Every Engine in Motorcycle Explained | Single to Ten Cylinder Engines [Part - 1]

Every Engine in Motorcycle Explained | Single to Ten Cylinder Engines [Part - 1]
Watch Part 2 of Every Engine in Motorcycle: • Every Engine in Motorc...
We have all been mainly exposed to one type of bike engine, i.e., Single cylinder engine found in most motorcycles. But there is lots of variety in the type of engines used in motorcycles. Know what they are?
So In today's video, we are taking a look at different types of engines used in a motorcycle.
Commonly Found Motorcycle Engine Types Are:
1) Single-cylinder engines: A piston engine with only one cylinder is a single-cylinder engine, commonly termed a thumper. Single-cylinder engines work best on small cc bikes. They are cheap to maintain and fix if something goes wrong. Single cylinders are sluggish at higher RPMs but are very aggressive and punchy down low, making them great for adrenaline-pumped low-speed rides.
2) Two-cylinder engines: As you can guess from the name, this engine has two cylinders. More cylinders mean more weight, more cost, and more power. Types of two-cylinder engines: Inline-Twin, V-Twin, L-Twin, & Flat-Twin.
3) Triple-cylinder engines: A straight-three engine (also called an inline-triple or inline-three) is a three-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line and a common crankshaft. Straight-three engines typically use a crankshaft angle of 120 degrees, resulting in an evenly spaced firing interval.
4) Four-cylinder engines: Most automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout. Types of Four-cylinder engines: Inline-4 & V4.
5) Five-Cylinder Engine: The straight-five or inline-five engine is an IC engine with five cylinders aligned in one row or plane, sharing a single-engine block and crankcase. The five-cylinder engine is almost as compact as an inline-four and nearly as smooth as a straight-six engine.
V5 engine: The engine design is a 5-cylinder in a V configuration, consisting of three front and two rear cylinders.
6) Six-Cylinder engine: The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is an internal combustion engine with six cylinders mounted straight along the crankcase with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft (straight engine). Types of Six-cylinder engines: Inline-6, V6, & Flat-6.
7) Eight-Cylinder Engine: Motorcycles have rarely used V8 engines, with the few built for motor racing. In 1907, Glen Curtiss set an unofficial world record of 136.36 mph (219.45 km/h) on a homemade 4.0 L (244 cu in) motorcycle.
8) Ten-Cylinder Engine: A V10 engine is a ten-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft.
--- Time Stamp --
00:00 - Introduction
00:18 - Single-Cylinder Engine
01:44 - Two-Cylinder Engine
06:43 - Three-Cylinder Engine
09:40 - Four-Cylinder Engine
12:52 - Five-Cylinder Engine
15:17 - Six-Cylinder Engine
18:55 - Eight-Cylinder Engine
20:06 - Ten-Cylinder Engine
21:18 - Wrap Up
All images used in this video are under a creative commons license.
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360° vs 180° vs 270° Crankshaft Angles in Parallel Twin Engine: • 360° vs 180° vs 270° C...
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[@ethanol-fb]

i like how 6 seconds into he says single cylinder and ignores that bike being a vtwin

[@englishgrammar5835]

It only got worse from there, like the RE single cylinder twin can be showed for the twin cylinder sound because it has two exhausts

[@wannabecarguy]

Does he cover diesel and rotary?

[@shredder_shazza]

He said primarily so basically the v twin is two single cylinders.

[@pearljaime2]

Did you just assume that Bike's identity? What if it doesn't identifies as a Harley?

[@jayeshmange2952]

The sound of the h2 with turned off super charger was epic

[@DADAquaHobby]

I love single cylinder 110 cc engine, No racing, riding with my family is so much fun.

[@jec_ecart]

Correct. Family man.

[@RenanARodrigues]

thank you for the video, did u know about the upside-down engines? such as the one used on nembo motociclette 32? awesome video!

