Beta main bearing failures: 2018 2019 2020 RR300 RR250 Xtrainer︱Cross Training Enduro 

FIXED YET? HOW WILL BETA HELP? POSSIBLE CAUSES? & HEAD OFFICE STATEMENT STILL AN ISSUE IN 2020, 2021 & 2022 MODELS? A quiet chat with sponsored riders in Europe indicated it was still happening in 2020 models but at a much lower rate, one case was at only six hours. A viewer told me he attended a Beta demo ride day and the 2020 RR250 developed a main bearing noise and was pulled out halfway through the event. Another case was a 2020 RR300 at 10 hours, they replaced the entire engine but the new engine had the faulty bearing sound already. A 2021 model failed right off the showroom floor but that may have just been a freak occurrence hopefully. In another case, a 2021 model failed at 25 hours. There are a very small number of cases right up to 2022 models. A 2022 Xtrainer had both bearings fail at 35 hours. An Australian dealer informed us there were still occasional failures in 2022 models. We hope these are isolated cases. Read more here: bit.ly/3KHhP1Z WHAT SUPPORT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM BETA? Beta head office has now publicly stated they will repair all main bearing failures in or out of warranty up to 90 hours (with the obvious exception of user error e.g. drowned engines, running without oil etc).... at least for the most problematic 2018 to 2020 models. Beta head office pays five hours labor for repairs, but not for fluids. You might find your dealer charges you for fluids and possibly a portion of labor if it takes longer than five hours - most dealers are paying the difference out of their own pocket though. However, the level of support may change after 90 hours, as the Beta manual recommends replacing the main bearings at this point. This is widely regarded as being for race bikes only, but it does technically give Beta the option of not fixing the bike after this. In most cases, Beta is still repairing bikes but in some cases they are only providing parts, and not paying for labor, or just a percentage. If you disagree with this, you may need to take your case to your Beta distributor, then Beta head office, then finally pursue your case through consumer law. WHAT ABOUT MULTIPLE BEARING FAILURES? In a small number of cases, owners have had three consecutive main bearing failures. Beta dealers told me they were tending to replace the crankcase as well in those situations because there may have been a flaw in the actual crankcase. I don't know if this is official Beta policy, and if it has still continued. POSSIBLE CAUSE(S) There were lots of early theories mainly around the oil injection failing or a bad batch of bearings - there was no real evidence of either. Given the lack of detail from the factory, there's a bit of an informal network of mechanics/dealers over the past few years trying to get to the bottom of it all. Their current opinions? ONE the interference fit is very tight for the left hand main bearing. So warm the engine case in an oven (don't use a blow torch as this may warp the case), put the bearing in a freezer, then it should go in with almost no pressure. It's possible some bearings may have been damaged by being forced in, just heating the cases meant a lot of pressure can be needed to overcome the very tight interference fit. One Beta mechanic is 'linishing' the crankcase so it's not such a tight fit. He thinks this may be causing some of the repeat failures. TWO Check that the crank is spinning freely. The very tight interference fit may have created lateral pressure if not assembled in the factory correctly. When being repaired, be sure to tap the crankcase until lateral pressure is relieved on the bearing so the crank spins freely. Unrelieved lateral pressure may cause the bearing to wear prematurely. THREE When assembling, ensure the left hand engine case is heated evenly in an oven when installing the main bearing. It appears that Beta head office did eventually admit to at least one distributor that the 'assembly problem' was incorrect heating of the engine case which caused warping. I don't know if Beta mechanics would have a way to check this reliably or not. But where a second or third main bearing failure has occurred (despite correct installation as above) then a new engine case could be required. When customers are coming back with their second or third failure, some Beta mechanics are now replacing the crankcase as well in case this warping was the problem. FOUR In a small number of cases, there has been evidence of rust - even in some bikes with very low hours. This suggests a small number of failures may have been due to faulty seals. Running your bike after washing it should be a good preventative measure. FIVE You will read below Beta head office changed their mind and said their bearing manufacturer supplied faulty bearings. Their supplier is NTN and it's hard to believe this Japanese company would let faulty bearings through their quality control process. However, if this was the case then it wouldn't explain why main bearing failures are still continuing after so long. At best it might have been a cause in the past but won't explain why 2020 models are still failing. BETA HEAD OFFICE'S STATEMENT ON THE CAUSE To date, Beta head office has given two general reasons for the cause. At first Beta said it was an 'assembly problem' but did not provide further details. Months later they changed this to a 'supplier problem' and said they were given incorrect bearings. This was in an interview with Enduro 21. Here is their marketing manager's statement: Stefano Soldani: “We had a problem with the two-stroke 250 and 300 models, due to an error of one of our suppliers. It was not spread to all of the bikes produced last year but the ones that were assembled with the wrong batch that the supplier sent us were affected. We worked really close with our dealers and distributors and we gave complete support to the customers affected by it. We are not the kind of company that, when something is wrong, turns their face around. We know that the mechanics is not always perfect so it’s very important to give the correct service to the users. It’s under control.” Read the interview here: @t I've checked again and according to one Beta distributor it's back to being 'an assembly problem' as they were heating the engine cases incorrectly, causing them to warp. HOW OFTEN DOES IT HAPPEN? Beta USA originally advised it was happening in 5% of cases. But in June 2021 an owner had a main bearing failure and the Beta factory advised the following... "The issue we had was an assembly issue from the factory which caused damage to the left side main bearing during assembly. In all the cases, the bearing would break. It was on roughly 10% of our 2 stroke engines". I just thought this was interesting because it indicates the failure rate was higher than the original estimate of 5% provided by Beta USA. It also indicates they have returned to their original cause as an 'assembly problem'. At one point they did change this to being given defective bearings by their supplier.

