Why have no manufactures delveloped a rotary engine for an atv or dirtbike/motorcycle. It seems like mazda has had good luck with them in their rx7. The engine is very small (90 cubic inches, i think) and put out alot of HP for their size. I may be wrong, but it seems like you could get raptor size HP out of an engine even smaller than the cannondales engine and still have great reliability. Is the engine just too expensive and complicated to develope and produce?

JaMeS

 

I would say because of reliability on all of the rotary engines ive seen you had to replace the main seals between the rotor and the wall of the cylinder quite often to keep peak performance.

 

I would say this engine is quite heavy, expensive and require a very big cooling system like the RX-7.

 

also the center of gravity would bbe a lot higher... it you connected the clutches to the crank the they would be in the center of the engine and that would be a foot off of the frame
correct?

 

Additionally if you are refering to the wankel type motor they have a narrower useful torque band. Kind of like why they don't put a turbine type engine in cars even if one slightly larger than a coffee can put out 200 hp ( about the minimum turbine engine size BTW, pulse jets can be made much smaller, we germans might know about that. ) It's just not appropriate for the power delivery system the typical driver (or race driver) wants/needs.

 

I was just throwing an idea out. Thanks for your honest opinions guys.

JaMeS

 

I'd go for some Rotary Valves on my DS!



Biggerisbetter.

 

Norton made a rotary roadrace bike in either the late '80s or early 90's. I don't know how well it worked or any details on the motor, but it was part of the revival of the brand that was attempted that did not turn out so well.