low priced cylinder/piston kits on eBay

[Barrie]

So basically, no one has any personal experience with the parts but are willing to share all sorts of horror stories.  I appreciate caution and sharing of knowledge, but let's hear from someone that has a set. 

bought the blaster top end kit. new from china. comes with a modern piston and all the gaskets. the new tech is there. the only problem I saw (and the guy posted it in the description) the ports needed to be chamfered and excess flash needed to be cleaned up. like 15 minutes with a dental drill and a football diamond and I was good. mine definitly needed some cleaning up but well worth it.
I'm glad someone will take the plunge,
I had this a few years ago with Cruzzin image pistons ,every man and his dog was saying  they could not be any good because of the price. I bought a set  for a H1 , how wrong they all were, really good value and the delivery was good

[teazer]

Cruzinimage pistons are way better than they have any right to be at that price.  I have a set in my GT750 stock class drag race bike and that gets revved to close to 8,000 and they are still good. 

[pdxjim]

Cruzinimage pistons are way better than they have any right to be at that price.  I have a set in my GT750 stock class drag race bike and that gets revved to close to 8,000 and they are still good.

Agreed.  I bought a set for my KH400 and had Ron RB-designs.com Black do the bores.  He was blown away by the quality/price.  He said two of three pistons were exactly the same size and the third was only a couple thousandths off.

I think they were less than $100 for all three including fast shipping from Japan

[The Red Scourge]

Whoa!  I had no idea about Cruzin Image.  I just looked because I need new rings and might as well get the full deal.  $45 for an RD400 set!

[Still biking]

thanks for the reports on actual users of these.  I guess the question remaining is longevity.  But if they last one bore life, the price of the kit with pistons, rings and cylinders makes it worth it.

[pdxjim]

Whoa!  I had no idea about Cruzin Image.  I just looked because I need new rings and might as well get the full deal.  $45 for an RD400 set!

LOL!  Prices went up, they were $40 a few months ago.

You may be able to run big window RZ pistons for a little performance gain, but I don't know if the skirt needs trimmed or not.

[bracket maker]

Whoa!  I had no idea about Cruzin Image.  I just looked because I need new rings and might as well get the full deal.  $45 for an RD400 set!

LOL!  Prices went up, they were $40 a few months ago.

You may be able to run big window RZ pistons for a little performance gain, but I don't know if the skirt needs trimmed or not.

banshee?

[Still biking]

Heres and up date for you on those chinese cylinders sold on EBAy.

Since there were no absolute negatives on these cylinders by individuals who had used them I bought a set and installed on a 1975 Yamaha RD350.  Looked nice, didn't appear anything significant out of place.  Installed in October 2019, got a few rides in before the rains hit in Sacramento Valley and everything seemed good.

February 2020 again started riding and on the 3rd or forth ride (I usually go out for about 50-60 miles RT) engine started to seize.  Got it back and disassembled one cylinder had scuffing.  I had a bore hone and was able to clean cylinder with no problem.  I reinstalled and rode bike 5 or 6 times before summer heat hit. 

Yesterday took bike out for ride and same cylinder I believe, started to seize.  I have Premier AAA but was shocked when I called for tow was told I cant ride in tow truck, have to use Uber, Covid concerns.  Now that makes a lot of sense.  Anyway back to my story.

So now I know these cylinders are junk and I go back to EBAY where I bought them to see what comments have been made about this issue and seller.  Surprise, surprise, seller no longer registered with EBAY.  So the scam is, sell as many of these as you can, when complaints start coming in, drop your registration with EBAY.

I paid $390 for my set that came with pistons, rings and cylinders.  Now I see you can buy them for $219!  https://www.ebay.com/itm/64mm-RD-350CC-LH-RH-Cylinders-Pistons-Complete-Kit-For-YAMAHA-1973-1974-1975/184408765114?hash=item2aef9e72ba:g:~g8AAOSw5XRfO~2H

And its a different seller, as I said when complaints come in the seller vanishes from EBAY and another one appears selling the same crap! 

I was wondering why the price on used OEM cylinders had dropped so dramatically over the past year or two.  I guess there are a lot of guys buying these things.  Has anyone else, since this thread began, had an experience with these cylinders?

[Diablo007]

Thanks for the  update!  I had forgotten about this thread.  Looks like I should have held on to the cylinders I sold a while back, and I'll keep the remaining ones that I have.

[m in sc]

id never run the pistons that come with them on one of my bikes. the cyls? sure.

[rodneya]

Heres and up date for you on those chinese cylinders sold on EBAy.

Since there were no absolute negatives on these cylinders by individuals who had used them I bought a set and installed on a 1975 Yamaha RD350.  Looked nice, didn't appear anything significant out of place.  Installed in October 2019, got a few rides in before the rains hit in Sacramento Valley and everything seemed good.

