Thumping singles, pulsating v-twins or purring fours?

[Coolz]

In this age of high fuel costs, heavily policed speed limits and increasing ACC levies we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes. What engine configuration provides the most fun ridden sanely at legal speeds?

[slofox]

In this age of high fuel costs, heavily policed speed limits and increasing ACC levies we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes. What engine configuration provides the most fun ridden sanely at legal speeds?

At legal speeds? None of them...haha.

I do like the V-Twins meself - just for the sound really.

[Dodgy_Matt]

I do like the V-Twins meself - just for the sound really.

+ 1 here.. :drool:

[boman]

A triple...... .

[george formby]

Yup, I'm fond of my twins soundtrack but have just re-discovered the joys of ring ding ding oil burners too. Lithe & energetic.

[Devil]

Triples! :wings:

[Gremlin]

Well, it's not a vtwin, but it is a twin. Horizontally opposed :wings:

[SPman]

we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speedWho pursues ultimate speed?
I, like many others, just likes to get along at a good safe clip, to get where I'm going without spending all fecking day doing it.......

Back to the question......siren sixes!

[Kees]

Definetly the V-Twin....low down torque..n i i i i ce :sweatdrop

[\m/]

As much as I love 4-cylinder screamers, I would seriously consider a v-twin or Triumph triple as my next bike, just for the sound.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Street Triple! Street Triple!!

or Honda RC166 250cc 6.

yeah baby

[dogsnbikes]

Triples and singles and 300 ks of twisties is all you need :innocent:


ok maybe 4-500 k's of twisties:shifty:

[Renegade]

i love em all for all different reasons, i just cant decide :corn:

[Old Steve]

Gotta admit I'm a V-twin guy. Mind you, mine may be small but with the baffles removed sounds real sweet in a thumpity sort of way. Love her at about 4000 rpm with just a little throttle on.

[DrunkenMistake]

i love em all for all different reasons, i just cant decide :corn:

+1
I have had an, Il4 250 - Threashed the shit out of, and I miss it, a V4 400 - Would still have it if it wasnt for some thieving cunts but it chewed through gas like a hooker chewed through seamen, (Due to my aggressive riding nature), now im on the Vtwin Hyosack 650, and the low end tourque and the sound of the motor when your giving it a good thrash is great, doesnt feel like the bike is trying to rip me outta the seat like the other bikes, but all the same, I have loved all 3,
I also had a scorpio 225 single for a week while I was waiting for an insurance claim on the 400, and hated it, haha not to say a bigger CC single would be bad, I felt it gutless and boring haha

[vifferman]

V-fours, of course! (Although I do miss my last v-twin's torque wodge starting at 3krpm...). Didja know (must be true coz I read it on teh interdweebs this week) that it's a misconception that v-twins produce more torques than stinky inline fours?

[darkwolf]

I love the sound of an inline 4 for short bursts but after a while the noise gets to me. Luckily they don't seem too bad for cruising.

V-Twin by far the best sounding engine I've heard on a bike. For low down, mid range the V-Twin is the best.

Don't like the lawnmower sound of the single cylinder.

Haven't heard parallel twins or boxers on a bike - youtube probably doesn't do them justice.

[Bonez]

I miss thrashing the tits off the GB. Why settle for one configuration when you can have a selection to choose from?:innocent:

[Edbear]

i love em all for all different reasons, i just cant decide :corn:

Same really, I loved the C50T for its cruisy nature and the V-twin beat, but I also loved my old GXS600F and the induction howl when it was wound out.

I loved the relaxed, torquey nature of the V-twin but missed the outright performance of the GSX. I loved my old BSA B31 single for it's sound through its Dunstall megaphone and the way it would rattle windows up Bank Street in Warkworth in second gear... :innocent:

[Mad-V2]

I prefer Twins

http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac325/Hrdmanongear/bliznyashki0011.jpg

The TL sounds awesome but is not too good for urban commuting. Really good for open road cruising though and plenty of power to pass anything comfortably at highway speeds.
It can be quite thirsty when your riding aggressively, and from my almost 12 years experience it is very reliable and fun to ride.

