You know this post was about what we found, and it turned into a back and forth over who can post what they found from the internet and not any real-world experience someone has had with THIS model of motorcycle except some dealer experience, etc. We actually work on these motorcycles; we have torn down, fixed, and we have had parts made, we have dug into the ECU issues, etc. Maybe not as much as Ollie has, but he and I have shared information back and forth with other members of this forum privately as I know they appreciate learning anything they can.
I base what I say on what we do every day. Our high level of experience plus the legendary status of expertise I have supporting the shop, as I have stated before, we have some of the best engine builders right here in my same shop complex so I tend to listen to people who actually do the work not just find videos or articles to support whatever position they want to stand on. I think qualifying your answer like that is feckless, just like when someone asks a motorcycle question and someone answer with a tractor answer. Not quite apples to apples, and in most cases, it just takes the topic in the wrong direction.
The indisputable FACT of this post seems to be lost on one or two people who seem to want to tear at people. This is why people are afraid to share things or in our case, if someone wants to muddy the waters over the original issue, why bother sharing at all.
Here is our official opinion on what we found. I say opinion, so we don't get taken to the woodshed for saying its a fact even though, you know through our vast experience and that of the people who work here and those who consult with us say they agree, we will just say opinion, so we don't get another doctoral thesis on internet research.
The motorcycle was eating oil(high oil consumption) with no visible smoke. 5 miles of semi-spirited riding was producing 1.5 ounces of oil in the airbox. Compression and leak down done.
Compression and other factors dictated that we take apart the top end.
Upon removing the top end, we found the rings as pictured. To be clear again BOTH ring sets were lined up as pictured. We didn't touch anything outside of placing a shop towel in the open case. I know the pictures arent full size, but you can clearly see the vertical rub on the piston, which others have mentioned, not to mention what might not be so clear is the pitting on the skirts
When we looked in the barrels, there were corresponding vertical scars where the rings were lined up. If you require a picture of that as well so I can prove my OPINION, then please let me know.
Our OPINION is that the rings were installed incorrectly ON BOTH SIDES, and that, coupled with the play of the crappy pistons, created a scar on the cylinder wall that didn't allow the rings to shift or rotate ON BOTH SIDES. Most likely due to immediate high RPM revving with minimal oiling that created the issue.
Anyone can make the argument for one cylinder but to both being aligned like we found is just ignorant and not looking at all the factors.
This thread is better than some of those stories people tell!!
