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Secret projects from MV Agusta, Yamaha and KTM

Radically new

The following innovations from MV Agusta, Yamaha and KTM represent a completely new beginning. Visually and in terms of engine and chassis technology, they go far beyond well-known, long-established construction principles.

Freshly baked football patriots in Germany are facing difficult questions these days. Should you still let Giorgio bake pizza for you and keep the reserved campsite at Lido di Jesolo? Should we still be interested in Italian motorcycles at all? There is only one answer: of course. Who is going to end the good neighborly relations in the terraced housing estate in Europe because of a small mistake made by the football gods? In order to clear up any remaining uncertainties, MOTORRAD has dedicated this double page to an extremely interesting Italian project. The project manager is none other than Massimo Tamburini, the creator of the Ducati 916 and MV Agusta F4. What he tackles usually takes a long time, and the result is usually breathtaking.

MV Agusta conjures up Tambourini‘s Neue is not a prestigious high-end super athlete, but a sharp, single-cylinder supermoto. Because the contract between MV and the Swedish Elektrolux group on the rights of use of the Husqvarna brand is about to expire, perhaps also because Tamburini always designs for the premium brand, the Supermoto will probably appear under the name MV Agusta.

It was heard that its heart is a 670 single-cylinder, which is supposed to be based on the MV four-cylinder, i.e. has radially arranged valves. The latest findings, which have brought substantial advances in performance and power delivery in the F4 1000 R, benefit the single. He has to generate over 60 hp in order to be able to hold its own against the competition from KTM and BMW.

But Tamburini does not stop at a new engine. The 670 is framed by a revolutionary frame, which essentially consists of two side stars. The profiles or tubes, which carry the steering head, rear frame, footrests, swing arm bearings and other assemblies, run radially from the center around the engine. According to a flowery description of this frame for MOTORRAD, designer Stefan Kraft made a drawing that reveals the logic of the approach: The motorcycle is constructed from the inside out, the
Center of mass also visually to the center. The actually cliched designation of the engine as the heart takes on a deeper meaning here. Of course, the actual design will differ from this drawing, since Stefan Kraft had to work without any illustrative material. However, details such as the single-sided swing arm, the extremely sturdy fork or the headlight, a further development of the Brutale light unit, are guaranteed.
Will the prototype be shown at the trade fair in Milan this year? Most likely, because MV has presented innovations a number of times long before they went into production.

Yamaha varies
Mr. Tsugunori Konakawa must be a hardworking person. The Yamaha engineer filled 28 pages with a patent that made MOTORRAD prick up its ears. In it, Mr. Konakawa describes a centrally controlled, variable engine tuning, starting with variable intake manifold lengths through variable timing and valve lifts up to variable exhaust control. This would make a dream come true for all engine builders, namely to be able to provide the right timing, intake manifold and exhaust pipe lengths for every speed and throttle position.
Why this is an issue needs to be explored a little further. In the four-stroke engine, the intake and exhaust valves are responsible for the correct dosage of the mixture. They open to fetch fresh mixture or to discharge burnt things. They are controlled by rotating camshafts that implement fixed opening and closing times via a cam profile.
Until then, everything is simple mechanics, but now there is also the fact that the whole thing should work with gases, the inertia of which must also be taken into account. It ensures that fresh gas does not immediately flow into the combustion chamber when an inlet valve is opened. First, a negative pressure is created above the valve, which accelerates the gas column. And when the valve is closed, the gas column that has just been accelerated pushes a little further. The resulting pressure waves run through the intake ducts. Their length determines whether the valve opens in a negative or positive pressure situation and how efficiently the combustion chamber is filled.
Because a modern motorcycle engine should always receive the right amount of mixture over an enormous load and speed range, constant control of the valves cannot be the last word. That only works really well with one be-
correct speed and at full throttle. If the valves could be flexibly controlled, the throttle valve could even be omitted. When no power is needed, the venniles simply stay closed, in the partial load range you only open them a little, and at full throttle you release the maximum.
BMW builds such engines for cars. A complex mechanical system with electronic control, called Valvetronic, enables variable control times and valve lifts. In fact, these engines no longer have throttle valves. brilliant.

Yamaha is now patenting a similar mechanism. However, the Yamaha system does not also vary the timing of the maximum valve opening as with BMW. Otherwise, all valve lifts and control times can be implemented. How does this work? In simple terms, the cam no longer opens the valve directly, but acts on an intermediate transmission mechanism. A roller pushed more or less far between two levers ensures the appropriate control time and the desired valve lift. The gear ratio is electronically controlled, so the appropriate amount of mixture can be added to every speed and load; the throttle valve would also be omitted here. It is still unclear whether the next R1 will carry this system. Yamaha strongly denies.

The first part of Mr. Konakawa’s patent specification is more realistic. In it, he protects a system for Yamaha that varies the intake manifold length in two stages via an adjusting cam. In addition, his system controls two injection nozzles per inlet channel, one above the inlet funnel, the second directly in front of the inlet valve. Advantage: The two-stage intake smoking pipe length creates two resonance ranges. This helps iron out torque holes in the power curve and more peaks-
to generate power. In any case, the new Yamaha R1, which can be admired at the Intermot in Cologne in October, will crack the 180 hp limit.

KTM compensates
The veils that the KTM developers have wrapped around their new single-cylinder so far are slowly lifting. Sometimes they spoke of a new single-cylinder Duke, sometimes of a supermoto and an enduro, which should be presented as the first model with the new engine and a tubular space frame. Since a major dealer conference at the KTM plant, it has been clear that the supermoto will be the first to arrive. Because there was a pointed and excitingly styled machine with the type designation 690 SM. In addition to a lot of unusual features, the Supermoto has an exhaust system with two silencers, which have been pulled up steeply in the rear area, but exhaust horizontally through an end piece bent by 90 degrees. True to the KTM design philosophy of doing everything, just not the ordinary.
Compared to previous LC4 engines, the drive is also unusual, but experienced observers of the off-road competition models are not so surprised by its appearance. The valve cover with the inclined sealing edge, for example, under which all elements for valve adjustment are easily accessible, is already known from the new 250. Likewise, the water cooling channels integrated into the housing, which make the usual tangled hoses superfluous. Shortly before the editorial deadline, it was leaked that the new road single-cylinder combats its vibrations with the help of two balancer shafts, so that it has all the prerequisites for the best smoothness and high speeds. For the next issue of MOTORRAD, KTM has announced further details of the engine
reveal. At the same time, there was a How? ‘Or’ What on rumors about a six-cylinder: "Nonsense, the new one and two-cylinder occupy us completely. ??

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