Why only 1 cylinder?

[primal]

I don't think there's anything "normal" about a two cylinder engine design. Sure, it might be the most visible thanks to Harley, but there really are no norms when it comes to number of cylinders.

As far as my comment, all it takes is a good look at the way sport bike engines are designed. A 600cc inline-4 engine such as the one in the Suzuki GSXR600 will totally blow a 1200cc cruiser out of the water; there's simply no contest between the two where speed an acceleration is concerned. The engine design of the sport bike allows the engine to produce twice as much HP as a 1200cc cruiser. This effectively means that, on a per cc basis, the 600cc inline-4 will produce 4 times as much HP.