When we last looked at the radial engine powered motorcycle by JRL Cycles, it was a bit short of finished. JRL mounted their engine longitudinally instead of transverse as Jesse James did. It looked interesting then but it's always nice to see the finished bike.
Chris Beytes of South Elgin, IL., one of The Kneeslider's readers, was up at the EAA fly in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin and almost ready to leave last Friday when he came across the bike. He snapped these photos and tried to get the guys from Rotec to fire it up but they are saving that for Sturgis. After looking it over, Chris says it appears to be very well engineered. I think they might have done well to add heat shields on those exhausts, either that or you wear some sort of asbestos leg protection. And how about that open belt on the left? Ouch! Looks nice, though.
Thanks for the photos, Chris!
The Kneeslider: Radial Engine Motorcycle by JRL Cycles
The Kneeslider: Radial Engine Motorcycle #2
Another photo below:
Photo credits: Chris Beytes of South Elgin, IL.
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The bike is not yet a runner. I was at Airventure also & saw the bike & talked to the guys who built it. It still needs an oil sump & scavenge pump, some electrical work, the brakes hooked up & other work to be a runner. They also plan to put some sort of belt cover on the primary belt. It is definitely cool looking & I can’t wait to see it run & I don’t doubt they plan to run it at Sturgis, but they couldn’t have run it at Oshkosh if they wanted to.
This goes for any and all of the current crop of radial-engined bikes (I’ve seen a couple of others recently, in addition to this one and the JJ one)… If the engine doesn’t spin in the frame, it’s not finished yet.
I think it makes the rear wheel look too small in diameter.
-todd
If I may nitpick, that pictured bike has the engine mounted transverse, not longitudinal. That term is supposed to describe how the crankshaft is oriented in relation to the rest of the bike. Jesse James’ one with the cylinders sticking up and out the sides, has a longitudinal crankshaft.
When you stop to think about it, you make a good point. Thanks, Nate.
The bike rides great! We did cover the primary belt and the exhaust isn’t has bad as i thought it was going to be. idling in 1st equals about 30mph and we haven’t been able to use 6th gear yet. We are in the process of taking the web-site over ourselves so hopefully updates will be quicker and we will have some video soon.
thanks
John
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