What do you like and dislike, about the engines on your bikes?

[rauchman]

2007 SV1000S (Currently own) - Love the engine.  There is a rough spot in the 2.5 - 3.ish zone, but love the grunt of the engine.  Is DECEPTIVELY fast.  Nice grunt out of corners. Revs easily, nice engine braking.  SV650 has more engine braking.  Even with stock exhaust, love the sound of deceleration.  Bike has low frequency vibes...more like pulses, which I like.  Makes the bike feel alive.  Switched the handlebars to Convertibars (wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than stock) and just received my Sargeant seat yesterday in the mail.  Really like the trans as well, smoothest I've had the pleasure of riding.

2003 Kawi Z1000 (wife's) - I've taken it out a few times and this was my 1st (and come to think of it, only) experience with an I-4 bike.  Off the line, the bike is smooth...really smooth (I'm guessing this a characteristic of the I-4 engine).  I believe this engine is tuned with less of a focus on top end speed with more midrange punch.  Regardless, the bike is fast.  Remember laughing in my helmet flying on Rt 80 just ripping it.  Engine has some high frequency vibes in it around 6k or so.  Gave my hands the tinglies.  Really nice package of a bike though.

2002 Yamaha Roadstar (sold) - Very very smooth carburation when warmed up.  Nice grunt off the line but dies off quickly.  Vibrates hard when over 75.  Decent engine for real world riding.  Never ever got passed up by another cruiser and surprised a sport bike or two (read...sucky sport bike riders) with this bike. Ultimately, too heavy with weak brakes.  Very comfortable though and a worthy touring rig.

Buell XB12R/Ss - Buddy and I took a test ride on these bikes and thoroughly loved them (mostly).  For real world riding they were easily fast enough.  Test ride was done on 35 - 40mph twistie roads and a smidge of highway.  Engine was great in this environment.  Never felt it ran out of steam too quickly.  No horsepower "hit" though.  Bikes handled almost telepathically.  Did notice a couple of times, if I ran a gear too high in a turn, the bike would pull through, but the engine felt very luggy.  Would require getting used to it.  The fact that the XB12Ss that I was riding back to the dealership lost a bolt with an audible ping, that my buddy heard as well, just as we were pulling back into the dealership parking lot, kind of turned both of us off to the bikes.  

2001 BMW R1150R (My buddies bike he currently owns) - Haven't ridden it in a while, but distinctly remember the shaft drive feel.  The engine, although very competent,  didn't give me tinglies.  It was ok, with no prominent feature of feel, outside of twin pulse vibes.  Loved the way the bike felt though.  I've never ridden a dirt bike, but the bike rode like I would think a dirt bike would.  Felt like you could throw the bike so easily into a turn (guessing this is from the very low center of gravity with the engine design).

2003 HD Fat Boy (rented) - Wife and I got married on a hot air ballon on the north side of Phoenix and rented 2 HD Fat Boys to ride up to the Grand Canyon for the honeymoon.  She was a little uncomfortable w/ hers as she wasn't used to a bike that big, but she did ok.  I remember the bike feeling a little smaller than the Roadstar.  Engine, like the Roadstar, was smooth and competant for the style engine it is.  Above 75, the bike vibrated to the point where the mirrors were useless (like the Roadstar).  Bike was comfortable and, like the Roadstar, a worthy tourer.

2002 HD Dyna Wide Glyde (rented) - Started riding in 09/2002 and my buddy and I (who also started riding around the same time) went to go visit a friend in AZ and decided we were all going to rent HD's for a few days.  At the time, to me the WG looked like the quintesential HD, chopper like, sleek and above all else...cool.  At the HD dealership, 1st thing I noticed was the vibration at idle.  Loved it.  Really made the bike feel alive.  2nd thing I noticed was that the front foot pegs were wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out there.  There is nothing like cruising down empty roads in the desert on a HD though.  It reeks of cool.  Having said that, the WG was not the most comfortable bike.  As mentioned, foot pegs too for forward for me, where I felt like my ass was getting jolted from the seating position.  Ran the bike to max speed (about 110 or so) and the front felt very light...skittish.  Right now, if I were to get a new bike, the HD Super Glyde would be 1st pick.  Loved the visceral feel of the engine in this series.

