ORIGINAL: troposcuba
ORIGINAL: 8178
I only take four stokes in a V configuration with eight cylinders, 4.4 liters and 5.7 liters.
yeah, but if you could get a 2 stroke that had 350ci, imagine how it would rpm and make power. it sure would sound cool too!
take this debate over to some of the dirtbike forums and see what happens. same answer as here, they each have their preferred application where one performs better than the other. my buddies and I had this debate on dirtbikes a couple years ago. we put my YZ250 (2 stroke) against his YZF 426 (4 stroke). at the end of the long track they were about even. I would lead some sections of the track and he would lead others, but in the end we were about even. i will tell ya that his bike made power as soon as you crack the throttle, and mine you gotta keep it up in the power band for it to make power. oh yeah, and he had a lot of cc's on me too.
There is a similar debate with street/track bikes. Everybody "knows" that four cylinder engines make peaky high rpm power and V-twins are better for low rpm torque and there are a lot of theorys as to why, most of them easily debunked.
My feeling is that four cylinder motorcycles are designed to satisfy a market that values peak horsepower even at the expense of low rpm tractibility. V-twins are designed to please a market that values "torque" (low and midrange throttle response and flat torque curve) even at the expense of maximum horsepower. Each market gets what it wants and the stereotype is reinforced.
Ride a Kawasaki ZRX1200 R or Suzuki Bandit 1200 and you will learn that fours can also make a lot of low rpm torque.
It's the same with model engines. Most 2-stroke engines are designed for maximum horsepower because that's what the 2 stroke market wants. Horsepower sell 2 strokes and most of the horsepower zealots never throttle down anyway so who cares about midrange? The maufacturers give the two stroke market what it wants and thus reinforce the 2- stroke stereotype.
Four stroke engines are designed for excellent midrange throttle control because that's what the 4 stroke market demands, and again, the stereotype is reinforced.
Can four stroke engines be high rpm screamers? Well that formula 1 car video I gave a link to in an earlier post certainly suggests so.
Can two stroke engines be designed for excellent low to midrange throttle response? Well, the motorcycles used for obseved trials where low rpm torque and throttle response if paramont are mostly 2-strokes. Most RC helicopters also use two stoke engines. Do you really want to try to hover a heli powered by an engine with a on/off switch for a throttle?