2017 BETA 390 RR-S
FULL TEST
P92
No need to
replace the stock
muffler—it's quiet,
looks decent and
will keep park
rangers happy.
Where most riders fall
the power delivery of
in true off-road riding
year they improve the
performance. The
Gen4 Sachs open-
cartridge fork is much
improved even when
compared to just a
couple of years ago.
Overall balance on the 390
RR-S is great and the best way
to describe the feel is to call
it incredibly plush. The fork
and shock are set up to eat up
rocks and roots and square-
edge bumps. The Sachs fork
requires a solid four hours of
break-in before its true perfor-
mance is revealed. Through
creek beds and over rough
technical terrain the 390 RR-S
stays straight and planted,
providing great rear-wheel trac-
tion, making it easy to climb
and navigate tough
uphills. Bottoming re-
sistance is pretty good
considering the plush
overall ride. Remember,
the RR-S line is es-
sentially the old RR line
of off-road trail bikes, which
means they are designed for
trail riding, not hammering
whoops in fourth gear. When
we got a little over confident
and going too fast through
terrain with g-outs, the rubber
suspension stoppers and the
rear tire rubbing the underside
of the fender told us to back
it down a notch. On occasion
the front end would dive on
step downhills under braking
so we increased the compres-
sion, which helped without tak-
Nice! We love
the Beta's
Voyager info unit,
which includes
full GPS.
