimal.
With the Australian Four Day Enduro held just a couple of hour’s drive from my home, I took the opportunity to head to the event the day before it started to catch up with the Beta Australia race team. I took my RR350 so head Beta tech Vic Martin could give it the once-over to ensure I have been on top of my maintenance.
Vic plugged the RR350 into his Beta computer and installed a map upgrade and showed me how to use all of the functions on the speedo unit. I had only been using it for recording the running hours and the trip meter to log my rides. Vic showed me how to use the stop watch setting, the battery voltage mode and the average and max speed modes.
I was keen to test out the map upgrade so I snagged a great Sunday ride session with some mates in preparation for an upcoming Victorian Off-Road Championship round. We tore up some test loops on some beaten-up sandy singles and had a ball. I added some compression to the fork which is actually back to the setting Steve at SPMX recommended in the first place and the RR350 was feeling like a better, more balanced bike and I wasn’t burying the front-end.
The map upgrade didn’t feel all too different to me other than the engine being mellower in the very first part of throttle application. If I am planning to loft the front wheel to pop over a log or getting the wheel to tap the top of a bump I need to be on the ball now. It’s really no biggie but I think I liked the original map better.
I dumped the engine and transmission oil, replaced the oil filter and refilled with fresh Liqui Moly 10W-40. I serviced the air filter, made a slight adjustment to the chain tension and I was good to go for another round of the Victorian Off-Road Championship at Edenhope in the western districts, just a decent footy kick from the South Australian border.
The event was a cross country race on a 16km track that was mostly sandy with some awesome twisty and technical stuff in and out of gullies and some wide-open grass track. Man, it was fun but man, it was brutal. Being in the slow, old bloke’s class I raced for two-hours and 21-minutes but the expert and pro-class boys were hammering for three-hours.
It was physically demanding, and I did it hard and I am grateful I was on the RR350 with its smooth power and silky smooth suspension. I even managed to make the podium with third place. I really enjoyed racing the RR350 and the only modification I might try next is to slide the forks up through the triple clamps a tad to sharpen the steering.
BETA RR350
RRP: $13,695
WARRANTY: Six months parts and labour
DISTRIBUTOR: Beta Motorcycles Australia
SO FAR
TOTAL HOURS: 14
MODS THIS MONTH: Oil filer and oil change
MODS NEXT MONTH: Finally fit those Pirelli Scorpion tyres and another oil change along with altering the fork height in the triple clamps
