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General Topics/Tech TipsDiscussion on break in periods, rider comfort, seats and pad suggestions. Tech tips as they become available will be posted here.
I get a lot of annoying remarks about owning a twin cam. They say the pressed crank is crappy. What I want to know is, is there any other bikes manufactured the same way? I 'd like to know so I can throw crap back at 'em
sure, more than you can shake a stick at!!
practically every mfg from aprilla to zundap.
twin cam does have a lot of issues. but that does not mean they are totally bad for they do rack up many miles and can run with the best of them.
I had a 1980 Suzuki gs1100e that twisted the crank...same thing as harley...two piece crank pressed together. Suzuki started welding them in 82 I believe because it was a pretty common thing in those bikes. It cost me around 1200 to get the crank fixed back in 97 or so.
As bustert says, pressed cranks have been around forever! Way back most bikes had single cylinder engines or were twins and they both used the same basic design and construction, which is why V-twins are still popular - they are the original 'multi'. The problem these days is that few manufacturers give easily accessible details of how their engines are designed and built, but there are Ducati and KTM plus the Jap brands all of whom build V-twins. So it isn't easy to answer your question.
You have a 2003 TC88, right? One of the best TC cranks going, the 02 was a little better, it had Timken left side bearings. What do you friends ride? Evos? Ask them how they like:
Weeping base gaskets
Weeping 3 piece rocker boxes
Porous AND cracked engine cases
Pulled out cylinder studs
Spun inner cam bearings
Cracked and leaking inner primaries because the engine and trans aren't bolted
together
Tell em to ride what they want and you'll ride what you want. If they don't get that, get rid of them. I've found that most people like that are just repeating something they've heard and don't really know what they're talking about. I put them in the same category as a 6 year old who calls another kid "poopy face".
OP, what year is your bike? '02 was the last year of the forged crank and the Timken bearing, if you have an '02 or earlier you have a damn good bottom end. The newer cranks are not as bulletproof but they will still handle more than most people will ever throw at them from a hp/tq perspective....
If the crank has ball or roller bearings, It probably has a pressed crank.
I discovered my GS1000 had a twisted crank, split the cases, and had it trued / indexed, and welded.
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Pressed Crank
