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DUAL-SPORT TEST

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MAY 2012 / DIRT BIKE 41

The Beta is a whole garage full of bikes inone. We rode it across state lines, raced it,then rode home, hitting some tight trailsalong the way.

A small fleet of motorcycles in one

I n the back of every rider’s mind is amythical time when racers rode their

bikes to the track, raced them, then rodehome. Just for the record, those timesnever happened—not really. There mighthave been random instances, but for themost part, race motorcycles have beenchauffeured to the track from year one.But if any bike can make the myth a real-ity, it’s the Beta 520 RS. It’s a dual-sportbike that’s capable of, and ready for, off-road racing—without any modifications.We’ve always believed in the funda-

mental right of every rider to own at leastfour bikes: a race bike, a trail bike, amotorcycle with a license plate andsomething exotic that the average riderhas never heard of. That’s the Beta, butwith more room left over in the garage.Easy questions first. Yes, Beta is its

own motorcycle company. The Beta isnot made by someone else; it doesn’thave a KTM motor, and it isn’t owned byBMW. If you’re a trials guy, you alreadyknew that. Beta has been making trialsbikes in Italy for a long time and startedproducing off-road bikes about six yearsago. The KTM confusion came from abrief period when Beta purchased pow-erplants from the Austrians. Now, Betamakes almost everything itself. The 520RS is the company’s big dual-sportmodel, but the line also includes dedicat-ed dirt models in 350 and 450 configura-tions. And right up front, let’s be clear:the Beta is an amazing bike. There’s nofence-sitting or hemming and hawinghere. It’s a fantastic machine that canhold its own against any bike made byany company, including KTM. We don’tknow any higher praise.

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BUILD YOUR OWNBeta is a small company that sells bikes one at a time.

In these days of mega-marketing and national-salesblitzes, that can be a handicap. There’s no Supercrossprogram with a big rig and no TV commercials featuringBetas, but the guys who run the show here in Americahave turned that into a strength by diving deeply into theworld of customized options in a way that no large corpo-ration could. The “Build Your Own Beta” program allowsyou to outfit your bike before you buy it. You can get thebars, handguards, fuel tank, spring rates and just aboutanything else you want when you order the bike. Theparts-swap options are so extensive, you could even re-spec your bike as a super-moto version. Beta airfreightsall its bikes to the U.S. directly from Italy, so there’s no

long wait from the time you order until the time it arrives atthe dealer—no matter what outlandish parts you chose. Youprobably waited longer for your last iPhone.

Our test bike was a fully street-legal 520 RS with a 497ccdisplacement. It was set up in a fairly basic configuration. Theparts that are more or less standard are the steel frame, theMarzocchi fork, the Sachs shock and the Brembo brakes. Thesingle-overhead-cam motor is very straight forward. It has fourtitanium valves, a Kokusan ignition and electric start. TheBeta’s gearbox is a six-speed, and it comes with 14-45 gear-ing. If you want lower gearing, you can order that too. Themotor is fed by a 39mm Keihin FCR carb with jetting that isfully compliant with EPA standards. The bike is legal without athrottle stop, an electronic governor or impractical jetting. Theoptions you choose when you set up your bike don’t compro-mise the bike’s legality. If the accessory that you want affectsnoise or emissions, Beta gives you that part in addition to theoriginal part. This pertains to things like the FMF Q 4 exhaustsystem and even the anodized fuel-adjustment screw. Betacan’t remove the original parts, but they can sell you new onesand place them in the crate.

NO TRUCK REQUIREDLike we said, there was never a time when people rode

their bikes to the racetrack, but there would have been ifmore bikes were like the Beta. Just to prove it to ourselves,we rode the bike from Southern California to Primm,

DUAL-SPORT TEST

The stock Michelin DOT tires are okeay,but after we installed Maxxis ITs, the Betamoved up on the food chain.

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Nevada, for the second round on the WORCS schedule. Part of the route wasold Route 66, part Interstate 15 and part dirt road. Once we got to the race site,we gave the Beta a new set of tires and raced it on the Primm course, which isrenowned as a brutal racetrack. Along the way, we learned some interestingthings about using the bike for long-distance dirt/street tours.

Number one: It can go over 100 mph—for real. That 14-45 gearing is tallenough to make sixth gear a kind of overdrive. You might not need to go thatfast, but you sure don’t want to be anywhere near redline at freeway speed.That can make for a very miserable trip, which is the problem with most hard-core dual-sport bikes. If the gearing is good enough for the dirt, generally it’s ascreamer on the road.

Number two: The gearing is still good for the dirt. It’s tall, but the bike has suchdeep, thick power down low that you can idle down to walking speed withoutclutch work. If we were going to repurpose the Beta as a full-time trail bike, wemight add a few teeth to the rear. But we never felt it was mandatory, either on thetightest sections of our dual-sport ride or on any part of the WORCS course.

Number three: The Beta is a comfortable bike at speed—within reason. Oneof the problems with road riding is that you get bored and have too much timeto think about your personal comfort. You can obsess over a tingle in the barsor the shape of the seat. No dirt bike can match the comfort of a real roadburner, but the Beta comes close. It has a very smooth motor that doesn’t buzzor vibrate. After a long period of butt time, the seat begins to feel too hard, butwe prefer that to the opposite. In the dirt, an overly soft seat locks you in placeand keeps you from moving around like you should.

