Mega Kwak. 2/22/2006
Roy passed this link on to me today. Some of you may be wondering why Roy keeps passing me links and jokes all the time, and I hardly ever post up anything I’ve found myself on the internerd. The simple reason is that Roy is a simple, humble guy, who has a lot of time on his hands, who enjoys the company of women, and also loves blowjobs. He is a partner in his own firm, and lives in a mansion. And has 2 sports cars and a truck. And 2 classic motorcycles. Which puts him very close, but not quite, in the rich bastards league. So if any of you young ladies out there would like to show him life, and love, as it should be, drop me a line in the comments.
Moving right along, my jaw dropped when I first saw this picture.
My initial thought was that it was a photoshop jobbie, and a bloody good one.
Until I saw the link for the video. (right click and save).
This machine impressed the hell out of me. It makes Dodge’s Tomahawk look sick. 48 cylinders, 2 stroke, air cooled. The owner must have spent hours of time, and gallons of blood and sweat, getting the engineering for this monster right.
My hat’s off to this guy, and his monster creation. I’ve spent some time in my past putting together performance and race machines, but this thing takes the cake. I want one.
Full set of pictures from Mr Ashworth’s site.
- Posted in : General, Reader's Bikes
- Author : thesnark
Comments»
Are all 48 cylinders functional..? Only one piston can fire off at once to work on the drivetrain. Doh!! So the total power output is probably the same, or less, as a lighter, smaller engine with much less cylinders.
Also - lubrication problems. Need to pour in so much more lubricant.
Stability problems - not only from the weight, mind you, but from extreme vibration. You can probably bring 3 women to orgasm just by sitting on it.
There’s also no way the power from the 3 stacked banks of cylinders can connect to the same drivetrain.. Doh!!! I call B.S.!!!!!!!!
Nope. It’s real & it’s british. There are 3 crankshafts joined before the gearbox - I can’t remember if it’s by chain (simple) or gears.
And you nugget, they’re 2 strokes. At best you could have all 48 cylinders fire simultaneously. They’re lubricated by oil in the fuel mixture (so a simple pre-mix of oil/petrol would suffice). Weight is indeed a problem though - but not as much as you think (simple air cooled 2 strokes again = light individual cylinder weight).
This guy just makes insane bikes. As a hobby.
See http://www.bigbikeriders.com/48cyl.htm for further pictures and more technical details.
Aw : The bike is real, as verified by Landy, and another friend of mine in the UK. The issue with this bike isn’t about total power, or handling, or anything else. It’s the motorcycling equivalent of Mt Everest. It is a question of “can it be done?” And in this particular case, the question was answered.
A 2 stroke that has properly balanced crankshafts, and tuning, won’t vibrate anymore than any other engine in a good state of tune. I know this from racing TZs some time in my dim and distant past. Don’t mistake vibration for resonance, which is a different thing entirely.
As for linking multiple engines together, drag racers and streamliners on the salt flats have been doing it for years. The Kawasaki GP bike from the early 80s, ridden by Kork Ballington, had dual crankshafts, linked to a central gearshaft leading to the gearbox. It’s a matter of synchronicity. Easier with a chain, but you get more power with a gear. Also, 2 strokes are simple, because they only have a up-down cycle to contend with, unlike a 4 stroke with it’s intake-compression-ignition-exhaust cycle.
If you get me 4 Rotax engines, I’ll gladly make a special for you.
Teechnicalities aside, the chaps gotta have pretty long arms…
that’s totally wicked
truly a work of mechanical art folks,a great feat indeeed.Being a former builder of many 2 stroke machines myself H1s H2s & 500 gammas & a slew of others.my favorite was my ole CR500 Dunstall H1 which is dearly missed,that 48 bannger is great to see,Im sure its works very well too,yet Im quite sure with configuration & the intake system not to mention the straight pipes ,shes missing out on tons of power band ,some of the cylinders must get awfully hot from running lean i would suspectthen again the shear mass of the machine does not didctate full on 2 stroke pwr ,with real chambers a nd some sort of injection system for fueling & or 48 single carbs to feed the monster,with the correct port timing & set up correctly it would truly be a space shuttle,yet it is still a great marvel of engineeering indeeed & my hat is truly off to the builder,Bravo…later..Dom
[…] Dom’s post in “Mega Kwak” brought back some memories for me. Somewhere in the very early 90s, when I was recently out of college, and still in my first “real” job, I was in the process of sorting out thing, after having changed countries. The moment my funds cleared in the bank, I immediately went bike hunting. The flavour of the time was a liter four inline 4 four-stroke. And Yamaha’s OW01 was rampaging over everything. So I went and got myself an FZR1000. […]
err not sure if this is the correct place to go
but many yrs ago knew kork ballington and brother derek
have many fond memories of sitting in kawasaki garage watching bikes being tuned and tinkered with
pre race
have no idea if the brothers are still around and do not really know where
to start looking for the correct sights
can you help
the simpsons porn