[@TheEngineersPost]

Yes I did, I thought it should be mentioned as a separate video

[@herksen]

Great video!! I’m 66 years old now, and I remember almost all of those bikes very well. And the sound were absolutely great. Thanks a lot!!

[@Kraken9911]

Judging by the characteristics it seems the triple is the best for street riding in terms of performance and sound. The MT-09 is a beast and sounds amazing.

[@malcolmabram2957]

Boxers give superb low down torque and excellent fuel consumption. One issue is they can be a bugger to start when very cold, as it takes a lot of 'juice' to crank them.

[@IntoTheDepths444]

the zx25r is best sounding bike ever

[@aniruddhagujar4119]

​@@IntoTheDepths444no

[@theravedaddy]

MT09 is flat plane so sounds poor considered to a 120 degree triple, a slightly sad fact as ive got 2 MT09s and miss the sound of my street triple on Zards.

[@shvy100]

​@@theravedaddytriumph does a T plane on their triple

[@HyadumHH]

I went from the most common inline-4, through single, twin, boxer, ending up with a triple now. Great mix of everything.

[@nomadenview]

Thanks for this video.... Man the sound from 6 cylinder engine from Honda CBX are just beautiful....

[@bennyrobles9194]

So true.!! Don’t forget the triple three Mach 500cc Kawasaki two stroke. The widow maker. This bike, and the CBX 1100, 6 cylinder Honda were my favourites in the late 70s, and still are.!! I had the Kawa 500. Always wanted the 1100 CBX, but never drove one.

[@ferenccsabatoth4886]

I had only 2-stroke bikes, my favorit was the CZ 485/2, made in Czehoslovakia, single-cylinder 246 ccm, 18 hp, but it had much more torque than you expected. It was easy to ride, and it was reliable and economical. And, I think, it was beautyful. Twelve years ago, I had a big mistake: I married... you can imagine the consequences... :(

[@MalfunctioningAndroid]

Never too late to come back. :)

[@kextrz]

As far as jokes go, this one belongs in the really, really nasty category!😂😂😂

[@cosmic_gate476]

Talk about being ungrateful for your blessings

[@TheSteveSteele]

CZs are legendary. Mythical. They practically owned the early 70s.

[@optimusprimum]

Never stop making these. You’re awesome thank you.

[@sterlingroberts6240]

You really need to cover crankshaft designs in any video covering engine configuration, at least when you’re playing engine sounds. 360°, 180°, and 270° crank inline-two cylinder engines all sound quite different.

[@RichardASK]

And talk about the Yamaha CP4 engine, which I have in my MT10.

[@daviddowning8609]

I didn't see any mention of rotary engines, like the Suziki RE-8 had. There was a Hercules rotary too.

[@KurtGAndersen]

And Norton too. And no mention of twingles, one cylindered engines with 2 pistons…

[@koyaanisqatsi316]

You could even buy motorcycles with jet engines (turbo shaft): the MTT Y2K.

[@sTL-bs3tz]

You forget the RE-5

[@musicauthority5635]

Rotary engines don't have cylinders.

[@elsullo2]

Wonderful survey! You did miss "dual pin crankshafts" of a few V-Twins that were exceedingly smooth in vibration. A 70 degree head angle could vibrate as little as a 90 degree head angle because there were two different crankshaft pins on one crankshaft that cancelled a lot of piston shake. I had the Honda PC-800 which was amazingly smooth, yet quite light for a "sport touring" full-fairing bike, and relatively inexpensive. My hands never went numb even on day long tours...........................elsullo

[@jimclarke1108]

Honda motorcycle department have built every configuration of engine available, on and off the track

[@rogercohn]

with outrages redlines of over 20,000 rpm

[@percytom9252]

square 4? boxer twin?

