Well.... I've been in email conversation twice today with juicemotoparts and here is what they told me, so im gonna put the parts in my oldest engine which has remains in stock form since 2009 because the vibess with this engine were so bad I figured there was no need to modify for high rpms, it may crater on me but if it does, Ill just put a dax drilled crank in it and freshen the whole thing up head to toe, this engine has well over 2000 miles on it now and runs strong for a stock engine just vibrates pretty bad above 28-29 mph even with a 32T on a 24" wheel.Well Map,I guess this is bad news fer tryin our aluminum bushings eh?
Yeah the aluminum bushing raised my eyebrow also.....lolWait: an ALUMINIUM wrist-pin bearing? I missed that. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. And speaking of "waiting to happen", I'm really looking forward to Map's assessment on the brass bushing...I'd like to move over to one.
Interesting.....On a related note...and apologies for veering off-topic, I recently saw some low-priced CERAMIC roller-bearings I was considering for retrofitting to my bicycle's rear-hub. Hmmmmmm...
I'm running an Aluminum Bushing on the pin and I am running Opti2 oil with a bit of Maxima 927 Castor in the mix, so far I have put 12.8 GPS'd miles on it with no negative signs, of course that could all change in a blink of an eye, Juice told me they 28 bikes still going with the Titanium Wrist pins in them, of course I don't know how they know they're all still going, they did tell me they have had two reports of problems with the pin so time will tell, even with a superior to many lubricant like Opti2, that wont help a bit if the material gets hammered o heck from being to soft, I'm just gonna ride the bike as if I knew it had everything I would have in my others and put it through the paces to see what happens, no way I see it lasting as long as a good steel pin, but with the right set up it might do pretty good for a while....shrug... we'll see..???????Remember, I only got 10 miles on mine before mine went bad.
I appreciate your advice/experience Map. Thanks for taking one for the team. I too could have argued the same points, tried and failed. You're saving smart people some time and bucks.I figured all along there was a good chance my engine would take one for the team during this aluminum bushing experiment, I made the argument that others could possibly make saying...
"the piston itself is aluminum so why wouldn't an aluminum bushing hold up as well as the aluminum piston itself"
I can say there was a slight reduction in vibes at a certain RPM which gave me about 2-3 MPH increase before the bad vibes kicked in, but not enough difference to make switching from standard pin and bearing set up to high dollar titanium pin and bushing, another thing is that if you use a bronze bushing on the titanium pin, you really haven't gained anything about just sticking with a steel pin and high quality needle bearing, the bronze bushing is heavier than a needle bearing so it pretty much cancels out the weight savings of using the titanium pin.
my final opinion is that neither the bronze bushing or the titanium pin are worth the cost or trouble, and it has been confirmed that they wont last as long and they don't provide any benefit, cool idea but and if someone just wants a Bronze bushing for whatever reason thats fine, but if they expect any noticeable difference in how the engine runs, sounds or performs.... they're gonna be let down because I can say been there done that and it just doesn't make sense to go that route in my honest opinion.
Map
I already did an weight comparison and here it is.Sounds about right... if the bronze bushing is heavy then it would be pointless to do the swap on a built engine that's already running just fine. I'll weigh everything and compare the weight against my original bearing and pin when my parts come in and report the weight difference but won't use these parts on the engine I have in the bike right now.
I might use those parts on the engine I'm building now, but may just decide to chalk it up as lesson learned and stick with the steel pin and roller bearing.
What would really impress me here for weight savings and better balance ability would be if someone with the right equipment could make a titanium rod for these, but then again, the cost might make that too impractical.
Solid mounting my engine to the frame by welding tabs for the engine to bolt directly onto really took out a lot of the vibes I was feeling at the seat and bars so I'm thinking mine was more of a resonance issue than a balance issue as it's now smoother than the first engine I had on it but this new engine was rough as **** when reved comparing to the previous one and now it's a lot smoother than it ever was. I'm sure it's still got the typical off balance that all these engines have but making the frame absorb the vibes instead of transfer them really helped in my situation.
Honestly I really don't know 60weight.I discovered that this engine is a tight case engine like the ones Fred is seeking
Map, how would one know/recognize these "tight case engines" that Fred wants?