How do bike engines work

A while ago, I wondered how does an engine really work. I wasnt just thinking
of explosion in cylinders pushing pistons up and down. I was thinking of the little
details. This file is a tidied up version of my random notes and questions.

If you want more detail, then grab a copy of the book Internal Combustion Engine
Vol 2. Personally, I learned most of what I know from a book called Vehicle and
Engine Technology. It tells you how engines, carburettors, chassis, tyres etc work.

How does an engine work

We want the engine to turn the back wheel. Or, more practically, to turn the
gearbox since we want the bike to move both a very slow speeds and very fast
speeds. The range of engine speeds available is roughly 1000 to 10,000 rpm which
is a factor of ten. We want to ride a motorbike at anything from 1 to 100mph which
is a factor of 100. So, we need a gearbox to provide a suitable range of gears. The
engine drives the gearbox which drives the wheel. How do we get rotational
motion from the engine?

We do this by a piston which provides periodic linear motion, connected by a con-

rod to a crankshaft which turns the linear motion into rotation. The piston
experiences a downward force on the ignition stage, which increases its monentum.
The crankshaft acts as a flywheel which moves the piston through the other three
stages (exhaust, intake and compression).

What affects the force on the piston when we ignite the fuel/air mixture?
 * Combustion is not instantaneous. A flame spreads from the spark plug across
the cylinder. This takes a significant amount of time. Remember that an engine
running at 10,000 rpm completes one revolution in 0.006 secs.

* Combustion isnt always complete. The fuel/air mixture might now have
completely burned by the time it gets punted out of the exhaust port.

* The amount of fuel/air mixture ignited. We can get more energy in each
explosion by having more fuel and oxygen molecules in the cylinder to react
together. This is why turbos and supercharges make an engine more powerful
they squeeze more fuel and air molecules into the cylinder. Nitros add an oxygen-
rich chemical into the cylinder, which means we can burn more fuel.

* The fuel/air ratio. Different proportions of fuel and air will affect combustion.
Lets look more at petrol first

What goes into petrol?

Petrol contain mostly hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are basically anything which

contain carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms. Theyre useful as a fuel, because a
carbon atom can combine with two oxygen atoms to make carbon dioxide, and two
hydrogens can comine with an oxygen to make water (H2O). Actually, as well as
the carbon dioxide reaction, you get get a single carbon reacting with a single
oxygen to make carbon monoxide (CO). This can then go on to react with more
oxygen to make carbon dioxide. All these reactions release energy, which is what
makes our piston move downwards.

Petrol is a mixture of about 500 different hydrocarbons, which contain between 3

and 12 carbon atoms. These hydrocarbons are liquid (obviously, since petrol is
liquid) and they boil between 30 and 220 degree celcius. So, on a hot day the
smallest molecules are going to start evaporating off if theyre not in a sealed
container.
Hydrocarbons are either saturated (only contain single bonds) or unsaturated
(contains at least one double bond). Saturated hydrocarbons tend to burn cleanly,
whereas unsaturated hydrocarbons burn smokily and are unstable.

Now, you want to get the biggest possible bang out of your fuel/air mixture, and
you can do this by compressing it before igniting it. This pushes all of the fuel and
air molecules closer together. A compression ratio of 6:1 gives 25% efficiency,
whereas raising it to 12:1 gives 35% efficiency.

However, when you compress the mixture it gets hotter up to 600 degrees celcius
in a running engine.. If you compress it too much, itll get hot enough to ignite
itself, which is bad! If this happens in a running engine, its called knocking or
preignition and it can damage your pistons. Of course, if the engine is hot to start
with, itll heat up the mixture and make preignition more likely. Well return to this
in a minute.

So, the efficiency of your engine is related to the compression ratio, which is how
much you squish the fuel air mixture before igniting it. The fuel/air mixture gets
sucked into the cylinder on the intake stroke when the inlet value is open. Then it
gets squished during the compression stoke, until the piston reaches its highest
point. If there is 400 cubic centimetres above the piston at its lowest point, but
only 100cc at its highest point then you have a compression ratio of 4:1. A real
engine would have a compression ratios of something like 12:1.

Wed ideally want to have the compression ratio as high as possible, but weve
seen that thatll cause the fuel/air mixture to ignite early (before the spark plug has
sparked) and damage our engine. So, we look for some magic ingredient to stop
this happening.
One such magic ingredient is Tetra-ethyl lead, which gives leaded fuel its name. It
reduces the tendency of the mixture to preignite. Unfortunately, its bad for the
environment and has been phased out in the UK. TEL acts to lubricate the exhaust
value, so theres some concern that switching to unleaded fuel can lead to the
exhaust valve being lubricated less.

Another problem with using tetra-ethyl lead (TEL) is that it would eventually gum
up the engine and exhaust with lead, so you also have to add scavengers to the
petrol. Scavengers are chemicals which react with the lead to make a volatile
chemical which can pass out of the exhaust. An example would be lead halide
salts.

Its worth noting that petrol usually contains some Sulphur before it gets refined.
Sulphur defeats the anti-knock properties of TEL and so has to be removed. Its
hard to remove it all though, and the sulphur which is left in the fuel reacts with air
to form sulphur dioxide. The sulphur dioxide gets into the atmosphere via your
exhaust and dissolves in water to form sulphuric acid causing acid rain.

Fuel/air ratio

The carburettor controls the fuel/air mixture on a motorbike, and you often hear
lean and rich being used to describe the fuel/air mixture. Lets look at what
effect this ratio has on the engine.

