Planet Minis

mr.skywalker

i have a takegawa old style 124 superhead and when i started my bike today and it started smoking again, so its time to replace the rings. the thing that bothers me is that i just replaced my rings in the middle of Feb. (about 15hrs of ride time) and the last time they lasted over a year(maybe 50hrs)
Is this normal for this engine setup? is there something i need to do so they last longer?

it seems that once i put an irk on the bike it wears out rings faster, before i put the irk on the rings lasted almost 2 yrs(100+hrs), does this make any sense?

thanks

MiniMob Racing

No reason the irk should wear your rings over and above all other moving parts. First thing we would check is to see if the engine has been overheating. Keep an eye on your cylinder temp and make sure you're not running lean.

big pete

How does the cylinder/piston look? I just did a top end on mine and replaced the cylinder, piston, and rings. The cylinder looked good but I saw some blow by on the piston. You can run a 54x69 TB cylinder to save you some money.

Also, buy a few old cast pistons (if you can find them; I bought the last one from Two Bros) because Takegawa discontinued them and replaced it with a forged piston ($300)


MiniMob, what's the normal temp range for the old Superhead?

50WHIP

I would say time for a new cylinder and maybe valve seals while it's down.

MiniMob Racing

We don't measure the head temperature, but regularly monitor the cylinder temp on our bikes. Do our best to maintain 100C-110C though we have been running our 160s and 178s at 130C without any issue. This is external temp though, measured with the same Takegawa cylinder temp guage we have in our web store.

MiniMob Racing

We asked Takegawa for an update on this issue. There were a number of 'old style' Superheads heads over the years, before they were called +R. Pistons are available to fit the current +R and the earlier Superhead 124cc kits. For the non-+R Superhead, Takegawa part number 01-02-4432 is the piston kit alone, and retails through us at $99.00USD. Top end gasket kit - 01-13-045 - $29.99USD and replacement cylinder - 12105-GN5-T00 - $289.99.

The forged pistons refered to are available for the current +R Superhead

Hope this helps!

big pete

So they haven't stopped making the cast pistons for the older heads?

MiniMob Racing

You were correct, the original piston and part number were phased out over time. The piston we are referring to is a substitute of equal dimensions, though the dome is a little different design and may result in slightly lower compression than the more expensive forged replacement pistons.