BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Okay...

We've all heard stories about engines overheating and the damage that can cause, right?

We've all heard stories about the hazards of running oil levels too high or too low, right?

And we've all heard stories about this brand bike or that brand bike is or is not more reliable, etc., right?

Well, take a look at this and be prepared for a *SHOCK*! It is friggin' *UNBELIEVABLE*!!!

http://www.timothypilgrim.com/bike/japengines.jpg




I can't believe anyone would actually do this to a poor, defenseless motorcycle engine, but it is amazing what kind of abuse one can stand...

Geez!

Cheers!

Dallara

Just be careful when looking at a used 1998 kawasaki zx-6r. I would hate to buy that one.

Pretty amazing test.

Wow... Guess I won't run my bike at 8,000 rpms for 30 minutes.

Laff out loud

Says a lot about how well the bike is made for sure. Who thought this test up?

Bud

Asshats.

I did on a similar note see a short film years ago of an R1100S engine that was in a test jig at the factory that had glowing orange headers all the way back to the junction of the Cat, the report with the film said, broken in correctly engine, good tune, proper amount of oil and coiling fans blowing on it, at 7500 rpm for 40 hours. No one could ride a bike/ engine and duplicate that.
Beautiful.
I'll take an 1150 version, dual spark if you have one, thanks!

This thread made me laugh soooo hard!!!! I felt sorry for the poor bike. Ha Ha Ha!

I saw a photo once, on this VERY SITE, of an R1150R with bright orange headers.

He'd washed it and was drying it off by idling with the fast idle on!

If I recall, it was a new bike. Wonder how that worked out...

Dallara.....the master of the occult....very nice article. I guess that irregardless of the crazines of the test it bodes well for the reliability of the Japanese offerings.

That's a BiKE (UK Magazine) article from about 4 years ago - I probably still have a copy of it somewhere....

OK.......so how come we debate over and over and over whether shutting off the engine with the kill switch or the key will hurt the engine? Kind of puts things in perspective.

I still can't believe some moto-mag would deliberately try to frag a motorcycle engine to no purpose... I mean, if they had decided to do the entire debacle in the article on the dyno, for instance, just to see some data on what kind of effects on performance this kind of abuse had I could sort of see it, but...

Well, anyway - the article did remind of a series of tests Husqvarna did back in the early 1970's (back when they were Swedish... ). They wanted to see what effects leaner and leaner fuel-to-oil mix ratios had on their two-stroke MX'ers. They started out with their normally recommended 20:1, ran the bike on the dyno for a while, then leaned the ratio to 32:1 and repeated, etc. Allof this was done with Castrol R "bean oil", as I recall, which was then their recommended pre-mix oil of choice. They continued to lean the ratio down to 40:1, 50:1, and so on... They did have to re-jet a couple of times to make the bike run clean, but the test went on... Right down to where they were running *NO* oil in the damn thing - just *STRAIGHT GASOLINE*!

One thing to point out - after each of these runs they disassembled the engine and check wear, clearances, etc. - and all through the test the engine was not really wearing all that much, so they kept continuing with the same parts.

Well, as I said, they finally got to where they were running the poor beast on straight gasoline, with no pre-mixed oil, and the engine kept running fine except for some slightly elevated head temps. So they finally just decided to keep running it until it failed... Only it never did. Never seized. Never cooked off the lower end bearing. Never blew up. They ran the thing on the dyno for like 48 hours like this, and finally gave up. They disassembled the engine, and though they found excessive ring, piston, and bore wear, along with a badly discolored rod and lower-end bearings (along with some crankpin galling), the engine didn't appear it was going to give up the ghost any time soon.

This was the test that changed Husky's recommended fuel/oil ratio from the previous 20:1 to 32:1, as they found the engine produced the most power at 32:1. It lost power at any other ratio, but it kept on running.

The test was all documented and very scientific, etc., and it made for fascinating reading. I had a copy of it somewhere, and I imagine if I dug around long enough in all my accumulated junk I could find it. If I ever do I will post it here.

Still pretty wild that a Brit moto-rag would try and blow up a poor, unsuspecting Kwacker!

Wonder who the bike belonged to, and whatever happened to the thing?

Cheers!

Dallara

I've had the misfortune of running a test like that in real world conditions.

Seattle is a collection of hills, some of them pretty steep. Back when my wife and I were living on Capitol Hill, we decided to go to the 4th of July fireworks display on the Norton (easier parking, my a$$). So we oooooed and aaaaahed for an hour or so in the night and jumped on the bike to make a getaway just as the show was ending.

I got us pointed downhill on Queen Anne Avenue which is extremely steep. All the while trying to keep from being creamed by any of the thick stream of cars headed down the hill with us. About halfway down the oil line that feeds the rockers blew out near the crankcase. Puked what felt like pretty warm oil out all over my boots and pants leg and blew back on to her shoes. And some got thrown onto the back tire, wouldn't you know.

Things were a little hairy for a while, but I couldn't pull over to the side because of all the traffic. So I kept going until we hit Mercer Street, a cross street at a fairly level spot. Made a left and kept going. By now the motor was acting up a bit, getting pretty hot and jerky. But we kept on going following Mercer all the way to Capitol Hill. Got off the main drag and started working our way up the hill which is just as steep as the one we'd come down. Pretty soon the clutch was hot and slipping from being used so much. Power was way down and after a while, I think it was only firing on one cylinder. But we kept going. Finally got to our apartment and hopped off the bike.

It sounded absolutely horrible. Chuffing and moaning. Shut it off and listened to that tinkling and ticking that comes when an engine gets wayyyyy tooooo hot. Went inside thinking that it was going to cost a lot to get the engine rebuilt...Went to Poke's the following Saturday and bought a replacement line ("Ya know, those things hardly ever blow out....") went home, put the thing on, drained what little oil was left, put on a new filter, put in fresh oil and just for giggles kicked it over. Damned thing started right up! Took it back to Poke's and they did a compression and a leak down test and everything was within limits! I can't say what the bottom end looked like, but it ran like nothing untoward had happened.

I figure we ran that Norton, on little or no oil, especially to the rockers, for maybe half an hour, forty-five minutes, in full-on city traffic. Went down one steep hill and climbed another in that time and under those conditions. I definitely wouldn't want to try it again. But that thing was bullet proof.

Aside from scaring her silly, the thing my wife usually brings up when we think back on that experience is that I ruined a perfectly good pair of her shoes...

suppose rice burns waaaayyy hot, eh?

I did that test on my 84 iron head sportster back in 79, only when I drained the boiling oil after the overheat test I didn't add any oil at all and ran it full bore for 10 minutes. I'm still riding that sproty today with 123,784 miles on her with the original tires.

Soggybottom...

So that was *YOUR* bike in the old "Slick 50" commercials!!!

Or was it Pro-Long?

Or Z-Max?

Love it, Soggy! Priceless!

Cheers!

Dallara

but....its...true..

Soggy said:

but....its...true..

So which was it - Slick 50 or Pro-Long???

And what brand of tires are ya' getting 125,000 miles out of???

Cheers!

Dallara

They we testing prolong weinnie gel, that stuff that makes you numb The tires were made by Harley Davidson, they never wear out.