Firstly, theres a theoretically optimal fuel/air mixture. This is called the

stoichiometric mass/volume and it tells you how much air (ie. oxygen) you need to
completely burn an amount of fuel. If you have less air than this, the mixture is
rich. If you have too much air, the mixture is lean. You can look at it in terms of
fuel. Too much fuel gives a rich mixture, too little gives a lean mixture.
The stoichiometric mass is related to the carbon/hydrogren ratio in your fuel. This
makes sense, since each carbon atom needs two oxygen atoms to make CO2, and
each hydrogren needs on average half an oxygen atom. So you can presumably just
add up the number of carbon and hydrogen atoms and do a bit of maths to work out
how many oxygen atoms youre going to need.

If you have the perfect amount of oxygen for your petrol you can expect to get
about 45 mega-joules of energy for every kilogram of petrol youve got. However,
engines arent perfectly efficient. For a start, to get the maximum amount of work
out of the explosion, youd have to let the gases expand until theyve cooled down
to the surrounding air temperature (look up Carnot cycles somewhere). In a real
engine, the gases only get to expand as long as the piston is moving down. When
the exhaust port opens, and the piston moves up to punt the exhaust gases out, the
gases are still hot. Thats why the exhaust pipe gets hot! A normal engine has an
efficiency of about 20-40%, so it only gets 20-40% of the theoretical maximum
amount of energy out of each explosion. The rest of the energy goes to warm up
the engine coolant, the exhaust and the engines surroundings.

All these hot exhaust gases go out of the cylinder, passing by the exhaust value.
This makes the exhaust value pretty hot up to 300 degrees celcius. Because of
this, the exhaust value takes more of a hammering than the inlet valve, since the
gases passing into the cylinder are at air temperature.

Apparently, for petrol you get stoichiometric combustion (thats complete

combustion) when you have a fuel/air ratio of 1:15 (thats 15 parts of air to one
part of fuel). You can get more power out of your engine by running a richer
mixture of 13:1, but youll be producing some partly burned fuel leading to smoky
exhaust and a gunky engine. You get maximum thermal efficiency (most energy for
a given amount of fuel?) when you have a lean mixture such as 17:1.
Lets look at what happens when the spark plug fires when youre running a lean
mixture. Theres less fuel molecules to go around, so the flame moves across the
cylinder more slowly. This leaves more heat in the cylinder walls and cylinder
head, which can lead to overheating. If the fuel/air mixture is very lean, then the
flame can still be present when the inlet valve opens, which causes backfire!

If youve got a compression ratio of 12:1, with an engine speed of 1500rpm the
flame will move across the cylinder at something like 15 meters per second.

As the engine speed increases, theres less time for the mixture to burn completely.
An engine running at 1000rpm spends 0.06 secs in each cycle, which drops to
0.006 secs when its running at 10,000rpm. One way to combat this drop in
available burning time is to fire the spark plug a bit earlier when the engine is
running fast this is called the spark advance. If you increase the spark advance
too much, it can cause knocking. However, if the engine is running fast then theres
less time for reactions to occur on front of the flame front, which tends to decrease
the chance of knocking.

Other problems with engines

Preignition can be caused by the mixture getting too hot. It can also get caused by
hot surfaces, such as the exhaust value or the spark plug or hot deposits on the
piston. The spark plug deliberately ignites the mixture once per cycle, but if it
doesnt get rid of its heat quickly enough it can remain hot enough to ignite the
next charge of fuel when it comes in. The exhaust value gets hot because the hot
exhaust gases squeeze past it on their way out. If it gets too hot, it can ignite the
fuel mixture too. This leads to runaway surface ignition because if a hot surface
ignites the fuel mixture, itll keep getting hotter. You can end up with melted
pistons.
Misfire can be caused by a failure in the electrical system, which means that the
spark plug wont be making a spark. It can also be caused if the spark plug gets
fouled by deposits. This happens more if the engine is running a rich mixture.

Mechanical aspects of the engine

Engines are made from metal, because its one of the few materials which can
withstand the forces of the explosions, withstand the high temperatures and which
can be made into the right shapes. The cylinder is made of metal. The piston and
piston rings are made of metal. What stops this from scraping against each other in
a nasty way?

The answer is oil. If youve got two metal surfaces rubbing against each other you
need at least a thin layer of oil between them. If you run out of oil, or the oil film
breaks at some place in your engine, the metal will rub together and get hot very
quickly, potentially welding themselves together.

Why is oil good for this purpose? Most obvious, its slidy. If you have two metal
surfaces sliding against each other, then putting a layer of oil between them will
decrease the friction.

What is oil made from? What makes it slidy? Long molecules? Why doesnt water
work?

It has to be stable at temperature cant decompose quickly.

What do the different ratings mean?

Piston rings to scrape the oil, block the explosion from getting down past the
piston.

What does oil encounter during its lifetime (cold start, hot operating changes in
viscosity).

If you use different metals when building an engine, youd better be sure that they
expand at roughly the same rate. If you make the piston from metal which expands
faster (as the temperature increases) than the metal which the cylinder is made of,
youll have problems.

If youve got a rotating shaft, you need to support the two ends of it somehow. The
two ends get supported in bearings (since they bear the load) in the engine case. A
bearing is just a specially chosen material which reduces the friction between the
parts such as brass. You still need oil though.

Carburettors

The carburettor is the bit of the motorbike which mixes the fuel with air. The fuel
comes the tank, through a fuel tap which lets you turn the fuel on or off, then into
the carburettor. Normally, we leave it up to gravity to get the fuel from the tank
into the carburettor we dont need to pump it. This wouldnt work in an
aeroplane which has to fly upside down, but bikes spend most of their life right-
way-up so it works fine. The air is sucked in from the outside world, and passes
through an air cleaner before reaching the carburettor. Theres a few different types
of air cleaner, but their purpose is the same. They remove grit, dust and other
undesirable gunk from the air. You dont want little bits of grit flying into your
engine where theyd cause havoc.
The carburettor has its own little reserve of fuel called the float chamber. This
work in the same way as a toilet cistern. When the fuel level drops, a value is
opened which lets more fuel in. When the fuel level is high enough, the valve
closes. You can get an idea of how much fuel is stored in the float chamber by
turning the fuel tap off while the bike is still running. Itll keep running for a
minute or so.

