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This article comes from AsphaltandRubber.com
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Motus Motorcycles has trickled out a bit more information about its Made in America MST-01 sport-tourer, giving CycleWorld their obligatory first look. What do they have to report? A 1650cc V4 motor with two valves per cylinder that features direct injection, which sums up to equal 140hp. More on that and photos after the jump.
If you forgot everything you know about the Motus MST-01 to-date, and approached the motorcycle motor from a mechanic’s perspective, you might mistaken the V4 motor for half a Corvette. Laid out just like an American-built V8, the large reason for the similarities is because the Motus MST-01 motor was designed by Katech, makers of the Corvette Z06’s 600hp V8 powerplant.
For us, looking at the Motus spec sheet, with its two valve push rod design, forwardly located water pump, and longitudinal configuration, it’s exactly what we’d expect to see from a company that talks in car every day.*Designed to be like a small American sports car, we see both strengths and weaknesses in this design philosophy.
Direct Injection has been around for ages, but just recently it’s become all the buzz in the auto industry. Refined by the American auto manufacturers, this method of getting fuel into the cylinder (the name really says it all) provides for greater efficiency in cylinder combustion, which crudely equates to getting more out of less. For instance, this translates into six-cylinders, which can now do the work done by larger eight-cylinders, etc.
Theoretically, Motus’ gasoline direct injection (GDI) system should allow the Motus MST-01 motor to make more power than a traditional two valve motor of similar size. However this doesn’t necessarily translate into comparisons against modern four valve motors.
Despite the MST-01’s nearly 450cc displacement advantage over the Honda VFR1200F’s four valve motor, the MST-01 makes nearly 20% less power. Of course maximum horsepower output is not the be-all end-all of judging the success of a motor’s design, and we have yet to see how smooth or torquey the MST-01 could be, but it’s an interesting insight into the Motus mindset.
The MST-01 will be the first production motorcycle to use direct injection, which is a technology you can bank on seeing trickled into the motorcycle industry over the coming years. However as with so many other American motorcycle startups, the hot rod mentality that brought us “there’s no replacement for displacement” seems to still prevail. This thought process, which has become the ethos for American manufacturers may resonate well with the baby-boomer generation, but is also indicative of the single-minded line of reasoning that collapsed three two of America’s auto conglomerates.
Is Motus (Latin for motion) moving forward or spinning its wheels in the past? With Motus squarely pegging perhaps the industry’s pinnacle of forward-thinking (at least in the ICE realm), the Honda VFR1200F as its mark to beat, the Alabama-based company certainly is setting the benchmark high. Time will tell if they meet that mark.
Visit Asphalt & Rubber for more articles like this one
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This article comes from AsphaltandRubber.com
*
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*
Motus Motorcycles has trickled out a bit more information about its Made in America MST-01 sport-tourer, giving CycleWorld their obligatory first look. What do they have to report? A 1650cc V4 motor with two valves per cylinder that features direct injection, which sums up to equal 140hp. More on that and photos after the jump.
If you forgot everything you know about the Motus MST-01 to-date, and approached the motorcycle motor from a mechanic’s perspective, you might mistaken the V4 motor for half a Corvette. Laid out just like an American-built V8, the large reason for the similarities is because the Motus MST-01 motor was designed by Katech, makers of the Corvette Z06’s 600hp V8 powerplant.
For us, looking at the Motus spec sheet, with its two valve push rod design, forwardly located water pump, and longitudinal configuration, it’s exactly what we’d expect to see from a company that talks in car every day.*Designed to be like a small American sports car, we see both strengths and weaknesses in this design philosophy.
Direct Injection has been around for ages, but just recently it’s become all the buzz in the auto industry. Refined by the American auto manufacturers, this method of getting fuel into the cylinder (the name really says it all) provides for greater efficiency in cylinder combustion, which crudely equates to getting more out of less. For instance, this translates into six-cylinders, which can now do the work done by larger eight-cylinders, etc.
Theoretically, Motus’ gasoline direct injection (GDI) system should allow the Motus MST-01 motor to make more power than a traditional two valve motor of similar size. However this doesn’t necessarily translate into comparisons against modern four valve motors.
Despite the MST-01’s nearly 450cc displacement advantage over the Honda VFR1200F’s four valve motor, the MST-01 makes nearly 20% less power. Of course maximum horsepower output is not the be-all end-all of judging the success of a motor’s design, and we have yet to see how smooth or torquey the MST-01 could be, but it’s an interesting insight into the Motus mindset.
The MST-01 will be the first production motorcycle to use direct injection, which is a technology you can bank on seeing trickled into the motorcycle industry over the coming years. However as with so many other American motorcycle startups, the hot rod mentality that brought us “there’s no replacement for displacement” seems to still prevail. This thought process, which has become the ethos for American manufacturers may resonate well with the baby-boomer generation, but is also indicative of the single-minded line of reasoning that collapsed three two of America’s auto conglomerates.
Is Motus (Latin for motion) moving forward or spinning its wheels in the past? With Motus squarely pegging perhaps the industry’s pinnacle of forward-thinking (at least in the ICE realm), the Honda VFR1200F as its mark to beat, the Alabama-based company certainly is setting the benchmark high. Time will tell if they meet that mark.
Visit Asphalt & Rubber for more articles like this one