February 2020 again started riding and on the 3rd or forth ride (I usually go out for about 50-60 miles RT) engine started to seize.  Got it back and disassembled one cylinder had scuffing.  I had a bore hone and was able to clean cylinder with no problem.  I reinstalled and rode bike 5 or 6 times before summer heat hit. 

Yesterday took bike out for ride and same cylinder I believe, started to seize.  I have Premier AAA but was shocked when I called for tow was told I cant ride in tow truck, have to use Uber, Covid concerns.  Now that makes a lot of sense.  Anyway back to my story.

So now I know these cylinders are junk and I go back to EBAY where I bought them to see what comments have been made about this issue and seller.  Surprise, surprise, seller no longer registered with EBAY.  So the scam is, sell as many of these as you can, when complaints start coming in, drop your registration with EBAY.

I paid $390 for my set that came with pistons, rings and cylinders.  Now I see you can buy them for $219!  https://www.ebay.com/itm/64mm-RD-350CC-LH-RH-Cylinders-Pistons-Complete-Kit-For-YAMAHA-1973-1974-1975/184408765114?hash=item2aef9e72ba:g:~g8AAOSw5XRfO~2H

And its a different seller, as I said when complaints come in the seller vanishes from EBAY and another one appears selling the same crap! 

I was wondering why the price on used OEM cylinders had dropped so dramatically over the past year or two.  I guess there are a lot of guys buying these things.  Has anyone else, since this thread began, had an experience with these cylinders?

$145 set available if you order direct from China
https://www.ebay.com/itm/64mm-RD-350CC-LH-RH-Cylinders-Pistons-Top-End-Rebuild-Kit-For-YAMAHA-1973-1975/264844471363?hash=item3da9f5ec43:g:AkQAAOSwgn5fRnkL

[Still biking]

Heres and up date for you on those chinese cylinders sold on EBAy.

Since there were no absolute negatives on these cylinders by individuals who had used them I bought a set and installed on a 1975 Yamaha RD350.  Looked nice, didn't appear anything significant out of place.  Installed in October 2019, got a few rides in before the rains hit in Sacramento Valley and everything seemed good.

February 2020 again started riding and on the 3rd or forth ride (I usually go out for about 50-60 miles RT) engine started to seize.  Got it back and disassembled one cylinder had scuffing.  I had a bore hone and was able to clean cylinder with no problem.  I reinstalled and rode bike 5 or 6 times before summer heat hit. 

Yesterday took bike out for ride and same cylinder I believe, started to seize.  I have Premier AAA but was shocked when I called for tow was told I cant ride in tow truck, have to use Uber, Covid concerns.  Now that makes a lot of sense.  Anyway back to my story.

So now I know these cylinders are junk and I go back to EBAY where I bought them to see what comments have been made about this issue and seller.  Surprise, surprise, seller no longer registered with EBAY.  So the scam is, sell as many of these as you can, when complaints start coming in, drop your registration with EBAY.

I paid $390 for my set that came with pistons, rings and cylinders.  Now I see you can buy them for $219!  https://www.ebay.com/itm/64mm-RD-350CC-LH-RH-Cylinders-Pistons-Complete-Kit-For-YAMAHA-1973-1974-1975/184408765114?hash=item2aef9e72ba:g:~g8AAOSw5XRfO~2H

And its a different seller, as I said when complaints come in the seller vanishes from EBAY and another one appears selling the same crap! 

I was wondering why the price on used OEM cylinders had dropped so dramatically over the past year or two.  I guess there are a lot of guys buying these things.  Has anyone else, since this thread began, had an experience with these cylinders?

$145 set available if you order direct from China
https://www.ebay.com/itm/64mm-RD-350CC-LH-RH-Cylinders-Pistons-Top-End-Rebuild-Kit-For-YAMAHA-1973-1975/264844471363?hash=item3da9f5ec43:g:AkQAAOSwgn5fRnkL

similar price.  $219 is free shipping, 145 is $79 shipping.  that makes it a little more in cost

[Striker1423]

id never run the pistons that come with them on one of my bikes. the cyls? sure.

Mark is right.

I have read older reviews that noted the piston's etc that came in these sets were junk and bores were nowhere near in spec for the piston's. Buy the cylinders and cruzinimage it up for piston's if you want to go cheap. :) At least with cruzin' you know it's good! Check tolerances and proceed from there.

[JB Weld]

This is tempting. The ebay sellers falling off the face of the earth sucks for sure.

Wondering though if orbital cladding welds would be a possibility for stock cylinders? I suppose they may not be hard enough with the heat generated from welding, not to mention the shrinkage that may occur.