Radial Engine Powered Motorcycle
May 10th, 2006 by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider"
One of our readers sent us this photo of a motorcycle powered by a 7 cylinder radial engine! We have no details of where this is from or who built it. If any of you have seen this or know more about it, please let us know. Several motorcycle builders, including Confederate, say they are using a radial engine when what they have is simply a two cylinder slice. This bike uses the whole thing! Incredible.
More info: The engine seems to be a 110hp 7 cylinder radial from Rotec Engineering. Rotec is an Australian company (Why am I not surprised when I think some Aussie did this?)
Update: Maybe not an Aussie. Maybe Jesse James. The bike was on display at the Legend of the Motorcycle: Concours d’Elegance in California this past weekend.
Update 2: A commentor below was actually the photographer for this first photo and confirms the builder as Jesse James. Photo by Neil McFarland of Santa Cruz, CA. Nice shot, Neil! He has a link in his comment to more photos.
More Photos Below:
Followed an incoming link back to the Speedzilla discussion board and found two more photos. As one commentor below indicates, he believes this is a Jesse James creation and looking at the Maltese cross on the headstock, he may be right.
Big Thanks, Jeff, for the original tip.
Link: Rotec Engineering
Here’s the fellow that modified the engine for this motorcycle:
The Kneeslider: Radial Motorcycle Engine Modifications
The Kneeslider: Radial Engine Motorcycle by JRL Cycles
The Kneeslider: Radial Engine Motorcycle #2
The Kneeslider: Legend of the Motorcycle: Concours d’Elegance
Posted in Engines, Motorcycle Builders, Motorcycle Design, Workshop & Tools
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60 Responses to “Radial Engine Powered Motorcycle”
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May 10th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
I bet it makes a beautiful (albeit loud) sound.
May 10th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
Damn, they stole my idea! I’ve been wanting to build one for a while but don’t have the funds (those engines cost a fortune!). That Rotec engine is even the one I had my eyes on.
My bike would look a lot better though — less cruiser and more cafe racer-styled, with polished aluminum bodywork to give more of an aircraft engine cowl effect.
May 10th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
PS: I wonder if that bike has a Coffman starter…
May 10th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Coffman starters, … very cool. Remember “Flight of the Phoenix?” Only one cartridge left …
May 10th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Heh! you guys beat me to it! crazy! Nice motor…
May 10th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Imagine the horrible feeling you would have the first time you scraped something…
For anyone that missed it, this http://www2.hunterlink.net.au/~ddped/rrv2.htm
is a much more sensible way of using an airplane engine in a bike;
also an Aussie…
May 11th, 2006 at 1:26 am
the rear of the frame looks like West Coast Choppers dominator frame design.
May 11th, 2006 at 9:15 am
I read that it is a Jesse James built bike over on Adventure Rider. One of the members was there(at the Concours this past weekend, and seemingly where you got the photo), took a gazillion photos and talked to a lot of people.
May 11th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
Wouldn’t it be really cool if they mounted the propeller & let it run like an airplane???
May 12th, 2006 at 8:16 pm
Heck, why don’t y’all just buy a few surplus JATO units? You build a chopper around one of those babies and you freakin CLOSE THE BOOKS on testosterone.
http://www.snopes.com/autos/dream/jato.asp
May 13th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
I was at the show last weekend, and in fact, the first picture is mine! (Feel free to use it, I’m honored!) - Here’s a link to the rest of the pics if anyone is interested (Ihave about 8 or 10 of that bike):
http://funkgarden.com/neil/Legend%20of%20the%20Motorcycle/
The bike was amazing. It was in fact built by Jesse James.
Neil
May 13th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Neil,
Thanks for the ID on the picture. I looked through your album, great photos of the radial but also of all of the other bikes. What a lineup! Makes me wish I had taken the trip over there.
Amazing as the radial is, there were other bikes there I would have spent more time looking over.
Thanks for the great photos.
