Hi, i've heard people talkin about counter balancers, and i was wondering exactly what they are, i know that dirt bikes don't have them, and they have something to do with vibration, why don't dirt bikes have them????

ThAnX!

 

Hey A counterbalancer is a second shaft connected to the crankshaft with opposite weighting to reduce vibration. they have to be timed right also. I suppose they would also give more flywheel effect. Some dirt bikes do have them. I have never seen one on a 2-cycle. Only 4-cycle engines. A multi-cylinder engine has no use for one. Each cylinder counterbalances the other. Hope that helps.

 

They are used in multi cylinder engines. Mostly 4 cylinder car engines to smooth them out. Lots of GM's and Dodge/Mitsubishi's and Nissans use them. Hot rodders down here remove them to decrease reciprocating weight of around 10-15 pounds or more. Also less air bubbles in the oil. They work well in single cylinder 4 strokes because the engine basically acts like a very out of balance tire on a car. It will shake like crazy! They rob a bit of power but you won't mind being able to keep the feeling in your hands and rearend.

 

2 stroke engines have them. Look at the arctic cat thundercat. Its a 2stroke 3 cylinder engine.
Like said above the main reason is to smooth out the engine.
matty

 

Yo, Girthguy ru u talkin about a sled engine, cuz im talkin about atv and dirtbike engines cuz i don't know af any atv with 3 cylinders!.......lol

and Yo Groundhawg, i asked some body if u could put an RM250 engine in a quadracer 250 and they said that they weren't sure if it had a counterbalancer or not, so im figuring the quadracer 250 has one and it is a 2 stroke ! ????

THANX

 

Most dirt bikes don't need a counterbalancer while many atv's do because of their general geometry. The 4-wheeled atv acts as a better achor to the ground thus allowing a "build-up" of vibration so to speak. The length-without-girth of the motorcycle and the direction of rotation of the crank relative to the length of the dirt bike provide a situation where vibrations are not felt as readily.