Engine preferences

[someotherguy]

I realise this is probably a really stupid, vague and rambling question, so go easy

I ride a YBR125, which has a single cylinder engine.

I've ridden other bikes, which have different engines:

- Honda CBR300R - single
- Suzuki GN125 - single
- Honda CB500F - twin
- Kawasaki ER6-n - twin
- Kawasaki Ninja 300 - twin
- Yamaha MT-07 - twin
- Yamaha YZF-R3 - twin
- Triumph Street Triple - obviously a triple
- Honda CB650F - inline 4
- Yamaha XJ6 Diversion - inline 4

Now, I realise this may be subjective, but I'm trying to understand what it is that appeals to me about these things.

I hated the GN125 (because it was a gutless piece of shit ), and I found the CBR300R, Ninja 300, MT-07 and R3 utterly boring. I also find my YBR125 pretty boring, although I'm used to it now! I was surprised by my dislike for the MT-07, since everyone seems to rave about it, but I just hated the engine's character.

I found the CB500F, ER6-n and CB650F less boring, and the XJ6 fairly exciting.

But, I found the Striple an absolute hoot. It might be the noise, or it might be the fact it's the fastest, but even at slow speeds the engine appealed a lot more than something like the MT-07.

I've read that triples offer the "best of both worlds" between the torquier twins and the revvier IL4s, but is that really the case or just a myth? It seems true to me... as I found the XJ6 gutless at low revs, but fun at high revs. Similarly, I found the ER6-n better at low revs, but it ran out of revs and hit the redline too quickly for my liking.

So, given I seem to prefer triples, who else makes triples these days? Is it just Triumph? They seem to be fairly rare. I tried to Google a list of all bikes with triple-cylinder engines, but couldn't find one.

So - what's your preference, and why? Should I go for a twin, a triple, an IL4, or something more exotic?

[Chuffin Nora]

Yeah. If the question is "What engine configuration do you prefer when it comes to overhauling the norbled grunge pump", then, yes, The Workshop.
Otherwise, General Bike Chat, I think.


Fairdooz, my son.


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[someotherguy]

Ha, I considered it... but:

[CaNsA]

No boxer engine?

[temeluchus]

Which engine you prefer whilst riding is not workshop worthy.
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[CaNsA]

no six cylinder?

[temeluchus]

[Polarbear]

I love my Triumph triples but the smoothest most beautiful engine I have had was the flat 6 1800 fitted to my last Goldwing. Low C of G, smooth and responsive.
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[Albigularis]

What's strange is it also varies by capacity. The CBR250RR 250cc inline 4 is generally loved by the community, but people mostly aren't fans of the 1000cc inline 4s. Yet, people hate the single cylinder Ninja 250 but love big singles like the KTM Duke 690.

For me I love V4s, under heavy load they sound like muscle cars below 8k or so. I do like triples as well. I think it depends on the style of bike. I wouldn't want a single cylinder tourer or an opposed-2 sports bike.
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Biking history so far-
Aprilia RS125 - Kawasaki ZXR400 - Triumph Street Triple R - Suzuki GSXR1000 L3 - BMW R1200GS - Kawasaki Z1000 - Kawasaki ZX10R C1H - Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring - Suzuki Hayabusa

[thx1138]

Thumpers for me.

[Rogerborg]

I'm going with INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANALYSIS.

Won't know until I've ridden 'em all, although I don't really enjoy revs and I find it annoyingly hard to fault my current engines (500 single, 800 twin) in the circumstances that I typically use them.
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[stevo as b4]

I'm not fussy if it's a 2smoke engine.

But for four strokes, I would say V4 for sound and character, but to fall in love with it would have to be the sound of an IL6 on open pipes. They make 6000rpm sound like 15000rpm, and if I was man enough to own one I would!

A big capacity 120deg triple on a loud pipe, sounds very naughty too!

IL4's are fine, and twins can be anything from Brilliant to boring.

A Single if it's big and has gut's like a 500-650cc can be a nice sound too, but most singles on the roads are Chinese 125's with the exhaust sawn off and are bloody annoying!

[Sload]

Correct forum.

Going with Roger on this, not tried them all so how could I know?
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[pepperami]

Loved my RD 250lc , loved my GT 250 so I guess the answer for me is two-smoke twins
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[Albigularis]

[temeluchus]

Ridden most four stroke configurations and it's really a matter of context. I love thumpers but wouldn't want to do do long motorway runs on one.

I tend to ride big fours for tractability and relative smoothness.

Barring the exhaust note the differences between inline fours and v fours is vastly overstated.
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[Eddie Hitler]

I like them all. Had/ridden most types. I prefer a big V twin for the road.

[someotherguy]

[evoboy]

Parallel Twin with a 270deg crank. Just for the noise.

(MT07 or TRX850)
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[someotherguy]

I hated the noise of the MT-07. Don't know why. It just left me cold.

