From: jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org
Subject: Re: rusty chains
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 03:01:50 GMT

Matthew Temple writes:

>>> I believe this is what it is.  I used to use a motorcycle chain
>>> lube on my motorcycle rear chain that resulted in a similar grease
>>> after the volatile solvent evaporated.

>> Oh my, and here I thought you would have most certainly been riding
>> a Beemer.

> Hey, Jon, that's my beezer (with a ZZZZZZ) yer talking about.  May
> it RIP

I suspect you know the difference between a beezer and a bimmer, they
being BSA and BMW.  I'll admit my 1947 Ariel 500 single was a
dinosaur, but I learned much engineering from it and what not to do.

On the other hand, the BMW opposed cylinder engine is the recumbent of
motorcycle engines, having none but the most tenuous theoretical
reasons for its existence.  There is a clue in that no one else does
this anymore nor do they do it air cooled.  The boxer engine
(especially a two cylinder) has unresolved torque vibrations about a
vertical axis that are easily ignored in the front view.  They shake
plenty.  To make up for it, they have an unruly torque on the whole
motorcycle on rapid RPM change.  The single plate clutch is famous for
gunshot like reports when shifting and the shaft drive does not come
out of the transmission as in a car, but off a spur gear to get it to
one side, while the right-angle drive at the rear wheel cost an arm
and a leg.

Hey, but shafts are clean.  That's why they are chromed.

BMW still hasn't discovered a clean valve drive, having clanking
pushrods even today.  The proponents argue similarly to the recumbent
folks but at least they aren't as insistent about their machines.

Jobst Brandt    <jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org>

From: jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org
Subject: Re: rusty chains
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2002 07:00:49 GMT

Max Watt <maxwatt2002@yahoo.com> writes:

>> On the other hand, the BMW opposed cylinder engine is the recumbent
>> of motorcycle engines, having none but the most tenuous theoretical
>> reasons for its existence.

> I thought that honor belonged to the Ariel square four....

It was balanced but then the complexity and porting was a nightmare.
Besides, it is longer dead than the Ariel Red Hunter single, so it
does not carry "that honor".

Jobst Brandt    <jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org>