Motorcycle life in Cuba.
I visited Cuba. I traveled along the route Havana-Viñales-Cienfuegos-Trinidad-Santa Clara-Havana, but, unfortunately, I traveled by taxi and not by motorcycle. Since this was not a motorcycle trip, there will be no reports about it on this site, but I will still tell you how things are with motorcycles, including rentals.
Of course, before leaving, I tried to find some options for renting motorcycles in Cuba, carefully scoured the Vinsky Forum, where there are many such topics, and did not find a single acceptable option. There are definitely some organized tours from the USA, but following a guide in a convoy is not the way of the samurai, right? This is for the soft and plump German tourists. And the price tag stings...
No more adequate options were found. But an interesting problem with terminology was discovered. Often, when a motorcyclist comes to some forum and asks where in Cuba he can rent a motorcycle, he is told that there are plenty of “motorbikes” there. By motorbikes we mean, of course, scooters, which are a pain to drive over long distances. But Cuba is not a small island at all.
As a result, I drove around the island in transfer taxis, since I didn’t want to rent a car at all, and it’s not needed there, as practice has shown. A taxi is still cheaper, and besides, you are being driven, not you are driving. And between the cities there is not much to see: despite the fact that Cuba is a very colorful island, I must admit that it is quite monotonous.
Supply system
Gasoline with an octane number of at least 93 is used as fuel for carburetor motorcycles.
Motorcycle engines have a power supply system that includes a fuel tank, valve, filter, air filter and carburetor. Gasoline is located in a tank, which in most cases is installed above the engine in order to flow by gravity into the carburetor. In other cases, it can be supplied using a special pump or vacuum drive. The latter can be found on two-stroke bikes.
The fuel tank has a cap with a special hole where air enters. In many foreign motorcycles, however, air enters through carbon tanks. And some have a lock on the lid.
The fuel valve prevents fuel leakage.
Air enters the carburetor through the air filter. The filter comes in three types.
- In the compact oil type, air enters the center, turns 180 degrees and passes into the filter. At the same time, it is cleaned when the flow turns, where heavy particles settle in the oil. The engine of the Ural and Izh motorcycles is equipped with such a filter. However, other types, paper and foam, are used abroad.
- Paper filters are disposable. They must be changed at every maintenance.
- Foam filters are reusable - they can be washed and re-soaked with oil.
Sports motorcycles with engines of 250 cc and above today have a so-called “direct intake” system, where air is taken in from the front of the fairing, thereby increasing the filling of the cylinders at high speeds.
Rent a motorcycle or scooter in Cuba.
As I already said, I couldn’t find a rental motorcycle. I think that something can change in this regard only with Cuba’s transition to a normal human economy. But there are no problems with scooters, you can ask at any cash desk, and the owners will arrange everything. There is no need to Google anything in advance; everything can be easily figured out on the spot. In the outback, like Viñales, scooters are simply rented out by private individuals. At the cash desk, you need to ask the owners to call about a motorbike, in a few minutes a muchacho will arrive on it, take the money and leave on foot. And then he will pick up the scooter.
In fact, Viñales is the only place on my Cuban itinerary where renting a scooter makes sense at all. Although even there I preferred a bicycle. In cities, it makes sense to travel on foot or by taxi.
There is also no point in somehow persuading private individuals to hand over their personal motorcycle to you: now you will see for yourself what they ride. In addition, the country is kept in a tight hedge, I think no one will agree.
"Wet" and "dry" sump
Four-stroke engines use three methods of oil supply:
- gravity;
- splashing;
- supply under pressure.
Moreover, most of the rubbing pairs are lubricated under pressure from the oil pump. But there are also those that are lubricated by oil mist formed as a result of splashing of the crank mechanism, as well as parts to which oil flows through channels and gutters. In this case, the oil pan serves as a reservoir. In this case it is called “wet”.
Other motorcycles have a “dry” sump system, where one section pumps oil into the tank, and the other supplies it under pressure to the friction points.
Local two-wheeler transport.
