Quote:
Originally Posted by StoneAgeMan
Have you ever driven a motorcycle with an engine that is: long-stroke, large-displacement, 45 degree V-twin, and with a shared piston throw on the crank? That's what it looks like he's operating, tons of low-end torque. Typically their second gear is good from about 8mph up to 48mph and will merrily yank you from one to the other pretty darn quick. 
Their throttle is an on/off switch for jumping forward or backwards 20' (7 meters) almost instantly at almost any speed (except for at top-rpm or the very bottom portion of the rpm, which you don't use on that type of engine).
Long-stroke always means a very wide and flat torque curve and also means a lower top rpm. Only a short stroke engine can hit high rpms, but they have almost no low-end torque. Did you know that a big cruise ship engine typically operates around 10 or 15 RPM and has less than 60 rpm at full speed? It's actually much more about piston speed, typically measured in feet-per-second, long stroke travels farther per RPM. Like a long crowbar vs. a short crowbar.
StoneAge Man |
8mph to 48 mph in second gear? The faster sports bike's today will probably do 100mph in first gear.