This one's got me wondering. If the fuel mixture is drawn into the crank as the piston heads upwards, wouldn't the volume be limited by the volume of air being displaced above it?
Ie, if you have a piston at bdc on a 250cc machine wouldn't the volume of air drawn into the crank be 250cc as the piston ascends, since it's not a force fed system, 250cc is about all you could acheive.
Worded badly I know, but it's the best I could do on a Monday morn.
Gas compresses. Gas has momentum.
As the fuel air mixture is drawn into the crankcase, there is momentum involved from the previous cycles. Basically, the fuel air mix is still flowing into the crankcase well after the piston hits TDC.
Then there is also the scavenging effect of the pipe which draws the mixture through the combustion chamber, including drawing the mixture through the transfers which in turn draws more mixture into the crankcase.
It actually draws fresh fuel air mix right through into the exhaust pipe but the returning shockwave from the expansion chamber then forces it back into the combustion chamber before the exhaust port closes. So you have fuel air mix coming from both directions helping the charge the combustion chamber (at least when it's on pipe anyway).
That's why expansion chambers are so critical to get right.