Reading between the lines

[AyJay]

While I got the theory behind the crossplane crank in an inline 4, WTF is it going to do in a 3? Looks like we've gone back to the Jota days: which is best, the 120 or 180 crank? (You may need to be a certain age to remember this)
And while I'm at it, why a 1200 or 1300? If the power is usable, anything between 750 and 900 would be ideal for a ROAD bike.

Yeah, what is a crossplane triple if it's not a Jota 120? I dunno, but my bullshit-o-meter hit red when I read


"When asked what is the "crossplane concept", Senior Executive Motorcycle Business Operations, Kunihiko Miwa responded, "It is the philosophy where "crossplane" means the kind of torque character that gives riders the exact torque they want when they need it"

Pfft. That's not describing 'crossplane' as a specific design of crank . .

With regards to my suggestion it should be a 1200 or 1300, I suppose I'm spoiled by my other bike. Once I was content with a thousand, but these days, I reckon 175bhp and 100lbft of torque is a bare minimum. Cof.

Now, I did write that with tongue in cheek, but actually, there's a few good reasons for a next gen Fazer to be that size and they're called Triumph's Trophy and Explorer. They're up to 1200 now (and there's every chance the Speed Triple could use that engine at some point) but then so's Honda with the VFR/Crossdresser family, and so's KTM, Ducati et al. Everyone's going large.

The Aprilia Tuono is pegged at 1000 and it's a pretty frantic 160bhp they have there. If Yamaha want to make [size=1em]road bikes, then to get an output that would beat the current Gen 2 Fazer - say 160bhp but with a broad spread of useable torque - they'd have to go larger. [/size][size=1em]The Laverda Mirage was 1116cc back in 1979 wasn't it? Why not the next Fazer?[/size]