Unlike Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, where the markets were always open to the import of cheap small-capacity equipment, Cuba, subject to embargo and sanctions, was supplied mainly with equipment from countries friendly in the social camp. That is, you find yourself in childhood!
The number of Carpathians is simply off the charts! When I asked what the cost of such a moped in Cuba, in a similar condition as in the photo, in terms of rubles it turned out to be about 40,000!
Java and Chezetki come across.
With various resonator tuning options.
The Urals meet. And I even saw one Dnieper.
From what was relatively rare in our country - MZ. When I was a child, these motorcycles were absent and I never even saw them. Then, one day, when I went to the GDR Motorcycle Museum in Berlin and read that the two-millionth motorcycle of this brand was produced already in 1983, I wondered: where did all these Emzet go? But, it turns out, where! To Cuba! There are a lot of 250 cc MZ motorcycles, with and without sidecars, racing around Cuba, most of them are in quite decent condition for this country. And by the way, the sound is quite mature.
Most scooters are electric. There are no high technologies, they just connect any car battery and drive around the city, heckling passers-by, since no one hears or sees them.
In general, the approach to motorcycles in Cuba is quite typical for poor and developing countries, when a motorcycle or scooter is not an object of hobby, cult or even subculture, as is the case here and has happened in all developed countries. At any opportunity to change Karpacz or Izhak to a Zhiguli or Moskvich, of which there are also countless numbers driving around Cuba, any Cuban will immediately change his motorcycle to a car.
Engine oil
Lubrication is necessary to ensure that excessive friction does not occur between engine parts. It is implemented using motor oils that have a stable structure against high temperatures and low viscosity at low levels. In addition, they do not form carbon deposits and are not aggressive to plastic and rubber parts.
Oils are mineral, semi-synthetic and synthetic. Semi-synthetics and synthetics are more expensive, but these types are preferred more, as they are believed to be healthier for the engine. Different types of oils are used for two-stroke and four-stroke engines. They also differ in the degree of forcing.
400, 600 or 1000? For a beginner.
The most common question in the world of motorcycles: What should a beginner choose? The most common question from those who just want to buy a motorcycle (we are talking about a road bike or a sports bike). How many cubes should I take? After all, in theory, the more cubes, the more dangerous the errors. On the other hand, when you don’t know what 400 and 600 are, you think, what if 400 is not enough? Due to the lack of understanding in comparison, a lot of theories and opinions appear. What's in practice? 400 VS 600
I have already touched on this topic several times on my channel, and in this article I will examine this issue in even more detail.
I'll start with the most interesting. 600 cubic meters is already a very serious machine.
1 - 2.8 seconds to one hundred, in fact it seems like 1 second. It shoots up to 200 in such a way that you ask the question: “can anything in the world accelerate faster?” Everything would be fine if everyone was born with the abilities of Valentino Rossi.
2 - Such motorcycles have very sharp brakes and traction that can tear the rear wheel off when accelerating. Example:
3 - And, in addition, add the ability to easily respond to the variability of the road surface and the tendency for the front wheel to become loose because of this. Example:
And if a person without experience sits on it, he can do something that should not be done, and the 600 cc sport will not only allow you to do this, but will also insist and provoke you. Therefore, for those for whom the technique of controlling a motorcycle (namely the technique of control, and not the knowledge of what to press where and when) is a dark forest, read all of the above again.
400 cubic meters is the golden mean for a beginner.
1- No, it’s not little. Any four hundred can easily compete in terms of acceleration even with charged cars.
2 - she is obedient and sometimes will not allow you to make a rash mistake, such as sharply opening the gas in a turn or pressing the front brake, but again SOMETIMES. A head on your shoulders is required, because... The 400 cc motz is capable of reaching speeds of up to 200 km/h. At this speed, you feel like the wind is trying to tear your hands off the steering wheel and twist your neck back. I often come across the opinion that 400 will quickly get boring. I saw how the 400 cc HONDA VFR combed many liters at competitions. For me personally, the main indicator is whether YOU can unlock the potential of even 400. I repeat once again - 400 is not small.
