History of Motorcycles and Combustion Engines

The invention of the internal combustion engine and the bicycle happened around the same time so it is no surprise that the two came together to become a motorcycle.

It is hard to tell when the first motorcycle was invented since people all over started building engines on bicycle frames. The most famous was the Daimler

In 1903 Harley-Davidson began making motorcycles

Lets learn the parts of an internal combustion engine

Here is what a real piston looks like

Here is what valves look like

Every Cylinder has a spark plug

The distributor is what distributes the battery's electricity to each spark plug. The top of the distributor is called a distributor cap.

Nikolaus Otto invented (demonstrated) the four stroke internal combustion engine in 1876.

Here is how the 4 stroke engine works

The carburetor is what mixes the gas and air

Modern cars have fuel injectors instead of a carburetor

You can usually see the air intake on top of the engine. Inside is always an air filter so dust does not get in the engine

Later in 1892 the Diesel engine was invented by Rudolph Diesel. The diesel engine does not need spark plugs and gets better gas mileage than a non-diesel engine.

Here is how a diesel engine works

Lets take a moment to take about the different types of gasoline

When you pump gas in your car at a gas station there are a few choices

-87 octane

-89 octane

-91 octane

Some times there are different options but these are the most common

So what is the difference? Take a minute with your group and guess what the difference is. Which one is the cheapest? Which one cost more? Is one of them better gas than the other

When there is only single cylinder on a motorcycle it is called a thumper or single.

Most motorcycles are V-Twins.

This is how a V-Twin engine without overhead cams works. This is how a Harley Engine works.

Harley-Davidson's are V-Twins

History of the Harley Engine

BMW motorcycles made what is called a horizontally apposed engine

Many motorcycle companies have a long and interesting history, some of which can be seen in the symbols they use.

For example the BMW symbol

Look at the BMW logo and try and figure out what it represents.

BMW was originally a designer of airplanes. The logo is supposed ot represent a propeller (The white part) spinning and showing the sky (the blue part)

What about the symbol for Yamaha motorcycles? What do you think it represents. Hint: what else does Yamaha make?

Yamaha started by making pianos and musical instruments. Their logo is three tuning forks

If you were going to have your own logo for your car or motorcycle company what would your logo look like?

Different Sizes of Engines.

There are:

Single (thumpers)

Twin

V-Twin

Inline 4

Inline 6

V-6

V-8

V-12

Here is how a 2 stroke engine works

What V-8 Engines look like

Overhead Cams and camshaft on a car engine

Other important parts of an engine

Starter

The alternator is a generator that build up electricity for the rest of the car. This way you only need the battery to start the car then the rest of the electricity can come from the alternator

The engine needs oil to keep the pistons and cylinders lubed. There is an oil pan at the bottom of the engine that holds the oil. An oil pump pumps the oil throughout the engine. There is an oil filter that cleans the oil

Oil filter

Because engines run so hot they need to have a radiator. A radiator pushes water or coolant through the engine to cool it off