2002 Suzuki SV650S - My 1st bike and one that I should not have sold.  I loved this bike.  It was silver and beautiful.  The last year of the 1st gen SV, with the more tubular trellis frame.  Remember the 1st time I pushed the bike on a twistie highway and understood what the reviews had mentioned about a great bike.  The engine, easily enough power for the street.  From 6k on up, the creamy power and the bike handled so easily.  Downside, the bike had massive engine braking.  In slow speed around town stuff, was a real bitch to be smooth on.  Very very jerky at low revs.  Also, was not a fan of the sport bike ergos.  

[Baron Samedi]

just the ones I have now:
Moto Guzzi Spada 11: lovely, sweet, gorgeous sound, slooow, but I like it. Easy to work on, too.

Triumph Thunderbird (triple). Brilliant engine, less like a bike engine than the Guzzi (that is a proper feeling bike engine) but more power and torque. Sounds like a bag of nails being shaken but the exhaust moise is great. I HATE THE BLOODY OIL INSPECTION WINDOW.

Velocette-doesn't work.

[Jake Harsha]

Triumph Speed Triple 1050 - Smooth.  Torquey.  Powerful.  Everything an engine should be and nothing it shouldn't.  Absolutely nothing bad to say about this engine.

Gen 5 VFR 800 - Ditto what I said about the Triumph triple except to a much lesser degree.  A bitch to work on.

Ninja 250 - Slow to rev, but a rabid sewing machine once it gets up a head of steam.  Fast for what it is.

CR 125 - Take the rabid sewing machine and turbocharge it.  200 pounds and 30+ horsepower all concentrated in the last 3000 RPM of the rev range.  Crap mileage.  Ultra peaky...goes from nothing to wheelie faster than you can say "loop out."

KX250 - Tons of power, decent low-end, even crappier mileage.  Front wheel spends most of its time in the air.  Too fast for the woods.

CBR600F3 - Typical 600 SS power curve.  Fast.  Fun.

FZX700 Fazer - Similar power curve to a 600 SS but with more low-end torque.

SV650S - Good torque down low, but gutless in the top end.  Left me wanting more.

Honda XL 175 - Ball-less, but fun to putt around on.

XS650 - Never actually rode it as a bike, but I put the engine in my buggy and I have to constantly check/tighten/replace bolts, nuts, etc...  That thing is freakin' imbalanced!  WTF was yamaha thinking?  Othern' that it's a great stump-puller of an engine.


Jake

[chornbe]

To me the engine IS the bike.  If you like the engine you like the bike.

F4i:
Buzzy CTT
XX:
Buzzy CCT

I still love both engines.

eh.. I've ridden machines that were perfect except for the engine, I've ridden bikes that had absolutely perfect engines but horrible brakes or suspension or ergos, and often - TOO OFTEN - several of those bad things together.

[2RR2NV]

current FJR, love the power, but sometimes gets jerky at lower rpms. a lil bit of vibes but i can easily live with em. too quiet. needs an exhaust. and needs a PCIII

[Fast Blue]

Every bike should have a ZZR 1200 motor in it

[blueridgerider]

The most boring bike I've ever ridden was a V4 - maybe that's why I'm not really into that configuration.  Of course that had a lot to do with the bike in total.  It was an ST1300.  It wasn't pretty IMO, and the engine felt electric smooth.  Sure it had plenty of power - it just felt so blah!

The only bike I've had that I felt the engine was not suitable for my purposes was an old SECA.  And that was purely because I did not ride it for the purpose it was intended.  I rode it as a big heavy dirt bike when it was purely street.

There have been others.  I have never had a sport V-Twin, but I had a large displacement cruiser.  It was a great road engine.  You did not have to worry about switching gears on elevation changes, or if you slowed a good bit for traffic.  It was just a very friendly engine to ride around town.  Being mine did not have an overdrive gear, it was less freindly for highway use as MPG would plummet when cruising along at 80-85.

I had an old CB750C I put well over 100,000 miles on that I loved.  Just felt good and right.  