[Winston001]

... now im on the Vtwin Hyosack 650, and the low end tourque and the sound of the motor when your giving it a good thrash is great, doesnt feel like the bike is trying to rip me outta the seat like the other bikes...

Agreed. That's it in a nutshell.

[Subike]

I love the sound of my XS1100 Yamaha,
Although it is an in line four, it is not a high reving screamer like most, tops out around 9000rpm, but the useable power comes on at 1200rpm, 100kph is a lazy 3200rpm, forget about changing gear as roll on torque is choice
Sound ?
A very deep growel, that turns into a howel, but never a scream.
The a very good burbble when backing off.
If I am in a mood to have fun, two bolts remover the nice road legal muffler, and a Harris Pipes Megaphone slips on....now you want a banshee howel you can hear four city blocks away??? stupidly loud,
A purring four?, na, its a growler...

[bogan]

Twins for road stuff, 2T single for dirt work, and a screaming 4 for the track!

[Winston001]

...we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes.

Yes. Still, its for each person to find the best type of bike for that person.

My thoughts:


motorcyclists enjoy speed
racing on track days is an excellent way to satisfy the speed demon
as a result road riding slows down because you can hammer it on the track
the ergonomics of sports bikes encourage more speed
by contrast wide handlebars and an upright riding position places you fully in the airstream and tells your brain you are moving quickly
the perception of low down torque from a twin cylinder is powerful
the guttural snarl of a twin feeds some primitive part of the brain and just sounds right. FTW

I've lived through the ownership of an Italian V-twin - just. Ohhhh how I loved that bike. :facepalm: However it was watercooled and the torque didn't start until 4500 revs, and at 7000 it suddenly got interesting and took off. I'd innocently thought that was only an inline 4 thing.

No regrets of course but speed became addictive an in hindsight, an air cooled tamer machine would have been better. A Thruxton or Ducati ST2.

[Geeen]

As has been said by a few enlightened posters, its gotta be a triple, 1050cc at 6k rpm sounds awesome through a set of Neptunes:love::love:

[Zamiam]

Has to be V-Twin - although I am biased. Nothing like the sound of a V-Twin when you crank it open (even if it takes a week to accelerate to the speed limit. Its a bit like owning a V8 - you find yourself putting the windows down around town just to listen to it.

[DrunkenMistake]

i love em all for all different reasons, i just cant decide :corn:


Has to be V-Twin - although I am biased. Nothing like the sound of a V-Twin when you crank it open (even if it takes a week to accelerate to the speed limit. Its a bit like owning a V8 - you find yourself putting the windows down around town just to listen to it.

Had my bike for about a month almost and im 100% with you on that one!
Im actually obsessed with the noise of the sex it produces when you crack the throttle wide open

[Rhys]

Got to love V twins

[DR650gary]

I love the sound of an inline 4 for short bursts but after a while the noise gets to me. Luckily they don't seem too bad for cruising.

V-Twin by far the best sounding engine I've heard on a bike. For low down, mid range the V-Twin is the best.

Don't like the lawnmower sound of the single cylinder.

Haven't heard parallel twins or boxers on a bike - youtube probably doesn't do them justice.

Listen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZQrYdD5fP4

You have now. Had em all bar the V twin. Liked them all but the older triples do have a special vibe. The V4's are awesome revving up but the parallel twin does it for me at the moment.

Go on, listen again :Punk:

[BurningPlastic]

I like V-Twins, but I really love parallel twins... They just sound and feel right to me. Smooth power all the way up with a beautiful rumble pulling at lower revs...

For whatever reason, most of the bikes I've had have either been parallel twins or 2 stroke singles.

[Samurai]

have owned some 2 stroke 250s and a 4 stroke 250 but the ducati monster S4R I ride now has stolen my heart, oh how nice it is to have torque!

