An Australian-designed clean two-stroke motorcycle engine could soon become a reality after attracting the interest of a Melbourne-based investor group.
Sydney-Based inventor Basil van Rooyen says his Crankcase Independent Two-Stroke (CITS) engine meets tough emissions requirements as it eliminates total-loss lubrication.
Investor interest
“I have some investor interest which is at their lawyers now for an agreement, so fingers crossed,” says Basil, a former South African motorsport engineer.
“My guesstimate for agreements to be all checked, amended and signed by their lawyers then ours, is two to four weeks.
“However, with the world as it is there are more reasons than ever to be let down.
“The investor group are in Melbourne and the new border closure will dash the present plans — once the contracts are signed — for one of them to drive up and collect all the bits for re-testing in Melbourne before Mk 2 V-twin is produced.”
Basil says he is confident the investor group will build the engine, although he would prefer a motorcycle or automotive company bought the company for a “pittance” with a royalty paid to CITS shareholders for each engine produced.
Two-stroke advantages
Basil says his CITS engine is more powerful, lighter, smaller, cheaper, more economical and with lower emissions than any four-stroke engine.
CITS uses direct injection, but has a by-pass valve that replaces the throttle and provides progressive cylinder deactivation ensuring minimised pumping losses.
It also uses a typical four-stroke’s oil sump and does not mix the oil with the fuel in the combustion chamber like normal two-stroke engines. CITS therefore eliminates total-loss lubrication of a typical two-stroke.
“CITS technology is applicable to any engine application from V-twins of 25 to 125kW up to V12s of over 1000kW for hospital generators etc,” he says.
Aussie-designed two-stroke CITS engineThe prototype was built on an 800cc V-twin Suzuki Boulevard crankcase with adapted Rotax 800 E-TEC parallel twin-cylinder jackets and heads.
Basil says the CITS engine would be most suitable in motorcycles because it is compact, economical, lightweight, powerful and cheap to build.
Two-stroke future
Tough pollution laws have forced two-stroke motorcycles out of the market in recent years in favour of four-strokes.
However, two-stroke technology is not totally dead.
KTM has a raft of direct-injection two-strokers for enduro and motocross.
There are also several small manufacturers making exotic and expensive track-only two-stroke motorcycles such as Ronax and Suter.
Meanwhile, Honda has registered patents for direct-injection two-stroke engines and Kawasaki has applied for a patent for a two-stroke/electric hybrid leaning three-wheeler!