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

The superior L-twin.
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[Teflon-Mike]

The 'configuration' is, on it's own pretty irrelevant.
Historically, the 'single' gained favor in the pioneering era, as it is the simplest and hence cheapest and easiest configuration to make, but soon recognized that to get more power, drilling another hole in the crank-case at maybe 45 or 90 degrees to the cylinder and bolting another 'top end' on, using the same crank-pin as the first cylinder, and possibly even the same cam, you could double the power without doubling the weight or cost; then that by having two smaller bangs rather than one big one, could make the engine 'smoother' and the power delivery less 'chuggy'...
Jump ahead eighty years or so....
In GP racing, Suzuki had dropped the square four, and Yamaha their 'in-line' fours, and Honda thier V-Tripple, all for V-Four configuration engines; and many made much of Honda's road bike V's 'tractability' attributing that to the configuration, as ducati & Harley did to thier V-Twins.. until Honda made the 'Big-Bang' 500GP bikes, re-phasing the firing intervals of the cylinders to be closer to that of a single, rather than a twin... and that the 'charecter' of an engine was something that was not 'fixed' by the arrangement of the cylinders... something Yamaha made plain when, Honda accepted Ducati's challenge to build a better Ducati, and we got the short lived 'Sport Twins'.. into which frey Yamaha chucked the trellis frame TRX850, with its parallel twin engine, rather than make an all new V-Twin, as Honda & Suzuki did... muttering that they got the 'same' power delivery and charecter simply by re-timing the piston 'phasing' to that of a V-Twin, and being able to better arrange the cylinders for carburetor clearance and inlet tract direct-ness, as well as mass centralization in the frame....

Now expand those ideas, and others; the configuration of an engine may 'lend' itself more or less to a certain character, or application; but, a short stroke single can be as 'revvy' and more 'smooth' than a long stroke 360 parallel twin; Add a light or heavy flywheel; change the gear ratio's and THEN start messing with the 'state of tune' by way of valve sizing and timing and carburation, and the 'variables' that go into the mix that provide the 'character' of a bike, and how it rides on the road is almost infinite... leaving the number of cylinders and their arrangement just one VERY small question in the equation....

To wit.. I suggest that you dont worry about it! If you 'like' a Stripple, then you like a Stripple! cos of ALL that make it what it is; if you dont like the MT07, you dont like the MT07, again, not because it has a parallel twin engine, but because of ALL the facets that make that bike what it is and deliver the riding dynamic it does.

My personal preference? I like BIKES! I can usually find 'something' to apreciate in most of them, even Snowies old Chinese, couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding Chinese 125 Cruiserette 'thing'.... it used bugger all petrol, and was remarkeably dependable, which was 'quite nice' if not all that exiting, but I did actually find it quite a hoot, trying to maintain 50mph through 'momentum' with incredibly restricted ground clearance, on a winding road! Was this 'cos it was Chinese? Was this because it was a parallel twin? Was this because it was a 'cruiser'? OR just that it doesn't matter that much, and me, the rider, found the fun in what it had 'as a whole'?

CB750.. 'my' every-day bike. Boring as buggery accross the frame four. Old hat air-cooled motor with a four-figure red-line, has more in common in its 'charecter' with a push-rod V-twin, than it does, I don't know, an R6!.... In fact, I think that the red-line on Snowie's Guzzi is actually a couple of hundred rpm higher up the tacho! Few would describe it as 'exiting' to ride; its not that powerful and its rather lardy; but, it's a very 'useful' all-round motorcycle. comfy for pillions; can stuff loads of luggage on it for touring; it's 'brisk' enough on the back-lanes; it's endeared itself to me over the last decade on its shear 'versatility'..

VF-1000, was my every-day bike until its little end started rattling and I got the 750 as a 'stop-gap'. I LOVE that V-Four 'howl' sounds like almost nothing else on the road, especially through super-trapp drag pipes. Bit of a juggernaut; it was a bit heavy for every day use, and certainly a lot to muscle about on a twisty road; but that V-four motor was a grunt-monster; you could pull away in fifth and accelerate none too tardy to 150+, or load the thing up with pillion and gear and not have to thrash it to make it move, or even adjust the suspension! Incredibly flexible, it would trickle through Cotswold villages at barely walking pace, so as not to unrest the natives, and then just fast-forwards through the boring bits. Really liked that bike.... and it's V-four motor may well have been big part of what make it, BUT the inclination of the pots, NOT a huge part of that...

Snowie's Guzzi? compared to my CB or even the VF rides like a tiddler on steroids! That V-Twin motor, might only rev like a CG125, but, a light 'ish' flywheel, and a reletive light chassis and firm suspension, makes the thing 'willing' and 'responsive' in a way that the CB never can be... not a bike I would want to chuck a load of luggage on for a weeks touring in wales, but for blasting to Bassets? Great fun...

BUT, to suggest that is down to its engine configuration? a V-Twin? Well... a Harley has a V-Twin, so does a TL1000... would you presume those bikes to offer a similar 'charecter' or riding dynamic JUST because they have the same basic engine lay-out? Or that an R6 would offer 'similar' nature to my CB750, or that a VFR400 would offer a similar charecter to my VF1000?

Its the overall 'package'.. not the way the pots point.
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[Fisty]

Jesus wept mike. Is there anything you can't write an essay of horseshit on?

The question is "which type of engine do you prefer?" you still after all that did not manage to answer it.
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[angryjonny]

Least favourite: parallel twin. It actually says 'rattle rattle rattle'

Favourite: v4. Something about that noise. I'd eat it if I could.