[raziel1983]

I just don't know about the so called "vtwin torque" having moved from an SV1000 to a new CBR1000 the CBR just pulls stronger at all revs in all gears, vtwins have more low down torque? The SV used to shake its self silly and just generally not enjoy being under 4k rpm.

Did I have a faulty unit??

[FlangMasterJ]

My avatar.:Punk:

[warewolf]

In this age of high fuel costs, heavily policed speed limits and increasing ACC levies we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes. What engine configuration provides the most fun ridden sanely at legal speeds?Any adventure bike engine.

Youse tar babies are missing out on a heckuva lot of the fun with narrow-focussed road-only bikes. :Pokey: Adventure bikes may not have the outright horsepower of a litre-class 4, but they are just as quick in the tight stuff (on Kiwi-class streets with shite surfaces and traffic) and shitloads quicker off sealed roads. Can do licence-holiday speeds if you insist, but are much more fun at legal or quasi-legal speeds. And much of the off-road fun is nowhere near any speed limits.

[tigertim20]

In this age of high fuel costs, heavily policed speed limits and increasing ACC levies we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes. What engine configuration provides the most fun ridden sanely at legal speeds?

fuck fuel costs - im tryna use as much petrol as I can before every other cunt gets it all
fuck the police, Ill take my chances and accept tickets as a consequence of my actions
Fuck ACC, Im not paying rego

Ive been fortunate enough to ride most cinfigurations, off the top of my head an rotary bike is the only production configuration ive not ridden.
they all have their place, to me it tends to depend on what kinda riding I wanna be doing. cruising = Vtwin, chug along with more tourque than Oprah winfrey makes lazy passing a breeze, but raping an IL4 to the end of its rotational ability just seems to invoke a sense inside me thats not replicated my anything else.

I will say though, that configuration aint all there is to it, compare 2 and 4 stroke of same configuration, and same (or different) capacity, and you have another factor to consider, which makes it a bit harder.

Bottom line?
I dont give a fuck, If its a bike, I'll ride it

And that includes your mother:shit:

[DrunkenMistake]

And that includes your mother:shit:

Calm down Westy-Mate.:shifty:

[Coolz]

Yes. Still, its for each person to find the best type of bike for that person.

My thoughts:


motorcyclists enjoy speed
racing on track days is an excellent way to satisfy the speed demon
as a result road riding slows down because you can hammer it on the track
the ergonomics of sports bikes encourage more speed
by contrast wide handlebars and an upright riding position places you fully in the airstream and tells your brain you are moving quickly
the perception of low down torque from a twin cylinder is powerful
the guttural snarl of a twin feeds some primitive part of the brain and just sounds right. FTW

I've lived through the ownership of an Italian V-twin - just. Ohhhh how I loved that bike. :facepalm: However it was watercooled and the torque didn't start until 4500 revs, and at 7000 it suddenly got interesting and took off. I'd innocently thought that was only an inline 4 thing.

No regrets of course but speed became addictive an in hindsight, an air cooled tamer machine would have been better. A Thruxton or Ducati ST2.

Great point about the perception of power. I recently rode my mates new fully fared IL4.I was well into the demerit zone half way through the gearbox yet didnt have the sensation of speed.It was so smooth and quiet that I wondered was it really an internal combustion engine or did the cases hide a huge battery? I got back on my old vtwin, selected top gear at 60kph and rolled the throttle on. The bike came alive, I could feel the power of the motor working beneath me, and hear the deep roar of the exhaust,all was well in the world,yet when I looked at the speedo I was doing nowhere near the speed I had just done on me mates bike. I wondered was this just a case of what I was used to and was I missing something about the other bike that my mate couldnt stop raving about?

[Banditbandit]

In this age of high fuel costs, heavily policed speed limits and increasing ACC levies we have to move away from the pursuit of ultimate speed and find different ways of enjoying our bikes.


Why???