My BMWLT, that was my previous ride, was a great total package.  I would have wished for a bit more in the engine department - more along the lines of the power of the new LT or the slightly older sportier K12's but they had tuned it for better midrange.  It was a little gear happy in the mountains.

I absolutely love my current oilhead.  It has an honesty.  It's perky, naked jugs sticking out have a utilitarian and natural sexiness that I like.  The engine is not covered with a plastic outfit, nor is it festooned with the chrome equivalent of "pasties".  The power delivery is nice - somewhere between my old V-Twin and the LT's engine in torqueiness and Top end fell wise.  Crappy first gear of course.  But I like looking down and seeing the heads, tubes, wires, etc.  It's a comforting feeling that I see and know what is going on inside the engine.    It feels like a motorcycle to me - I like that it is not glass smooth.  

[Geoff]

'07 Tiger 1050: IMO, one of the most versatile powerplants ever stuffed in motorcycle chassis.
                     It's Triple-licious!! How can you say anything negative about a mill that will pull like
                     locomotive from 2000 rpm to redline in 6th gear?

'81 SR500:  Simplicity and torque. 36mm Mukini and a 'Trapp reverse cone pipe make the otherwise
                 stock engine a stud. A very precise tool for the twistys.

'79 SR500:  Simplicity and TORQUE! 38mm Mikuni, 'Trapp reverse cone pipe and Megacycle off-road cam.
                 A very effective "blunt instrument" for pounding the back roads into submission.

The bestest motorcycles have an odd number of cylinders!


I'll have to get back to you on the dislikes, nothing comes to mind at the moment.


Rex

I used to have an SR500. I forgot the year. I sold it to a guy who turned it into an ice racer. He wanted the bike because of its low end torque and light weight.

[ragtoplvr]

Honda 400 4  4 100CC cylinders that just want to rev with the slightest tingle of vibration, 4 into 1 exhaust sweet tone, not powerful, not fast, but just feels and sounds right!

CBX  Sounds and feels even better.

ANY 2 stroke, and Castor oil is even better.  Ring ding ding ding.

VRF750F Sabre, worst POS ever.  Nothing good here, move along.

Oilhead beemer, quiet exhaust, no engine heat, easy to tune and maintain, much faster than it feels, smooth as glass in the sweet spot, rattles like a can of marbles, just ruins the experience.  Never understood how an engine could have so many different awful sounding taps and rattles, sound like it will fly apart and hang together so long.  BMW should find the cam tensioner engineers and managers and fire them, with real fire.  Same for the final drive bozos, the 5 speed transmission program managers that ignored gertrag's designers, the fool who thought up the throttle cables and divider boxes, the idiot that left out the drain hole in the clutch housing and Clutch slave cylinder, the fools that STILL will not put the transmission input shaft all the way thru the fragile clutch splines, and just for good measure the entire quality control team, with extra hot fire and smoke for who ever thought up the brittle plastic gas line quick (and random) disconnects .  Otherwise the bike is perfect.  I think I just fired about half the arrogant engineers and managers at BMW.  Good riddance.  If we hired BMW enemies to ruin the Motorcycle division they could not do a better job.   Guess who owns a Beemer?

HD twin cam, 96  Nothing but nothing sounds better.  Stock pipes, straight pipes or in between.  simple, more hot rod parts than a small block Chevy, and very low vibration, and the vibration is the good kind.  Give me some acceleration and lean angle, mid pegs and we have a sale.

I rode a Concours 14, that has to be the most perfect I4 that ever existed.

rod

[blackbuell]

CBR1100XX: Legendary smoothness, more power and torque than I ever need, wonderful for long rides, reliable as hell, just a bit weak down low. However.....there is that "lack of soul" issue, which is a very real issue to me, especially since I sold the bike below.

Buell S3: Say what you want about Buells, but the ancient, air-cooled, push-rod 1200 is just plain fun: ample power, exceptional torque, and very easy to control. Negatives: when riding this after the bike above, the rev-limiter kicks in too frequently. Then there is that reliability issue.....which is why it is no longer in my garage. I sure miss it, though

I'm still on the lookout for a project bike to fill the void. If I had the $, I'd buy a new Buell.

Jon

[Rad1]

I've had singles, twins and 4's, never a triple.

