Ok, what do you think of horizontally opposing pistons?  I like mine to go up and down.

pg wrote on 02/17/14 at 08:44:21:


Guzzi riders have a saying when discussing BMW... "Moto Guzzi's have perky jugs and BMW's have droopy jugs".

But really I have always liked "Boxer" engines.  VW, Porsche.  My favorite car has always been a 911, especially in GT racing.  Never owned one though.  Never owned a BMW motorcycle either.

Gerry

pg wrote on 02/17/14 at 08:44:21:


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.html

3 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...  

Not really ever spoken but the reason V 90's are better is the primary and secondary vibrations are better cancelled.
With our single, the counter balancer dampens the primary vertical vibe.
But over compensates for the secondary or fore/aft vibe.
Most people are sensitive to the vertical, but not the fore/aft vibe.
With a V90, both vibes can be better cancelled.

pg wrote on 02/18/14 at 10:06:04:


KLR 650, that's another bike I would like to have.  There are lots of trails and public land just a couple hours north of me.  Always thought it would be cool to set a KLR up with pelican cases, tank bag and go camping on the trails.  Unlike most riders I never had a dirt bike so a KLR seems like it would be fun to play with... gently  .  I'm too old for aggressive dirt biking.
Gerry

PS
I like the BMW 800 GS too.

The last pic in the article, the way the light hits the fuel tank lines... looks like the seat rail on a dork mobile Harley FL, old Indian Chief, or Drifter 1500.



I'm less than impressed with BMW since my 1950s model split in half riding it a week after I bought it and got it running. Good engine, great aesthetics,  but the rest of it left something to be desired, like, shall we say, everything...