A motorcycle engine is an engine that powers a motorcycle.
Motorcycle engines may be two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engines, but other types have been used in small numbers. The engine typically drives the rear wheel. Most engines have a gearbox of two and six ratios, reverse gear is very rare. Power is sent to the driven wheel by belt, chain or shaft. In Europe, before the 1969 Honda CB750, engine capacities typically ranged from about 50 cc to 750 cc; but since then machines with capacities up to 2,300 cubic centimetres (140 cu in) Triumph Rocket 3 have become common. In the USA, motorcycles with large capacities have been common for much longer.
Read more about Motorcycle Engine: History, Types, Two-stroke and Four-stroke, Cylinder Heads (four-stroke), Valve Control (four-stroke), Unit Construction, Cylinders and Configuration, Diesel
Famous quotes containing the words motorcycle and/or engine:
“Kicking the heart
with pain’s big boots running up and down
the intestines like a motorcycle racer.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“There is a small steam engine in his brain which not only sets the cerebral mass in motion, but keeps the owner in hot water.”
—Unknown. New York Weekly Mirror (July 5, 1845)