My fav, my v4's. What I like most; I love the utter smoothness, yet they retain the constant feeling of underling grunt that oozes through the entire bike even when you ride it easy.

What don't I like about my current v4? The complexity of the valve adjustments and the vtec trickery, I had to do a couple of simple modifications to the engine to eliminate the somewhat annoying transition point.

[black hills]

I liked my V-4 ('90VFR) However I wished it had just a bit more grunt.

I love my I-4 ('03CBR954) It has decent low end, great midrange plus pulls hard in the higher revs. It is pretty happy to run at any RPM you choose. the only real complaint I can find with it is that it is a little buzzy around 6000rpm.


The 2-stoke ('00 KTM300exc) is fantastic!! Probably the best engine one could put into a woods bike. It will hang with about anything if you keep it on the pipe, yet if you lug it it pulls like crazy. You can even go up 2 gears in really snotty stuff and it will pull itself without spinning. The perfect woods machine IMO

450 single 4stroke ('07 YZF450) this is a friends that we raced in the 3 hour 2man hare scamble last weekend. It is fantastically powerfull, but more tractable than other 450's I've ridden, great for the hare scambles (with good traction) but just to much for a mere mortal to handle in the woods.

[2RR2NV]

and here i thought this was thread just about current rides.    

[black hills]

and here i thought this was thread just about current rides.    

Had to theow in the old VFR as I really liked the V-4

[DCLXVI]

What's not to like about a Suzuki SACS engine?

[pmax]

Best engine experienced by far: V-Max 1198CC V-4.

The motor in my '89 sounds unbelievable, growls with rediculous torque, and increasing acceleration as v-boost kicks in.  Just awesome.  

Negatives? For the motor... none that I can think of other than it is heavy.

+1 for the Max motor.  Awesome power.  Great sound.

[Busy Little Whiner]

I love my V4... it's best of all the current motorcycle engines rolled into one... the power of an 4 cylinder
and the grunt of a V2... nothing but smooth linear power like a V2 without a hint of buzz of the I4...
starting with the crank shaft the V4 is narrow as a narrow and light as a feather when compared to the
I4 or V2... what I don't like is the misconception that it cost more to produce than a I4 or V2... because
if made in sufficient numbers the cost would be palatable... people make the mistake of basing V4 cost
on the new Ducati V4 or the Honda's RC45 but the problem with that assumption is Ducati only made
1500 Desmosedicis and Honda only made 1,056 RC45s... so like any bike made in low numbers the price is high...

Soichiro Honda said the V4 is the perfect motorcycle engine...

Rossi stated that the V4 is best for MotoGp...

Not to mention STN's own poll pick the V4 as the winner...

[stevent]

I'm very happy with the 96 incher in my new Harley, it's got tons of grunt and smooth as silk above idle, the fuel injection is spot on and it sounds like nothing else. Starting it gives me a woody, a momentary whirrr then BLAM it's chugging away.. sounds like a Wright Cyclone turning over...

I liked the I-4 in my Bandit as well, specially with the Holeshot can on there, at 6 or 7k it just howled like a banshee...gives ya' goosebumps..

My T100 with the TORS on it sounded cool too blatting away..

Way back when I used to MotoCross the sound of my 380 CZ coming on the pipe and pulling like a freight train was like music as well

I guess I've never heard an engine I didn't like except maybe a Japanese cruiser with drag pipes, to me they sound like shit.  

[doug06z]

I don't have a very large variety to compare to but I will break it down from my experiences.

Z750- My current ride and my only experience with an I-4. Torque everywhere, likes the slab as much   as it does the twisties, can become very fast very quick. It does vibe a bit though.

97' HD Dyna Wide Glide- I liked this bike alot. Loved the engine, lots of torque. Just the sound put a smile on my face. Passing power lacked.

95' Honda CR250- Over the years I owned nearly a dozen MX 2 strokers and this one had the best motor by far. Smooth consistent power throughout rpm range, predictable powerband.

[Specter]

88 Concours:

Likes: Jekyl and Hyde performance - Smooth and torquey low, with growling "on the pipe" thrust above 6k

Dislike: The "Buzz" - mine's at about 4500 rpm