The most uninteresting and controversial comparison: 600 vs 1000 My vision.
1 - In Drag competitions, a 1/4 mile 600 can actually be done by 1000. This is the case when the power is enough up to and beyond, when the rider's abilities come to the fore. 2 - The difference between 1000 and 600 is that at 1 liter you don’t need to shift down in order to pull, but at 600, although it’s so difficult and you don’t want to, you have to press the shift paw with your foot a couple of times. 3 - I know maybe 1-2 people who can unlock the potential of 600. And even having brushed the YZF-R1 at the last competitions and taking 1st place among motorcycles on road tires, I believe that I can’t even reach 80% of the potential of my motorcycle yet reveal due to a million factors, the main one of which is driving technique, I mean driving really fast. 4 - 1000 is worth taking for straight shots, when you want the same acceleration from 200 to 300 as from 0 to 100. Guys who like to hit 200 on the back take liters. Personally, I don’t need this and now we can move on to the most important thing in the choice - the question: Why are you buying a motorcycle? Most base their choice on the coolness of the motorcycle, on the power rating, on the design, on whether chicks will be watching, but no one knows where and how it will ride. All these indicators can be found in 400 and 600 and 1000, only if you are not greedy, looking with shifting eyes at the power indicators, with the words: “MOARRR, I need MOAAAAR” *. If only it didn’t turn out like this in front of the girls -
Personality comes first
You decided to buy your first motorcycle - sooner or later, but it had to happen! First of all, you should like the motorcycle as a person. You understand what I mean - it must correspond to your idea of freedom, speed, and match your temperament and character. Only then will you find a common language with him. Only then will he obey you and only then will he become a continuation of your thoughts. All this esotericism should happen before your first meeting. Because there are models that impress you with just their appearance, the chrome of the exhaust pipe, the sound of the engine, the swift and strong-willed profile.
Unfortunately, the first visual impression can be deceiving and you will definitely not be able to live with this Satan on wheels. You will writhe and suffer, you will suffer, your back will hurt, but you may not find a common language. I have had such cases more than once, when I wanted a more powerful bike, but coping with it turned out to be not so easy. A couple of times stubbornly on the rake - and now I’m sharing advice with you. Just think about this before considering the specifications and type of motorcycle. Thought? Then go ahead!
50cc motorcycles and their features
The modern world forces people to live in a constant race. The rush and desire to be on time everywhere leads to the fact that a person begins to select a vehicle that suits his needs. You need to adapt to public transport, wait for a bus or tram, and deal with constant crowds that do not add comfort to everyday travel.
Maintaining a car requires significant funds, and constantly rising gasoline prices can discourage anyone from buying one. And constant traffic jams and congestion significantly complicate the operation of a car in the city.
A motorcycle can be considered the best option for urban transport, but powerful models also cost a lot of money and, moreover, are not so well suited for large cities. A budget and economical option are motorcycles with a volume of up to 50 cubic centimeters.
Device
The placement of the cylinders here is opposed (the same as on other Soviet motorcycles in the heavy class). In terms of design features and technical characteristics, this is a domestic forced internal combustion engine for road-type motorcycles.
Cylinders located horizontally are cooled much better, and the crank mechanism is better balanced. As for the power system, the engineers provided a separate carburetor for each cylinder. This made starting easier and increased the power of the motorcycle engine.
Unit index – MT8. In addition to design differences, it was superior to other engines in technical characteristics. So, the power is 32-35 horsepower. The maximum speed was 90-105 kilometers per hour if the motorcycle was equipped with a sidecar. Fuel consumption was six liters per 100 kilometers. At the same time, the engine capacity of the motorcycle is only 650 cubic centimeters.
Advantages of small-capacity technology
Small-capacity motorcycles are very popular among motorcyclists and the reason for this demand is several factors:
- Ease of management. Low-power motorcycles are very easy to control, all controls are concentrated on the steering wheel, and to start the engine you just need to press the start button. Transmissions on such vehicles are often CVT, which makes driving in city traffic comfortable. Even a novice can handle operating small-capacity equipment.
