Yamaha announced it will offer a leasing arrangement for its YZR-M1 engines to teams interested in racing in the MotoGP World Championship. The Japanese manufacturer has signed a leasing arrangement with MotoGP promoter Dorna Sports to supply engines for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Racing teams will be able to lease a Yamaha M1 engine on a per-year basis for their own race bikes. Teams will be free to develop their own chassis or use a chassis from suppliers such as FTR or Suter. Yamaha will not provide any additional engine development on leased engines, so teams will be responsible for their own engine improvements.

Full details including pricing will be released shortly, but interested parties can contact either Dorna or Yamaha for more information. Continue Reading »

To mark the unveiling of its new Thunder Stroke 111 engine, Indian Motorcycle revealed a custom-built streamliner motorcycle dubbed the “Spirit of Munro“, equipped with the new Indian engine.

The “Spirit of Munro” is a tribute to the Munro Special, the 1920 Indian scout that set a new land-speed record in 1967 at the Bonneville Salt Flats for under-1000cc motorcycles. The Munro Special was famously depicted in the 2005 film “The World’s Fastest Indian“, starring Anthony Hopkins.

The streamliner is fully operational, designed from the ground up around the new Thunder Stroke engine. The engine is paired with a custom exhaust and intake system as well as a chain drive conversion for the tall gearing required of a motorcycle built to set speed records. Continue Reading »

Indian Motorcycle revealed its all-new Thunder Stroke 111 engine, the first engine developed under its new Polaris Industries ownership and the powerplant for the 2014 model year. According to Polaris, the Thunder Stroke 111 engine has already undergone over a million miles of testing, including thousands of miles of on-road testing.

Polaris deserves some credit for developing an all-new engine for Indian Motorcycle instead of just re-using the 106ci Freedom V-Twin engine used in the current Victory Motorcycles lineup. Instead, Polaris worked to develop a whole new engine in less than two years after the acquisition, providing modern engine technology to the 112-year-old Indian Motorcycle brand.

At 111ci (1811cc in metric) Thunder Stroke 111 engine is larger than the Freedom engine, while its 49-degree V-Twin configuration is just a tad narrower than the Freedom’s 50-degree V. According to Indian, the fuel-injected new engine is air-cooled with an integrated oil cooler and delivers more than 115 ft-lb. of torque, whereas the Freedom engine claims up to 110 ft-lb. of torque. Continue Reading »

Kawasaki is issuing a recall on its 2011 and 2012 Ninja ZX-10R due to a potential oil leak in the crankcase.

According to documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, engine oil may leak from the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R‘s crankcase from a machined area where the starter is mounted. Leaked oil may pool on top of the crank case and, under continued use, spill onto the rear tire, reducing traction and increasing the risk of a crash.

The issue was first reported in November 2011 by Kawasaki‘s Malaysian distributor. Kawasaki conducted an investigation using parts from both the Malaysian and European markets, determining the oil was coming from a blow hole in the crankcase casting. Continue Reading »

Harley-Davidson has added the Twin Cam 96, Twin Cam 103 and 2003-2006 CVO Twin Cam 103 engines to its engine remanufacturing program.

The program, which previously accepted 1984 and newer Evolution 1340, Twin Cam 88, Twin Cam 88B and Twin Cam 95 powerplants, takes used engines, rebuilds and repaints them.

Customers can take their existing Harley-Davidson motorcycle to a dealer which will remove the engine and send it back to the factory. Harley-Davidson technicians will disassemble the engines, clean and powder coat any reusable parts and replace any parts that aren’t, reassemble and test them before returning them to the customer.

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Triumph issued a recall for the 2011 and 2012 Tiger 800 and 800XC adventure tourers due to a bug in the engine management software.

According to documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Triumph Tigers’ 800cc Triple engine may stall during deceleration. Riders may also notice lower RPMs indicated on the tachometer at idle.

Triumph first received reports of an engine stalling in June. An investigation identified the engine management software as the source of the problem. Triumph developed a new software update that addresses the issue and began implementing it on units with VIN 514872 and later.

Dealers will install the updated engine management software onto the electronic control units on recalled units. The recall involves 1,485 units in the U.S.

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J&D Fabrications located in South Florida has created a go kart with a Honda CBR900RR engine.  With all that power behind it, I would say the go kart is doing a lot of drifting rather then driving but its fun to watch.  Don’t be jealous Mario…

Check it out after the jump.

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When Yamaha announced its new R1 literbike last fall, company reps told us about the tractability assets of its new, MotoGP-derived crossplane crankshaft for the four-cylinder engine. It’s unique in that cylinders fire 90-degrees apart, allegedly enabling better grip during acceleration.

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After gaining experience from GP and supermotard circuits, Aprilia has designed and produced the Aprilia SMV750 Dorsoduro. Named after an area of Venice, the Dorsoduro utilizes a derivative of Aprilia’s 92 hp 750cc liquid-cooled engine with a second generation ride-by-wire control system.

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Forum Network:

Animated Engines

plivez, a new member of the Ducati.ms forums (welcome Plivez!) has a website where he animates motorcycle engines in flash. It’s pretty interesting to see the way a Evo and Twin Cam V twin Harley Davidson engine works. He also has up the crazy BMW flat twin R100 motorcycle engine which seems more complicated then an engine should be!

Make sure you hit the play button/icon for each of his engines to see the different cross sections!

Check out his site here.

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