Maintenance & Technical > KX500 Original

Why no steel sleeves?

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Paul:

--- Quote from: crazyryan ---I bought my 99' KX5 with a plated cylinder. It had been redone once since new by the first owner. I bought a 540 kit and had that sleeve ported. The new sleeve wasn't plated and worked great. I have three and a half thousandths tolerance. I say steel sleeve is better if built right.
--- End quote ---


I won't argue the point - I'm no engineer - but I think the guys that design these bikes (modern 2 and 4 strokes) have a reason for not using sleeves in any of them.

doordie:
Guys,
you have plus and minus, whatever if you use sleeves or plated cylinders. :wink:
Trust me I have both! :lol:

//doordie

GDubb:
I think Paul just made a very good point.  Maybe on a drag bike that you will rebuild often anyways, an iron sleeved, tight tolerance engine makes just as much sense... but as far as reliability in the practical world for those of us who want a bike that will last an entire season with hours upon hours of ride time on each outing... I'll vote for technology and hi-tech coatings.

KXcam22:
Back in the old days (1976) my KX125's came with chrome plating which quickly chipped away. The fix was a steel resleeve but all the bikes were a lot slower afterwards. I never did figure out why.  I think the real difference is with friction and heat transfer. The plating has less friction than the steel liner and since the aluminum is right below, it conducts heat away far more efficiently.  This allows tighter clearances to be used.  As doordie said, there are pluses and minuses to both.  Nowadays there are more quality shops available who can re-plate which is a bonus.  I think both are good systems.  Dirtbike engineers have been shaving ounces on each new model for years.  Since the plating performs as well or better than steel liners, I think its likely that dirt bikes have mostly migrated to plated cylinders to save the weight of the steel liner. Cam.

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