The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

In-line Four Engine Development

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Is the in-line four cylinder motor about to become the most developed engine for performance motorcycles? BMW's choice for this platform and Yamaha's development of their cross-plane crankshaft engine are two obvious points. What if either of those manufacturers combine their strategies with something similar to the Horex's staggered piston arrangement? The Horex 6 cylinder … [Read more...]

ACE Fireball 535 Royal Enfield High Performance Kit

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What we have here, fellas, is the ACE Fireball 535 Royal Enfield high performance engine kit. You take your stock, single cylinder Royal Enfield Bullet and with the addition of this kit, turn it into a real, ... well, fireball. No, you're not going to challenge any of the boy racers out there, but compared to any stock Royal Enfield, you'll be the man to beat, seriously. This … [Read more...]

Helical Camshafts – Variable Valve Actuation with a Mechanical Twist

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Unless you're directly involved with engine design, it's hard to keep up with all of the creative methods engineers have used to integrate variable valve actuation into a standard internal combustion engine. In this day of computer controls, you would think mechanical methods would be losing ground, but I received a note from Danny Williams about the Williams Helical Camshaft … [Read more...]

EcoMotors OPOC Two Stroke Engine Gets Funding from Bill Gates

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Remember the OPOC engine? That is the opposed cylinder 2 stroke we mentioned last December. It looks like it's getting interest from investors, notably, Bill Gates, who just contributed $23.5 million to help them complete engineering and testing. Gates has been investing in all sorts of alternative energy companies and projects, his funding here certainly raises the chances the … [Read more...]

Polaris Industries and Swissauto Engines

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In light of all of the V4 discussion surrounding Motus, here's some interesting engine news from Swissauto and Polaris. Richard, one of The Kneeslider's readers, pointed me to this press release I missed from back in February. Polaris Industries acquired the powersports portion of Swissauto, a company that designs and develops high-performance and high-efficiency engines and … [Read more...]

Motus KMV4 – the Hot Rod Small Block – More Details Revealed

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It’s often hard to evaluate something brand new until we compare it to something we already know, … or think we know. Last week, you saw the video of the new KMV4 engine running on a dynamometer and some specs were listed on the Motus website. Is it light, compact, powerful and versatile, or heavy, huge, under powered and limited in potential applications? Is it well … [Read more...]