Here's a US production Bike

[DieselSchlepper]

http://www.dieselmotorcycles.com/

[Pantherman]

http://www.dieselmotorcycles.com/

Those pedal grips on the diesel bike remind me of the old bear traps that they used in the looney tunes cartoons

Pantherman

[DieselSchlepper]

Those pedal grips on the diesel bike remind me of the old bear traps that they used in the looney tunes cartoons

Pantherman

Them teeth grips yore boots real good. I have several scars on my shins too.

[dealwithit]

talk about a real thumper!

[wrenchbender]

Have they actually started selling to the open market yet?.. I gave up waiting on them about 3 years ago. Seems there are still not enough people eating pork in the middle east for the US Military to stop buying their entire production runs.

Incredible bikes. I have seen these up close several times via cargo lifts I've been involved with. Usually bound down to a pallet, but nonetheless they are incredible bikes from the operators I spoke to who rely on them.

[Grigg]

Have they actually started selling to the open market yet?....

That was my first question too.
The site implies that they can be, but no info on how to order or buy one.

Remember reading about them a few years ago, but have yet to hear of one on the road.

Wonder how long they last, when is it worn out, how many miles?

Also curious why indirect injected instead of direct?
If it's a newly designed and manufactured engine I thought the technology is now readily available to economically make reliable direct injected diesels... why not use it?
Perhaps indirect is an advantage for an engine with the "multifuel" requirement?

Grigg

[wrenchbender]

direct to indirect injection is likely a maintenance issue. Most of the direct injection engines I've worked on need pristine quality fuel to not cause problems. These bikes and engines are designed to be fed some nasty crap for fuel. The troops I spoke with who ride or maintain them said they can dump motor oil into them and it will run.

My experience with the new injection systems is to not even think about such madness. In a single cylinder engine, would you really want to face a plugged injector?.. At least in a multi cylinder engine there is a chance you can keep it running to find a shop if one injector fouls out. The 6.0 Ford engines and other designs like it have made me a big believer in older is better. Stick with the old school way of thinking and get home on your own power.

[IHWillys]

...
If it's a newly designed and manufactured engine...

It's not. It's the stock Kawasaki bottom-end(crank/cases/clutch/trans/etc) with a top end that was "newly designed and manufactured" to burn diesel.

From what I've read, the versions planned for sale to the public do not use this engine at the published power levels of the mil-spec bike but at lower power levels. I don't know why, just relaying what I have read in articles. The price level, from the company owner himself, was said to initially be in the mid-teens but after increasing production expected it to drop to be similar to the price of a BMW(didn't say which model of BMW).

Ken

[Grigg]

Thanks Ken, as always you're a wealth of good info.

Grigg

[sooty]

i live close to this place, and see them riding the parking lot, next to a tube bending shop, i get my cooler pipe from, i could go over and submit the questions, and maybe get a test ride, dont think itll hold a candle to my uncorked xr650r.

[wrenchbender]

i live close to this place, and see them riding the parking lot, next to a tube bending shop, i get my cooler pipe from, i could go over and submit the questions, and maybe get a test ride, dont think itll hold a candle to my uncorked xr650r.

Can your uncorked XR650R run on a bottle of cooking oil when you run out of fuel?.. These bikes will. For an expedition bike going into remote areas, I would like to have the option to burn multi fuel if need be.

Keep in mind that these bikes will have to meet emissions tiers for our EPA regs, which military vehicles do not. Probably the reason they are detuned for consumer sales. I would not worry about longevity issues with them if you cranked them up, the Marine Corps beats on these bikes daily. For their recon troops to be happy with them, you can bet they are reliable and powerful.

[Grigg]

..I would not worry about longevity issues with them if you cranked them up, the Marine Corps beats on these bikes daily. For their recon troops to be happy with them, you can bet they are reliable and powerful.

They may do just fine, but just because it's tough enough for the military doesn't mean it last a long time. It could do the job but have a short life expectancy and the military answer is buy a new one, while the rest of us would find that unacceptable.
Not saying that's the case here, I don't know, and why I ask how many miles or hours it should last.
Like a car now days is good for an easy 200-300 thousand miles with little effort, what's this motor cycle good for?

