This off season, it was time for the suspension on my Beta Xtrainer to have some work done. I hadn’t done anything with it since buying the bike nearly new and at nearly 130 hours, knew it was overdue. Like we all do when we need advice, I got on the Beta Xtrainer Facebook group to ask the question on if anyone had ever rebuilt their suspension on their own and if there was a seal kit that one could buy from Beta. There was a flood of comments and 95% of them recommended sending my suspension off to Aaron at All Moto Performance in Montana. Not only is Aaron a suspension specialist, he is a Beta Xtrainer specialist. There were literally so many positive comments with this recommendation that I was sold.
I reached out to Aaron via email (he actually made a comment personally on the post and gave me his contact info if I had any questions) with some questions. I also asked if he wanted to work together. He agreed to give me a discount on some parts in exchange for this review but even still, this was still a big investment for me. Most people will make this investment when they first get a new bike. For me, it just took a little while.
Throughout the entire process, Aaron was very accommodating. I was on kind of a weird timeline and he let me know timeline expectations before I even sent off my suspension. I removed the suspension from my bike, packaged it really well and sent it insured. Aaron sends you a little questionnaire to fill out so that he has some information (rider weight, riding style, etc) when the package arrives. He let me know when it made it there and before he started working on it, gave me a phone call to talk about changes that may be made. He gave me an honest opinion about what we thought I needed in terms of wear parts and upgrades and never tried to push me in one way or another. He was upfront with the cost of everything and got confirmation before just diving in and performing the work. Honestly there are some real di*kbags in this industry that will take advantage of people (especially ladies) and Aaron was just an all around stand up dude. For me, customer service is imperative and I feel like without a doubt at AMP you will receive above par customer service. Also, before any of the work was done, I knew exactly what to expect for a cost. There were no unexpected last minute costs that “popped up.”
The entire process took about two weeks from when I shipped my suspension off, got the work done, and then received them back and got everything back together on the bike. It was again, exactly what I expected. Sooner actually.
We were still in the midst of our work season when we got everything put back together so I was anxious to get back out West and really test out and feel the difference that AMP made. I took a few rips around the hangar and down the runway and could already feel a noticeable difference in the suspension (on totally smooth and flat ground!). It’s hard to explain but I could already feel that the suspension seemed more reactive to my body weight.
The end of September finally rolled around and we were on our way west. We went out to Idaho before returning to Colorado and we rode some of the most difficult terrain we’d ever ridden. Maybe it wasn’t so extreme, but it wasn’t the type of riding we were used to. We typically ride desert technical single track. Idaho is like techy single track on steroids. The steeps are steep and relentless and I don’t think we’ve ever climbed so many loose, rocky, technical climbs. Oh and the steep sidehill on the side of all of these climbs was a major eye opener! Needless to say, ya’ll in Idaho do not mess around.
I definitely got to test out the suspension work in any possible scenario that I ever expected and then some. Steep technical climbs, dry creek beds, wet creek beds, muddy creek beds, extremely rocky sidehills, steep woody riding, rocky and shale-y patches of trail, and did I mention steep technical climbs? We got used and abused in Idaho but it was a ton of fun. The only instance that I don’t feel like I got to feel a difference in the suspension is on a slow, rocky downhill with some bigger drops/step downs.
A major difference I felt with my reworked suspension was in corners. Whether fast and flowy corners or slow tight corners, they felt a lot better after AMP suspension. I feel more of a connection with the bike. I no longer feel moments of the bike working against me, which I would sometimes get with just the stock setup. Also it should be mentioned that one major complaint with the Beta Xtrainer is the suspension. Again, this is something I wish I would’ve done at hour 1.
In addition to dialing in the suspension for my riding style and weight, Aaron also replaced worn parts and in some cases, replaced them with upgraded parts that won’t wear as quickly. For most of the work he did, I went with his suggestion. In regards to upgrading wearable parts with parts that weren’t OEM, I just felt like he was in there doing the work so why not upgrade. I’m already spending the money to have it done, a $10 upgrade here and there was not going to make or break my budget on the work.
I’m so glad that I made the post on the Beta group to ask about suspension instead of blindly trying to do the work myself. I’m glad that I put the money into having a professional work on my suspension and get it dialed for me and it’s really improved the handling of the Beta. Not only did Aaron do an amazing rebuild, the customer service was above and beyond today’s standard. I also love that Aaron is an expert on Beta Xtrainers and can go into the suspension work with that expertise. I’ll continue to recommend Aaron at AMP Suspension when anyone asks on the internet or IRL.
*We teamed up with AMP Suspension for this post. I received a small discount in exchange for sharing my honest experience. I still invested a lot of money into this work and service but wanted to fully disclose my discount. Regardless of discounted or free exchanges, it’s important to know that all thoughts are honest and our own.