[@arpankoley5245]

I have to appreciate your research my friend. Keep it up and make us we'll informed as well. 😀 All the best 💐

[@TheEngineersPost]

Thanks a ton

[@drspeed8518]

"V-twin engines have good balance" hmmm I don't think so, my dad's older 99 Harley 1200 shook like a shivering hairless cat

[@raphaelandrews3617]

Thank you for making this and also for the excellent explanation of what and why these engines are. Very good,

[@mustangzrx]

Nice video. Too bad you skipped the flat, or horizontally opposed, 4 cylinder. Very common engine in 1970’s and 1980’s Honda GL1000, 1100 & 1200.

[@LordofKings-Raj]

Excellent 👌 Very in-depth information provided... thanks 🙏

[@zigzag941]

I think what you labelled an inline engine is actually called "A parallel twin". I've owned many Triumphs and BSA's , 650 cc parallel twins back in the 60's and 70's. And unlike your diagram for the inline twin, my parallel twins had both pistons rising and falling together, parallel as it were. The valve and ignition timing was different for each cylinder of course. This design was how they could keep the engine so narrow and did away with the need for a center bearing and journal. The parallel twins had only two bearings, one on each side of the crank. At present I have a Can Am Ryker 900 ACE. 3 cylinder inline, 82 hp and that 3 vibrates at idle so bad I can't see anything in the mirrors. Once above idle the vibration is gone.

[@snaxgalore5764]

They’re both called parallel twins they just have a different crankshaft design

[@ThiagoSilva-dj9qz]

This channel is absolutely amazing! Congratulations!

[@TheEngineersPost]

Thank you very much!

[@cliffont]

Great vid! I never knew the V3, W3, V5 and Viper V10 bikes existed, interesting

[@buran63]

Excellent technical explanations. Thank you. 👍

[@vedparkash6647]

Really too informative 🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️

[@ver9210]

great mix everything god bless!

[@davekendall9749]

Really interesting video very nicely done like the sounds added too.

[@nightster6378]

The term thumpers would normally only be attached from 500cc 4 stroke and up single-cylinder engines. You also didn't mention split singles commonly used by Puch. Straight twin engines are known as Parallel Twins unless the US is different. Most common having 360, 180, or 270-degree cranks In your description of V-Twins, you included Ducati and believe you are correct, the L-Twin term is a recent description. Rear cylinder cooling can be a problem with air-cooled bikes. You didn't mention the Square 4 engine used by Ariel. There may be more but hey!

[@abhidhoundiyal]

I know more cylinder engine sounds amazing and smooth but i really like Parallel Twins sounds, they sounds awesome

[@murugeshanswamy3976]

thats a wonderful piece of knowledge

[@TheEngineersPost]

Thanks for watching

[@Steve_Meister]

Awesome video, didn`t know about the existance of a few engines :o. I got 2 bikes, a honda shadow 750 v-twin from `97 and a nt700 deauville (also honda) 700cc v-twin

[@Mohammedalshamsi84]

wonderful content , i got boxer 2 cylinder on my BMW 1250 and 4 cylinder on my Honda cbx 750 café racer and i got 1 cylinder on my Honda super cup 125 and ktm450 is 2 cylinder and i found that the boxer engine is the most reliable :)

[@waltercelario6686]

Great video. Love the cbx sound. I have a boss hoss with a 383 cu in motor. Because... you know... why the heck not?

[@mechguy8459]

What a great explaination on bike engines ❤️ and that bike sounds make this video more useful to understand the engines 🙌🏻

[@TheEngineersPost]

Thanks ✌️

[@aslankamalmaz7362]

Thanks for the video I have single cylinder engine on my bike economy easy to repair cheap spare parts it's great

[@MOTOTRAV_PH]

Thanks this video. .

[@davidmacgregor5193]

I have a 2011 H-D XL883N 'Iron' and a 1980 Benelli 900 Sei, as you can imagine they are two very different motorcycles. Although the Harley has a rubber mounted engine it still vibrates as it rumbles. The Benelli on the other hand is silky smooth all through the rev range, it also handles considerably better than the Harley.