FIXED YET? HOW WILL BETA HELP? POSSIBLE CAUSES? & HEAD OFFICE STATEMENT STILL AN ISSUE IN 2020, 2021 & 2022 MODELS? A quiet chat with sponsored riders in Europe indicated it was still happening in 2020 models but at a much lower rate, one case was at only six hours. A viewer told me he attended a Beta demo ride day and the 2020 RR250 developed a main bearing noise and was pulled out halfway through the event. Another case was a 2020 RR300 at 10 hours, they replaced the entire engine but the new engine had the faulty bearing sound already. A 2021 model failed right off the showroom floor but that may have just been a freak occurrence hopefully. In another case, a 2021 model failed at 25 hours. There are a very small number of cases right up to 2022 models. A 2022 Xtrainer had both bearings fail at 35 hours. We hope this is an isolated case and it has really been fixed for 2022. Read more here: bit.ly/3KHhP1Z WHAT SUPPORT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM BETA? Beta head office has now publicly stated they will repair all main bearing failures in or out of warranty up to 90 hours (with the obvious exception of user error e.g. drowned engines, running without oil etc). Beta head office pays five hours labor for repairs, but not for fluids. You might find your dealer charges you for fluids and possibly a portion of labor if it takes longer than five hours - most dealers are paying the difference out of their own pocket though. However, the level of support may change after 90 hours, as the Beta manual recommends replacing the main bearings at this point. This is widely regarded as being for race bikes only, but it does technically give Beta the option of not fixing the bike after this. In most cases, Beta is still repairing bikes but in some cases they are only providing parts, and not paying for labor, or just a percentage. If you disagree with this, you may need to take your case to your Beta distributor, then Beta head office, then finally pursue your case through consumer law. POSSIBLE CAUSE(S) There were lots of early theories mainly around the oil injection failing or a bad batch of bearings - there was no real evidence of either. Given the lack of detail from the factory, there's a bit of an informal network of mechanics/dealers over the past few years trying to get to the bottom of it all. Their current opinions? ONE the interference fit is very tight for the left hand main bearing. So warm the engine case in an oven (don't use a blow torch as this may warp the case), put the bearing in a freezer, then it should go in with almost no pressure. It's possible some bearings may have been damaged by being forced in, just heating the cases meant a lot of pressure can be needed to overcome the very tight interference fit. One Beta mechanic is 'linishing' the crankcase so it's not such a tight fit. He thinks this may be causing some of the repeat failures. TWO Check that the crank is spinning freely. The very tight interference fit may have created lateral pressure if not assembled in the factory correctly. When being repaired, be sure to tap the crankcase until lateral pressure is relieved on the bearing so the crank spins freely. Unrelieved lateral pressure may cause the bearing to wear prematurely. THREE When assembling, ensure the left hand engine case is heated evenly in an oven when installing the main bearing. It appears that Beta head office did eventually admit to at least one distributor that the 'assembly problem' was incorrect heating of the engine case which caused warping. I don't know if Beta mechanics would have a way to check this reliably or not. But where a second or third main bearing failure has occurred (despite correct installation as above) then a new engine case could be required. When customers are coming back with their second or third failure, some Beta mechanics are now replacing the crankcase as well in case this warping was the problem. FOUR In a small number of cases, there has been evidence of rust - even in some bikes with very low hours. This suggests a small number of failures may have been due to faulty seals. Running your bike after washing it should be a good preventative measure. FIVE You will read below Beta head office changed their mind and said their bearing manufacturer supplied faulty bearings. Their supplier is NTN and it's hard to believe this Japanese company would let faulty bearings through their quality control process. However, if this was the case then it wouldn't explain why main bearing failures are still continuing after so long. At best it might have been a cause in the past but won't explain why 2020 models are still failing. BETA HEAD OFFICE'S STATEMENT ON THE CAUSE To date, Beta head office has given two general reasons for the cause. At first Beta said it was an 'assembly problem' but did not provide further details. Months later they changed this to a 'supplier problem' and said they were given incorrect bearings. This was in an interview with Enduro 21. Here is their marketing manager's statement: Stefano Soldani: “We had a problem with the two-stroke 250 and 300 models, due to an error of one of our suppliers. It was not spread to all of the bikes produced last year but the ones that were assembled with the wrong batch that the supplier sent us were affected. We worked really close with our dealers and distributors and we gave complete support to the customers affected by it. We are not the kind of company that, when something is wrong, turns their face around. We know that the mechanics is not always perfect so it’s very important to give the correct service to the users. It’s under control.” Read the interview here: enduro21.com/index.php/40-general/4309-your-questions-answered-beta-s-2020-enduro-models I've checked again and according to one Beta distributor it's back to being 'an assembly problem' as they were heating the engine cases incorrectly, causing them to warp. CORRECTION: This is my bad. In the vid I stated dealers are only allotted four hours labour time for main bearing warranty claims when it can take twice that time. It is actually five hours - my apologies for the mistake. Also the factory refuses to reimburse dealers for any fluids so they have to pay for engine oil and radiator coolant etc. As a result, some dealers have have refused to do these warranty claims unless the customer helps with the cost. Other dealers are charging for fluids, and occasionally a portion of labour. Several owners from around the world have said they were charged for half the labor costs in main bearing warranty claims.

