Talk:Motorcycle engine
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There needs to be a concensus on the descriptive terms used to describe motorcycle engines. For example most 4 cylinder engines are in-line fours, most Japanese four cylinder engines are transversely mounted (that is across the frame) but others like the Indian, Nimbus and BMW K100 are longitudinally mounted. All however are inline fours as opposed to horizontally opposed fours, square fours or V4s.
The usual description for a transversely monted inline twin motorcycle is parallel twin with inline twin usually being reserved for an engine layout like the Sunbeam S7/8.
Also remember geographical bias when claiming that one layout is the most common. While V-twins may be the most common twin in the US, parallel or horizontally opposed are more common elsewhere.
Comment on the engine diagrams: the classic V-twin has a single crank pin shared by both cylinders, not dual crank pins as drawn.Rracecarr 00:53, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