[@carlomacas617]

thankyou great content ❤

[@robertstout4764]

Lets see... you missed the 4 cylinder boxer motor as used on the early gold wings and the Wankel engines as used by Suzuki and Hercules.. And if you are listing one off configurations such as Allan Millyards' V10, he also did a V12 and Simon Whitlock did a 48 Cylinder motorcycle.

[@robertandersson2523]

And the RG500 square four.

[@musicauthority5635]

Rotary engines don't have cylinders.

[@kextrz]

@@musicauthority5635 It doesn't say anywhere in this very post that rotary engines have cylinders.

[@kkamino]

Best sounding motorcycle engines: 1 Cylinder V-Twin Straight 3 Inline 4 Flat Six V8 V10 But overall, I think the Inline 4 sounds the best followed by the Inline six.

[@percytom9252]

bsme: harley shovelhead idling; almost any 6 revving; big bore or two-stroke multis revving.

[@ferdaaydin7405]

Masterpiece video🎉🎉🎉🎉 thanks

[@battambangscooterandmotorc460]

Wow! Fantastic. Inow understood my thumper more. 2020 Royal Enfield 500 Classic Chrome nee Bullet.

[@geoffreyswan7866]

My current bike is a 2001 st 1100 4 cyl vee four . Smooth as silk and great torque good 21 klm per litre and can pack a heap of torque to flatten any hill or highway at high speed without any stress on the bike or rider .Behaves very well though a bit heavy in traffic and low speeds

[@musicauthority5635]

Jawa produced a single cylinder engine that had two pistons. that shared a special connecting rod. the second piston was for valving. BSA also made single cylinder 500cc engines. Triumph has a different firing order then other inline twins. Suzuki made the Virago that was a V twin. Kawasaki also made inline triple cylinder two stroke engines. and Yamaha made twin cylinder two stroke engines. Honda also made 350cc, 450cc, 550cc, inline four cylinder engines. and Honda also produced the most inline four cylinder engines. and they produced the most reliable fours. Kawasaki also produced inline four cylinder engines. in the KZ 650cc and 900cc and 1000cc bikes.

[@billwilson3609]

NSU made a 250 single that used a second cylinder to push the air/fuel mixture into it. Think they called it a 250 compressor engine.

[@RhodesTTU]

I’ve never heard the term “straight twin” I’ve always heard them called “parallel twins”

[@englishgrammar5835]

In general, a parallel twin is a 360 degree twin (he missed in the video) where one cylinder is on the compression cycle while the other is on exhaust. In contrast, the 90/270 is what's commonly referred to as an in-line twin, with the compression cycle of one cylinder being either the power or intake cycle of the other.

[@BobBarkerIsOld]

I’d pay good money to hear all these engines idling. One of my pet peeves is blipping the throttle. The recoding for the Gold Wing motor has gotta be a carbureted engine. My 2019 starts up and stays running perfectly, doesn’t sound like that at all. That being said, I wish there more videos like this on KZbin, maybe I’d actually be on here more often. I love the animated pictures of cylinder movement.

[@phantomforester9337]

I had a motorcycle that had to have its throttle blipped when stopped to keep it from stalling. I was self-conscious about it, but had to do it.

[@thomasraj7205]

Nice explanation. I understood a lot on bike engineering.

[@ajaysingh0938]

Before 3 months I have watched this video and again I Love to watch it again and again... 🥰

[@adityavijayran2999]

Thanks for your knowledge

[@denniskrige4904]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but there is a distinction between a boxer and a flat twin. Boxers move in and out in time and in relation to eachother, as you described. A flat twin has one cylinder doing the opposite of the other, ie one goes in while the other goes out.

[@englishgrammar5835]

I've only ever heard of the boxer in any motorcycle applications, or really any other than airplanes. Do you know of any motorcycles using the flat twin?

