ANDYVH
New member
As my bike has now surpassed 150,000 miles of giving me many many hours of riding pleasures and experiences, my mind started to wonder about things internal in the engine, like the pistons. Yeah,...I know,...I need to get a life instead of thinking about wierd crap like pistons zipping back and forth in cylinders. Anywho,....
My 94 R1100RS, has 3.898" diameter pistons (pretty good size) and a piston stroke of 2.776". So my mind got to wandering, "how far have those pistons travelled in 150,000 miles?" 2.776"/12 = 0.231'. So each ONE rev of the engine means each piston has travelled 0.462 feet. No biggie right? But, if I consider an average engine speed of 3,000 RPM over those 150,000 miles, say an avg speed of 45mph, 150,000 miles at 45mph = 3,333 hours (that is a LOT of seat time, .38 year of sitting on the seat!). 3,333 x 60 = 200,000 minutes. So, at 200,000 minutes x 3,000 rev per minutes = 600,000,000 revolutions! HOLY CRAP!! That means, those pistons have travelled 277,200,000 feet in 150,000 miles! That's 600,000,000 times .462'/rev. Or, those pistons have travelled 52,500 MILES in 150,000 miles on the bike.
Ok, doesn't sound that big. But consider, for EVERY single stroke of the piston, at 3,000 rpm, that piston comes to a FULL stop at the top of each stroke, reverses direction, accelerates to 925.33 feet per second at mid-stroke, and then comes to a complete stop again at the bottom of the stroke. Reverse direction again, and accelerate again to 925.33 feet per second. And it'll do this all day if I want it to. To me, its simply amazing that the engine has lasted this long, and it'll go MUCH longer yet, day in, day out, hot, cold, whenever. And I have heard reports from BMW techs of engines they have torn down with miles like this, to still see the machining cross-hatching marks in the cylinders!!
Ya know, when a geeky engineer mind starts to wander, all manner of strange thoughts congeal in the ol' pink jello between my ears. Maybe I should get cable TV and quit thinking like this. Or,.... get a date..........
Hmm,...now 0.38 year of sitting on the seat, is like sitting there for 4.56 months! So if done without a break, my butt would be on that seat, in total, from, say June 1st to about October 20th. I need a life!! No actually, I need to ride MORE!
My 94 R1100RS, has 3.898" diameter pistons (pretty good size) and a piston stroke of 2.776". So my mind got to wandering, "how far have those pistons travelled in 150,000 miles?" 2.776"/12 = 0.231'. So each ONE rev of the engine means each piston has travelled 0.462 feet. No biggie right? But, if I consider an average engine speed of 3,000 RPM over those 150,000 miles, say an avg speed of 45mph, 150,000 miles at 45mph = 3,333 hours (that is a LOT of seat time, .38 year of sitting on the seat!). 3,333 x 60 = 200,000 minutes. So, at 200,000 minutes x 3,000 rev per minutes = 600,000,000 revolutions! HOLY CRAP!! That means, those pistons have travelled 277,200,000 feet in 150,000 miles! That's 600,000,000 times .462'/rev. Or, those pistons have travelled 52,500 MILES in 150,000 miles on the bike.
Ok, doesn't sound that big. But consider, for EVERY single stroke of the piston, at 3,000 rpm, that piston comes to a FULL stop at the top of each stroke, reverses direction, accelerates to 925.33 feet per second at mid-stroke, and then comes to a complete stop again at the bottom of the stroke. Reverse direction again, and accelerate again to 925.33 feet per second. And it'll do this all day if I want it to. To me, its simply amazing that the engine has lasted this long, and it'll go MUCH longer yet, day in, day out, hot, cold, whenever. And I have heard reports from BMW techs of engines they have torn down with miles like this, to still see the machining cross-hatching marks in the cylinders!!
Ya know, when a geeky engineer mind starts to wander, all manner of strange thoughts congeal in the ol' pink jello between my ears. Maybe I should get cable TV and quit thinking like this. Or,.... get a date..........
Hmm,...now 0.38 year of sitting on the seat, is like sitting there for 4.56 months! So if done without a break, my butt would be on that seat, in total, from, say June 1st to about October 20th. I need a life!! No actually, I need to ride MORE!