2016 300RR Race edition here and no issues to report with 1,400miles over 72 hours. That being said I do not run the 50:1 ratio recommended, I run 44:1 and carry a spare plug in the event I foul one. Rather run a touch oil rich, be lubed up than lean out and seize her up. Also run the bike after washing and make sure air box is dry after hammering creeks or puddles.

In the latest case, a 2021 Beta main bearing failed at 25 hours. The dealer tried to get out of the warranty claim by saying the bearing was slightly rusted, but the owner stuck to his guns and said the bike had never been drowned and only a faulty seal could have let in water. There is only a very small number of 2021 cases coming in so far so what the cause or causes have been over the past three years it looks as though the issue has mostly been solved. But a new issue has come up with the electric start failing... apparently the metal is too soft and cogs are stripping. If your new 2021 model has any issues with weird noises when starting getting it to the dealer immediately for a warranty claim!

Many have asked me what the known issues are on 2019 and 2020 Betas. I just rang a Beta mechanic and he said there are three main issues for two strokes. One, the main bearing failures continue but at a lower rate thankfully. Two, the speedos are failing quite a bit. Often they keep resetting, this can be fixed by securing the input wires more firmly. But the speedos have other issues and dealers stock up on these to replace faulty units under warranty. Electrics can be dodgy and sometimes the whole wiring loom is replaced under warranty as it can be difficult to see where the problems are. The four strokes? Mainly electrical issues, the big one is bikes not charging the battery and it keeps running flat. Again, sometimes whole wiring looms are being replaced under warranty. Also there can be lots of niggling issues - read this story about one guy's Beta RR480: "My Beta 480 was a problem child. Battery went (again) third time out, replaced. Next time out it stopped dead after about an hour, after over a month in the shop the fault was traced to a loose bullet connector in guts of the loom. New harness ordered, weeks rolled by, fixed. A few more rides without issue, then I noticed oil dripping from both the transmission and engine cases. My 'local' dealer had now shut up shop, which meant over an hours drive. That was a biggie. Those leaks were the result, so I was told of a crook batch of gaskets. This required complete disassembly of the motor (cases split) to remedy, plus another month and then some off the road. Beta covered the labor for the job, but not the consumables, so I still copped a $100 bill for that. All this on an engine not even 12 hours old. In both cases Beta seemed reluctant, at best to make things right, and I got the impression the dealers were trying to get blood from a stone. I dunno, maby the thing will run for another 500 hours without missing a beat, maby not. I can live with boutique brands and limited dealer coverage, but not a company who doge their responsibility to customers, then acts like they're doing you a favor to honor a warranty claim".