[@dgphi]

What would be the point of such a configuration? It would be horribly unbalanced. I doubt that such a configuration would be used anywhere.

[@rogercohn]

same thing, boxer and flat twin. They have to move in opposite directions (same point in the combustion cycle).

[@billwilson3609]

I own a 1973 BMW R75/5 that's a 745cc flat twin. The engine's pistons move in and out at the same time to balance their rotation. The faster one goes, the smoother the engine becomes. The VW Bug uses a 4 cylinder boxer engine where the two cylinders on each side have a piston at TDC and the other piston at the bottom of the stroke so resembles a boxer punching with a right then a left. Grew up with a neighbor that fell in love with BMW motorcycles and VW's while serving as a tank mechanic with the 3RD Army during WW2. They would find them intact and out of gas so painted them green, added a white star then put them to use. He said they ran exceptionally well and were simple to maintain. They tore down a VW Kubelwagen engine and were shocked to find that the crankshaft had no counterweights and just was a forged bar.

[@kextrz]

@@rogercohn I hope you're kidding. A boxer CAN have two cylinders firing at the same time. A flat twin? It's a physical impossibility.

[@emanuelmifsud6754]

Amazing research done here. I had the Yamaha XS 750E, in 1976, great bike toured around here Australia

[@studentsucesspoint]

Good knowledge of all engines

[@trendingfood3119]

More knowledge in this video ,super keep it up....

[@khursheed.fateh.786]

Nice informative video.

[@anishnagpal7857]

Wow thx for the information, as u mentioned u must know about these engines Trust me my life was a dud without this knowledge

[@INTHEWIND1833]

2018 Goldwing 7 speed DCT, best touring bike ever. Surprised you didn't mention the ST1300 V4 Honda, very smooth.

[@leonhardkiessl8263]

great video, i own a suzuki xf 650 freewind (single cylinder) and a dnepr mt 16 (two cylinder boxer)

[@nomoresrx]

Nice, but I miss the sound of a 120-degree triple as well as the mentioning of the use of cross-plane crankshafts (as used by Yamaha on 2-,3- and 4-cylinder engines)

[@dr.imayavarambanmunuswamy808]

Many thanks Sir.

[@basintamallick5510]

Thank you so much

[@hemantkharkongor5433]

Very interesting and informative 👌👌👌

[@SabndeepanDutta-hj1tn]

Very very informative video

[@monteiro5306]

The Engineers Post : YOU ARE AWESOME. Greetings from a Brazilian subscriiber.

[@TheEngineersPost]

Hey, thanks!

[@dorstefan]

Great video. I have an in line 4.

[@kaushikvishwas9060]

Thankyou. Five star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Fast good video. Second good example. 3rd for hard work. 4th for animation. 5th for me.😊

[@sujalverma8033]

Great to see that our enfeild is featured here

[@waynemrees8240]

Enfield, ... no show and no go!

[@TheSteveSteele]

19:05 Imagine going 136MPH in 1907 on that homemade Curtis V8! Especially on those tires and the tracks back then.

[@jagdevone]

Very nice information. Regards from bhupinder singh east punjab.

[@masterderekvlog2898]

Amazing bro

[@KhanNadeem365]

Very good informative video

[@RootsBassCanada]

Thanks! I know that my bike has twin but never knew what it means.

[@ronniefranks4351]

You failed to mention the Suzuki SV-650 as an example of an L-Twin. The SV-650 is a great bike and has achieved almost cult status.

[@deadpool-wq7je]

hmm

[@Rajesh83393]

Engine sounds that you added is unique

[@billtracy8865]

Why no mention of the Ariel Square 4? A four cylinder, square arrangement, Brit bike with a long production history. Overall a great video, really enjoyed viewing it. Thank you!

