The CR700W is a different breed of motorcycle and a unique one at that. It’s been designed from the ground up as a lightweight racing machine for the streets, being billed as a “techno-looking” concept.
After all, modern manufacturing techniques have meant that carbon fibre is now cheaper than cast iron, so it’s no surprise that manufacturers are using it more frequently.
The CR700W is a different sort of bike in many ways. For one, it’s from the guys from Crighton Motorcycles, so it has a special kind of power plant under its hood.
It has a whopping 700cc piston engine. How long have we been riding motorcycles with engines that aren’t nearly as powerful?
None comes to mind off-hand. We bring this up because it lets people know they’re going to get something out of riding it that they wouldn’t get from just any old bike around.
Brian Crighton’s dream of building a better motorcycle has come true. As a former three-time British 50cc champion, he understood the nitty-gritty of tech. In 1985 he worked with Nortons R&Ds department.
While working with Norton, Crighton certainly gave it his all. The company’s feat was to forge its own 588cc rotary four-stroke engine somehow.
The unit was not intended to be a copy but a state-of-the-art racing powerplant. And boy, did it work! A factory team went up against the twin-cylinder Ducatis, BMWs and other sportbikes with sportbike engines for the first time.
The RC588 proved to give them all a run for their money. The RC588 and RCW588 rotary motorcycles did race between 1988 and 1994.
During his racing, he was thinking about the next step and have decided to get to the next level. It is necessary to take a different approach.
To expand the rotary range of applications, we need a better performing engine, still with high reliability and emissions standards.
And thus, Brian reached an agreement with Rotron Power Ltd for a long term technology partnership. And thus the work started 15 years.
Powerplant
The CR700W twin-rotor rotary engine contains just three moving parts, measures just 340mm in length, 240mm in diameter and weighs just 24kg.
With its integrated six-speed gearbox and slipper clutch, the complete engine and transmission unit weighs 43kg.
Each rotor generates 200 degrees of power stroke per revolution and delivers world record-beating stats in all established performance metrics.
220hp at 10,500rpm from the CR700W’s fuel-injected twin-rotor 690cc engine, which means 319hp per litre.
By comparison, the most potent, typically aspirated Formula 1 engine – the Ferrari’s F2004 – generates 309hp per litre at a frantic 18,500rpm, and the latest MotoGP bikes deliver around 300hp per litre.
But such power is nothing without control. That’s where 105ft/lbs of peak torque at 9,500rpm comes in: the CR700W’s rotary engine delivers the most tractable and useable power of any motorcycle engine in the world today, bar none.
The rotary engine is a high-tech masterpiece. The configuration allowed for a very compact layout when compared to the piston designs of its time.
There are various advantages of rotary engines: it has less vibration than the piston engines and thus provide more powers and can be tuned up to higher rpms.
Further, the engine has fewer chances of a breakdown.
Chassis
The classic Spondon-derived chassis has a single-shock rear swing-arm fabricated from 7000 series aluminium alloy, triple-section custom extrusions.
The head-stock angle and rear swing-arm pivot points are fully adjustable for individual rider preference and racetrack tuning.
The engine oil reservoir is incorporated into the main spars for extra weight reduction, and the front fork triple clamps are available with different offsets to suit rider preference.
The chassis is equipped with Dymag carbon fibre wheels, Ohlins or Bitubu front forks and rear shock absorber, and Brembo’s MotoGP spec front and rear callipers.
Dimensions
- Length x Width x Height
- 2040 mm x 706 mm x 1151 mm (80.3 inches x 27.8 inches x 45.3 inches)
- Seat Height
- 810 mm (32 inches)
- Wheel Base
- 1374 mm (54.1 inches)
- Dry Weight
- 129.5kg
Wheels, Brakes and Suspension
- Brakes (Front/Rear)
- Brembo MotoGP Spec Calipers
- Tyres (Front/Rear)
- Michelin MotoGP Spec Slicks
- Suspension Front
- Ohlins MotoGP Spec (Bitubo options available to order)
- Suspensions Rear
- Ohlins Monoshock
Limited to only 25 units, the CR700W arrives at a $116,000.
