Racing the TNT 135

[wheelbender6]

Article about prepping and endurance racing the Benelli TNT 135.
Www.motorcycle.com

[RedCrowRides]

Absolutely awesome article and the video was great too ! I wasn't aware of many of the things that came up both in the actual article & video as well as in the comments section below it - I will say that they didnt mention how many miles the bike they used had on it ,but I'm inclined to believe that it was likely brand new ( sure looked like it )

and the oil loss they mentioned that led to shifting issues was completely normal for one of these small engines being run that hard for that long ,especially before being run in completely ,in the time it took them to gas up they could have easily been adding oil with no added time ,I assume they just aren't familiar enough with these bikes ( especially chinese ones) to have known that is something you DO need to watch particularly during and just after break in periods even during normal operation

and always under Race conditions- these little motors do have blowby and are working super hard so yes there will be oil used even with no leaks present. Great read and watch overall, thanks for posting it !

[culcune]

I had been thinking of getting a Lifan KP Mini and turn it into a race bike ever since reading an article on American Lifan's site a couple years ago (since deleted). The article was about a press day event in China for the Mini, and there was a whole fleet of racing versions with slicks and minus street equipment like lighting. The problem was, at the time, I didn't know there were organizations like UMRA who sanction events; I thought if I was going to race one, I would have to start up a one bike racing series (which might not be a bad idea). Now I know there is an organization out there, although the 24 hour race is a lofty goal.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by RedCrowRides

and the oil loss they mentioned that led to shifting issues was completely normal for one of these small engines being run that hard for that long ,especially before being run in completely ,in the time it took them to gas up they could have easily been adding oil with no added time ,I assume they just aren't familiar enough with these bikes ( especially chinese ones) to have known that is something you DO need to watch particularly during and just after break in periods even during normal operation

and always under Race conditions- these little motors do have blowby and are working super hard so yes there will be oil used even with no leaks present. Great read and watch overall, thanks for posting it !

One thing that causes them to use oil and have difficulties shifting when run really hard is that the small oil capacity combined with them being air cooled causes the oil to get too hot (heat soaked in a sense) and lose viscosity to the point that the oil is almost like water. If I were going to seriously race one of these little engines, I would fit as big of an oil cooler as I could to the front of the bike. It might not completely solve all of the issues, but it would greatly aid in both oil consumption and shifting issues caused by that drastic drop in viscosity.

For proof of this, take a look at the old air cooled superbike racers. They had oil coolers the size of radiators, sometimes more than one. Keep in mind that these little engines were designed to be cheap transportation run in normal city conditions and slow speed off road where throttle application is off and on and not mostly wide open.

Yes, not having a properly broken in engine also doesn't help. Running an ester based synthetic race oil would also make a big difference (Motul 300V)

[RedCrowRides]

@MegaDan - You are 100% correct, I raced WERA in 1984-86 on an air cooled Kawasaki GPz 750 and we ran a pair of huge oil coolers .,mounted under Lockhart Fairing Lowers that had channels to feed the air directly to them.Unfortunately for us , 1985 saw Honda introduce the first VF750F Interceptors which whipped us like a Gubb'ment mule thanks to the new engine and chassis design but hey, at least our bike didn't overheat while being passed by Interceptors.......

[wlfpck]

Can't find it for some reason but the guy that "pioneered" the 4 valve, 212cc bored out ZS190cc engine is running 2 oil coolers.

Before I bought mine, I also found several sources on different pit bike forums that stated there was a difference in oil temp before and after adding the oil cooler.

The Honda Grom forums also had something on there if I'm not mistaken with testing done as well.

No point in not running one if you can.

[RedCrowRides]

I second wlfpck 's remarks, i talked about my old endurance road race days in response to MegaDans comments, and forgot to mention that i also do run an oil cooler on my Vader, it was one of the very first mods i did . Benefits are two fold ,cooler oil, and slightly more oil overall . About one full quart is all the oil my Vader held stock to make the fill line, so adding my oil cooler and lines required me to add about another 1/4-1/3 quart of oil ,thats 25% -30% more volume which is pretty significant ,I also added a magnetic drain plug , the stock screen is prolly fine but hey , it cant hurt and it was like $5 on Ebay in the anodized color of your choice !