The main purpose of the carburettor is to spray the fuel into the air stream which
passes through the carburettor. This creates a very fine mist, so that each bit of fuel
is surrounded by lots of air which it can react with once it reaches the cylinder. Its
no good having big blobs of fuel, because only the fuel on the surface will be
exposed to oxygen.

Lets look at how the carburettor sprays the fuel into the air. Theres a fairly wide
passage runs through the carburettor which is where the air passes through. We
make a little hole in the side of this passage, and connect it to the float chamber.
The idea is that the passing air will suck the fuel out of the hole, and itll then mix
with the air.

We can make this work much better if we make the air passage narrow before it
reaches the hole, and then widen afterwards. This creates a pressure difference (the
Venturi effect) which acts to suck the fuel out into the air stream.

Clearly, the size of the hole is going to have a big effect on the resulting fuel/air
mixture, so we use a carburettor jet. A jet is like a screw with a hole running down
the middle of it. You screw the jet into the carburettor body, and the fuel goes up
through the hole in the middle. You can buy jets with different sizes of hole if you
want to change your fuel/air mixture.
Theres a problem with this description though. Theres not yet any way for the
rider of the bike to control the fuel/air mixture. Thats going to be a problem,
because the rider isnt going to be happy with an engine which only runs at one
speed. We can introduce speed control by arranging for a metal needle to sit above
the jet. We can slow the engine down by moving the needle down, so that it
partially blocks the hole in the jet. This throttles the fuel supply, and so its known
as the throttle control. The right-hand grip on a motorbike simply controls the
height of the needle. When youre at full throttle, the needle is totally out of the jet.
When youre going very slowly, the needle will be blocking the jet more.

So, thats the a pretty simple carburettor. The people who first built these things
pretty quickly realized that they werent perfect. For a start, they didnt work very
well if the engine was running slowly. If the engine is running slowly, the piston is
sucking air in at a relatively slow rate. If the air is moving past our jet very slowly,
it doesnt suck out much fuel so we end up with an overly lean mixture. We can fix
this problem by putting a second, larger, hole in the carburettor called the pilot jet.
This is only operational when the engine is running slowly. Its larger size ensures
that enough fuel is mixed in, even at slow speeds. At higher speeds, its not used.

So, what can go wrong with carburettors? Since theyve got lots of very small fuel
passages, they can get blocked quite easily. Thats why you have a fuel filter
(usually in the fuel tap). Thats also why its a bad idea to run the bike with very
little fuel. Chances are, youve got little bits of sediment in your fuel tank which
have sunk to the bottom. If they get into the carburettor, everything is going to
stop. Youll also get problems if the fuel leaves behind any residue inside the
carburettor. This gums up the insides of the carb, and you need pretty noxious
cleaning fluids to get rid of it.

If its a cold day then starting the bike can be difficult. If the walls of the
carburettor and cylinder inlets are cold, then the fuel will condense on the walls.
The same thing happens if you breath out on a cold window the water vapour in
your breath condenses on the cold surface. If your fuel is all condensing before it
reaches the cylinder, the mixture will be too lean to burn. You can remedy this by
providing some means of making the mixture much richer when youre starting the
bike. This is what the choke lever controls. You can also see why its bad to run
the bike with the choke lever on, since youll end up with an overly rich mixture.
Also, if you put the choke on when youre starting the bike on a warm day then
youll get an overly rich mixture too, which will stop the bike starting. Taken to
extremes, the fuel will start condensing in the cylinder and stop your spark plugs
from doing their job.

A final carburettor problem is called carb icing. This is usually only a problem
when its quite cold outside and there is high humidity (lots of water vapour in the
air). When any liquid evaporates and turns into vapour, it takes in heat from its
surroundings. Thats why you feel colder if you get wet the evaporating water is
sucking all your heat away. The same thing happens in the carburettor when the
volatile fuel turns into fuel vapour. This makes the surfaces of the carburettor
colder by as much as 20 degrees celcius. This isnt normally a problem, but if the
carburettor is already cold then the cooling effect of the vapourizing fuel can make
the carburretor body drop below freezing. If this happens on a humid day, then as
we suck in air we will also be getting lots of water vapour. The water vapour can
condense on the cold interior surfaces of the carb, and ultimately freeze. The ice
can block the jets and stop the carb from working.

Exhaust pipes (4 strokes)

Bike builders tend not to put parts onto a bike unless they have a purpose. So what
is the purpose of the exhaust pipe. Why is is it shaped like that, and whats inside
it?
You could theoretically run an engine without an exhaust pipe. It would be
incredibly noisy the exhaust valve is opened pretty quickly after theres just been
a big explosion inside the cylinder. Theres probably still some burning gases, and
the whole mixture is going to still be extremely hot and would burn your legs. So,
you need some way of getting these hot gases away.

The exhaust pipe serves three purposes. It takes the noxious gases which come out
of the engine and moves them a bit further from the rider. Weve already seen how
carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water are formed during the burning of
hydrocarbons. Sulphur dioxide is formed when the sulphur in the fuel is burned.
Additionally, we find oxides of nitrogen in the exhaust gases. Normally nitrogen is
pretty unreactive (it makes up 80% of the air we breathe) but the extremely high
temperatures generated by the spark plug can cause it to react with oxygen.

Secondly, the exhaust pipe cools down the gases. It does this by allowing them to
expand. The exhaust pipe is quite narrow when it leaves the engine, and then it gets
wider. Allowing a gas to expand makes it cooler. Remember how compressing the
fuel/air mixture with the piston made it hotter? This is the opposite effect. Once the
gases have passed through the expansion chamber they are much cooler. Thats
why your exhaust pipe dries out fastest near the engine when its been raining.

