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BMW riders may soon find a W3 in place of a four-cylinder on their cruiser bikes.
Autoblog reports the automaker has two separate patents filed for its W3 motorcycle engines, both meant to fill the same space as a traditional V-twin mill.
Speaking of V-twins, one of the W3s is a modification of said unit, where two cylinders share a crankpin while the third has one all to itself. The other W3 uses a fan design with pushrods controlling the valves.
As to where these engines might go if produced, a possible cruiser bike that could throwdown against the Ducati Diavel and similar cruisers would likely be the host for the W3s.
13 Comments on “BMW Files Two Patents For W3 Motorcycle Engines...”
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This is supposed to save BMW from paying out more towing money on blown valve covers?
Man I sure wish Guzzi/Piaggio had done this first.
They’re a bit late to the revival: Jim Feuling’s W3 debuted in 2000 and was much simpler than BMW’s design. BMW’s sketches look disquietingly complex compared to the radial-style master/slave conrod arrangement with single crankpin used by the 90 degree layout.
I guess we’re now officially in the age of boutique engines if even BMW are going to knock out wacko designs like this.
Yeah, this just screams “maintenance nightmare”. I imagine the Brotherhood of BMW Mechanics are pre-ordering new boats just looking at it. But if anyone can get away with this and charge enough to pull a profit, it’s the Boys from Bavaria.
“BMW riders may soon find a W3 in place of a four-cylinder on their cruiser bikes.”
Or not. Please read up on the patent process and why companies file patent applications. Most things for which applications are filed are not imminently approaching mass production.
“BMW riders may soon find a W3 in place of a four-cylinder on their cruiser bikes”
Where to start?
1. BMW doesn’t currently build any cruisers.
2. When they have tried it in the past, they used the air-cooled 2-cyl boxer.
3. The Honda Magna/Sabre and Yamaha VMax are the only 4-cyl cruisers I can think of. The former is long-since out of production, and the latter is an anomaly in its own segment.
4. The only BMW bikes with 4 cylinders are the S1000RR/R and the K1300S; a superbike and hyperbike, respectively.
/rant
One-quarter of a radial engine, huh? Seems like they’d have to balance shaft this thing.
Please. Triple the camshafts, compared to their other inline architectures. Much more complicated block and crankshaft. Plus, insufficient room between the cylinders for proper intake air-flow. Not believable.
This might be interesting as a prototype racing engineering program, but MotoGP doesn’t tolerate such naughty research and development.
“Plus, insufficient room between the cylinders for proper intake air-flow. Not believable.”
The engine will be mounted sideways, and the fuel tank will be reduced to 1.2 gal to accommodate the middle cylinder.
The bike will become an instant classic due to its “pah-pah-ta-to” exhaust note at idle.
OR: This will replace the S&S on the Morgan
This application has been provisionally shot down in view of a Ford patent filed 16 years earlier- still waiting for that engine to go into production:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6058901.PN.&OS=PN/6058901&RS=PN/6058901
Interesting way to stand out in the cruiser crowd.
Maybe somebody could put one of these on an airplane and fly across the English Channel.