Wankel bike

APART from providing endless schoolboy sniggers the Wankel rotary engine is one of the greatest near-misses of 20th century engineering. It promised to revolutionise the bikes we rode and cars we drove, but despite decades of work never quite overcame the problems that prevented it from becoming a mainstream hit. But the basic idea of getting rid of all the reciprocating bits of a normal engine — the pistons, con-rods, valves — wankel bike replacing them with a design that does the same suck-squeeze-bang-blog sequence using purely rotating parts is, wankel bike, frankly, genius.

The internal combustion engine has been with us since the s, but it has remained largely the same in all that time: pistons moving up and down in a cylinder, converting that movement to rotary movement by the use of a crankshaft. One brave and seemingly revolutionary development was the rotary engine , conceived by Felix Wankel in the s and offering advantages in simplicity of construction and power output. Here, we celebrate the motorcycles that dared to be different. It was also expensive, with Cycle World magazine summing up thus: "Less performance for more money takes this rotary out of the realm of practicality. It might not have made it into production - only two prototypes are believed to have been built - but it just shows how serious the Japanese manufacturers were considering the Wankel engine and how it was seen as one possible future for the motorcycle.

Wankel bike

The world-class S engine produces a stunning amount of power from a small, compact and easy-to-integrate unit. All our engines feature patented SPARCS cooling technology to give you better performance and a longer-lasting engine. With a market-leading power to weight ratio and a compact design for easy integration, we'll help design and build the right solution for you. If you need an engine with unrivalled endurance, world-class power and a low total cost of ownership, the S is ideal for you. By combining our patented Compact SPARCS cooling system with a modern rotary engine you benefit from an engine which is reliable, efficient and long-lasting. And, because the S is compact and lightweight it's easier to integrate into your application. It will also give improved performance through being lighter and more aerodynamic. You want your engineering partner to offer products of an exceptional standard. Advanced Innovative Engineering can offer you a truly one-stop shop. We don't just build engines - we consult, conceptualise, develop, design and test solutions to your problems.

Compared to the two-strokes of the time, however, the Wankel was just too complex and unreliable and the manufacturers had an uphill struggle to persuade customers, wankel bike.

Many of us know and are fans of rotary-engined cars like the Mazda RX-7 , but there are even cooler Wankel-engined motorcycles. The likes of Kawasaki , Suzuki , and Yamaha have also created wild rotary bikes. To know more about rotary motorcycles, we first have to get to know the rotary engine. Made by Dr. Felix Wankel in Germany in , it took some time for the eccentric rotary mill to jump from drawing board into production, be it for cars or motorcycles. In fact, the first production Wankel-powered cars and motorcycles only came around in the '70s.

The revolutionary rotary engine designed by Dr. Felix Wankel, henceforth known as the Wankel engine, is a design of tremendous promise, and expensive vexation. It seemed the wonder motor of the future in the s, and many automobile manufacturers took a out a license on the design, from General Motors to Rolls Royce, as did many aircraft and. Felix Wankel born in Lahr, Germany had the vision for his remarkable rotary engine at the age of 17, began working on prototypes 5 years later, and gained his first patent for this remarkable engine in His work on the motor was slow in the following two decades as he developed rotary-valve applications for piston engines. By , working in conjunction with NSU, he had a fully functional rotary engine prototype, and immediately began licensing the engine, which had many theoretical advantages over a typical piston motor. First to take up this new design was aircraft engine builder Curtiss-Wright, who licensed the design on Oct. Curtiss-Wright has a long and deep motorcycle connection, via founder Glenn Curtiss, but their Wankel engines were mostly used in aircraft. The first motorcycle applications for this promising engine appeared shortly after the first rotary-powered automobiles, the Mazda Cosmo and NSU Spider of

Wankel bike

The Hercules W used a Sachs-sourced Wankel, single-rotor, rotary engine. Felix Wankel born in Lahr, Germany had the vision for his remarkable rotary engine at the age of 17 and began working on prototypes 5 years later. He gained his first patent for his engine in The first motorcycle applications for this promising engine appeared shortly after the first rotary-powered automobiles, the Mazda Cosmo and NSU Spider were introduced in It had separate intake, combustion and exhaust cavities. A rotary engine has no piston chugging up and down. Think of the rotor as though it is a piston with fewer parts and spinning instead of circulating up and down.

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The world-class S engine produces a stunning amount of power from a small, compact and easy-to-integrate unit. What is an A2 motorcycle licence and how much does it cost? MikeSchinkel via Wikimedia Commons. This wasn't available to the public because it was built for the police force, although today, you can find these on the collectors or classic mart. Despite these advantages, Wankel-engined motorcycles have drawbacks such as engine seal and emission issues, as well as limited lifespan. While Norton made a stripped-down Interpol for the public in the form of the limited-edition classic, the actual Wankel-engined motorcycle was the Interpol 2. Another prototype that never got beyond that stage, the Kawasaki X99 RCE demonstrated the need of the Japanese manufacturers to stay one step ahead of their home competition or, at least, keep up with them. Many of us know and are fans of rotary-engined cars like the Mazda RX-7 , but there are even cooler Wankel-engined motorcycles. We all know about Nortons and Suzuki RE5s, but there has been a host of other Wankel-engined bikes over the years, from prototypes to full production models. Compared to the two-strokes of the time, however, the Wankel was just too complex and unreliable and the manufacturers had an uphill struggle to persuade customers. Shame, because the bits underneath were serious and included a beautiful aluminium Spondon frame and high-end WP suspension.

APART from providing endless schoolboy sniggers the Wankel rotary engine is one of the greatest near-misses of 20th century engineering. It promised to revolutionise the bikes we rode and cars we drove, but despite decades of work never quite overcame the problems that prevented it from becoming a mainstream hit.

Felix Wankel in Germany in , it took some time for the eccentric rotary mill to jump from drawing board into production, be it for cars or motorcycles. Top 10 forced induction production bikes. Chuck Schultz via Wikimedia Commons. In the first Wankel motorcycle, the rotary mill came mated to the existing IFA gearbox and made 24 horsepower, double that of the conventional cc MZ two-stroke engine it replaced. Configuration Water-cooled twin-rotor Wankel engine Displacement cc 40 cu-in Horsepower 66 hp Torque Go onto eBay right now and there will probably be one or two available. The same cc engine now made 95 horsepower and showed the world what a finely-tuned rotary motor could do. Making a whopping horsepower from a cc twin-rotor Wankel engine and weighing less than pounds, this is a rotary-powered motorcycle that has a MotoGP-level power-to-weight ratio. It might not have made it into production - only two prototypes are believed to have been built - but it just shows how serious the Japanese manufacturers were considering the Wankel engine and how it was seen as one possible future for the motorcycle. Configuration Air-cooled single-rotor Wankel engine Displacement cc 18 cu-in Horsepower hp Torque