What engine configuration provides the most fun ridden sanely at legal speeds?





At legal speeds? None of them...haha.

Agreed !!!!

[Ender EnZed]

Any adventure bike engine.

Youse tar babies are missing out on a heckuva lot of the fun with narrow-focussed road-only bikes. :Pokey: Adventure bikes may not have the outright horsepower of a litre-class 4, but they are just as quick in the tight stuff (on Kiwi-class streets with shite surfaces and traffic) and shitloads quicker off sealed roads. Can do licence-holiday speeds if you insist, but are much more fun at legal or quasi-legal speeds. And much of the off-road fun is nowhere near any speed limits.

And all that's why I've just bought a DR650. Don't think I'll get rid of the VFR just yet though.

[Swoop]

Whatever floats your boat.


However... V4's.
Low down torque + epic sounds form the flugelhorns. Best of both worlds.

[been_there]

The bark of the single....(YZ450)
and the growl of the triple as you go past 6000rpm :kick:

[pritch]

Ummm had several singles, both two stroke and four.
Had IL4s both standing up and lying down.
Had a V twin and a V4.
Current bike is a triple.

Liked 'em all.

Learned on parallel twins but I'm not old enough to own one yet, maybe when I'm seventy five. God willing.

At this stage though the next bike is likely to be another triple, they seem to have some of the advantages of both twins and fours without the disadvantages of either.

[reggie1198]

V-twin with a proper exhaust system attached.

I love the pop and crackle on deceleration, it's like she's talking to me, egging me on again.....the bike made me do it officer, honest.

[Corse1]

As has been said by a few enlightened posters, its gotta be a triple, 1050cc at 6k rpm sounds awesome through a set of Neptunes:love::love:

Had the triple and I reckon its best enjoyed at speed...as you say above 6k.
Vee twins have the charactyer and enjoyment through the entire rev range so I will vote for the V2

[cheshirecat]

70's MV Augusta with straight thru pipes, alway remember that. Next Honda 250 6's, next my V4, great low down, great mid range, great top end and ah those gear driven cams - never bored with that noise.

[Teflon]

old large displacement air cooled singles (kick start)..

[Samurai]

V-twin with a proper exhaust system attached.

I love the pop and crackle on deceleration, it's like she's talking to me, egging me on again.....the bike made me do it officer, honest.

ahh the pop and crackle, love when it frightens old ladies

[BuzzardNZ]

I do like the V-Twins meself - just for the sound really.

+1 and also for the linear power delivery. Twist and go!

[BuzzardNZ]

I just don't know about the so called "vtwin torque" having moved from an SV1000 to a new CBR1000 the CBR just pulls stronger at all revs in all gears, vtwins have more low down torque? The SV used to shake its self silly and just generally not enjoy being under 4k rpm.

Did I have a faulty unit??

Had the same deal on my SV, got a TEKA & dyno tune, corrected the TPS setting, ripped off the snorkel added a BMC air filter and added a TRE, got rid of all those under 4k rpm shakes! I agree, its shitty that Suzuki sold them like that. You expect to ride out of the shop with it being butter smooth over all the damn rev range!

[Sable]

2t twin with nice pipes, big single.

[cheshirecat]

Nah, annoy old ladies and nic smith with this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ratfuML9QA&feature=related

[Pseudonym]

2s & 3s, open pipes a must!

[avgas]

If I am legal I can't beat a single.

In fact if a 1L single cafe/sport came out new today I would buy it.

[Bumblebeeman1150]

A purring four?, na, its a growler...

I agree. Go for the growler.

Big fat fours rock.

[Gareth123]

Single bangers for me:love:. I like to count the thumps as they idle.

[rocketman1]

I have an opposed twin and an in line four at the moment.
Having ridden them all V four's as well.
I must say that I like the big V Twins for sound and character.
They may not be the smoothest to ride slow but that is small consolation for everything else.

V twins RULE,,............... and I don't even own one anymore