Grigg

[Octamog]

i live close to this place, and see them riding the parking lot, next to a tube bending shop, i get my cooler pipe from, i could go over and submit the questions, and maybe get a test ride, dont think itll hold a candle to my uncorked xr650r.

These guys? http://www.f1engineering.com/f1-index.html

They're the ones that reportedly did the engine development... wonder if they'd sell a engine conversion kit? I imagine selling the whole bike to the public would get into all kinds of ugly product liability issues.

[IHWillys]

I'm not saying whether or not they are reliable as there is no information that I have seen to speak to that.

Hey, this bike as described by the specs, with a decent price tag and reliability would be a bike I could like, though a bit on the heavy side for my tastes. However, after reading about it a bit, I am skeptical of its ability to deliver what enthusiasts and myself are expecting due to multiple points of reality working their way into the picture as I see it. Maybe I'm wrong.

Ken

[2Dodges]

They look rugged,no matter how hard they "thump",or how slow they are,it sure beats carrying/ marching with a heavy load of field gear,and other "things" needed in expeditionary work,and forays into the "unknown"......

[khaoskustoms]

That Teryx based side by side looks bad-a$$. To bad they didn't convert that into diesel.

[wrenchbender]

For the military to take a contract is nothing to speak of by itself. I know, I see the crap that vendors and manufacturers supply us day in and day out.

The benchmark I'm going by is the Marine Corps Recon, Army Rangers/Delta Force and Navy Spec Ops are using these. I've talked to several of them that come through my way. These are the units that have little to no budget to comply with, they want it, they get it. If it breaks, they dump the manufacturer and find another. This keeps the stakes high for their suppliers to build a worthy product before fielding it to them. If we were talking about regular Army or Regular Marine Corps purchasing, this bike would require 6 connex boxes full of replacement parts to keep it running a month.

The top end is about all that changes from the Kawasaki engine from what I've read. Which the KLR bike is known for being a good reliable mule for many miles and years.


Weight wise, I ride a hopped DR650 currently and keep up with the neighborhood kids on 250 and 400 CC dirtbikes. Not as nimble as the lighter bikes, but I can carry a full pack on mine of gear and food. Most of them are all about the day trips, while I dissapear for days when I head out.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

one of those would be perfect for me... but my mom would kill me if i buy another motorcycle...

[khaoskustoms]

Weight wise, I ride a hopped DR650 currently and keep up with the neighborhood kids on 250 and 400 CC dirtbikes. Not as nimble as the lighter bikes, but I can carry a full pack on mine of gear and food. Most of them are all about the day trips, while I dissapear for days when I head out.

I love my WR450. Awesome trail bike.

[IHWillys]

...
The top end is about all that changes from the Kawasaki engine from what I've read. Which the KLR bike is known for being a good reliable mule for many miles and years....

That's my impression as well. However, the concept of taking a gasser and converting it to diesel hasn't exactly yielded stellar results in the past. Maybe this one is different.

Ken

[wrenchbender]

That's my impression as well. However, the concept of taking a gasser and converting it to diesel hasn't exactly yielded stellar results in the past. Maybe this one is different.

Ken

Very true. Most of those were victims of V-8 re-fitments with the expectation of high rev'ing gas engines to take compression and high rpms.

A single cylinder air cooled engine like we're talking about here falls into a much more viable/successful category though. Ever see the bearings and internals on a KLR650 compared to a similar displacement Hatz or Lombardini diesel air cooled engine?. The Kawasaki wins in robustness on several comparable sized engines.

[IHWillys]

...A single cylinder air cooled engine like we're talking about here...

Ever see the bearings and internals on a KLR650 compared to a similar displacement Hatz or Lombardini diesel air cooled engine?. The Kawasaki wins in robustness on several comparable sized engines.

Not that I think it matters much in this regard, but the KLR 650 does not have an aircooled engine, it is liquid cooled from the factory.

No, I haven't seen any of those engines' bearings or internal parts.

