Losing weight isn’t just a perennial goal of human beings, it’s the holy grail of motorcycle design, at least in terms of performance. If you want a motorcycle to accelerate quicker, stop faster, get better mileage or perform better in almost any area, just reduce the weight. Plastics have long been used for many reasons [...]
From the category archives:
Engines
Ilmor Engineering, the firm made famous for its work with Indy Cars and Formula One, as well as Triumph Motorcycles and Harley Davidson plus GM, Honda and Mercedes have built an engine that will make you think for a bit, it’s a 700cc, 3 cylinder, 130 horsepower turbocharged 5 stroke. Did they say 5 stroke?
The [...]
If Honda’s dual clutch, which will debut on the new VFR, got your attention, how about a V4 with unequal front and rear cylinder spacing plus cylinder deactivation? These Honda patent drawings show the layout of their new engine with the front cylinders widely spaced and the rear closer together. The connecting rods are mounted [...]
A common question is why motorcycle engines aren’t arranged with the air intakes in the front and the exhaust in the back. Reasons given for the usual arrangement are many but Yamaha evidently thought the straight thru approach might make sense so their new YZF450F makes this “revolutionary advancement” by turning the cylinder around, slanting [...]
The V-Quad engine, basically a side by side V-Twin, that Greg Nelson produces, was installed in a custom motorcycle built by Brouhard Design for owner Mike Maggio. They took it to Bonneville recently and Maggio ran 164.172 mph for a new record in the APGU class. This is an open motorcycle (no fairings or streamlining), [...]
Photoshop is often abused, ever see one of those supermodels before the computer magic? Yikes! On the other hand, sometimes photos just need a cleaner background or a few blemishes removed to bring out what’s hidden in plain sight and that’s where Gordon Calder’s talent lies. He finds motorcycle engines the perfect subject, wrapped as [...]
Have you ever noticed how once you start looking for things, they just seem to jump out all over the place, like W configuration engines. After mentioning the Anzani W3 the other day, I came across another one I had never seen before, this one is the Moto Guzzi arrow W103, a 3 cylinder engine [...]
Renjith Rao, one of The Kneeslider’s readers in India, has taken his Suzuki AX100 single cylinder 2 stroke and turned it into a parallel twin. The crankshafts are mechanically connected inside the joined cases and run at 180 degrees. Though a 200cc engine may be small over here, it’s a big jump from the small [...]
Kickboxer Subaru WRX Powered Motorcycle Concept
