Why don't you start here, Jerry:

http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/yamaha/2009-yamaha-r1-review-87844.html

Chris, when an engine has 4 holes in the block it's a 4 cylinder. I don't care how they fire it, it's still a 4 cylinder. Using your logic, if they fire all 4 cylinders at the same time it would be a thumper??
Now, I'm not taking anything away from Yamaha and their engineers for doing something different, but 4 holes in the block (with pistons in them, not outside air) is a 4 cylinder engine.

Big bangs and screamers and everything else in between....nothing new. Ducati tried various crank configs in the Desmosidici as have others as I recall in order to suit grip and power and riders. Now electronics will do most if not all of that. So Yamaha isn't doing anything revolutionary....just different. Which is what BMW has been panned about for years. Anyway....we'll see how the cookie crumbles whether we want to get excited about it or not.

Well Bob your right and wrong,when was the last time you were able to buy a bike with that engine configuration??,whats happened before, the decision has been the riders,us plebs never got to make an opinion, i haven't heard a bad word said about the R1 engine,looks!! maybe, but the engine has gone to another level.

As they say talks cheap,and this time next week practice will have started and we'll see who's got what,as far as BM are concerned i'd look to Xaus to see what level they are at,Corser is good,no i'll rephrase that a brilliant developer and he'll do a good job of papering over the cracks,look what he did with Petronas.

Chris - still doesn't make it a twin.....

Haven't we heard that Corser is the master at PI? I haven't followed Xaus much since Foggy was mentoring him. He was talented but crashed a lot.

Stand next to one when it's running you'd think it was a V4 but ain't,but it does have a balancer to stop the vibes,because of the firing order.

Blimey Bob how the hell can anyone watch WSB and not notice Xaus,he's good,but he's a Ducati man.

I haven't watched much WSB in the last few years....mostly MotoGP and AMA Superbike. But now I think I will cos of BMW. Funny how brands or people will bring the crowd. I don't care a whit that Rossi's riding a YamaWhatever. But I sure will watch him. He'd make it fun and exciting on a moped. Now with Nicky on a Ducati, what's not to like? And BMW in WSB with two previous Ducati riders! Good season for me.

Wait, so if a bike SOUNDS like a twin, then the fact that it has 4 cylinders means nothing, and it should be called a twin, rather than an I-4? :confused:

yes
 

two of my friends, not motorcycle oriented, said that the HP2S sounds like an outboard for a boat, and the other said it sounded like a diesel.. I've met others that say that it sounds like an i4... so... the HP2S is an outboard i4 diesel!!!
:-D

Jonas, you need to change your sig line. You know own the first DIESEL HP2Sport in Scandinavia.....maybe the world??

Not sure how calling a four a four is splitting hairs. Even if it was a true big-bang with twin pulses, it would hardly be a twin. But this isn't even close to that, as there are more than 2 pulses per set.

Also, are we really sure Yamaha has rewritten the rules? Seems like a lot of hype. I mean, they did win GP last year, but that was largely Rossis doing. It's just one more iteration of the many ways, other than normal, to time/fire/balance an I4. It IS true that it's new that something like that would go to production and we regular guys could buy it.

Dr. Curve is right in saying 14-14500 is serious RPMs. We are talking literbikes here.
Comparing that to a motor barely over half the displacement is nonsense. of course an R6 revs faster. It's a little Fing 600. 16k is a lot, but 14,500 for a literbike is a much bigger accomplishment.

For the most part, it comes down to is critical Piston speed and the valve train (float)... there are other RPM limiting factors but those are two of the main culprits...

...over the last years, the quality of the materials and the technology used has dramatically improved and the safe range of RPM's has increased... today's limiting factors are more the rods than the pistons, however. As Curve said and Roger reiterated, however, 14.5K RPM is serious for a liter bike.

Keep in mind that a modern sportbike has a piston speed that is somewhere in the 4,000 feet-per-minute range. Twenty years ago this was a racing-only level, nowadays it's covered by a three-year factory warranty! Go Figure...

Hi Bob

Blimey looks like your in for a shock as you tend to favour 2 horse championships,as the podium could come from any of the 'At least' top ten and maybe more.