pg wrote on 02/17/14 at 08:44:21:Ok, what do you think of horizontally opposing pistons? I like mine to go up and down.
If you look at engine technology and go beyond the American theorem that "V8 is good, all others are cr*p",
then you'll realize that there are plenty of different engine designs that work for SOME engines, not for others.
2 cylinders ? Moto Guzzi and BMW have got it right, 90°Vtwin and flat-twin are inherently balanced.
But then, let us not forget Ducati Desmos
[In the picture below, center cam is to close the valves, left and right cams to open]
Not so Harley Davidson with a skewered V-twin which is inherently inbalanced
(hence its trademark "potato-potato", caused by unevenly firing cylinders)
(notice the green and red cams not perfectly aligned, that is the clue to the uneven firing)
Else, in-line twins require so many balancing forces, you may as well look at the "Neander" design (made in Germany, all patents paid for)
http://www.neander-motorcycle.com/shortversion-neu/main_en.html3 Cylinders ? Only Laverda, Yamaha and Triumph come to mind.
The point being that while Laverda started with 180°crankshafts, researched and eventually produced the "Jota" (read it "yota"),
Yamaha and Triumph stayed true to the 180° design with a vibrating engine and uneven firing (I refer to the classic Tridents and XS750 of the '70s and '80s)
Pictured, the 120° Laverda crankshaft and pistons
4 cylinders ? Flat four is THE design to go (see Honda Goldwing) but V4 (Honda VF) is also smooth and a better powerhouse than an in-line four (any run of the mill jap...)
Oh, yes... BMW K75/K100 ? Just a variant of in-line triples and fours... yawn...