Wankel bike

The world-class S engine produces a stunning amount of power from a wankel bike, 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.

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.

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 — and replacing them with a design that does the same suck-squeeze-bang-blog sequence using purely rotating parts is, frankly, genius. 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. First on our list comes the earliest production Wankel motorcycle. The Hercules, which was marketed as a DKW in the UK, was sold for most of the s and as such was one of the most successful rotaries in terms of numbers built. But it nearly did, and this was it. Although pretty tidy-looking, only a couple of prototypes are believed to have been made. If you like the look, though, you can always try to find a conventionally-powered Yamaha TX — it used the same frame and suspension and looks virtually identical to the prototype RZ Norton spent most of the s fiddling with prototype rotary-powered bikes, but it took until before finally creating its first production Wankel, the Interpol II. Not unless you were a police force or breakdown service, that is. Of course, they turn up occasionally in private hands these days, but these were really somewhere between prototype and production machines. Shown in , it was purported to be a cc machine making 85hp, but it disappeared without trace. After endless development the Norton Classic was the first proper production rotary from the British firm. Using the same air-cooled, twin rotor cc motor from the Interpol II and made as a limited edition of just bikes, it was seen as a first step towards the comeback of both the rotary and Norton as a real motorcycling power when it reached production in — a full 11 years after the last serious Wankel production bike, the Suzuki RE5, had been dropped.

Kawasaki almost made the largest-displacement rotary engine motorcycle, wankel bike, the Xbut the oil crisis cut short its ambitious project, leaving the Wankel-engined Kawasaki X99 frozen in limbo.

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. It made its first appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show and was powered by a 66 horsepower, single rotor engine, fitted into the frame and running gear of the Yamaha TX, which at least gave it typical s Yamaha good looks. 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.

And now for something completely different, I am pleased to offer this rare Hercules W Wankel rotary powered motorcycle. Who even knew that this bike existed? Certainly not me until recently. Rare and unusual is what I love. According to the owner:. This is a later oil-injected example. No need to mix the gas and oil in the tank!

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

Webcamxp 5

That said, this never made it into production and remained a prototype, given the complexity of the machine on the whole. While all this makes it sound like a perfect fit for motorcycles, it is not as popular as the V-twin engines of today. It was produced for only two years before Suzuki followed the herd and concentrated on its inline four-cylinder four-stroke engines. Gradually, the engine was being developed into something that anyone could ride, although it would be fair to say that you would need to be a Norton fanatic to actually choose one over a contemporary BMW or Japanese touring bike. 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. Shown in , it was purported to be a cc machine making 85hp, but it disappeared without trace. After messing around with the engine for most of the s, the Interpol ll appeared in and was only for sale to police forces and breakdown services, such as the RAC. It will also give improved performance through being lighter and more aerodynamic. And, because the S is compact and lightweight it's easier to integrate into your application. When Yamaha looked for an alternative for its two-stroke motorcycle, they thought of the Wankel engine, and their prototype produced 66 horsepower with a cc engine. Talk to us today. Related The 10 Coolest Rotary Powered Vehicles That Aren't From Mazda From racing motorcycles to airplanes and other obscure cars, these cool and interesting vehicles all use rotary engines and aren't made by Mazda. This website is owned and published by Crash Media Group Limited. Given that the Classic also came more than a decade after the last serious Wankel production bike, the Suzuki RE5 went off production. Advanced Innovative Engineering can offer you a truly one-stop shop.

APART from providing endless schoolboy sniggers the Wankel rotary engine is one of the greatest near-misses of 20th century engineering.

While Norton hoped to repeat the success of the classic, the Yamaha wheels and suspension it rode on did not impress the public, who expected a sportier ride despite the good looks. If the F1 was rare, then the F1 Sport was super rare. APART from providing endless schoolboy sniggers the Wankel rotary engine is one of the greatest near-misses of 20th century engineering. That said, there are plenty of Wankel-engined motorcycles around, and here are the coolest of them all. This website is owned and published by Crash Media Group Limited. Giugiaro of Italy styled the bike, which included a round, tin can shaped instrument cluster with a sliding cover. Key Takeaways Wankel-engined motorcycles have advantages like uniform torque, less vibration, more power, smaller size, and lighter weight compared to traditional piston engines. The same cc engine now made 95 horsepower and showed the world what a finely-tuned rotary motor could do. 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. The twist grip operated no less than five cables and the exhaust pipes were double-skinned to combat the heat problem inherent in the rotary design.