[@tonypate9174]

Or even drum roll enter stage left ...The Megola must be on the "cat dad" step with the parallel twins behind the Bmw "INLINE" bricks unlike all the Universal TRANSVERSE Japanese Motorcycles ...make one think the "cat dad" voice over dude not a "tire" with a Y dude who thinks across the frame is inline ....Bless

[@RichardASK]

Don't forget Suzuki's Square four and stepped square four two strokes or Honda's 2 different types of V3 two stroke for the road and Grand Prix racing. Also in the Sammy Millar Museum in England, there is a 3 cylinder radial engined bike or recently the Wonderful Allen Millyard with his 4 and 5 cylinder 2 strokes and many more.

[@beemcbike]

Nice survey, love it …. but what about the rotarys??😜 Well, I had a Norton.

[@truckerallister9080]

Nice video, Suzi 03, 800cc V2, Intruder Velosia

[@gerardmelfor701]

Good info. I love the Honda CBX sound when in high revs. I do have a Hayabusa 2002 and a Boulevard m109r 2018.

[@MichaelReif-wm5ue]

Thanks ❤

[@avengerriderskolkata5388]

Nd believe me you are awesome narrator and presenter. Enjoyed

[@mw9984]

I have a 6 cylinder 50 cc double head undershift in w configuration engine. I bought this for my hamster‘s birthday in Disneyland on April 31 2008.

[@jessemattila9933]

I have skyteam monkey that had originally 49cc engine but I switched it to 107cc one cylinder engine 😁👍

[@Rose.Of.Hizaki]

*MO POWA* BABEH

[@niksusa]

212daytona

[@laodumlaojari8122]

Great ....👍 I have single cylinder Yamaha Fz

[@eenahsenahluc6393]

You forgot to mention the rotary and turbine engines, 2 of the most exciting motorcycle engines in my opinion

[@seawatchmakers]

David you beat me to it I was going to say the same thing. I use to work on them and boy did they have top end.

[@litutheking6646]

Inline 5 sounds awesome 😎😎. Very charismatic

[@bennyrobles9194]

I didn’t see the bike I had in the late 70. The “widow maker”. It was a triple three, 750cc, two stroke monster from Kawasaki. The sound of that thing when you drove it slow in traffic…..my gosh.!

[@billwilson3609]

Killer Kows

[@EC550EL]

Its very excellent video sir tq sir

[@realiascailt]

Nothing sounds more beautiful than a 6 cylinder motorcycle

[@Noelleiscute]

The most I can get is the 4 stroke 4 cylinder 250cc ZX25R. A really nice and fun bike to ride

[@Kamilarzyk1]

I have a Suzuki Bandit 600N, I love this motorcycle

[@donaldgoodinson7550]

No mention of the Ariel Square 4.

[@billwilson3609]

Nor of the original inline fours used in Hendersons and Indians.

[@apcoma357]

Hello friend. You have forgotten the v four honda St 1300 Paneuropean. I own one here in Venezuela. I did not whatch that engine in your video. Very good video yours

[@IndianRiderSatya]

In-Line Four Engine Is My Dream ❤

[@pippipster6767]

Very knowledgeable computer. But how does it sit on a bike?

[@chandrapotti143]

Very good sir ❤🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤👌👌👌👌👌👌👌super sir 😊😊

[@kiranjetty]

superb explanation. wonderful.

[@RahulRoy-sr7fy]

Thanks💖😍

[@TheEngineersPost]

You're welcome 😊

[@RahulRoy-sr7fy]

@@TheEngineersPost i naver seen an chanel like yours i am learning mechanical enginioring 😇

[@aeccinemas3371]

very good

[@simonmears1726]

Love in line 4s smooth powerful and nice sound with a Les restricted pipe

[@malcolmabram2957]

With a straight twin, the cylinders go up and down together in a 4 stroke, but are 180 degrees out of phase in a 2-stroke such as in a Scott 650.

[@Cuttingwedge.]

Thanks

[@chrishull9983]

Wow .... I now feel so highly informed - and before I just used to count the number of cylinders on the engine - how stupid I have been.... 😂