Finally, the exhaust pipe reduces the noise of the engine. Every time the exhaust
valve opens, theres a pressure wave (shockwave) travels along the exhaust pipe. If
the exhaust pipe was just a straight tube, this wave would escape to the outside
world and youd have a noisy bike. To stop this, the exhaust pipe also acts as a
silencer. It contains various plates with holes in them (baffles), which force the
exhaust gases to take a convoluted route to the outside world. This tends to breaks
up and cancel out much of the pressure waves, which results in a quieter bike. If
you get a hole in your exhaust before the silencer then the exhaust gases will
escape there and everything will get much noiser.

Power and Torque

The power of a bike is measured in horsepower (HP). One horsepower is the
energy required to move 33,000 lbs by one foot in a minute, which is the strength
of some perfect horse. It measure the rate of energy use which is the same thing
which watts measure, eg. for lightbulbs. A human being can produce something
like a quarter of a horse power. Bike engines produce anything from 10 to 200
horsepower.

In practise, you see bikes rated in brake horsepower (BHP). Brake horsepower is
named after the machine which is used to measure horsepower, which is called the
prony brake. The bhp rating is the maximum attainable hp for the engine. It doesnt
account for losses of energy through the gearbox, chain, wheel bearings. Even if
you have a 50bhp engine, you wont be getting your full 50hp of rotation power at
your back wheel if youve got a rusty chain and corroded wheel bearings.

An engine clearly delivers a different amount of power at different speeds. When

its going slowly, it provides less energy each second than if it was going quickly.
If you look at the power graph for your bike, youll see what power it produces at
different engine speeds (rpm).

Torque measures ability of accelerate. Again, your engine will produce different
amounts of torque at different speeds. Typically, it has low torque at low revs,
maximum torque at something like 60% of its maximum speed, and then the
torque drops off as it reaches maximum speed. The more torque you have, the
faster you can accelerate. Thats why bikes feel most responsive at something like
60% of peak revs youre at the point of maximum torque.

Why are bikes less responsive when the engine is cold?

How Motorcycles Work

Motorcycle Basics
Motorcycles are motorized vehicles for transporting one or two riders. Generally, a
motorcycle has only two wheels, but any vehicle with fewer than four wheels in
contact with the ground can be classified as a motorcycle. Three-wheel variations
of the motorcycle include the "hack" (motorcycle plus sidecar) and the "trike"
(short for motortricycle).

Photo courtesy Kenn Kiser, Pixel Perfect Digital

2001 Honda Gold Wing GL 1800 with Monarch trike conversion

The layout of the modern motorcycle was established by 1914 and has remained
fundamentally unchanged ever since. The overall structure and function of a
motorcycle is quite simple. It includes a gasoline engine, which converts the
reciprocating motion of pistons into rotary motion, just like the engine in a car. A
transmission system transmits this motion to the back wheel. As the back wheel
turns, it propels the motorcycle forward. Steering is accomplished by turning the
front wheel via the handlebars and by leaning the bike to one side or the other. Two
hand levers enable the rider to operate the clutch and the front brake, while two
foot pedals enable him to change gears and control the rear brake.

Next, we'll take a close look at a motorcycle engine.

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Motorcycle Engine

Inside a typical car engine

Motorcycle engines work the same way that car engines do. They consist of
pistons, a cylinder block and a head, which contains the valve train. The pistons
move up and down in the cylinder block, driven by explosions of a fuel-air mixture
that has been ignited by a spark. Valves open and close to allow the fuel-air
mixture to enter the combustion chamber. As the pistons move up and down, they
turn a crankshaft, which transforms the energy from the pistons into rotary motion.
The rotational force of the crankshaft is transmitted, via the transmission, to the
rear wheel of the motorcycle.
Motorcycle engines are generally classified by one of three characteristics: the
number of cylinders they possess, the capacity of their combustion chambers or the
number of strokes in their power cycles.

Photo courtesy Harley-Davidson Motor Company

The Revolution, a Harley-Davidson V-twin engine

Cylinders
Motorcycle engines can have between one and six cylinders. For years, the V-twin
design was the engine of choice for motorcycle engineers in America, Europe and
Japan. The V-twin gets its name from the fact that the two cylinders form a V
shape, such as the classic Harley-Davidson V-twin shown below. Notice the 45-
degree angle in the Harley-Davidson V-twin -- other manufacturers may vary this
angle to reduce vibration.

The V-twin is just one way to accommodate two cylinders. When the cylinders are
oriented so that the pistons oppose each other, the result is an opposed-twin design.
Parallel-twin engines have their pistons placed side by side in an upright position.
Today, the most popular design is the four-cylinder, which runs more smoothly and
at higher revolutions per minute (rpms) than a comparable twin. The four cylinders
can be placed in a row, or they can be arranged in a V-shape configuration, with
two cylinders on each side of the V.

What's in a name?

The term "biker" has come to be associated with members of motorcycle gangs,
which is why many motorcycle enthusiasts prefer the terms "rider" or
"motorcyclist." Born-again bikers are motorcycle riders in their 40s and 50s, a
demographic that had not been well-represented in the general population of
motorcycle owners until recently.
Capacity
The size of the combustion chamber in a motorcycle engine is directly related to its
power output. The upper limit is about 1500 cubic centimeters (cc), while the
lower limit is about 50 cc. The latter engines are usually found on small
motorcycles (mopeds) that offer 100-miles-to-the-gallon fuel economy but only
reach top speeds of 30 to 35 miles per hour.

Next, we'll examine the motorcycle transmission.

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Motorcycle Transmission
A simple transmission

A motorcycle engine can create an enormous amount of power, which must be

delivered to the wheels of the vehicle in a controllable way. The motorcycle
transmission delivers power to the rear wheel through a series of structures that
include the gearset, the clutch and the drive system.

