Bearings???

[Anonymous]

I was looking at some schematic views of the crankshaft of the gs550 and saw it had roller bearings all over, which of coarse is good, then i had a look at the same set of pics for the gs650,and found to my disbelieve they have slipper bearings on the big end??now in my way of thinking the roller bearing bottom end is nearly bullet proof,but the slipper bearing sometimes have troubles, with turning and seizing up,so my question is, Why did they change it?considering the bikes are nearly the same,and is the 550 a better bike than the 650???Thanks for any information, Mark..

[Anonymous]

thats disappointing, i have a 650

[Hap Call]

I wouldn't say one is better than the other...remember, the Hayabusa uses plain bearings, not roller bearings. All bikes built these days have plain bearings (I can't think of any that have roller bearings). Plain bearings allow motors to spin faster with less mechanical losses and less inertia. They also cost A LOT less, are easier to repair and/or replace (generally), and are considered very reliable.

The GS650 is a stone reliable motor...I wouldn't worry about it unless you are planning to try and get 300HP out of it.

Hap

[Paul]

Also the crank is stronger with plain or shell bearings, because it is made in one peice, as opposed to a rollerbearing crank which is pushed together. A plain bearing engine runs much higher oil pressure than a rollerbearing engine.
As Hap says it is nothing to worry about unless you are looking for serious gee-gee's.