Back to Beta (motorcycles)

On July 14th, 2018 I purchased a used 2016 Beta Enduro motorcycles from a southern NH man named Rob. It was a 500 RR-S with a few thousand miles and well modified. He was the 2nd owner and the 1st owner had messed up many of the threads on maintenance parts which caused ongoing headaches for me to work through. I enjoyed the bike a lot for the 2 years I owned it and ended up selling it for what I paid during the pandemic on March 17th, 2021. It’s funny how things change because Heather drove me down to pick up the bike. We didn’t have a truck or trailer so I had to drive the bike back home in the dark with a tiny halogen headlight and doing my best to take backroads.

I sold it because we were preparing to move south to North Carolina or at least I knew that year we’d be moving and I wanted to trim down the garage. I sold my Golf R, Hyundai Ioniq and Ford Escape the same year. I vowed to come back to Beta at some point because it’s a good platform and I loved their support with an awesome online parts diagram and the bikes are a lot of fun to ride.

We’ve been back in New Hampshire for 6 months and as I explore off-road with the Husqvarna 701, I was missing a light weight enduro bike for bushwhacking, trails and single-track. Looking around, Betas are still in that $6-7K range but then one came up for sale in my area on Craigslist. I messaged them and it was my friend Harry who purchased my BMW K75 before we moved south and still rides it to and from work. He had purchased a new Beta and didn’t need this one so had listed it for $4,000. He was the 2nd owner and the bike was well sorted but showing its age with many thousands of miles. It had leaking fork seals, a bent frame (rideable but would need attention) and all of the wear items were very worn. Plastics were cracked, seat cover was torn, the headlight cowl was held on by zip ties and the grips and hand guards were end of life. But it had been maintained and was not consuming oil. The motor was also very strong and it came with a few things I would have bought anyway like a 4 gallon tank, Trail Tech Voyager Pro, Rekluse, comfort tall Seat Concepts seat and more so, value wise, it was worth about $6K. I almost forgot to mention the original owner purchased it with the upgraded Beta Race suspension which was a Sachs fork tuned for fast enduro racing and an Ohlins TTX rear shock. New, I would spend $12K for the bike, $1800 for the suspension package, $500 for tank, $400 for seat, $700 for Voyager and I’d still have to get the suspension valved and sprung for my weight and put on the tires I like (MotoZ Tractionator) for a total cost of $16K or so and that’s before adding the Rekluse for $1500. Big spending for someone who just wants a weekend woods bike on Sunday morning while Matilda is getting her Sunday pancakes.

I knew it wasn’t just going to be $4,000 to get this thing road ready but far cheaper assuming the motor didn’t need anything. So I bought the bike!

Harry was kind enough to bring it to my place along with a box of unused accessories he didn’t ever install like the Rekluse auto-clutch. This being a 2018 Beta, it’s nearly identical to my 2016 so I have complete comfort in doing all of the work myself.

I tore the bike down and got to work on ordering everything I needed:

• $80 for a Seat Concepts Cover
• $185 for plastics
• $150 for new graphics
• $20 for grips
• $1350 (includes shipping) to mail the forks and shocks to Beta for new springs, fluids, re-valving and seals
• $100 in parts to do all of the regular maintenance (filters, fluids)
• $480 for MotoZ tires & new tubes
• $350 for an LED Headlight that is plug & play from MotoMinded
• $100 for a replacement Speedometer (original owner removed it)
• $250 for Clutch + Shifter levers sized for my size 13 boots
• $180 for a new skid plate
• $40 for new coolant I have to dump when installing radiator fan
• $250 for a radiator fan (race bikes don’t have them because you’re going fast so I ordered one from Beta that’s plug & play and turns on when the bike hits a certain temp)

There are other things the bike needs but those will wait until Winter

• $130 for Ignition Cover which is worn and I want to replace it
• It came with a new Rekluse clutch cover and gasket but I’ll install that later
• Rekluse is new in box but I’ll install that later
• $220 for steel oil gears I’lll do while the clutch is out
• $1250 for a frame which I have to order through a dealer since it’s stamped to match the motor vin
• $500 for a steering stabilizer
• $200 for new pegs
• $350 for all new drive (chain, sprockets)

To be clear, other than the frame, plastics, graphics and speedometer, everything above I’d have to buy on a new bike so these are big numbers but literally that entire list is the same for a 2025 bike versus this 2018 used bike. Example, race bikes don’t come with radiator fans and Beta uses plastic oil gears and still uses halogen headlights.

I did break my rule by purchasing a bike in the Summer because it’s going to take about 3 weeks to get it road-worthy…12 days alone will be spent waiting for Beta to get my suspension and mail it back to me so I should have bought a bike in February instead of June but we had just moved back and were trying to figure out our budget.

All in, with the $4,000 purchase price and $3850 in initial repairs I’m out $7850. To get the internals and frame repaired over the Winter, I’ll be in for another $2500 or $10,350. Far short of buying new so, assuming I don’t need to do major motor work, this bike will be a fantastic buy and my 500 miles a year of riding is low enough to keep the bike for a while. I’m expecting it to last me at least 5 years.