Gearset
A gearset is a set of gears that enable a rider to move from a complete stop to a
cruising speed. Transmissions on motorcycles typically have four to six gears,
although small bikes may have as few as two. The gears are engaged by shifting a
lever, which moves shifting forks inside the transmission.
Clutch
The job of a clutch is to engage and disengage power from the engine crankshaft to
the transmission. Without the clutch, the only way to stop the wheels from turning
would be to turn off the engine -- an impractical solution in any kind of motorized
vehicle. The clutch is a series of spring-loaded plates that, when pressed together,
connect the transmission to the crankshaft. When a rider wants to shift gears, he
uses the clutch to disconnect the transmission from the crankshaft. Once the new
gear is selected, he uses the clutch to reestablish the connection.

The belt drive on a Buell Lightning

Drive Systems
There are three basic ways to transmit engine power to the rear wheel of a
motorcycle: chain, belt or shaft. Chain final-drive systems are by far the most
common. In this system, a sprocket mounted to the output shaft (i.e., the shaft in
the transmission) is connected to a sprocket attached to the rear wheel of the
motorcycle by a metal chain. When the transmission turns the smaller front
sprocket, power is transmitted along the chain to the larger rear sprocket, which
then turns the rear wheel. This type of system must be lubricated and adjusted, and
the chain stretches and the sprockets wear, requiring periodic replacements.

The Friction Drive

The friction drive is another transmission found in some motorcycles. A friction
drive is a type of continuously variable transmission, or CVT, in which the
variation in gear ratios comes about as a disc connected to the engine (the driving
disc) rotates across the face of a second disc connected to the rear wheel (the driven
disc). By varying the radius of the contact point between the two disc surfaces,
different gears can be achieved. Continuously variable transmissions have a long
history of use in motorized vehicles, with variable friction transmissions appearing
in motorcycles in the early 1900s.
Belt drives are an alternative to chain drives. Early motorcycles often used leather
belts, which could be tensioned to give traction using a spring-loaded pulley and
hand lever. Leather belts often slipped, especially in wet weather, so they were
abandoned for other materials and designs. By the 1980s, advances in materials
made belt final-drive systems viable again. Today's belts are made of cogged
rubber and operate much the same way as metal chains. Unlike metal chains, they
don't require lubrication or cleaning solvents.

Shaft final-drives are sometimes used. This system transmits power to the rear
wheel via a drive shaft. Shaft drives are popular because they are convenient and
don't require as much maintenance as chain-based systems. However, shaft drives
are heavier and sometimes cause unwanted motion, called shaft jacking, in the rear
of the motorcycle.

The other components that make a motorcycle a motorcycle are part of the chassis.

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Motorcycle Chassis
The motorcycle chassis consists of the frame, suspension, wheels and brakes. Each
of these components is described briefly below.

Frame
Motorcycles have a frame made of steel, aluminum or an alloy. The frame consists
mostly of hollow tubes and serves as a skeleton on which components like the
gearbox and engine are mounted. The frame also keeps the wheels in line to
maintain the handling of the motorcycle.

This Harley-Davidson Softail has a swingarm rear suspension.

Suspension
The frame also serves as a support for the suspension system, a collection of
springs and shock absorbers that helps keep the wheels in contact with the road and
cushions the rider from bumps and jolts. A swingarm design is the most common
solution for the rear suspension. On one end, the swingarm holds the axle of the
rear wheel. On the other end, it attaches to the frame via the swingarm pivot bolt. A
shock absorber extends upward from the swingarm pivot bolt and attaches to the
top of the frame, just beneath the seat. The front wheel and axle are mounted on a
telescoping fork with internal shock absorbers and internal or external springs.
Photo courtesy HowStuffWorks Shopper
A tubeless front tire
for touring motorcycles

Wheels
Motorcycle wheels are generally aluminum or steel rims with spokes, although
some models introduced since the 1970s offer cast wheels. Cast wheels allow the
bikes to use tubeless tires, which, unlike traditional pneumatic tires, don't have an
inner tube to hold the compressed air. Instead, the air is held between the rim and
the tire, relying on a seal that forms between rim and tire to maintain the internal
air pressure.

Tubeless tires are less likely to blow out than a tube-type tire, but on rough roads,
they can be a problem because even a small bend in the rim can cause a deflation.
Tires come in a variety of designs to match the needs of terrain and driving
conditions. Dirt bike tires, for example, have deep, knobby treads for maximum
grip on dirt or gravel. Touring bike tires, made of harder rubber, usually provide
less grip but last longer. The tires of sportbikes and racers (generally steel-belted
radials) deliver astonishing gripping power, especially considering the small area
that is in contact with the road surface.
Parts of a disc brake

Brakes
The front and rear wheels on a motorcycle each have a brake. The rider activates
the front brake with a hand lever on the right grip, the rear brake with the right foot
pedal. Drum brakes were common until the 1970s, but most motorcycles today rely
on the superior performance of disc brakes. Disc brakes consist of a steel braking
disc, which is connected to the wheel and sandwiched between brake pads. When
the rider operates one of the brakes, hydraulic pressure, acting through the brake
line, causes the brake pads to squeeze against the disc on both sides. Friction
causes the disc and the attached wheel to slow down or stop. Brake pads must be
replaced periodically because the pad surfaces wear away after repeated use.

Seats and Accessories

Seats on motorcycles are designed to carry one or two passengers. They are located
behind the gas tank and are easily removable from the frame. Some seats have
small cargo compartments underneath or behind them. For more storage,
saddlebags -- either hard plastic boxes or leather pouches -- can be installed on
either side of the rear wheel or over the rear fender. Large motorcycles can even
tow a small trailer or pull a sidecar. The sidecar has its own wheel for support and
may have an enclosed seating compartment to accommodate a passenger.

