Are periodic engine rebuilds necessary?

[nickbawt]

Hi guys,

Well first let me start by saying my background is two-strokes where top end rebuilds a common occurrence and full strip downs arnt a bad idea every few years.

Is there any reason to strip down the V4 if there is nothing obviously wrong with it? If the valves are within tolerance and there are no leaks w/ good piston compression is there any need to rebuild? I just feels odd to ride and ride without having to worry about ordering new pistons/rings & checking power valves!

My bikes got 50k on it and am just wondering if its worth replacing bearings, seals, etc when I plan to pull the engine next year (for a full clean & restore)? Nothings wrong with it at the moment but just a precaution.

What is everyones thoughts?

[Morespeedvicar]

Welcome to four stroke niceness! But on a serious note, if it sounds nice and its not smoking it should be fine, just keep oil and filter changed every year or two if you dont ride much.
If its not broke dont fix it, i know of a FZR600 that get oil change every year and valves checked every two and its got 150k miles on it and its runs as sweet as!!!
V4's are lovely little engines and with the gear cams theres not much to wear out.
Cheers
Ian

[Cammo]

I just feels odd to ride and ride without having to worry about ordering new pistons/rings & checking power valves!

Probably feels good knowing that it won't ever seize on you though!

There are quite a few nc30's that have done over 100,000 km's on the original engine. Regular oil, filter change and valve check (every 25k km's) is the key.

[nickbawt]

Nice one fella's, thats reassuring. One less thing to stress over when it come time to disassemble the bike.

Yeah, its nice not having the cover the clutch all the time, haha, and engine braking is also a bonus.

Ive owned an MC22 when I was first learning so have always loved the geared cam's, why they still dont do it stumps me.

Still got the 2smoker but now hes just a sunday queen.

Cheers!

[lukemillar]

I rebuilt/blueprinted one a couple of years back now for my race bike. The engine had maybe 25,000km on it and nothing was outside of tolerance specs. All the bearings looked great, no excessive play in anything, no seals leaking etc. If it wasn't for the need to tune, it would have easily kept on trucking!

[speedy231278]

My RVF now has 121000kms on it, and I've done about 80K of those. It has always had attention and servicing at least as frequently as stipulated by the Big H, and it's doing fine. I recently visited a friend that I hadn't seen in ages who is a bike mechanic, and he had a listen to it and pronounced it very fit and healthy. I then showed him the distance showing on the clock and he almost fell through the floor. There will come a point when every engine will benefit from rebuilding, but if you treat them properly it shouldn't be all that often.