David Garside

David W. Garside is an inventor[1] and former project engineer at BSA's Kitts Green research facility.

He is notable for having developed an air-cooled twin-rotor Wankel motorcycle engine which powered the Norton Classic road bike.

[2][3] Although the Classic was not the first production rotary-engined bike, it was significantly lighter, smoother, more powerful and better-handling than the contemporary Suzuki RE5.

Garside studied mathematics and mechanical engineering at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he obtained a first class degree.

Garside then created a prototype twin-rotor engine (with F&S rotors), which doubled the capacity of the earlier test "mule".

[8] The plenum, which doubled as the bike's semi-monocoque frame, enabled the transfer of much of the heat to the surrounding atmosphere.

Norton Classic
NSU_Spider_Wankel
DKW Hercules branded bike with fan-cooled F&S engine
Figure 1.
The Wankel KKM cycle:
  • A : Apex of the rotor.
  • B : The eccentric shaft.
  • The white portion is the lobe of the eccentric shaft.
  • The distance between A and B remains constant.
  • Produces three power pulses each revolution of the rotor.
  • Gives one power pulse per revolution of the output shaft.