Next, we'll see what it's like to drive a motorcycle.

Up Next

10 Motorcycle World Records

10 Good Beginner Motorcycles

Are motorcycles really more dangerous than cars?

Can doing a wheelie break your motorcycle's drive shaft?

Can motorcycle jackets save your life?

Driving a Motorcycle

Helmet Head

Photo courtesy HowStuffWorks Shopper

Many states require that motorcycle riders wear helmets. Helmets perform two
functions in a crash. The outer shell, which is constructed of fiberglass or injection-
molded plastic, distributes energy from an impact across a wider area. An inner
lining made of polystyrene absorbs most of the shock of the impact.
Driving a motorcycle is very different from driving a car. Since motorcycles are
two-wheeled vehicles, they topple over when they stop moving. A moving
motorcycle is affected by gyroscopic forces that are unique to two-wheeled
machines. As a result, new motorcyclists must develop the skills necessary to
handle their machines and must be licensed before they can drive their motorcycles
on the street. In particular, motorcycle riders must master the art of steering,
braking and changing gears.
Steering
Steering a motorcycle at low speeds is a straightforward process. The rider simply
turns the handlebar in the direction he wishes to go. This only works at speeds
below five miles an hour. If a motorcycle is traveling any faster, the rider must use
a different kind of steering, known as counter-steering. This type of steering may
seem counterintuitive. That's because motorcycle riders must push the handlebars
to the left to make the vehicle turn right and vice versa.

Here's how it would work out on the street. Imagine that you're riding a motorcycle
on the interstate. In front of you, blocking the right half of your lane, is a wreck or
some other obstacle. If you're a novice rider, you might be tempted to push on the
right side of the handlebar, thinking this will turn the bike to left. In reality, this
will steer the bike to the right, directly into the obstacle. Instead, you should push
on the left side of the handlebar, which directs the front wheel to the right but
steers the vehicle to the left.

Figure 1: The gyroscope is spinning on its axis.

Figure 2: A force is applied to try to rotate the spin axis.
Figure 3: The gyroscope is reacting to the input force along an axis perpendicular
to the input force.

Why does a motorcycle work this way? The motorcycle's wheels act like
gyroscopes and create gyroscopic forces when moving at speeds above five miles
an hour. One of the most interesting effects related to a gyroscope is a phenomenon
known as precession. When a force is applied perpendicular to a gyroscope's axis
of rotation, the resulting motion is perpendicular to the input force. This motion is
called precession, and it's what causes the steering in motorcycles to be
counterintuitive. It's also why instructors often arm their beginning riders with a
simple mnemonic: "Push left, turn left. Push right, turn right."

Braking
Stopping a moving motorcycle requires that the rider use two brakes -- one on the
front wheel, controlled by the right hand, and one on the rear wheel, controlled by
the right foot. Both brakes should be used at the same time, although the front
brakes are more powerful and will typically provide 70 to 90 percent of the total
braking force. New riders often fear using the front brake, but it should be applied
every time a motorcycle is slowed or stopped. Many accidents are caused by riders
braking incorrectly. According to the California Highway patrol, locking up the
rear brakes is a factor in the majority of motorcycle crashes.

Changing Gears
Early motorcycle clutches were operated by a foot pedal in the same way that
automobile drivers use clutches. This was awkward and dangerous because it
required that the rider's left foot be off the ground when the bike came to complete
stop (at an intersection, for instance). British designers solved this problem with a
hand-operated clutch. Today, hand-operated clutches and foot-operated shifters are
standard on all models.

Braking Advice
When a motorcycle experiences a rapid deceleration, weight shifts to the front
wheel. This makes the back of the bike lighter and can result in the rear wheel
locking up and skidding. In this situation, riders should simply keep the rear brake
applied and focus their eyes on the horizon where they want the bike to go. The
bike will continue to skid, but in a controllable manner with little fishtailing.

When the front wheel locks up, riders should ease off the front brake. If they don't,
the front wheel can tuck under the bike, causing a fall. The best way to avoid a
front lockup is to use a technique called "staged braking." In staged braking, the
rider progresses through four stages, with each stage corresponding to a greater
amount of pressure applied to the front brake:

Stage one has the rider applying the brake just to the point where there is the
slightest friction between the brake pads and disc.

In stage-two braking, the rider progresses to stage one, then continues to

apply a steadier force.

By stage four, which is usually reserved for emergencies that require rapid
deceleration, the rider bears down on the brake as hard as possible, but only
after progressing through the other stages.

This kind of progressive braking will serve motorcyclists in all driving situations
and will usually prevent a front lockup.

In the next section, we'll explore the many different types of motorcycles.

Up Next

10 Motorcycle World Records

10 Good Beginner Motorcycles

Are motorcycles really more dangerous than cars?

Can doing a wheelie break your motorcycle's drive shaft?

 Can motorcycle jackets save your life?

Motorcycle Types

Roper Steam Cycle

If a two-wheeled vehicle powered by steam propulsion is a true motorcycle, then

the invention must be traced back to an American inventor by the name of Sylvester
Howard Roper. Roper's steam-cycle hit the streets in 1869, well before the
invention of the safety bicycle. The machine was powered by a charcoal-fired two-
cylinder engine, with connecting rods attached to a crank on the rear wheel.
However, the Roper motorcycle still placed the rider over a large front wheel.
Motorcycles come in many different styles, each offering design and performance
characteristics to accommodate specific riding conditions. Let's take a look at the
common categories of motorcycles.