May 14th, 2006 at 7:10 am
[…] Maybe not now. […]
May 14th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
For an old Navy, and former Round Motor Mechanic, this idea is simply mind boggling… I’d say operating this thing absolutely needs long arms, stubby legs and an asbestos suit!!
May 16th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
The Jesse James incarnation won’t run because the sidedraft Bing carburetor is presently mounted as an updraft carburetor…
May 19th, 2006 at 3:42 am
Dodgy wrote:
> For anyone that missed it, this > http://www2.hunterlink.net.au/~ddped/rrv2.htm
is a much more sensible way of using an airplane engine in a
> bike; also an Aussie…
Hey, I have some footage of that engine being started and revved up! It’s pretty awesome.
May 19th, 2006 at 3:56 am
There’s another radial-engined bike here:
http://jeffsrv-7a.com/STUFF/AeroMotorcycle.jpg
May 27th, 2006 at 12:54 am
Reminds me of a couple of photos in the old “Autoweek & Competition Press” from the ’60’s - both a wheelchair and a go-cart with small-block V-8’s installed. Someone said they didn’t build them to run but just to roll out and listen to the comments.
June 1st, 2006 at 11:14 pm
I flew radial engine Attack bombers in the Navy. I had a big right leg due to the torque on takeoff. IMHO, mounting the engine with the crank fore and aft is likely to wind up with the engine laying on the rider’s left knee with a good application of power.
August 12th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Acording to Motorcyclist magazine bike was built by Jesse James.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
This is another one, this time built by one of us Aussies.
http://www.rotecradialengines.com/Osh/Osh.htm
September 7th, 2006 at 1:15 am
I have a suspicion that the silver bike on this site — radial engine mounted cross-wise — will not operate. Obviously, someone may be proving me wrong already. But I believe the rotational torque of the engine under power will cause the bike to tumble sideways, where as the in-line mounted radial could operate, the torque being in the same plane as the forward motion of the bike.
My suspicion comes from the internal mechanics of a radial engine — one large con rod “throw” (journal) onto the perimeter of which the other six (in a 7-cyl design) normal sized con rods attach and move in a toggling fashion. The rotational inertia on the master journal and the crank is huge, and might make the bike inoperable in a cross-mounted design. — Just my guess.
October 5th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Not to mention that the gas tank looks like it holds enough fuel to get down the street and back.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:13 am
Yep Jesse James built it at West Coast Choppers and yes FOOLS it does run!
December 22nd, 2006 at 7:57 pm
[…] the only thing is i think the engine is a bit small its been done befor (i think you already know that right ) Radial Engine Powered Motorcycle - The Kneeslider also where do you want teh thread? is it finished or is it still a wip? __________________ Your music is bad, and you should feel bad! […]
January 24th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Jesse isn’t big on building things that DON’T run.. lol… as a matter of fact, he’ll blow’em up if they just don’t run “right”….
As far as the torque, it does seem that way, but, don’t forget V-8’s have a lot of rotational torque also, and they have been putting them in bikes for years. I have seen lots of “Boss Hoss” V-8 bikes, even with big blocks in them.
From talking to a few owners, they tell me that if you rev them up quickly, with the clutch in, you definitely feel the torque, but as soon as you let the clutch out, you don’t. Not sure why, as I am not a physicist, but I have had them blow be me like I was sitting still, full screaming throttle, and they don’t look unstable at all.
From my limited physics knowledge, (very limited, I agree..) I wouldn’t think that the arrangement of the cylinders would have any effect on the torque produced. I mean, the crankshaft is still going around, therefore the torque is still present, no matter where the cylinders are located, and the torque the crankshaft is putting out would be the same.
Now, if you wanted some REAL fun…. try mounting a radial engine of the design where crankshaft is static, and the cylinders and propeller turn together…… that would be…. um…. insane… HA!
January 24th, 2007 at 8:21 am
wow, I wish I could EDIT my posts… “rotational torque” uh… yeah… as opposed to what OTHER kind of torque.. .oh well….. no edit for me.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I also believe that the torgue from the cross-mounted engine would make the bike very unstable under acceleration.
