Suzuki has filed a patent application for a single-cylinder engine design and it looks a bit familiar. The images show a radical engine design from the lower crankcase area. The engine design has its similarities with the 90’s iconic Ducati Supermono.
The Ducati Supermono had a similar design, but Suzuki’s crankshaft has a second connecting rod which connects to a balanced rocking arm instead of a dummy cylinder, used to balance the engine on the Ducati Supermono. The use of a balancer arm or the dummy cylinder, as seen on the Italian Supermono means a single cylinder engine can rev higher squeezing out more power as compared to a conventional setup.
The Ducati Supermono was based on an existing twin-cylinder design, where the working cylinder was horizontal one while a dummy cylinder was on the vertical one. Suzuki had filed a similar engine design patent two years ago with a DOHC setup. The new Suzuki design shows a near vertical single-cylinder with a SOHC design. The second short connecting rod sits on the same crank journal connecting itself to a weighted rocker arm attached to the centre crankcase with a rolling pin. The action of the rocking arm will cancel out the vibrations made by the power generating cylinder. Similar technology is used today in single-cylinder engines, but instead of the rocking arm a second small crank balancer is used, which is connected to the primary crankshaft via gears. Liquid-cooling on the engine will be obvious as the higher revving engine is bound to produce tremendous amounts of heat.
Where will Suzuki use this type of high revving engine, a dirt bike, a street bike or a drag racer? Will this technology ever be put on a production-spec motorbike? The question remains, will we ever be able to ride a mass-produced motorcycle with this engine configuration?
For a price perspective, this year in January, the Ducati Supermono was auctioned for USD 115,000 (INR 80,16,969) at Bonhams, Las Vegas.
*Currency converted from US Dollars (USD) to Indian Rupee (INR) at the conversion rate of 1 USD = 69.71 INR
Image used above is the Ducati Supermono