The Bailey Aviation 4 stroke engine was bourn from a simple idea – A compact, lightweight engine to revolutionise the world of paramotors and ultralight’s, providing an alternative to the run-of-the-mill 2 strokes that have dominated the industry for the past 20 years or more.
Paul Bailey’s vision was to develop the 4 stroke way beyond any previous attempts, massively reducing weight and size, increasing thrust output, all whilst keeping the engines operational stability and temperatures well within his design brief.
The results are world class engines that are smooth and linear from idle to the redline, that set new standards in fuel efficiency, are amazingly quiet with no need for messy oil/fuel mixing like 2 stroke engines. Aabove all this the engine has proved reliable and flexible, proved by its countless competition wins around the globe.
Initial development of the 4 stroke project started in 2003 and the prototype was flown successfully by Paul Bailey at the World Paramotor Championships the same year, with much interest from pilots and other manufacturers. This 125cc prototype was relatively heavy and underpowered, but the combination of a 25cc capacity increase, substantial lightening of various parts and the re-working of some of the core engine components made yielded big power gains, so the production 4stroke150 engine was introduced in Mk1 guise, with 14.5HP
The production 4stroke150 was a strong and confident performer, showing the world that the 4 stroke vision was indeed now reality, successfully winning the UK and French 2004 paramotor championships and winning the best overall paramotor at the prestigious Sun & Fun exhibition in the USA the same year. The engine was produced with manual or electric starting systems and become a firm favourite with competition pilots and to pilots wishing to push the envelope of long distance flights, as with the amazing fuel consumption of the 4stroke150 over 250Km’s was now possible with one 10 litre fuel load.
Introduction of the Mk2 4 stroke started in 2006, with improvements made to the engines internal and external cooling fins, reduction drive mounting and the addition of a simple air cooling system and a new design of faceplate.
2007 saw the introduction of the 4stroke150’s bigger brother, the 4stroke175 which produces 18HP (24% more power than the 150cc unit), along with revised carburetion/exhaust and the switch to electric only starting, allowing the addition of our new Forced Air Cooling System. The Forced Air Cooling System is manufactured from carbon fibre and is a shroud that fits around the engine mount side of the power unit and utilises a lightweight, high air-flow fan that is crankshaft driven to provide additional cooling over the cylinder head, reducing CHT temperatures.
2009 saw the introduction of our latest two 4 stroke engines, the V3-180 (180cc 2 valve / 18HP) and 4V-200 (200cc 4 valve / 22HP). The release of our new engines opens up a world of possibilities for customers with paramotors or ultralights, who previously only had the option of installing 2 stroke engines in their projects. The fuel efficiency, compact dimensions and flexible mounting system of the V3-180 and 4V-200 engines is making many pilots dream a reality.
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