- Maneuverability. Light weight and modest dimensions make it easy to maneuver in city traffic, and, if necessary, move between rows.
- Convenient parking. It is much easier to find a parking space for a motorcycle than for a car.
- Price. Small-capacity motorcycles have a low price and are affordable for almost anyone.
Is it worth buying a large capacity battery?
A battery with a larger capacity than was installed by the manufacturer may be needed in two cases.
1. For driving in winter. It is in cold weather that a few extra ampere-hours can provide the necessary starting current to start the engine.
2. To install additional equipment. A larger battery may be needed if you are going to outfit your bike with various electrical gadgets: a powerful sound system, lighting not provided for by the design, additional alarm, etc. The standard battery capacity may not be designed for all this and you will have to choose a more expensive model.
Before purchasing a larger battery, make sure you have space for it. The larger the battery, the more space it takes up.
Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what influences.
Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what influences.
#1 Post by TopGuy » Tue Sep 13, 2011 07:56 pm
Re: Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what affects.
#2 Post by Svjatoi » Tue Sep 13, 2011 20:28
Re: Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what affects.
#3 Post by b00tch » Tue Sep 13, 2011 20:44
Re: Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what affects.
#4 Post by Frajsoul » Tue Sep 13, 2011 08:46 pm
Re: Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what affects.
#5 Post by Angstrem » Tue Sep 13, 2011 20:48
as the Americans say: there's no replacement for displacement
in the sense of “there is no substitute for volume”
in the sense: if you have a liter cylinder - or better yet, two! - he’ll take you anywhere!
Re: Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what affects.
#6 Post by b00tch » Tue Sep 13, 2011 20:50
Re: Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what affects.
#7 Post Dipole » Tue Sep 13, 2011 20:51
Re: Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what affects.
#8 Post by Frajsoul » Tue Sep 13, 2011 20:54
Re: Engine cubic capacity. What gives, what affects.
#9 Post by Sashok » Tue Sep 13, 2011 21:03
HB On the forum: 8 Years 2 Months 25 days Messages: 340 Registered: Sun Sep 11, 2011 19:28 From: Moscow Name: Vyacheslav Motorcycle: Building a new one. Gender: Banned: Indefinitely
Carburetor and its types
This device prepares and doses the air-fuel mixture, which then goes into the cylinder. Modern carburetors come in three types:
All domestic engines, as well as the Ural motorcycle engine, have spool carburetors. The only exception is the Ural-Vostok, which has a constant vacuum carburetor.
In a spool-type carburetor, the throttle handle is connected to the spool. By acting on it, the air entering the motor is regulated. A conical needle is connected to the spool and enters the sprayer. When it changes, the mixture becomes richer or leaner. A fuel nozzle is installed on the sprayer. And together all the elements make up the dosing system.
In constant vacuum carburetors, the movement of the throttle handle is transmitted to the throttle valve, which is located closer to the outlet of the carburetor. The air in the chamber above the spool interacts with the carburetor mixing chamber. It turns out that the movement of the spool is controlled by the vacuum in the intake tract.
Register carburetors, which are equipped with many foreign single-cylinder four-stroke engines, such as Honda engines, combine the two previous types. It has two mixing chambers, where in one the spool is driven by the handle, and in the other by the vacuum in the mixing chamber.
What do cubes mean on a motorcycle?
I'm relatively new to motorbikes, my flatmate taught me to ride his two royal fields around New Delhi and for the last year and a half I've been taking care of them when they broke down ;)
Was just curious what "cube" actually means. cm" when you say the Honda Honda has 150cc. cm, or Enfield - 350 cc. cm, or the truly monstrous Enfield has 500 cc. I'm vaguely aware that more cubic centimeters are more powerful, but I'm curious about how a cube can be measured.
cc is the size of the engine, in cubic centimeters - literally the volume of the cylinders. A larger cylinder can consume more air (and more fuel), thereby converting more energy per cycle, than a smaller one, thereby increasing power - assuming all other factors are equal, and there are many factors that affect power output.