I almost didn't post that part relating to past engines concerning conversion from gas to diesel as it really is not a valid point to argue from. However, it is a viable point to make that the design requirements for a gasoline engine vs a diesel in the same application are seemingly more robust for the diesel. Thus, even if the KLR bottom-end is up to the task, I would imagine that it would not live as long under a comparable power diesel top-end(lower HP but atleast similar torque if not higher) as it would under the less taxing gasoline top-end that it was designed for in the first place. Perhaps I'm wrong. As I've stated before, I'd like to see this bike or something similar make a go of it but what I've seen so far does not make me optimistic that this is the bike to do so or that an all-around good diesel motorcycle is even close at hand.

I somewhere read of Yamaha applying for some patents relating to a motorcycle design that uses a turbo charged diesel engine but there wasn't much info available at the time. Maybe Kawasaki could step past Hayes and their relatively limited development funding and produce a factory diesel KLR. Maybe one of the manufacturers of the cheap Chinese bikes will have a go at a diesel. I'm watching and waiting as there isn't anything out there right now. For what I want, there's not even a good engine swap candidate that I know of. I have yet to see a swap that is even close to what I'm after: small, light, quick, agile, etc.

Ken

[wrenchbender]

You are correct. I wrote that VERY poorly.
I was intending to reference the Lombardini and Hatz engines as being air cooled. I lost my train of thought, not to mention edited out part of what I was saying in the beginning.

The KLR engine is water coolerd, but due to it's single cylinder design and strong torque thumper engine, I have faith it would be every bit as reliable as the air cooled engines. The added benefit of the water jacket to keep cylinder/jug temps controlled makes me more confident of it holding up to low speed trailer riding where there is little air flow. An air fin equipped oil cooled engine would require aluminum and a likely a sleeved design to take both the compression and the heat problems this would develope.

I have a 2 cylinder Hatz diesel powered air compressor on my service trailer, the thought of getting muddy water or even dirt packed in behind it's cooling tin and ducts like a bike application would cause is not something I think would live long.

Even the Lombardini engines I've had exposure to still have crank mounted cooling fans and sheetmetal cooling ducts. They run HOT when they even the smallest trace amounts of jobsite dust and oil build up on them. This is their biggest failure point in their top ends.

[Dougal]

Also curious why indirect injected instead of direct?
If it's a newly designed and manufactured engine I thought the technology is now readily available to economically make reliable direct injected diesels... why not use it?
Perhaps indirect is an advantage for an engine with the "multifuel" requirement?

Grigg

IMO it's for the rev range. Indirect injection engines are happier covering a wider rev range without as fancy timing advance devices.

[reverendd]

Not for someone looking for a smaller lighter dual-sport, but here's a triumph tiger with a 3 cyl lombardini diesel that I've seen posted around the net. I think its nearly 1 litre in size and would be for those looking for the bigger BMW sized dual sport 1150's or whatever they are. Long as you didn't have to get into tight trials type riding probably be just the thing for running on crummy fuel. Pretty cool sounding though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRC7H8PMaGQ

Regards,

Rev. D.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Not for someone looking for a smaller lighter dual-sport, but here's a triumph tiger with a 3 cyl lombardini diesel that I've seen posted around the net. I think its nearly 1 litre in size and would be for those looking for the bigger BMW sized dual sport 1150's or whatever they are. Long as you didn't have to get into tight trials type riding probably be just the thing for running on crummy fuel. Pretty cool sounding though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRC7H8PMaGQ

Regards,

Rev. D.

seems that it's fitted with a harley-davidson transmission...

[Tyork_tex]

Maybe u could use a kubota diesel for this typee of conversion.

[wrenchbender]

I remember seeing a Kubota powered bike a while back, it was a chopper queen.

I'd like to see how well the newer Kubota engines in the UTV carts could be adapted into a 3 wheel drive streetable trike or even a larger framed version of a TW200 Yamaha trail bike. Something with enough speed to get into town with, but primarily geared for dragging a 1/4 of an elk or full week's pack of supplies into the back country.

[Cali_Cummins]

I saw one of these at the marine West Expo on Camp Pendleton a few weeks back. I asked the sales reps if there was a civilian version coming out, and they said there was. $12,000-$14,000 though...

[sdstriper]

It would be very interesting to feel the difference between the gas KLR and this diesel. I own a KLR, extremely under powered IMO. I grew up on motorcross bikes and when I 1st got the KLR I was dissappointed...