2012 Superbike Shootout – Cycle World

Cycle World rounded up the the current crop of superbikes and took them for two days of testing at Miller Motorsports Park with Eric Bostrom. They first tested the “workhouse” bikes that cost under $20,000 and then pitted the winner up against the “exotics” that were over 20 grand. This year has been pretty interesting in the motorcycle industry because just about all of the big companies are introducing traction and stability control. Eric Bostrom says this shootout is really about who was able to best tame the power and inertia of the 1000cc engines.


Source: Cycle World Magazine on YouTube

Update on Russel Sutton’s Radial Engine

Russel Sutton is a man from Australia who decided to build his own 9 cylinder radial engine to put on his airboat. It uses a custom machined block and rod system with Holden Commodore V6 pistons and cylinders from Honda XR600 motorcycles. Check out Part 1 on his project for all of the build details. Sutton got the engine to the point where it was ready to start up and he captured it on video for the rest of us to enjoy. Unfortunately, having the engine run exposed some of its weaknesses that will have to be addressed before it will be blowing Russel’s hair back on his airboat. Watch the videos and read the article over on The Kneeslider for all of the details.

Part 1: Finishing Touches
 

Part 2: The Engine Runs
 

Part 3: Future Plans

Russel Sutton’s 9 Cylinder Radial Engine

Russel Sutton's Radial Engine

The Kneeslider motorcycle blog has been featuring this radial engine project by Russel Sutton of Australia. He has always loved radial engines and he needed something for his airboat, so he decided to build one using V6 Holden Commodore pistons and cylinders from Honda XR600’s. The engine has 8 liters of displacement and will redline at 4000rpm. The cylinders of air cooled engines are removable since they don’t have coolant passages that link them with the rest of the engine. Sutton machined the crank, rods and crank case with oiling system himself. Head over to The Kneeslider, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 for more pictures and specs. Part 4 has YouTube videos of Russel explaining and testing the oiling system.