Beamish Owners Club - Advice & Manuals

Converting your black engine RL250 back to RL325? I bought one recently that I was told had been converted and the compression seemed extremely high. All black engines were made as the 322cc and some had a liner put in them to sleeve them down to 246cc as the 325 was a bit vicious. When converted to the 246cc they also skimmed the head and changed the pilot jet in the carb from 20 to 27.5. I assumed I had a head that had been skimmed but when I compared it with a friend's 325 the heads measured the same. It turns out that both bikes have the 250 head resulting in a compression ratio of 9:1 instead of the correct 7.5:1. Thanks to Steve Driscoll who sent me these photos of both heads, you can see the difference and where the head from the 250 has been skimmed and the combustion chamber milled out. I am having some conversion head gaskets laser cut to compensate for this so you can run a 250 head on a 325 bringing it down to the correct compression.

If you would like a conversion gasket please contact me, they are £24 each plus £1 P&P. As these are solid copper you should never need to buy another head gasket, just reuse this one after annealing it.

My silver engined Beamish, which has a chromed exhaust system needs a decoke. A blowlamp is out and I have tried caustic soda. Any ideas? Is the silencer stuffed with glass fibre packing? Please reply to Tony

Flywheel weight for the silver engine. Click here for the engineering drawing. There is one very minor modification which must be done to fit the weight. When you unbolt the ignition cover to install it, look inside and note that there is a rather small reinforcing rib cast in to the case down toward the "bottom." It must be removed. I just cut it away with nippers. If you do not do this, the engine will not turn! I make my weights out of steel; brass would be nice if you can afford such a large chunk. You will also need three 6mm socket head cap screws. Part of the beauty of this mod is that you can put the bike back to stock quickly.

Wondering if anyone can help me my 325 isnt running great it is too soft off the bottom (bogs down) but all of a sudden hits a power band and is quite unrideable wondering if taking the weight of the clutch side of the crank would make any difference ? even out the power delivery ? has anyone done this?

Have played around with the jetting and that has helped but not solved the problem.

I would like some advice on how much weight to add to the flywheel of my RL250 to get optimum improvement in tractability e-mail John Fluit

Does anyone know the name or code of the paint colours on the early Beamish? The one I have is the same as the one in 'Outfits'. Please e-mail Dan if you have any ideas.

Has anyone tried to put lights on an RL? I have and they are so weak as to be useless, and yes they are 6v , I got the kit from sammy miller . any thoughts or advice welcomed!

I have splashed out on a Beamish sidecar chassis! Trouble is i know f*** all about the sidecars!! Never even ridden one!!!!! Does anyone has any technical details etc. on the outfits please. Things like what hub fits the sidecar wheel etc. Any advice gratefully received!

There is yellow, yellow and yellow - but which one is Beamish yellow?! Other than the Heron Suzuki red/black Beamish you had the choice of yellow or buy another make of trials bike!

I was speaking to a friend who used to work in the factory. He told me that not of the yellows matched each other exactly anyway (tank, mudguards and side panels) so don't beat yourself up if you don't have an exact match!

3/3/06 Update - I spoke to 'the' Graham Beamish and he told me that the colour is Suzuki and the same as used on the RM bikes in the late 70's and 80's - so there you have the answer from the horses mouth so to speak!

I have a Wasp Suzuki. Even the frame number begins RL250. I wondered if there is anyone in the UK or elsewhere who have ever seen or heard about this outfit? Please contact me. See pictures of the outfit here.

If you manage to find any, the DZUS part number is AJ5-40KFC. The retaining washer is part number GP5.

Does anyone know how you tell the difference between a 325 and a 250 head from a black engine Beamish? The 250 was skimmed but how can you tell?

The main bearings and seals for my black engine Beamish are no longer available, what can I do?

The old seals and bearings have been discontinued but these Suzuki equivalents will fit.

Clutch side main bearing - 6305 (C3 tolerance)

Mag side main bearing - 6306 (C3 tolerance)

In that case, if you have the V5, make up one in Dyno-tape with the frame number in the V5 - that's what it had originally!

This is a very common one! You need to have the fork leg off, the top nut and spring removed. Try jamming a piece of dowel down the stantion to hold the top nut as you turn the allen key in the bottom of the fork leg.

Or, hold the station in a vice (protecting the chrome) and get a mate to pull the fork bottom to put pressure on the bolt. Use an air ratchet or an electric drill (on reverse) on the allen bolt to shock it undone.

Once you have one leg undone, make yourself a tool from a 13mm socket using a Dremel for use on the other leg. Wrecking a socket for this purpose will save you a lot of trouble with the other leg!

The 325 barrel was black with '325cc' cast into the left side of the barrel. The 250 was silver and the '325cc' casting ground off. Better to go by the casting than the colour. Worst case, take off the head, the bore of the 250 is 70mm where as the 325 is 80mm.

'The original handbook (which came with the bike when I purchased it) clearly states that the petrol/oil mixture should be 20:1 ie 50ml of oil per litre. The bike smokes heavily and I've been advised by several trials riders that I should be running on 50:1 ie 20ml of oil per litre particularly as oils have improved over the years. What mixture do you use?'

If you use a good quality fully synthetic oil you can run your bike at 40:1 for road use and as lean as 50:1 for trialing. If you are not confident about such a lean mix, run at 40:1, a de-coke being cheaper than an engine rebuild! Modern day 2 stroke trials bikes run on 70:1.....

It is very difficult for find someone who can handle a whole frame. I contacted London and Brighton Plating they no longer have the facility to handle things that large. One of our members has used the firm below and can't recommend them highly enough.

A J Calladine, Unit 4, Brailwood Close, Bilsthorpe, Newark, Notts. NG22 8UG 01623 870372 - (highly recommended).

There is another company that have the capability to do a whole frame, I have them on reccommendation but haven't seen their work.