who is the biggest motorcycle company?

[Timpo]

we know that Toyota(I think?) is the largest car company, but what about motorcycle?

I did a research on google and nothing came up.

[Noizz]

Honda is number one for motorcycles/engines produced. They sold the most to the US after war because they were a cheap way of transportation (bicycle with small motor). I remember seeing a couple videos of the history of Honda.

Honda is the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda#History

[Noizz]

Found it:

Go to Twist the Throttle > Pick a clip > Part 1

Watch the other ones too, they're all pretty interesting.

http://turbo.discovery.com/beyond/?p...pId=1454906888

[KingCrimson]

Interesting...
seems like motorcycles have come a long way.

[Noizz]

Yeah, I'm surprised that with Yamaha's new crossplane technology hasn't made its way into automobiles yet (cylinders firing at 90 degree angles vs 180). I'm sure it benefits traction on such low weight sportbikes, but if a production vehicle pumping out 300 hp to it's rear wheels could surely use the benefit of more traction. Of course, there is probably the cost of production to factor in.

[dinamix]

harley

[Noizz]

Harleys are V-twins, they fire at 45 degrees, but there only 2 pistons, and there is a gap of 405 degrees after each piston fire.

A crossplane 4 banger will fire piston 1 @ 90, 2 @ 180, 3 @ 270, 4 @ 360. Unlike a traditional 4 banger firing 2 pistons at once (180 gap), crossplane reduces the pulsing, and smooths out the traction. Essentially you only have a 90 degree gap.

So its not like a Harley where it has high rotational inertia, the crossplane is much more smooth.

[68style]

You also forgot to mention Harleys suck.

[impactX]

Originally Posted by Noizz

Harleys are V-twins, they fire at 45 degrees, but there only 2 pistons, and there is a gap of 405 degrees after each piston fire.

A crossplane 4 banger will fire piston 1 @ 90, 2 @ 180, 3 @ 270, 4 @ 360. Unlike a traditional 4 banger firing 2 pistons at once (180 gap), crossplane reduces the pulsing, and smooths out the traction. Essentially you only have a 90 degree gap.

So its not like a Harley where it has high rotational inertia, the crossplane is much more smooth.

Hmm according to this video, each cylinder of a normal 4 banger is fired every 360 degrees even when 2 of them are at the same position. I am wondering why they don't fire 2 cylinders at the same time? That should produce more power, no?

haha check out the wacky firing pattern:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvTXMtTTKQw

[Noizz]

^ yea that video explains everything better than I do. I was just strumming out what I could remember.

On the side of things, that video is so whack... there's like a guy singing numbers, guitars and drums together with crank shafts and bikes... it's like they shoved everything into a blender and blended it.

[impactX]

However, he hinted that there is another way to aid rear-tire traction, and one that doesn’t involve electronics. Curious about what he referred to, I asked if there was the possibility of using a single-plane crankshaft arrangement in which the two paired pistons fire at the same time (instead of 180 degrees apart), similar to a project used a few years ago in the British Superbike championship on a Yamaha R1. That engine proved to work well in wet conditions, but it was soon outlawed by race organizers.

Nishida-san’s response indicated I was barking up the wrong tree, but any loyal engineer would naturally want to keep information like that to himself. Whatever the case, we may see something special in the engine compartment when the next R6 is revealed.

Extracted this from a 2009 R1 review...

I guess they did make an engine that the two paired pistons fire at the same time... I wonder what effects that makes.

[slammer111]

Not sure what you're talking about, but EVERY 4-stroke engine cylinder fires every 720 degrees (2 full strokes, down and up, which requires 2 full turns of the crankshaft). Hence the name. If the cylinders are fired evenly (in terms of time) and individually, divide 720 by the number of cylinders. For example, for an I4, you have 1 firing every 180 degrees.

Harleys do the uneven 45deg thing with their twins because it gives them that trademark gurgling (blup blup blup) sound. But what I said above still applies.

Honda is also one of the only companies that designs and makes engines for cars AND bikes. BMW is the only other one I can think of, but I thought I read somewhere once their bike engines are now all made in China.

[Boardercross]

Depends if you include scooters in with motorcycles or not.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by slammer111

Honda is also one of the only companies that designs and makes engines for cars AND bikes. BMW is the only other one I can think of, but I thought I read somewhere once their bike engines are now all made in China.

Not to sure, but doesn't Suzuki design and make their own engines for bikes and cars?

[NNT]

I am not sure which is the biggest, but I read somewhere Piaggio is the 4th motorcycle maker. Piaggio is the mother company of Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi and a few more smaller brand...

[RRxtar]

honda is the largest BY FAR

i read an article its like double the size of the second.

[mikkycalm]

well the biggest company is.......... ya TVS,TVS workforce making it the first time that any two-wheeler company has attempted successful multiple rollouts on a single day.

[RRxtar]

really? because right on their home page it says "TVS Motor Company is the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India "

[newguyoz]

Yeah honda is by far the biggest.

[Midnitez]

Honda wins w/ their awesome engineering, prrolly sent theirr engineerrs to help tune a specific Civic thus makin it the best production FF car evaRR
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