Nice thing about bearings is there’s not really a special bearing. Take the bearing to an industrial supply and they will cross reference the number and get you a quality one

Refreshing to see an honest company and an honest channel. Things happen. Another channel which I actually like a lot covers up quite a bit for the known flaws in the brand he really pulls hard for ( a brand I also think it awesome but has its issues too) channel rhymes with **cough** skirt hike flannel

At 50 hours my 2017 300rr started to make a horrid noise while on a Dual sport ride in the middle of the woods. I decided to keep going easy to attempt to make it to a section where I could push the bike to a spot to get towed or picked up....the crank bearings "exploded" pretty much and the motor locked up. When my mechanic pulled the motor apart he stated (besides the obvious damage) that there seemed to be alot more wear at 50 hours on my piston skirt than on a 120hr Husky he just did. At that point we removed the oil injection from my bike, crank had to be rebuilt, all new bearings, cylinder replaced, new piston as well. I have since put over 125hrs on the replacement topend and it's still rides good enough that I'll push it until winter to do the next topend. It is what it is, but I still love this bike.

Very odd indeed. Normally, in my experience, if an 'Italian princess' is being ridden hard the 'vibration' is FOLLOWED by a high pitch squeal, and hotel security sometimes turn up to check that there hasn't been a murder?

I have a 2018 250 RR. it has 135 hours on it.The main bearing just went out. They replaced the entire engine under warranty. I have never heard of a company standing behind their products like that. I am very pleased.

I had a bearing failure on my KX500. I simply removed it measured it and ordered a SKF bearing and was about to obtain one with a higher load rating.

I can tell you now that if this happened with KTM in the UK, firstly the dealers would not acknowledge any issue, secondly they'd squeal like fuck or outright refuse to fix it under warranty, and thirdly KTM wouldn't give a shit. So fair play to Beta and the dealers for handling this like they should.

A buddy of mine had the same problem on a XTrainer. After 30 km of Sahara the engine made strange metal noise. He stopped the bike and took it back to Italy. His mechanic told him that this is a known issue for beta (main bearing quality). Nothing more than what you told in the vid

Thank you for being Transparent about these pattern failures. Unlike a certain TPI fault that does not exist because I am paid by KTM to say it doesn't.

Good to get the information out there to everyone. Like you said though, very small amount of them that it's happening to.

I ride an 18 fe501 and therefore am exempt from ANY malfunction. But I enjoy receiving interesting and informative updates regarding lesser inferior brands. ;)

Thanks for the for the alert, I have a 2018 2500rr an love it, an not being much in the way of mechanic these videos have helped me heaps .....love your work

Thanks for the heads up mate. all the best

Beta RR 300 Racing 2017 here. Changed mine at 200 hours. Came out as brand new. I replaced it just in case.

first and second, and also third. sometimes, oil pump just isn't enough. too lean gas - oil mixture in high rpm in certain bike angle (sh*t) happens. it is always a good idea to add a little two strokes oil directly to the gas tank, especially when you are going to ride on a harder environment than you usually do. humid or wet riding environment might also needs to be considered, especially when faulty or of poor quality air filter involved, since (humid) air, gas, and oil mixture passes by those main bearings in two strokes. *disclaimer: i'm talking about experience and precaution my riding buddies took on (small, some old too) two strokes in general. i never ride, let alone owning, a beta or a pumpkin. i've been riding my small 4 strokes japanese bike for 7 years now, and yes i "decently abused" that poor little bike enough, i think (first four of the seven years, at least), never experience any problem with the main bearing (frequent rear hub bearings problem though, lol). being a jap bike, most likely my ride uses ntn (don't know for sure). luckily 4 strokes rarely experience poor main bearing lubrication, unless running with a hole on the transmission block, lol.

