Motorcycle to plane engine!

[xenomorph555]

Hmmm, I had a thought, is it possible to turn a motorcycle engine into a say biplane engine by making it spin a propeller at full speed. If you had 2 could youu fly a very light wright brothers-esqe biplane?

[GoDores]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotax

[Kryten]

You might want to look at the flying flea/pou-du-ciel. It's a light home-built aircraft design from the 30s-hundreds were built, and most of them used standard motorcycle engines.

[K^2]

A sports motorcycle engine is powerful enough for a small plane, for sure. I mean, hell, a Cessna 152 only has something like 110HP in it, and my Ninja 250 has 35HP, and it's a very small bike. That's already enough power to fly an ultralight. An engine from a modern 600cc bike is enough to push a 152. And there are even larger bikes, with engines big enough to get a 172 off the ground. So in principle, you can easily take a motorcycle engine and fly with it.

The main problem, however, is that vehicle engines aren't designed to operate at full power, or anywhere near it, for very long. Sport motorcycle engine will probably be better than a car engine in that regard, but you still aren't going to be able to fly on one for long without running into problems. An airplane is going to run at 70%-80% power most of the time, 100% during takeoff and climb, and only go bellow these settings for landing. A typical motorcycle engine will call it quits pretty soon under these conditions.

[xenomorph555]

Thanks guys!

One thing I wish to achieve in my life is to build my own plane and fly , I was inspired by Peter Madsen and his team, incredible people!

Of course you can't just by an aaircraft piston engine and even if you could it would probably be expensive.

[Tommygun]

I've heard of people doing this. I think I recall that you need a gear box to adjust the rpm level to the planes prop, that keeps the prop and engine running at safe levels.

[K^2]

Of course you can't just by an aaircraft piston engine and even if you could it would probably be expensive.

Check out GoDores' link. Rotax are a very well known name in the Ultralight community. These are fairly reliable, fairly inexpensive engines. They don't give you all that much power to work with, but if you are going to build your own plane, you'll want it to be an ultralight for both the cost and legal reasons. And Rotax has engines plenty powerful for that. They aren't exactly cheap, but neither are motorcycle engines.

And make sure you know what you are doing. If you are good with tools, you can just get some plans for building an ultralight. They usually involve a Rotax engine. If you want to design your own from scratch, learn the theory first. The good news is that with an ultralight, it's more likely to not fly at all than fly dangerously, but there are still a few things you should learn about flight stability to minimize the later possibility.

Oh, and check with your local laws. In United States, you just want to make sure that you fit the Ultralight category, and then follow the basic rules. No flying over cities, no flying at night, etc. And if you are within 30nm of class B airport, they require Mode C transponder, so you'll probably want to stay clear of these.

[xenomorph555]

Check out GoDores' link. Rotax are a very well known name in the Ultralight community. These are fairly reliable, fairly inexpensive engines. They don't give you all that much power to work with, but if you are going to build your own plane, you'll want it to be an ultralight for both the cost and legal reasons. And Rotax has engines plenty powerful for that. They aren't exactly cheap, but neither are motorcycle engines.

And make sure you know what you are doing. If you are good with tools, you can just get some plans for building an ultralight. They usually involve a Rotax engine. If you want to design your own from scratch, learn the theory first. The good news is that with an ultralight, it's more likely to not fly at all than fly dangerously, but there are still a few things you should learn about flight stability to minimize the later possibility.

Oh, and check with your local laws. In United States, you just want to make sure that you fit the Ultralight category, and then follow the basic rules. No flying over cities, no flying at night, etc. And if you are within 30nm of class B airport, they require Mode C transponder, so you'll probably want to stay clear of these.

Ok, thanks.

[Camacha]

Maybe it might be nice to check out the work of Dutch artist Joost Conijn. He builds vehicles himself, including a wood(gas) powered wooden car and multiple aircraft, with one of which he flew to Kenia. When it comes to the old pioneering spirit, he is your man. Think of it, build it, try it. If you crash it, repeat.

Of course you can't just by an aaircraft piston engine and even if you could it would probably be expensive.

Why would you think that? Surely you can buy aircraft (piston)engines, and if you know where to look they might be affordable too. I think the Rotax suggestion Ksquare made is a pretty good one.

Edited June 8, 2014 by Camacha

[Seret]

IIRC BMW switched directly from making aircraft to motorcycles after the Treaty of Versailles. Their logo is an aircraft propeller seen from the front.

[relin]

IIRC BMW switched directly from making aircraft to motorcycles after the Treaty of Versailles. Their logo is an aircraft propeller seen from the front.

*Mercedes-Benz

[shynung]

*Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz never made aircrafts, they only make cars right from its inception. Daimler (the company it eventually merged with in 1926) never made aircrafts either; they make stationary engines.

BMW, on the other hand, is the result of a restructured aircraft manufacturing firm, Rapp Motorenwerke, in 1917. They were forced to cease producing aircraft engines in 1918 in accordance to the Versailles Treaty, and consequently shifted to motorcycle production in 1923, followed by cars in 1928.

Edited June 8, 2014 by shynung

[GoDores]

If you're serious about wanting to build your own airplane, start here:

http://http://www.eaa.org/eaa

Find a chapter at an airport near you, and go hang out there on a sunny weekend morning. You'll meet a bunch of people who have built or are building their own planes and will be happy to tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the process. You can probably get rides in a few different planes too to see what it's like.

Are you already a pilot?

[Xorth Tanovar]

Hmmm, I had a thought, is it possible to turn a motorcycle engine into a say biplane engine by making it spin a propeller at full speed.

Full speed? No. You'd want a reduction drive, either belt or gear-driven.

Motorcycle engine? Yes. Plenty of Kawasaki 440's were used for just that, they make excellent light aircraft engines. Hell, even VW engines (or more accurately, half-VW engines, Google it!). Better yet, look for constant-duty agricultural engines (SOLO 210's are perfect for this, the original ParaPlanes had these as standard, 2 18-hp engines set on a counter-rotating hub with reduction).