SickSpeedMonte

Friction increase from only a heavier pulley will not affect this.

Taking a few pounds out of the pulley will reduce the gravitational load of the crank on the #1 main bearing... but if you believe that gravitational forces play any role in the friction of the crank, then you are soarly mistaken. Consider the cylinder pressures, and then multiply that by the area of the cylinder, and compare that to the gravitational force change by reducing the weight of the pulley. Even the static force of the main caps torqued down on the bearings is greater than the gravitational force, I'd bet.

Beyond this... if there were no air resistance, and no friction, a spinning anything will continue to spin forever, with no energy added. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. The friction reduction is totally insignificant.

Glyn M Ruck

+1 - I won't talk about lubrication effects especially in a hydrodynamic situation like a crank bearing.