Patent ID: 8074756
Filing Date: 2011-12-13
Classification: B62K

Abstract:
1. A straddle-type rough-road running vehicle comprising: a vehicle body frame including a pair of upper and lower pipes, a pair of vertical pipes, and a pair of rear rising-up portions of the lower pipes; a lateral pair of front wheels and a lateral pair of rear wheels which are supported by the vehicle body frame; an engine unit mounted to the vehicle body frame at substantially a central portion thereof in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and including an engine body and a power transmission case, in which the engine body has a cylinder assembly extending substantially along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, in which the cylinder assembly extends substantially along the longitudinal axis of the power transmission case from a crankcase; a straddle type driver's seat disposed above a rear portion of the engine unit; an engine intake system including an intake control unit for controlling an air/fuel ratio so as to prepare air/fuel mixture which is supplied into a combustion chamber disposed in the cylinder assembly and an air-cleaner case connected to the intake control unit for supplying clean air to the intake control unit the engine intake system being disposed above the engine unit, wherein the intake control unit and the air-cleaner case are connected to each other, wherein an engine mounting portion is formed in a frame shape opened such that the engine unit is surrounded by the pair of upper and lower pipes, the pair of vertical pipes, and the pair of rear rising-up portions from a vertical direction and a longitudinal direction, the air-cleaner is disposed below the upper pipe and in front of the rear rising-up portions in a side view, the engine intake system is disposed below a perpendicular line of an axis of the cylinder assembly so as to be adjacent to the power transmission case, and the axis of the cylinder assembly and an axis of the engine intake system are formed so as to provide a substantially U-shape in the side view, and the engine unit and the engine intake system are disposed within the engine mounting portion in the side view, wherein the straddle-type rough-road running vehicle further comprises an engine exhaust device which includes: an exhaust pipe connected to an exhaust port formed to the cylinder assembly; and an exhaust silencer connected to a downstream side end of the exhaust pipe, wherein the exhaust pipe is divided in a longitudinal direction at a portion which is a front side of the exhaust silencer and in the opened frame of the engine mounting portion formed in the vehicle body frame, and a front portion of the divided exhaust pipe and a rear portion of the divided exhaust pipe including the exhaust silencer are detachably connected by means of a joint portion, the front portion of the divided exhaust pipe being offset from the vehicle body frame in the side view, and wherein the engine unit, the engine intake system and the front portion of the divided exhaust pipe are all composed as an assembly which can be taken out in a transverse direction through an inside of the opened frame of the engine mounting portion.