You can measure this by simply calculating volume - piston area (pi x radius squared) x stroke x number of cylinders.
The "displacement" of one cylinder is defined as:
r = cylinder radius (bore / 2) in centimeters L = stroke in centimeters
Then multiply by the number of cylinders (they will all have the same bore and stroke)
Example: 350 bullet diameter and stroke are specified as 70 mm (7.0 cm) diameter and 90 mm (9.0 cm) stroke. So: r = (7.0 / 2) 3.5 cm L = 9.0 cm Then: pi * 3.5^2 * 9.0 * 1 (cylinder) = 346.3606 cubic centimeters. Note: Capacity is usually rounded up, in this case to 350 cubic meters.
Captain Kenpachi
"cc" denotes the cylinder capacity or cubic centimeters. Fortunately, the cylinder capacity is measured in cubic centimeters, so everything is fine. As others have noted, larger cylinders produce more power because they can burn more fuel per stroke.
V-twin
There are two types of V-twin engines:
- "Aerial" . They are installed in Harleys and other cruisers because of the aesthetics of the engine itself. Pros: very good torque at low revs, simple design and beautiful appearance. Cons: vibration, poor cooling of the rear cylinder, small operating range.
- "Liquid" . Motorcycle manufacturers from Italy love this type of engine, as they know how to achieve good performance characteristics from them. Pros: high power and torque, the operating range is quite wide, the design is narrow in size. Cons: difficult to maintain engine with expensive repairs.
Why is engine power measured in horsepower?
Deeds of days gone by, legends of deep antiquity. There was a Scottish engineer named James Watt. Like many engineers, he was also an inventor. And not simple ones, but ones that strive to get ahead of their time with their developments. In the early 1780s (at the same time as our Ivan Kulibin), he invented an economical steam engine. In order to sell his invention (and in those days there were unprecedented difficulties in introducing them), he decided to convince people of the advantage of his car over horses. Compare a car to a horse.
He took one average draft horse as a basis and roughly calculated how much energy a typical horse could produce. Having assessed the energy expenditure of a horse when pulling a barrel of coal weighing one barrel, which weighed 172.4 kg, from a mine, he came to the conclusion that the effort of an average horse during 8 hours of work is 15% of its weight of 500 kg or 75 kilogram-force at mass horses 500 kg. This is how a new unit of measurement appeared - horsepower, equal to 75 kgf m/s, that is, as the power expended during a uniform vertical lifting of a load weighing 75 kg at a speed of 1 m/s.
As a result of his experiments, Watt became convinced that his machine was much more productive than horses. He told the customers this.
Thanks to this fact, the unit of measurement of engine power he introduced became popular. Today in the SI system we use the unit Watt to calculate power, named after James Watt in 1882 at the Second Congress of the British Scientific Association (you will agree that it is easier and faster to name the inventor James Watt than James Watt). Watt has replaced horsepower, but it is alive in car power calculations. 1 hp is 735.4985 W (1 kW 1.3596 hp), this value is called “metric horsepower”.
Horsepower also affects the vehicle tax; the more power your car has, the more you will have to pay for its use. But that's another story.
Exhaust system
The exhaust system consists of a cylindrical exhaust channel, a pipe and a muffler. In two-stroke engines, efficiency and power directly depend on the size and shape of the system parts. Therefore, they use exhaust systems on each cylinder separately. They have a resonator, a pipe and a muffling nozzle.
In four-stroke engines, the exhaust is controlled by valves in the gas distribution system, so resonance does not play a special role in them. In them, usually all pipes are reduced to a single muffler.
On some motorcycles, the exhausts are equipped with catalytic converters that reduce the toxicity of emissions (they are installed, for example, on engines from Honda and other Japanese manufacturers). Such devices were developed as a result of increasingly stringent exhaust gas requirements in the European Union, the USA and Japan. In order to prevent the backflow of mixture from the cylinders at idle and low crankshaft rotation, the exhaust systems of many motorcycles are equipped with special power valves.
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