Number four: The Beta will crack 100 miles on its 2.1-gallon tank—just bare-ly. The standard tank is a little small, but the bike gets the most out of it. Afterour ride, we installed a 3.8-gallon Clarke fuel tank ($219). It’s one of the Betaoptions that can’t be installed beforehand because of emission requirements,but at least you have two tanks.

Number five: The Beta is still mostly a dirt bike. There’s no ignition key;there’s no place to pack luggage, and the headlight is a little faint at night. Justso you know, we had someone haul a gear bag to Primm in a truck so wewouldn’t have to wear the same clothes all weekend. We consider that legal.

WORCS FITMENTBy the time we reached Primm, the stock Michelin dual-sport tires were a lit-

tle used. They didn’t chunk or lose knobs, but the pavement had taken a pre-dictable toll. That remains the biggest problem with dual-sport riding; knobbiesdon’t last on pavement.We arranged to have a set of Maxxis IT intermediate-terrain tires waiting for

MAY 2012 / DIRT BIKE 43

Who makes the Beta motor? Beta does.At one time they used KTM motors, butthose days are gone.

One of the most amazing parts of thepackage is the six-speed gearbox,which is good for tight trails as well as100-mph dirt roads.

You can get the large tank throughBeta or through Clarke. It’s 1.7 gallonslarger than stock and not very obtru-sive.

No one likes having the exact samebike as everyone else. With the Beta,that won’t happen.

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BETA 520 RS

Engine type ........Four-valve, OHC 4-strokeDisplacement ....................................497ccBore & stroke ..............100.0mm x 63.4mmFuel delivery ..................39mm Keihin FCRFuel tank capacity ..................2.1 gal. (7.9l)Lighting coil ..........................................YesSpark arrester........................................YesEPA legal ..............................................YesRunning weight, no fuel ..................258 lb.Wheelbase ........................58.1" (1476mm)Ground clearance................12.6" (320mm)Seat height ..........................36.6" (930mm)Tire size & type:Front ..................80/100-21 Michelin DOTRear ................110/100-18 Michelin DOT

Suspension/travel:Front....Marzocchi inverted cartridge, adj.

reb./comp./11.4" (290mm)Rear ......Sachs aluminum piggyback, adj.prld, hi & lo comp., reb./11.4"” (290mm)

Country of origin ..................................ItalySuggested retail price ......................$9399Distributor/manufacturer ............................

www.americanbeta.com

DUAL-SPORT TEST

GOOD STUFF• Broad powerband• Super stable• Excellent clutch• Strong brakes• Fully legal

• Starter struggles• Not cheap• Softish suspension• No ignition key

NOT-SO-GREAT STUFF

us at the track and refitted the bike as soon as we arrived. The only additionalcheating was to remove the mirrors and the license plate. Then we went to theline and learned more.

Number one: The Beta is a powerful motorcycle. It pulled a second-gearstart in the deep sand and was right up front. It’s not a fast-revving, quick-hittype of motor. It has a long, long powerband and works best when you shiftearly. It makes good power on top at high rpm, but it has a good nature andsatisfying pull down low. It needs to be pointed out that the stock muffler isquiet. With a full-race exhaust system, there’s no doubt that the 520 couldbecome an outright missile.

Number two: There are no issues with lean jetting. At first we noticed a littlepopping on deceleration, but that was cured with a half turn of the fuel screw.We’ve never ridden a dual-sport bike that carbureted this cleanly.

Number three: The suspension is soft and cushy. That would have beengreat for most off-road races, but not this one. Primm has sand whoops thatcould make a Supercross bike feel soft. Luckily, the race was the first of theday, and there were still some outside lines that were unmolested during theearly laps. But as the race developed, the course became less and less friend-ly. Frankly, we wouldn’t want it any other way. If the bike were stiff enough forPrimm, it would have been miserable everywhere else.

Number four: The 520 isn’t especially light, but you would never know it.The bike handles tight stuff well. It’s no Ginsu, but there are 450 motocrossbikes that don’t turn this well. In the rough straights, it did have some head-shake, but most of that was probably because of the soft fork. A Scotts steer-ing stabilizer is one option in the BYOB program. One of the issues with own-ing an offbeat motorcycle is the availability of mounting kits for various after-market parts, but that’s no issue here.

THE AFTERMATHAfter 600 miles on the pavement and 65 minutes on the racetrack, the casu-

alty list was short. Nothing broke, nothing gave us problems and nothing wentwrong. The 2.1-gallon tank was big enough, and the motor didn’t even burnany oil. Throughout the test, the only chronic issue we had with the bike was alow battery, which generally struggled to start the motor. Either the stock bat-tery or the charging system is overstressed, but the kickstarter always works.We wouldn’t say the Beta is the perfect bike for a race like Primm, and we

wouldn’t say it’s the perfect highway burner; it can do both, which is some-thing that still stuns us. If you wanted to make the bike into a full-time racebike, it wouldn’t be difficult. And if you really want to make a habit of ridingyour bike to the track, the Beta can do it. But for the record, it seems like awaste of a great motorcycle. From now on, we’ll give the Beta the chauffeurtreatment it deserves. �

The Brembo brakes are excellent, even at freeway speed. Even with the tall dual-sport gearing, the 520 is a rock hound.

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