This has been an extremely helpful video, I was seriously thinking of buying an XT300 but won’t now. I don’t want to have the bike off the road trying to get repaired, it is so hard to book in for repairs at the best of times as the queues are so long at the dealers. Great work from Cross Training again :-)

I had 300 rr 2017 made 250 hours before i sold and did not have a single problem,now i got 300 2022 really a beast.

2018 250 RR, 70 hrs 1610 km mainly slow technical riding. Whining noise now from bottom end, will be off to dealer this week, most likely Raceline Ballarat as the most reputable. Let you know how we go.

2 friends of mine have had main bearings give up on 2018 300rr's, both fixed under warranty but one of them had it happen a second time (been using premix the whole time since the first one) with less than 100 hours. i think it might be a machining tolerance issue in the bottom end, not so much a bearing issue, or the new (presumably completely different batch) bearings wouldn't have failed again.

I just got a 2018beta 300rr race Edition has 1200 km 37 hrs & seems to fine so far bike hasn’t been rebuilt either just well kept & maintained

That sucks... I own 3 Betas, a 15 300 Race Edition, a 16 Xtrainer, and a 17 300 RR. They have been in 2 ISDE Qualifiers.... So far, so good.... Knock on wood.....

My MY16 250RR did the same with 100 hours, left hand crank bearing came apart 20 minutes from the end of the Welsh 2 Day enduro. I thought it was going to be the autolube having failed but that was OK, it was just a bearing failure. It went reat sudden but I stopped immediately and the one damage was a shot peened head (and a new one is surprisingly cheap). I had the crank rebuilt with a new rod whilst the engine was completely apart and replaced every bearing with SKF and it's fine now. Wouldn't put me off buys another Beta.

Ours crapped out after 1 hour. 2018 Xtrainer. Full crank and top end replaced under warranty. Beta provided a kick start upgrade free of charge for the trouble. Have about 6 more hours on it since rebuild.

Hey, I have the Beta Xtrainer 2016 and was at a trail ride on the weekend, and my bike made the same squeel/hiss, we found that the oil injection had stopped working, so we sifined the oil out of the oil tank into the feed fuel tank, this completely stopped the squeel and I was able to finish the last few k's of the track, we will take the bike to 'a real man' asap.

I would be willing to analyse such failed bearings. Thing is, its very hard to collect data from the last hours of an engine. They must also be always on the edge of under lubrication...

"Go in peace, my cistern", said the plumber.

Thanks so much for this video. Today I went for a ride on my 2018 Beta RR300 and this problem happened to me

Seems like most of the affected bikes have the oil injection set up. Happy to report no problems with my 16’ 300rr race edition main bearings yet (150+ hours, 10 cross country races and a shit load of gnarly trail riding!) although, every other bearing has been replaced 🤔😬😬

Are there any reports of this issue with the 2021 model ? And how about the 2-stroke oil feed pipe issue have they fixed that .. are they fitting proper hose clamps now ..and is the tube and the elbow fitting of better quality . Maybe a video for the 2021 model would be a good idea.. explaining the differences to 2020.. what 2020 issues have been fixed or not..whats the known issues of the 2021 models. My Xtrainer 300 due for delivery early December.. I'll be fitting clamps & checking the said oil feed pipework for quality, and probably replacing with clear PVC so I can see oil is in the tube getting to the carb and fitiing a better quality elbow..maybe even metal. I'll be checking for loose bolts and screws over the whole bike.. rerouting the breathing tubes to the top of the bike.. and checking the routing of all the wiring and doing whatever is necessary to avoid rubbing damage. Finally I will use self-amalgamating tape around the throttle boot over the carburettor... This will not only stop it popping off like you showed in one of your videos but will also waterproof it properly...I will also probably put self-amalgamating tape on every electrical connection and block. Have I missed anything ??? Awesome videos again what would we do without you 😁😁😁👍👍

Love your videos man! Not sure I agree that NTN is to blame for this one! One of the dealers mentions that this failure happens (almost) exclusively on the flywheel side, yet the Betas use the same bearing on both sides. NTN, as you said, is also used by other manufacturers and I imagine Beta uses them for their 4 strokes too. I can't see how they could drop quality control on just one of their bearings and all the bad ones somehow end up on the flywheel side of their 2 strokes. Just doesn't add up tbh.

