[Vwdiesel] Diesel Motorcycle

[Terry Briggs]

The bike in question is put out by indira industy in India. It uses a 
12 hp diesel engine. Great fuel economy, but I wouldn't count on 
getting anywhere quickly. Enfield sold the dies to Indira back in the 
'70's I do believe, and they had quality issues with the gas engine, so 
transplanted one of their diesel singles in the frame. I'm thinking max 
speed on that particular model isn't much past 50 mph. I had all the 
data on the bike years ago, but can't seem to find it any more.
On Aug 5, 2007, at 7:29 AM, Scott Kair wrote:

>
> 	The subject came up several years ago when a small German firm was
> transplanting 1-cyl. Lombardini tractor engines into Royal Enfield 
> frames.
> Claimed fuel economy was phenomenal, torque impressive, acceleration 
> and top
> end within reasonable expectations for a small single cyl. Diesel. 
> Neat part
> about the firm was that he had a sound file on his website, which 
> seems to
> have vanished. Getting one shipped here, through customs, the EPA, and 
> NHTSA
> was an overwhelming challenge, all in order to get something with
> questionable parts availability.
> 	The unit in question on Ebay seemed quite similar, so I ran "Diesel
> motorcycle" through the dogpile meta-engine and was pleasantly 
> surprised at
> the number of hits. Apparently converting Enfields to Diesel power is
> something of a cottage industry in the UK and northern parts of the
> continent. Engines seem to vary, but there seems to be an annual 
> gathering.
> Some of the photos were quite interesting.
> 	Royal Enfield, fwiw to non-bikers, has an odd history. It was a
> British firm, but in the early 1960's landed a hefty contract to 
> supply the
> Indian Army and national police forces with 500cc singles. The numbers 
> to be
> produced overwhelmed their domestic production capacity, so they 
> opened a
> factory in India. When the mother company went out of business in the 
> late
> 1960's, the Indian subsidiary stayed in business, still producing 
> relatively
> unchanged early-1960's Bullets in various configurations. By the late
> 1990's, they began exporting nostalgia models to the American market, 
> and
> have sold enough to stay in the market. Apparently, arrangments can be 
> made
> to buy a number of frames into which various small Diesel engines can 
> be
> transplanted.
> 	A couple of other marques also seem to be in development. A German
> firm is developing a cruiser named the Neandertal, with a parallel twin
> direct injection turbocharged engine and multiple valves per cylinder. 
> The
> American-assembled dual-purpose bike derived from the Kawasaki 650 also
> seems still to be in a development stage, but production is slated to 
> go to
> the military for scouting purposes.
> 	At this point, widespread stateside distribution seems improbable,
> at least for now. As fuel prices continue to climb, though, resistance 
> to
> the retrograde Enfield with a lawn tractor engine might fade against 
> fuel
> economy figures between 150 and 200 mpg.
> 	Scott Kair
> 	
> 	
>
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