Re-Sleeved Cylinder Verses Plated Cylinders:

Why Re-Sleeve?

Installing Sleeve in a cylinder is required when your stock cylinder has been bored to the last offered over size piston or when a chrome plated cylinder is damaged.

Advantages of sleeves over platting are:

* Heat Transfer: It is claimed the thin plating dissipates more quickly, but a steel liner becomes a heat sink once everything is up to operating temperature, eliminating hot spots in the cylinder wall.

* Durability: No thin plating to peel or flake off. Manufactures use Plating to save on production time and money. You don’t see plated cylinders in Heavy Duty applications such as Large diesel engines that run for a million miles! With proper Air filter maintenance and good engine oil a steel sleeve will last just as long as Nikasil plating.

* Weight Savings: Yes plating is lighter. But a steel liner for a Honda CR125R weighs 12oz. The first mud hole you ride through adds more weight to your bike than that, or just don’t drink that can of soda before your ride!

* Honing: you can work with steel to get perfect piston to cylinder wall clearance. Plated cylinders begin with only a .004 thickness, if honed it may become too thin.

* you can bore steel to fit an oversized piston, rather than throw the cylinder away.

* Porting: Plated cylinders cannot be properly ported, as the plating has to be blended around the insides of ports, once this is ground the platting will begin to strip off causing serious engine damage.

* Rings seal: Ring seal is better to a steel sleeve, plating is much too hard for rings to properly seat.

*Lubrication: Pores in a steel cylinder lining hold oil for lubrication for longer lasting piston & ring life.

* Racing: Sleeves are recommended for all types of riding including racing.

* Tread Green: Sleeve installation is friendly for our Environment, It does not require Harsh chemicals or disposal of Hazardous Waste Materials onto our planet. The materials machined away in the sleeve installation process are recycled.

* Cost Savings: Cylinders can be re-plated but the cost is about $250 every time it is worn or damaged. Once a steel liner is installed it can be re-bored to fit oversized pistons at less that $50 generally over sizes in .010 020,040 060 & .080 are offered. By the time you used up all the bores you will have spent around $350 in machining costs. If you needed to re-plate each time you will have spent $1250!