Great video... keep em coming mate. Just sold my Beta and will never own one again !! had it 6 months, did nothing but spend money trying to get it set up properly and gave up. They use average quality suspension, brakes and any other parts they can think off to get the bikes into AU 2K cheaper, BUT you'll spend it on getting these things sorted anyway !! so are they really cheaper !! Yes the incident rates are low, but if you look at how Betas are sold in AU each year, the picture in percentage terms 'might' look different ?? IMHO.

Just jumped on the Beta bandwagon myself, 2018 350 racing

In which models gasgas had suffered from the main bearing problem? I'm just in a sarch for the old gasgas ec 300... Thanks a lot.

As soon as I started hearing of OI failures, I was glad I had purchased a 2015. Anyone who keeps the OI in place is insane in my opinion. Even if the system never fails, it's still too lean. I blame the EU emmissions regulations for OI rather than Beta but it CAN be deleted. Run a good quality oil at 30-40:1 and your bottom end will last.

hi everyone, more ... the BETA dealer informs me that the piston shows signs of advanced wear at 60h00 of quiet use is it driving me crazy? !!! for the crankshaft bearings after dismantling it confirms to me that they start to seize this part is taken in guarantee. I will keep you posted on any problems with the LA BETA 300 X-TRAINER, hoping not to have any !!!

Happened to mine 2x 30hrs after it was drowned, so I didn't think much of it, second time the noise came, then went....so waiting for it to come back before it rebuild it. I don't think I'm even over 120hrs. Not happy. Maybe I'll have to get the crank measured.

Looks like we have another failure. Beta X-trainer with 30-hours. Same sounds as your video. Shortly after engine stopped and then not able to be restarted. Engine locked up. Ruined a ride weekend. Will wait for the full postmortem.

I rebuilt a cr250 a while back 1 of the new ntn crank bearings was bad when i took it out of its packaging i was shocked it was so loose it was sent back and replaced

Gday mate.ive got at MY19 BETA 300. Just put it into dealer to get bearing problem sorted in now and was told they will only supply parts but no labor to repair. Can you legally sell a motor vehicle in Australia with a known issue and only supply parts when this issue arises. I have began contact with the Australian Competion and Consumer Commission and both NSW and QLD consumer affairs.

Same for gasgas 2018 300GP. At 65 hrs. Never flooded. Rusty crank. LHS bearing fail (plastic cage). Both OEM main bearings were SKF explorer. Got very subtle marbly sounds when engine breaking, not loud squeeky like beta. Oscilating crank probably included extra air passing seal, so sparkplug became white. Also fan was kicking in at normal riding conditions. Luckily, stopped at once and opened up cases, which were unharmed. Cylinder needed an easy hone and a 3 hr piston had scoring on skirt, so a scrap. I'm kind of hesitant to put it together, since I dont know how in hell the water came in (leaky case under certain pressure..??). There are at least 3-4 exact cases on the same type bike. So not only japanese NTN are to blame if EURO SKF's also fail. But probably bearing failure is not due to tolerances, but some outer factor influencing them...like mentioned porly balanced crank or wrongly assembled bearings from a worker (plactic caged are especially at risk of damaging). I've now used steel cage NTN and SNR bearing. (C3 and C4) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5RSTnhQcNtw.html

Wow. Thanks for posting this Barry. I have a 2017 Beta 300RR, and I have put 200 hours on it. Everything was fine until about 150 hours; when out on a trail bike ride with friends here in the Grampians, I had a full lock-up at speed on a section of tar transport. Bike would not go again . . . we suspected a seized piston etc . . . I took the bike to my dealer in Ballarat and it cost me about 1K to have repaired. My dealer said it was due to 'water damage' or rust on the bearing or something such. I am kinda pissed I never had this fixed under warranty from Beta, now I am aware of the issue. Should I contact Beta Australia?

hi everyone, i just came back from a walk with my 2019 300 Beta X-TRAINER and a similar noise appeared, it is 60 H00. I am angry that there is no communication from Beta on the subject. I hope I haven't done too much damage and that there will only be the crankshaft bearing (s) to change. will the dealer request support for this defect given the limited hours of use? I will keep you posted ...

