HOW DOES IT GO? It goes very, very well. You’ ve probably seen those memes of people riding a shark … well … Running the bike in required a premix of 32:1, yep, you heard right, this big dog is pre-mix, and fully synthetic ester Ipone is my oil of choice. I grabbed a fresh four-litre jug and got to mixing gas. On the initial run-in the bike was nice, with broad power and easy to ride for a monster, but it felt a wee bit blubbery on the bottom. After my run-in in tank I changed to 40:1 and went down on the pilot jet, much, much better, so now I was on the right track I changed jetting again and mixed gas at 50:1 and adjusted the power valve( very easy to do on the Beta). The results showed I was on the money. The bike is fast, no denying it, but the broad, strong power makes for a very capable machine. The quality KYB suspension holds up in all the right places, although a little stiff for the trees in MX form, but a call to Smiley at Extreme motorsports has it booked in to revalve the front end. The star of the show here is the engine. The 350 two-stroke is a brilliant power plant, with loads of torque for the tight stuff and transforms into a monster in the open. Why this bike hasn’ t been built as a factory enduro or cross-country bike eludes me. There are some great build videos on YouTube for these 350s and a crowd in the States really seem to have it down pat. Another interesting thing about the bike is the twin spark head, yep, you heard right, two spark plugs. This design is to aid and improve the efficiency and low end torque. It’ s a neat feature, which shows Beta’ s thought process behind the RX350; a strong, powerful, big-bore
KIWI RIDER 39