February 19th, 2007 at 12:53 am
I saw this in the japanese VIBES mag! what a MONSTER! i had my wife read it to me and it says Jesse built it. Its Blue and has the West Coast Chopper emblem on it its fantastic! a real work of ART…
March 12th, 2007 at 12:39 am
The bike was built by Jesse James in his custom shop adjacent to the West Coast Chopper facility. I have a photo of it during it’s construction. I’ll be glad to send it if you give me an address. Dick Vennerbeck
April 3rd, 2007 at 7:05 am
I have a picture of this bike before painting in Jesses shop parked next to his custom Hummer. Like old harleys, it had rags under the radial due to oil leaks.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Having the engine cross mounted should not be a problem. The Honda GoldWing, the Honda ST1300, BMWs with opposed 2 cylinder engines, and the Motoguzi have cross mounted engines and it’s not a problem for them. Granted that if you were sanding still and revved the engine quickly in neutral on any of those bikes, the bike would tend to rock to the side a bit, but not enough to cause problems.
One of the problems for the bike with a radial engine would be ground clearance. You can see that one of the cylinder valve covers is almost touching the ground when there isn’t even a rider on the bike. With even a very slight lean angle, other valve covers would touch the ground. Obviously it isn’t very practical.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
here is another I have no idea wher eit came from
http://www.bikershut.net/mc/radial_mc.jpg
it will be up for a short time
April 26th, 2007 at 11:06 am
wow, i cant believe how many peoeple say bad things about this bike. this thing is freakin awesome. even if it never “drives” it is something really trick to look at. awesome piece of art
May 1st, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Uh….If you said a moto guzzi didn’t transmit the torque while riding, you never rode one. The one I rode wanted to fall into or straighten up out of the corners- depending on how much gas you gave, and what direction the turn was. Takes some getting used to!
I imagine some of the bikes that run longitudinally have counter balance shafts.
What I’d like to build is a go kart with the small jet engine from a missle I saw at the pax river museum! 600 lb of thrust in a package about the size of a 5 gallon bucket.
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:01 pm
this thing is wild,Boss hoss has torque and its a blast to ride
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Jesse’s radial bike was featured in the April 07 Cycle World:
http://www.cycleworld.com/article.asp?section_id=6&article_id=296
May 27th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
ugh!!, think of the heat that big motor gonna develop….be like riding into a the exhaust of a 747….lol
June 30th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
About the physics of torque and this awesome build. Torque is only measured (and felt) when resistance is present. I have no doubt that the engine runs just fine. It’s all a matter of controlling that power when the transmission is in gear and the rear wheel is providing resistance. If done carefully, I’m sure that it can be controlled.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:32 am
Response to Andrew Stanford’s notes dated Jan24:
Static crank/rotating cylinders/radial configuration - it’s all been done and I’m not talkin’ about Sopwith Camels! Go looking for information about Megola motorcycles, made (I think) in France around early ’20s. To top it all off, they were front wheel drive. No clutch, you paddle off by foot to start the engine and one gear is all you get. Very crazy, very cool.
July 10th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Id really like to see some video…….anyone?????
July 20th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Wouldn’t you like to see Jesse James ride the thing from California to Sturgis? When he got there he would look like a hot dog roasted on someone’s grill. That’s one weener roast that Sandra wouldn’t like!
July 24th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Hey all.
I’m just a photographer and know nothing about bikes.
I was just searching for info on this bike as I saw one in a models profile that I might be working with.
Check her out with one of these bikes:
http://www.onemodelplace.com/member.cfm/ID/236347
I thought you guys would enjoy that!
Have fun,
Bill from NJ
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Hmmm… It certainly adds a new dimension to the phrase “flying down the road”!
Is it comfortable to ride on, or does the shape give the ‘pilot’ back trouble??
August 6th, 2007 at 1:30 am
This one IS a Jesse James creation. I saw it in one of the mags a few months ago. There is a similar radial engine bike that was also written up a bike mag in the past few months but I lost the mag and can’t remember the builder.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:04 am
A VERY pretty engine. Interesting that power is taken off the ancilliaries-end of the unit and that the timing-gear end is blanked off. Maybe the engine cools better from the front.
