RUST magazine: RUST#37

ENDURO
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THE NEW BIKE
BETA RR200
HOW TO BUILD A 200
Okay, take an RR125, then bore and
stroke the motor to 190cc’s – and there
you have it, an RR200. Only there’s
more to it than that, for instance the
RR200 comes with an electric starter
(no kick start). It needs customized
exhaust valve tuning, its own expansion
chamber design and running a lower
compression ratio it runs a cooler spark
plug too. Lots of little tweaks, for sure.
But we’d imagine when Beta introduced
the RR125 last year, it was designed
in conjunction with – or with the
knowledge of –the RR200 to follow.
Dimensionally, then, the RR200,
is the same size as the RR125, same
wheelbase, seat height etc. But it is
3kg heavier (97.5kg) – no doubt due
to the electric start and extra meat on
the piston/cylinder. Where it radically
differs is in the engine performance.
Peak power is only marginally more
than the RR125, but it comes 2000rpm
earlier (around 9500rpm). The big news
is instead in the huge hike in torque,
which virtually doubles that of the
RR125 and stays healthily ahead of the
125 right up to around 10,500rpm mark
when the RR200 hits the proverbial
brick wall when it comes to rev
capability – yeah, you ride the RR200
on torque, not revs.
BETA RR200
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Just lovely. Like a mini-me to Beta’s
RR300; you can ride it real low in the rev
range and it pulls, not as strongly as the
300 obviously, but quick enough not to
want to change down a gear or two. You
can be a lazy rider if you want, it doesn’t
punish you.
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