An experimental study was carried out to investigate the characteristics of cyclic variability of combustion in a single cylinder spark ignition engine. Cylinder pressure of 240 consecutive cycles were measured for various engine operating conditions. From these data, a thermody-n amic analysis was performed for the typical cases in order to identify the cause and effect re -lation of the cyclic variation. In determining the number of cycles required for estimating the coefficient of variation of IMEP and so on, the oprating conditions must be cosidered to fit the objective of the analysis. It is thought that the variation in early flame stage is amplified through the flame propagation and results in the phase change between pressure and volume, which can be the major reason of cyclic variation of IMEP in case of lean operation.