Rain Bike

A greater length of time between power pulses, is why I am choosing the RC51 as a rain bike this year:

To complete one firing order of a four-stroke engine, a crankshaft has to rotate 720 degrees (2 rotations). Four quarter events happen. In terms of degrees of rotation, you’d naturally think of a quarter as 90. However, it takes 180 degrees of crankshaft rotation to move the piston up or down. Each movement of the piston, whether up or down, is considered a stroke. A “4-stroke”, four 180 degree events totaling 720 degrees. The first full-rotation of the crankshaft sucks (intake stroke) and squeezes (compression stroke). The second rotation bangs (combustion stroke) and blows (Exhaust stroke). Big bang firing order aside, the more pistons/cylinders you have, the more power pulses you’ll have in that 720 degree cycle. Four times in my 600cc Kawasaki and two times in my RC51. With almost double the displacement, and almost twice the engine torque; the RC51 has half the power pulses in a 720 degree cycle. Does that make them equal? Almost. World Superbike raced 750cc 4-cylinder against 1000 cc V-twins (2 cylinder), from 1988 to 2002. Dirt Bikes typically have a single cylinder. If the cylinder firing has enough power to brake traction, then the tire has the full 720 degrees of crankshaft rotations for the tire re-grip. A V12 has 12 power pulses in 720 degrees, more suitable for high grip scenarios. This is why I have chosen the RC51 as the rain bike this year.

Reference Points:

• Daytona 200, March 6th - 8th.

• Newsletter #2 has been edited and slightly updated. A full update would require another newsletter.