The motorcycle is a means of transport that has been growing in Colombia and in the world, many choose this means for economy and ease of mobility. Although there are many who are already specialists, others are just thinking of starting to shoot.
In the motorcycle market, you can find motorcycles with single-cylinder engines and up to six cylinders. For those who are entering the world of two wheels and are in search of a suitable motorcycle today, we bring the architecture of motorcycle engines.
Mono cylindrical motors
The single-cylinder engine is the most used in motorcycle design. They are generally air-cooled, although examples of water-cooled single-cylinder engines have not been lacking.
The single-cylinder engine is simpler, cheaper, lighter, smaller, and has more torque available at low revs. You can also consume less depending on how you use it.
It is suitable for scooters due to the little space they occupy and their low cost, but also for motorcycles of a citizen character. The normal thing is to find single cylinder low displacement, but not all are like that, there are 650 cc single-cylinder motorcycles very interesting for their ability to move
Advantage:
Simple
Light
Little
Strong
Economic
Lots of torque at low revs
Disadvantages:
Vibrations
Less revolutions per minute
Less power
More transmission wear.
Twin-cylinder engines
Line V Boxer
For years, the ideal number of cylinders in medium and high-displacement motorcycles was two. Probably the most balanced architecture and with many configuration options. With just two cylinders there are many different "personalities".
Compared to the single-cylinder engine, the two-cylinder engine has an advance in terms of balance and speed of movement, smoothness, size and weight. When doing the weight comparison, we could assume that the two-cylinder weighs twice as much, but considering that it requires a more robust crankshaft to balance the turns the weight can be equivalent.
It is still the most used engine up to 600 cc more or less, there are up to 1,700 cc (like the huge two in V at 45 degrees of Harley Davidson) and many others of 900 and 1200 (like those of Aprilia, BMW, KTM or Ducati, among others).
The advantages in the two-cylinder architecture depend on the wide cylinder arrangement. Let's go with the most important:
In parallel
The two-cylinder arrangement in parallel is the configuration where one cylinder sits side by side. The most frequent and popular, at the time, among other Ducati brands (up to 500 cc). As in the mono-cylindrical, the cylinders go upright or slightly tilted forward.
V-shaped with a longitudinal crankshaft
This configuration is typical of the Guzzi, V with an Angle of 90 degrees. This configuration was also used by the Japanese in some models that were not very successful. It allows lowering the engine and is ideal for use with a gimbal.
V with transverse crankshaft
The paradigmatic example is Ducati, without forgetting Harley Davidson. In the case of Ducati, the V is 90 degrees, which allows one cylinder to be “lying down” forwards and another one practically “standing up”, an ideal configuration when air-cooled and which the Italian brand is still using today. . Harley's is an absurd (technically speaking) 45-degree V-configuration with the two cylinders slightly tilted each to one side (this arrangement is what gives it Harley's signature, proprietary sound).
Boxer or opposite cylinder
This engine is the hallmark of the German brand BMW. It allows good cooling, relatively low center of gravity and is also ideal for using gimbals. Although it seems that it vibrates a lot, it is a very balanced engine, since the cylinders are compensated, since they "open" and "close" when looking at them from the front.
In tandem
This arrangement mounts one cylinder after another. Very typical of 250cc Grand Prix motorcycles, because in reality it was like putting two 125 engines one behind the other, thus achieving the narrowness of a monkey.
But whatever the arrangement of the cylinders, two-cylinder engines offer a very good balance between smoothness and power output and are the ideal choice for engines of medium displacement, between 250 and 600 cc AND in high displacements, they offer less power than four, but more torque, which makes these types of motorcycles drive differently; there is who likes it and who does not.
Advantage
Balance between compactness, lightness and performance.
Many configurations available.
Motor skills
Drawbacks
Vibrations (in high-displacement engines)
They raise less revolutions than engines with more cylinders.
More expensive than a monkey.
Tri-cylinder
They began to be used by the English BSA and Triumph and today it is almost a hallmark of Triumph. BMW, in its K75 used the three longitudinal cylinders with the engine lying down and cardan. With 4-stroke mechanics I do not remember any other configuration that is not in a transverse line (with the aforementioned exception of BMW), but two-stroke were used in the "old" 500 in very different configurations.
They have many of the advantages of the bi and many of the advantages of the tetra, but they are not as narrow as the former or as "thin" as the latter. They don't have as many configuration options either, but they certainly have their own personality.
Advantage.
They combine the advantages of bi and tetra.
It can go in higher displacements (compared to a bi).
Drawbacks.
They combine the disadvantages of bi and tetra.
They vibrate more than the tetra.
They occupy and weigh more than bi.
Tetracylindrical
The year 1969 brought a definite change. The appearance of the Honda CB750 with its four cylinders in line of a delicacy unknown until then. It was the seed for this type of engine, which today is the vast majority above 500/600 cc.
There are some rare four-cylinder configurations such as the longitudinal V4, longitudinal four-cylinder. But, with these exceptions, all 4-cylinder motorcycles are with cylinders in line and the crankshaft transverse to the march.
This configuration offers multiple advantages: It is the most balanced type of engine, they can be very compact and offer a lot of performance, as they can rise at high rpm. In return, they have less torque than a bi of similar displacement and their width forces them to be raised on the chassis, but today this problem has been solved in many ways.
Advantage.
Elegance and softness.
Possibility of obtaining high power.
Valid for almost all displacements.
Drawbacks.
More complex.
More expensive.
They occupy and weigh more.
Six cylinders
As in the world of four wheels, the bigger the better if you like to attract attention, a six-cylinder motorcycle may be an option. A path that Benelli opened in 1972 with his legendary Sei and that today is practically exclusive to BMW with its 1600 RT and Honda with the Goldwing.
Today BMW in its largest touring model inherits the same configuration of 6 cylinders in transverse line, but with liquid cooling, injection, 24 valves and a lot more advances. But, long before, Honda used the six cylinders in its flagship model the Goldwing, with a Boxer configuration with the opposed cylinders three to three and 1,800 cc.
A six cylinder engine is smooth, progressive, sounds good, and you can get very good performance at low or high rpms; but its main advantage is that it is impressive when just looking at the packaging, size, weight and price of the motorcycles that mount this engine.
Advantage.
Smoothness
Sonority
Impressive aesthetics.
Drawbacks.
Price.
Size.
Weight.
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