One could achieve better ground-clearance and lower centre of gravity if a “corncob” radial was used. ie Multiple rows of cylinders with reduced radius. Same engine capacity could be achieved, smoother power delivey guaranteed.
As for the torque effect, a lot of perceved torque (and gyroscopic effect) in an aircraft comes from the propellers much greater radius than the various whirling bits inside the motor. In this application it could be reduced or eliminated with a counter-rotating flywheel. Look at helicopters with two rotors on a common axis. They still have only one engine turning in one direction but the two rotors of equal inertia and aerodynamic performance, turning in opposite directions to each other, cancel ALL torque effects so that the small tail rotor is no longer required.
Fantastic site!
August 20th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
I wonder how he got it to stop leaking oil? Any radial mechanic knows that if it aint leaking, its out of oil. A 4360 Corn Cob radial would be awesome. No matter what, this bike is very smooth and clean. As for the torque, without a prop and it small engine size it wouldnt be that bad, not like a Pratt Whitney 2800, 3350, or the 4360.
September 16th, 2007 at 4:57 am
Hey So Cool! I have a V8 bike i built. How can i put on your site? Todd Fort Nelson BC. Canada
October 12th, 2007 at 6:34 am
Interestingly, this is the second Rotec powered chopper I have seen on the web. The other one appeared on Rotec’s own stand at Oshkosh 2006. Oshkosh is the world’s biggest experimental plane show and thousands of people would have seen the chopper there. To my mind, it looked better than this one because the engine was not set accross the frame, it was 90 degrees different. Therefore those beautiful alloy cylinder heads would not have been threatened if you leant it over a bit too far in the corners. You can see it at
http://www.rotecradialengines.com/0JRL/JRLMotorcycle.htm
It was built by an American firm, JRL. You can also see more photos of it in the Oshkosh 2006 section of the Rotec website. Have a look, it’s awesome.
Mike Holgate, UK.
October 20th, 2007 at 9:28 am
According to local experts the radial engine is an Alligator from an amphibious tank from the sixties, I just mounted a motor like it on a stand for display, brand new never started, but sitting outside for years, what a shame.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Hey I think the all terrain bike is the coolest and this is the first time on this website
December 30th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
The Seven cylinder radial engine bike was not made by an Australian. It was made by an American, Jesse James from West Coast Choppers. A little bit of a clue for you would have been to look at the Iron Cross logo of west coast choppers on the front of the bike in gold. That and the red bike next to it is another west coast choppers bike The El Diablo 2.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Is there anywhere on the internet where we can see and hear this beauty running? What a masterpiece!
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:15 am
You can see and hear it run on YouTube..
“Radial engine motorcycle”
March 10th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Here`s a link to a few build pics involving the engine. The conversion work on the radial engine was done by Mike Redpath at Musclerodz. He`s hot rod builder and aircraft restoration expert. http://www.musclerodz.com/rides/
March 11th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Marcus, if you read the link at the bottom of Mike’s article, you’ll see the original article with photos and details was right here on The Kneeslider.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Jay leno should have one of these.
I love odd ball and new creations.
this one is great!
April 12th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Just to follow up on Mike Holgate’s photo info.
Here’s another photo from our local paper that shows the JRL bike and the in-line motor, as opposed to the 90-degree, perpendicular mounting in Jesse’s creation.
http://images.townnews.com/rapidcityjournal.com/content/articles/2008/04/11/news/top/doc47febd9061b05248023477.jpg
April 18th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
What a waste of time and an engine.
May 11th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Meh - Get back to me when he builds one with a Wright R-3350.
The R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone was one of the most powerful radial aircraft engines produced in the United States. It was a twin row, supercharged, air-cooled, radial engine with 18 cylinders. Power ranged from 2,200 to over 3,700 hp.
As my old Chief ADR (Aviation engine mechanic, reciprocating) used to say, “The C-121 Connie was 144 sparkplugs flying in close formation.”