Examples of touring motorcycles (left) and cruisers (right)

Street Bikes
Street motorcycles come with all of the necessary equipment to be street-ready.
They have lights, mirrors, a horn and a muffler. Their tires have a tread pattern that
provides good traction on both wet and dry roads. Street motorcycles generally
come in two forms -- touring motorcycles and cruisers. Touring motorcycles are
specially designed for long-distance travel. Their most distinctive features are
fairings, aerodynamic wind guards that wrap around the headlight to enhance
styling and reduce drag. Touring bikes also come with other long-distance
amenities, such as saddlebags and a comfortable passenger seat. Cruisers, which
typically have no fairings, offer a more laid-back look. They are built with swept-
back handlebars, low seats, and casual riding positions with forward-set footpegs.

Photo courtesy Darrin Gatewood

2005 Yamaha FZ6, a "naked bike"

Sportbikes
Sportbikes are designed to handle well at high speeds and on winding roads. They
offer multi-cylinder engines to produce more power, aluminum alloy frames, stiff
suspensions to improve handling, high-grip tires and powerful brakes. Instead of
sitting up straight, sportbike riders lean forward over the gas tank to reduce wind
resistance.

"Naked Bikes"
Naked bikes offer the performance of sportbikes without the aesthetics. In most
cases, they are stripped of any unnecessary bodywork. Because they're often the
product of bike customizers who want a "road warrior" appearance, naked bikes
are also called streetfighters, especially in Europe.
Photo courtesy Mike Le Pard, Total Motorcycle
1978 Suzuki GS550, a typical UJM

Traditionals
Also known as standards, traditionals look and handle like an archetypical model
known as the Universal Japanese Motorcycle (UJM), built primarily in the 1970s.
The UJM was an all-purpose, do-everything bike, and today's standards offer the
same versatility and straightforward design.

Off-road Bikes
Off-road motorcycles include both motocross bikes and dirt bikes -- machines
designed to handle jumps, bumps and other obstacles found on closed racing
courses or woodland trails. Off-road motorcycles have narrower, lighter frames,
increased ground clearance and advanced suspension systems. They also have a
kick-starter to reduce weight and tires with a knobby tread pattern for increased
traction. Because off-road bikes usually don't come standard with lights, mirrors, a
horn or a muffler, they aren't street-legal.
Photo courtesy R. Beaty, MorgueFile
Motocross bikes in action.

Dual-purpose
Dual-purpose bikes, also known as dual-sports, are street-legal motorcycles that
offer some off-road capabilities. Like dirt bikes, dual-purpose machines are
lightweight and durable. Like standards, they offer great versatility for newcomers
and long-time riders alike. The dual-purpose motorcycle falls somewhere in
between a dirt bike and a street motorcycle. For example, dual-purpose bikes
feature specialized tires that work on both dirt and pavement.

Next, we'll explore the history of motorcycles.

Up Next

10 Motorcycle World Records

10 Good Beginner Motorcycles

Are motorcycles really more dangerous than cars?

Can doing a wheelie break your motorcycle's drive shaft?

Can motorcycle jackets save your life?

Motorcycle History

Motorcycles evolved from the "safety" bicycle, a bicycle that offered many
advantages in stability, braking and ease of mounting. The essential features of a
safety bike included:

Spoked front and rear wheels of the same size - roughly 30 inches in
diameter (compared to the "ordinary" bicycle, which had a 48-inch front
wheel and a 30-inch rear wheel)

A chain-driven rear wheel

A front chainwheel roughly twice as large as the rear sprocket

A low center of gravity

Direct front steering

Photo courtesy Indian Motorbikes

1901 Hendee Single

The first bicycle to provide all of these features and gain market acceptance was
the Rover Safety, designed by John Kemp Starley in 1885. After the Rover pattern
took over the market, safety bicycles were simply called "bicycles."

It didn't take long for someone to take the user-friendly safety bicycle design and
strap on an internal combustion engine. The first to do so successfully was Gottleib
Daimler, who is credited with building the first motorized bicycle -- or motorcycle
-- in 1885. Daimler's motorcycle included a single-cylinder Otto-cycle engine
mounted vertically in the center of the machine. It also had one wheel in front, one
wheel in back and a spring-loaded outrigger wheel on each side for added stability.
Its chassis consisted of a wooden frame and wheels with wood spokes and iron
rims. Such designs were called "boneshakers" because of the rough, jarring ride
they delivered.

The next notable motorcycle was designed in 1892 by Alex Millet. Millet
incorporated the basic safety bicycle design, but added pneumatic tires and a five-
cylinder rotary engine built into the rear wheel. The cylinders rotated with the
wheel, while the crankshaft formed the rear axle.

Copyright Harley-Davidson Archives

Photo courtesy Harley-Davidson Motor Company Archives
The first Harley-Davidson was basically a motorized bicycle.

The Hildebrand & Wolfmueller was the first successful production two-wheeler,
patented in Munich in 1894. More than 200 vehicles made it onto the road.
Hildebrand & Wolfmueller decided to cool their parallel-twin engine with water,
which required a water tank and radiator. Their solution was to build the coolant
system into the top of the rear fender.
In 1895, DeDion-Buton introduced an engine that would revolutionize the
motorcycle industry by making mass production possible. The DeDion-Buton
engine was a small, light, high-revving four-stroke engine that could generate half
a horsepower. Although DeDion-Buton used the engine in its motortricycles,
motorcycle manufacturers around the world copied and used the design.

American production motorcycles were also based on the DeDion-Buton engine.

The two most famous American motorcycle manufacturers to incorporate the
DeDion-Buton engine, however, were the Indian Motorcycle Company and
Harley-Davidson.

