The Inline-four engine or Straight-four engine is a type of inline (straight) internal combustion four-cylinder engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft. Where it is inclined, it is sometimes called a slant-four. In a specification chart or when an abbreviation is used, an inline-four engine is listed either as I4 or L4.
Established in 1911, Benelli is a former Italian motorcycle manufacturer. It once manufactured shotguns, although this part of the business is now a separate company.
Moto Guzzi is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer and the oldest European manufacturer in continuous motorcycle production.
A straight-three engine, also known as an inline-triple, or inline-three, is a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine with three cylinders arranged in a straight line or plane, side by side.
Gilera is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded in Arcore in 1909 by Giuseppe Gilera. In 1969, the company was purchased by Piaggio.
Suzuki Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, four-wheel drive vehicles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines. In 2016, Suzuki was the eleventh biggest automaker by production worldwide. Suzuki has over 45,000 employees and has 35 production facilities in 23 countries, and 133 distributors in 192 countries. The worldwide sales volume of automobiles is the world's tenth largest, while domestic sales volume is the third largest in the country.
MV Agusta is a motorcycle manufacturer founded by Count Domenico Agusta on 19 January 1945 as one of the branches of the Agusta aircraft company near Milan in Cascina Costa, Italy. The abbreviation MV stands for Meccanica (mechanics) Verghera, the hamlet where the first MVs were made. The modern headquarters and main production facilities are located in Varese, Italy on the shore of Lake Varese.
Malaguti is an Italian bicycle, scooter and motorcycle company based in San Lazzaro di Savena, founded by Antonino Malaguti in 1930. Producing bicycles until 1958, they then entered the motorcycle market. Noted for their use of small engines in their bikes. In October 2011, Malaguti laid off its remaining employees in Bologna, Italy as the company eventually folded. In 2018 the company was purchased by the Austrian firm KSR Group GmbH.
A café racer is a lightweight, powerful motorcycle optimized for speed and handling rather than comfort – and for quick rides over short distances. With bodywork and control layout recalling early-1960s Grand Prix road racing motorcycles, café racers are noted for their visual minimalism, featuring low-mounted handlebars, prominent seat cowling and elongated fuel tank – and frequently knee-grips indented in the fuel tank.
Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat generated escapes through the exhaust, not through the metal fins of an air-cooled engine (12%). About 8% of the heat energy is transferred to the oil, which although primarily meant for lubrication, also plays a role in heat dissipation via a cooler. Air-cooled engines are used generally in applications which would not suit liquid cooling, as such modern air-cooled engines are used in motorcycles, general aviation aircraft, lawn mowers, generators, outboard motors, pump sets, saw benches and auxiliary power units.
JAWA is a motorcycle and moped manufacturer founded in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1929 by František Janeček, who bought the motorcycle division of Wanderer. The name JAWA was established by concatenating the first letters of Janeček and Wanderer. In the past, especially in the 1950s, JAWA was one of the top motorcycle manufacturers and exported its 350 into over 120 countries. The best known model was the 350 Pérák and in the 1970s the 350 Californian. It appeared in the typical black and red coloring from Californian beaches to New Zealand. After 1990, there was a significant loss of production. A successor company was formed in 1997 in Týnec nad Sázavou, continuing the name as JAWA Moto.
A motorcycle engine is an engine that powers a motorcycle. Motorcycle engines are typically two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engines, but other engine types, such as Wankels and electric motors, have been used.
Weslake Research and Development was founded by Harry Weslake, with premises in Rye, East Sussex, England.
Laverda was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative.
Rudge Whitworth Cycles was a British bicycle, bicycle saddle, motorcycle and sports car wheel manufacturer that resulted from the merger of two bicycle manufacturers in 1894, Whitworth Cycle Co. of Birmingham, founded by Charles Henry Pugh and his two sons Charles Vernon and John, and Rudge Cycle Co. of Coventry.
Douglas was a British motorcycle manufacturer from 1907–1957 based in Kingswood, Bristol, owned by the Douglas family, and especially known for its horizontally opposed twin cylinder engined bikes and as manufacturers of speedway machines. The company also built a range of cars between 1913 and 1922.
The Pierce Four was the first four-cylinder motorcycle produced in the United States. The model is included in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Classic Bikes and Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. Touting its inline-four engine as "vibrationless", Pierce sold the motorcycle for $325, rising to $400 by 1913, which was expensive at the time, making it popular with "more prosperous sportsmen".
Meguro motorcycles were built by Meguro Manufacturing Co motorcycle works (目黒製作所), founded by Hobuji Murato and a high-ranking naval officer, Takaji Suzuki, in 1937. One of the first Japanese motorcycle companies, it became a partner of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, and was eventually absorbed. Named after a district of Tokyo, Meguro had its roots in Murato Iron Works, which was established in 1924. Meguro Seisakusho, which had once developed a copy of a Harley-Davidson V-twin, was established to design and build gearboxes for the nascent Japanese motorcycle industry. Abe Industries, which had once produced its own motorcycle, merged with Meguro in 1931.
The Ducati Scrambler was the brand name for a series of single cylinder scrambler motorcycles made by Ducati for the American market from 1962 until 1974. Its creation is attributed to the American Berliner Motor Corporation. Models were produced in 250 cc through 450 cc displacements. The 450 variant was sold as the "Jupiter" in the United States.
Magni is an Italian company that builds specialist motorcycles. The company is based in the city of Samarate in the province of Varese. Magni, in addition to building the bikes that bear its name, is also active in the construction of specials to order and a supplier of special parts for the restoration of MV Agusta classic motorcycles.
