Normal
It all depends on how you are using your bike. From an engineering perspective the plating is greatly superior. It allows for much greater heat removal. It is not a minor change with a steel sleeve. Depending on the exact alloys the aluminum has a 3 to 5 times greater thermal conductivity. Next is thermal expansion. Steel has around half the expansion of aluminum. This requires more clearance between the piston and the bore. Now for bore life. The plating is way harder than the steel sleeve. That's why you can just replace the piston on a plated cylinder. The plating does not wear at near the rate of the steel. Finally you have the ports. It's tough to get the proper shape of the ports when installing a sleeve.What does all this mean? Well the plating has a lot of advantages. The advantage the sleeve has is reboring for a lot less then replating. If you flog your engine hard you might want to replate. That tells me that if you are racing you want a plated cylinder. If you are a trail rider and you don't flog the bike too much then a sleeve should work great. Engine displacement also has a role. The smaller the engine the more you have to loose with a sleeve. Got a big bore like Dan? Steel is fine unless you are trying to set a land speed record or something.
It all depends on how you are using your bike.
From an engineering perspective the plating is greatly superior. It allows for much greater heat removal. It is not a minor change with a steel sleeve. Depending on the exact alloys the aluminum has a 3 to 5 times greater thermal conductivity. Next is thermal expansion. Steel has around half the expansion of aluminum. This requires more clearance between the piston and the bore. Now for bore life. The plating is way harder than the steel sleeve. That's why you can just replace the piston on a plated cylinder. The plating does not wear at near the rate of the steel. Finally you have the ports. It's tough to get the proper shape of the ports when installing a sleeve.
What does all this mean? Well the plating has a lot of advantages. The advantage the sleeve has is reboring for a lot less then replating. If you flog your engine hard you might want to replate. That tells me that if you are racing you want a plated cylinder. If you are a trail rider and you don't flog the bike too much then a sleeve should work great.
Engine displacement also has a role. The smaller the engine the more you have to loose with a sleeve. Got a big bore like Dan? Steel is fine unless you are trying to set a land speed record or something.