Motorcycles Go to War

A Harley-Davidson military motorcycle

When World War I started in 1914, the automobile did not own the roads.
Motorcycles filled the gaps as dependable, reliable vehicles. In the war, their
utilitarian nature was put to good use. American and European armies used
motorcycles extensively to gather reconnaissance, deliver messages and, in some
cases, engage in combat. In 1917, roughly one-third of all Harley-Davidson
motorcycles produced were sold to the U.S. military; in 1918, that figure rose to 50
percent. By the end of the war, it is estimated that the Army used some 20,000
motorcycles -- most of them Harley-Davidsons [ref].
Carl Oscar Hedstrom and George M. Hendee founded the Hendee Manufacturing
Company in 1900 with the goal of producing a "motor-driven bicycle for the
everyday use of the general public." In 1901, they rolled out the Single, a 1.75-
horsepower motorcycle that could reach a top speed of 25 miles per hour. They
also decided to roll out a brand-new trade name for their motorcycles. That name
was Indian, and it was the world's best-selling motorcycle until World War I.

Founded by William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson in 1902, the Harley-Davidson

Motor Company went on to produce the most influential machines of the industry.
Its first models used the basic DeDion-Buton layout and borrowed heavily from
chassis designs already employed by other motorcycle manufacturers, including
Indian, Excelsior and Pope. The Harley-Davidson eventually made its presence
known with its sturdy, strong and durable machines. In 1908, Walter Davidson,
riding what came to be known as the Silent Gray Fellow, scored a perfect 1,000
points at the 7th Annual Federation of American Motorcyclists Endurance and
Reliability Contest. Soon after, Walter Davidson, Arthur's brother, set the FAM
economy record at 188.234 miles per gallon. By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the
largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. For more information, check out
How Harley-Davidson Works.

That's the past. As for what's to come...

Up Next

10 Motorcycle World Records

10 Good Beginner Motorcycles

Are motorcycles really more dangerous than cars?

Can doing a wheelie break your motorcycle's drive shaft?

Can motorcycle jackets save your life?

Motorcycle Future
Photo courtesy Confederate Motor Company
The B91 Wraith

Although the basic design of the motorcycle remains the same, motorcycle
engineering continues to enjoy innovation and gradual evolution. Consider the two
vehicles shown below. The B91 Wraith from Confederate Motor Company is a
$50,000 motorcycle with a carbon-fiber frame and a molded carbon-fiber fuel
container placed under the engine. The Dodge's Tomahawk is not even a
motorcycle in the strictest definition. To handle the massive V10 Viper engine,
Tomahawk designers had to add two more wheels. They also had to move the gas
tank to the front fender to shield it from the engine's heat.

Photo courtesy David Zatz, Allpar.com

Dodge Tomahawk

The Tomahawk is essentially a concept vehicle, but it demonstrates America's

fascination with two-wheeled transportation and underscores why people ride
motorcycles in the first place -- speed, power and the thrill of the ride.
Motorcycle accessories are becoming more high-tech as well. For example,
BMW's K1200 LT Elite offers a built-in navigation system that dictates turn-by-
turn directions through speakers in the helmet. The prototype Blue Eye Helmet
features the world's first head-up display -- a 320- by 240-pixel color LCD
positioned two inches from the eye.

For more information about motorcycles, check out the links on the following
page.

Up Next

10 Motorcycle World Records

10 Good Beginner Motorcycles

Are motorcycles really more dangerous than cars?

Can doing a wheelie break your motorcycle's drive shaft?

Can motorcycle jackets save your life?

UP NEXT

Up Next

10 Motorcycle World Records

There are many odd records you can break with a motorcycle. Learn about 10
motorcycle world records at HowStuffWorks.

Related HowStuffWorks Articles

 How Harley-Davidson Works

How Bicycles Work

How Car Engines Work

How Manual Transmissions Work

How Clutches Work

How Gears Work

How Gyroscopes Work

How Gasoline Works

How Gas Prices Work

More Great Links

Harley-Davidson USA

Indian Motorcycles

American Motorcyclist Association

Motorcycle Industry Council

Bikez -- motorcycle encyclopaedia

Sources

Books

Holmstrom, Darwin and Charles Everitt. The Complete Idiot's Guide to

Motorcycles, 3rd ed. New York: Alpha Books. ISBN 1592573037

Green, William. Harley-Davidson: The Living Legend. New York: Crescent

Books. ISBN 0517066831

Reference

Encyclopedia Britannica 2005, s.v. "motorcycle." CD-ROM, 2005.

 Encyclopedia Britannica 2005, s.v. "bicycle." CD-ROM, 2005.

Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2005, s.v. "motorcycle."

DK Ultimate Visual Dictionary, s.v. "The motorcycle," "The motorcycle

chassis," "Motorcycle engines," "Competition motorcycles." New York: DK
Publishing, Inc.

Promotional Material

"Journey to adventure: Ten-step guide to motorcycling." Brochure produced

by the Motorcycle Industry Council Inc.

Print Articles

Brown, Joe. "Rev your ride," Popular Science, March 2003.

Harbison, Martha. "Dodge's 4-wheel Tomahawk," Popular Science. March

2003.

Kirschner, Suzanne Kantra and Jenny Everett. "And now, onboard

navigation for bikers," Popular Science. February 2002.

Murphy, Myatt. "The ultimate 2-wheel racing machine," Popular Science.

May 2002.

"What's new: Motorcycling," Popular Science. August 2002.

Web Articles

Tretheway, Steve and Terry Katz. "Motorcycle gangs or motorcycle mafia?"

National Alliance of Gang Investigators Associations, 1998.
http://www.nagia.org/Motorcycle_Gangs.htm

Tharp, Dave. "The first motorcycle?" Motorcycle.com.

http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcmuseum/firstbike.html

Yager, Mark. "Safety bits: High-speed steering." Motorcycle.com.

http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcnews/safe2.html

"Quebec's motorcycle gangs," CBC News Online. March 2, 2004.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bikergangs/
Web sites

Harley-Davidson USA
http://www.harley-davidson.com

Honda Motorcycles
http://powersports.honda.com/motorcycles

Indian Motorcycle
http://www.indianmotorcycle.com