My 2020 xt 300 is making that sound that's in your video. 49 hours and 1 year out of warranty but I'll call my dealer. Thanks for the vid I thought maybe starter was catching or water pump bearing but I'm thinking not.

I have a 2021 XTrainer and it started making that exact noise about 45 mins into my last ride…. So much for problem being fixed for newer models? Bike only has done 42.5hrs and has never been swamped, always run for a while after washing, and no OI problems… Waiting to hear back from my dealer… anyone else had troubles with 2021 models?

Hi Barry my 2018 300rr Is making a terrible noise only when riding the clutch under load up hills it's not slipping just a terrible noise I'm hoping it's not more

Crazy question but would it be worthwhile to run a bead of RTV gasket goop around the stator cover or seal it with that?

hi guys, I have 2018 racing addition when the clutch start to heat during engagement it is making squishy sound. I couldn't found the obvious problem with clutch disks and plates and still bought a new set. Is anyone experienced issue like this ? I seems not the same thing with bearing failure...

2018 300rr with 80 hours. Only issue I have had with main bearings was on a Ktm

Just heard through a friend, guy here in PA with 2018 Xtrainer, 50 hours, main bearing failure. Beta covering.

Had the same thing happen to my KTM. Interesting watch for sure. I believed it was from washing my bike and lead to water being introduced through the air box. It was hard to believe as after every wash i always started my bike and ran till warm.

They should have gone with SKF bearings and seals throughout. Instead of only on certain components.

Do you have any techniques for riding up a steep dirt hill with a very narrow but deep rut in it and where there is too many obstacles to ride outside of the rut? Then add in some rocks and tree roots in the rut. You need speed/momentum to make it up the hill as it's roughly a 20 - 30 degree incline and quite long ie 500 feet. Where to I put my wheels? Keeping the front wheel in the rut at the speed required is nearly impossible. Front wheel outside the rut and my back wheel wants to follow. Going down is easier as you can just go very slowly but if the front wheel catches the side of the rut going up or down, you're pretty much done.

what's the difference in power beetween an rr and xtrainer 300? I ride paths similar to the one you show in your videos, I want a bike that might help me climp steep hill climbs whith relative ease, since i'm not so trained phisically... I watched your videos about "which bike to choose" but now that more time has passed, what is your opinion?

Why they using NTN, arent they already in a collab with SKF??

To your knowledge and reports, is it 2stroke bikes only, or are there cases for 4strokes bikes as well ? Also wandering how many kilometers for the hours ? Average 30km/hour ?

Bad timing Barry! I am about to pull the trigger on a 200rr, now what am I supposed to do? LOL

I just had my 2018 xtrainer fail at the weekend with only 10hr/450ks, it started making the exact same sounds and stalled

Quite the PSA Barry. It would be easy for you to take the payola from Beta and carry on. I'd expect your videos have sold a lot of bikes and been responsible for increased market share. But it seems it is a bit like Santa sending the customers to Macy's to get that special present in the old classic movie. Beta should thank you and I will now become a cash supporter. Salut from Qbec.,

Can anyone with experience on 250/300cc 2 stroke engines chime in on some of the footage provided here? Has anyone compared the size/style of the bearings that Beta uses to other manufacturers engines? It kind of doesn't make sense for a bearing to just fall apart. There has to be something causing it. I like how one dealer said it's cause the owner washed his bike. Like right, water seeped in through the SEAL and rusted the bearing on the INSIDE of the case lol.

It seems that this happens almost exclusively with the xrtrainer and RR models but not the RE two stroke models? Or are there RE models that are having this issue too?

