Diesel bikes?

[pskhaat]

Anyone into off-road motorcycles know if there are any currently manufacturers that burn the oil? instead of gasoline?

[Hltoppr]

IIRC the military has been using a Kawasaki KLR diesel for years. Rumor has it that a civilian model may be available in 2006 sometime....6gal. tank....100mpg.


www.f1engineering.com

-H-

[pskhaat]

So you destroy my idea of making a new company producing Diesel Offroad Cycles? :)

That would be SWEET though.

[Hltoppr]

I think now would be the time....seems like the market is there...

I know there were 1 or 2 threads on advrider.com on diesel klrs too...

-H-

[Ursidae69]

I bookmarked this site a while bike. I can totally see me on a diesel duel sport someday. :jumping:
http://www.dieselmotorcycles.com/home.htm

[Colorado Ron]

yea but their asking price?? $18grand! I can buy ALOT of gas for the difference!

[Hltoppr]

Or a new BMW 1200GS Adventure....

-H-

[underdog]

I was at a BMW rally a couple of summers ago and there was a guy there on a Royal Enfield 500CC Diesel. Single cylinder and he said it produced 6HP and got about 90mpg. He said he rode it to Colorado from the east coast over the coarse of several weeks at a cruising speed of 45mph. Sounded like it was a POS. He was constantly having to repair and cobble together broken pieces. It was definitely not an adventure bike (I suppose having to ride cross country on an unreliable bike could be construed as an adventure) but interesting nonetheless. The Enfields are being built again in India using the same tooling as the original British Enfields from the '50s but I've heard that the metallurgy isn't nearly as good (I don't think it was all that good to begin with ;))

[Hltoppr]

I was at a BMW rally a couple of summers ago and there was a guy there on a Royal Enfield 500CC Diesel. Single cylinder and he said it produced 6HP and got about 90mpg. He said he rode it to Colorado from the east coast over the coarse of several weeks at a cruising speed of 45mph. Sounded like it was a POS. He was constantly having to repair and cobble together broken pieces. It was definitely not an adventure bike (I suppose having to ride cross country on an unreliable bike could be construed as an adventure) but interesting nonetheless. The Enfields are being built again in India using the same tooling as the original British Enfields from the '50s but I've heard that the metallurgy isn't nearly as good (I don't think it was all that good to begin with ;))

I think every Enfield is cobbled together....diesel or not...

That being said...I'll probably get a 350 for an around town bike at some point...they are true POS bikes, but the cool, retro factor is high...

-H-

[lionsbreath]

I ride a 06 klr and chat alot on klr650.net there is a lot of info on there on oil burning klrs'

[dhackney]

It was definitely not an adventure bike

This might technically be true, but you can sure have some adventures on them...
http://www.hackneys.com/travel/India/india-photos/Sikkim_Album/images/image026.jpg

Buddhist monks & novices, Phodong, Sikkim


Regarding production, they never stopped producing them in India and haven't changed a thing since the 30s or whenever they were designed, except IIRC for the material used to braze one oil line.

Incredibly underpowered at 12k ft going over the Himalayan passes and there is absolutely zero braking, and I mean less than zero when two up with pannier boxes and a tank bag.

Makes for some interesting moments when you come around the downhill hairpin at max velocity with no real means to reduce it and see this:
http://www.hackneys.com/photos/tata3crop.jpg


Does that qualify as an adventure?