erizo wrote:
JEastonjr wrote:
will this help

well, they don´t look like wisecos (same as barons), so whose are they?

if there´s a problem, folks should know....



I agree erizo ,I am weeks from installing a set. anybody got anything good to say about this upgrade/downgrade??

This is what the owner of the dealership said to me when I inquired about HC pistons when they were doing my tranny recall, figured that would be the time to do it since there would be no additional labor. He said, forget about the pistons, change the front pulley, more bang for the buck! So I did neither, and kept the money in my pocket. lol Simple solutions for simple problems.

The bike ran with the broken pistons. The shop found the pieces in the oil pump strainer. when they did the 4th gear recall.

Last pic looks like a Baron (stamped in). When the big 4 started making the 250F motocross bikes, the skirt issue was common. Those high rev engines would virtually explode.
I like lots of horse power and have considered the HC piston and performance heads for my bike. The problem is not with the pistons it is simply wear and tear. If you want a F1 type engine you will be tearing it down frequently and replacing worn parts. The XS engines are tough and will last a long time in stock configuration. A customer of mine formally owned a 3 brand dealership and they built some HOT bikes. His wife's Suzuki 750 is in Don Garlits museum and his KZ 1000 ran 199 mph in the 1/4 in the early 80's. He sold a 99 1600 Roadie to a local guy and it has over 100,000 miles on it and he still rides most every day. This guy's son won the Daytona Sport Bike AMA #1 plate in 2009, Danny Eslick.
Increase performance will mean increased maintanence and parts. For some people this is no big deal but for most people, you just want to ride and have a high dependability factor. Just my $.02.

The other part of the issue is that we're comparing cast to forged pistons. Cast pistons have a lot tighter piston to wall clearance as they don't expand nearly as much when they heat up. With forged pistons, the clearance is larger which results in more slop and wear until the engine gets up to operating temperature and the slugs expand.

Forged pistons are usually lighter (less rotating mass = quicker revving), so I'm kind of surprised to see how small the skirts are on the HC pistons. Our bikes are torque monsters and far from high revvers, so I see no need to keep the weight down. Skirt thickness also looks a little thin in the pics, but that could be the angle and might be a necessity due to piston to rod angles with the long stroke.

Now, if only we could get someone to start offering 9.5:1 HC cast pistons. Not as high a ratio so you'd give up a little power, but longevity would be a lot better.

Give up POWER??? Who has a Roadstar that they can afford to give up POWER???

BSwift wrote:
Last pic looks like a Baron (stamped in). When the big 4 started making the 250F motocross bikes, the skirt issue was common. Those high rev engines would virtually explode.

possibly in the birth of slipper pistons (as are the wiseco/barons pistons), but things have come a very long way since then, and practically all the high performance sportsbike engines now use slipper pistons with total reliability.


BSwift wrote:
Increase performance will mean increased maintanence and parts. For some people this is no big deal but for most people, you just want to ride and have a high dependability factor. Just my $.02.

not necesarily.

just by changing pipes, filter, jet kit, and a modified manifold can show a 15+% increase in power on a roadie, and that´s a pretty substantial increase, but those of us who have gone down this route haven´t experienced any change in reliability nor higher maintainence.

i recall david tice mentioning on the barons site that roadies can have their BHP increased to 90hp+ without sacrificing day to day reliability.

How do you increase the H.P.?? I have installed a Bak kit, jet kit, cobra two into one powerpro hp. exhaust, and am thinking about getting a Vanity Plate, that says Wimpy!!! Will a cam kit help??

Agpilot wrote:
and am thinking about getting a Vanity Plate, that says Wimpy!!!

I'd gladdly pay you Tuesday for a Hamburger today.

JEastonjr wrote:
The bike ran with the broken pistons. The shop found the pieces in the oil pump strainer. when they did the 4th gear recall.

i ain´t got a set of wisecos to hand here at home to check, but does that nº on the darker piston (i´m assuming the rear) correspond with the nº for the rear piston in the set?

they look the same, but are front and rear dedicated and not interchangeable. who put them in?

if you did, please don´t think i´m being insulting. just trying to work out how a high quality set of pistons from a reliable supplier can fail.