I agree, it could be problem with the bearing or the seal but I tend to believe the problem happened when the motor was assembled at the factory. Bearings are designed to run within a specific tolerance. if its not assembled with that in mind it will fail. if the bearing was improperly lubed during assembly this could cause a problem too By the way if you take a new bearing and spin it without lubrications you will cause micro damage that will result in premature failure. put a new bearing under a microscope, it is not nearly as smooth as we might imagine. I know of a builder who cleans all new bearings then allows them to air dry, dips them in oil and then spins them, what this does is polish the bearing surfaces before any load is ever put on them, these bearings last mush longer

I did my main bearings on my RM250 07 twice was using total racing two-stroke oil went to Motul 800 never happened again

My left hand side main bearing went last week 2018 Beta x Trainer 300 - 60 hours. Dealer is pulling down engine and will submit a warranty claim to Beta Australia. Wait and see what happens. Bike was still rideable but the bearing was shot. also my speedo cable failed but I replaced that at my own cost

Hmmmm, looks like ill still be riding the CRF then, im usually 100km in country or 1000km from any fancy dealers n my boots aint made for walkin' :)

I doubt that NTN would supply/release poor quality bearings as they have a very high reputation to look after. There is serious issue with counterfeit bearings on the market. SKF even have a special squad to track these down and there was a case in the UK of a large bearing distributor being raided due to the sale of fake bearings. Possibly Beta were cutting corners and using fake NTN bearings or may not have been aware that they were being ripped off . NTN packaging now has various hologram and anti- counterfeit measures but these can still be copied by the bad guys.

Helpful vid.. thank you

I have short legs and three identical Freeride 250 2 strokes… maybe time for Beta !

1:200 is not low incidence. Would you fly in an aircraft if that was a major component failure rate? Note.

I think that this may be a bearing manufacturing issues. I think beta got a bad batch of bearings

2023 250rr re have an updated bearing the same which I’ll be used in the 2024 models

local guy in my area had one fail after only 10 hours. It was covered by warranty

we just blew up 2 Betas at a demo ride here last weekend.

I have this problem too but dont ride a 250 or 300 i ride a 125cc 4 stroke beta build in 2013

hard to believe NTN bearings would be the cause, but who knows. Those bearings are expensive a Sh**, and they produce bearings for stuff like CNC machines and so on. Top Notch Stuff normally

Mine makes that noise.. but only occasionally. Guess what I'm doing next weekend. :(

Beta in Europe went nuts with prices, there are currently more expensive then KTM in my country. Good Beta luck with selling them.

My Beta evo 2014 250 factory is making that noise 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Well my 96 KTM 250 crank bearing went the inner cage was plastic so ya don't ask me why.

100 % this is caused by pressurized bearing , crank shaft is machined at top of tolerance and the bearing just happened to be at the lower end of tolerance . failure in a very short time if it was built by an engineer and not a fitter / cafe waiter this would not happen but then its all about cost ????

Hmm. The pumpkins are looking a little better now aren’t they you Gumby 😂

My 2019 beta 300rr just had this happen with only 20hrs on it

Does anyone else read Cross Training Enduro Skills replies to comments in the hosts voice? :) :) Oh, and I'd be very surprised if there's a QC problem at NTN

Oh no! From what i see happening currently , this now worries me. I never thought that bikes would be phased out. But if we're heading to autonomous, and the way the majority , (whom are not riders) like safety to feel safer themselves. Bikes are doomed, unless we DO NOT ALLOW it to happen on mass , when our countries/world tries. Regards Concerned motorcyclist.

Hmmm, my "old school" YZ250X is looking pretty good about now.

not as big a deal breaker as NO KICKER but its close, KTM my friend

i have 2018 beta rr 300, and 300 hours everythig good

Okay... I have no Problems with my bearings on my Beta But my gearbox on my RR390 (2018) failed after 30 hours. xD

BOoOp.... the only issue on my bike is me ...boOp

My 8 month old 2019 Beta 250 rr squealed like this yesterday before letting go. It started on start before going away. I assumed it was sticky clutch plates. My engine has completely locked up. I was in 4th gear on the pipe. This is going to cost me a fortune. Fuck me.

.5% is not insignificant... 5/1000 people having a very bad time!

Industry all over the world has been impacted by the sudden influx of remarkably shitty counterfeit bearings from China. LOTS of them, and they make their way into legit channels and are impossible to tell from genuine. As far as "testing components" - no. That's virtually a thing of the past in these days of formal third-party quality certification.

"Beater?"

These are not bikes ... my XT600 is going strong after 26 years and 50k km ... offroad abuse just good lubrication and quality oil. A little bit of maintenance here and there.

This just happened to my 23 200rr at 6 hours

nice