When one knows the history that surrounds this StarFire by Tim and Cheryl Oakley, in addition to being somewhat shocked by the thing, he can only take his hat off to the bravery and passion that both profess for the world of two wheels. Because we are not only talking about an epic construction in every sense. Also from a project created from scratch that has as its star element a 5-cylinder, 2,200 cc radial engine.
StarFire in detail
Tim tells in a recent interview conducted by his Bike Bound colleagues that the StarFire “It was built outdoors, on our terrace, during the harsh winter we had a few years ago, with a lot of snow.” Imagine for a moment what that must be like, to which we must add the fact that the 5-cylinder radial engine it equips does not come from the aeronautical world; It was Tim himself and his wife Cheryl who built it from scratch.
Tim, an aeronautical engineer by profession, explains this: “I’m also lucky to have Cheryl (my wonderful wife), who is passionate about engineering and machined engine parts. She was involved in the entire design and build process of the engine and bike. The engine sat in the living room for ten months, in front of the TV, while we designed the lubrication system and valve train.”
As might be expected, it was not the first time they had embarked on an undertaking of such magnitude. Previously, Tim, on his father’s home lathe, had already made “his first steps” shaping hot air and jet engines for other smaller projects. In any case, finishing StarFire took them three and a half years, many hours of work but above all, endless setbacks to resolve along the way.
Bike Bound explains that one of the design objectives of this radial engine was to show as many fully functioning parts as possible. This is why both the valves and the rocker arms are exposed. There’s even an illuminated viewing window in the crankcase. Once they had the mechanics working correctly, they moved on to the second part of the project: adapting the donor motorcycle to be able to install the 5-cylinder, 2,200 cc radial engine.
We are talking about the Chery Yamaha Virago XV750 completely modified to accommodate the enormous engine. Now, the Harley four-speed gearbox from the 1960s is mounted low on the bike and is operated by a manual lever. From here, an almost endless list of elements are attached to the assembly, all of them placed millimeters around the enormous radial engine.
For example, the cooling fan comes from a VW Beetle, while the wheels and brakes, fork, shock absorbers, cardan drive and bevel gearbox are from an XV 1100. Yet the StarFire’s final drive ratio allows reaching 112 km/h at approximately 2,000 rpm with an average consumption of approximately 16 liters per 100 kilometersalthough to tell the truth, the figures are probably the least relevant aspect of this incredible project.
