But have you
ever ridden a diesel motorcycle?? I have, a bit over 1/2 the way around Australia.(pretty much equivalent to across the USA & 1/2 way back again!) and it became very expensive very quickly!! :shocked: But the cost of getting all the fillings in my teeth replaced every 20,000 miles was the least of it!! :gaah: The fuel economy was good (but not anywhere near 100 mpg
) and the low down torque was fantastic, but the machine was never going to be
fast simply because the engine was sooo bloody heavy and the vibrations from the engine not only made it lurch & wobble as each cylinder fired but they also transferred into
everything; made
every bone & muscle in my body
hurt pdq; and pretty much required running the spanners over every nut & bolt on the thing every time I stopped for fuel!! And it vibrated the frame to pieces repeatedly while chewing out chains faster'n I could inhale spaghetti! nojoke
Now admittedly, diesel engines have come a long way since I did that particular trip, but there was no way
that 2 wheeled 2 cylinder naturally aspirated diesel monster of a machine would ever reach the same sorts of speeds readily achievable by even a bog stock standard Spyder; it just vibrated too much; and every stroke of the engine caused the whole thing to jolt & lurch in sympathy.... or maybe it was in agony!! :dontknow: Maybe a modern small capacity multi-cylinder 'Common Rail' type Direct Injection Diesel with a small turbo to help iron out the power strokes would be better, but I reckon even those are still going to be fairly heavy lumps of metal that'd be heavy to muscle around at low speeds & bloody hard to coax into turning off 'straight ahead' at any worthwhile cruising speed.... and when you're out there in the wide open spaces with little to alert you that there's a corner coming up; suddenly realising that there
IS as you desperately try to haul a large lump of highly resistant machinery into even the most sweeping of curves is bum puckeringly
NOT FUN! :shocked: There again, that bit definitely
IS a whole lot more fun than the 'beyond bum puckering' moment when you realise that the
very next thing to smash into and become a widely spread 'at one' with the scenery
is YOU!! :yikes: Do you reeeaally need to ask me how I know that for a fact?? I had a few weeks of enforced bed-rest after that particular incident; but as soon as I could walk without the casts, I went back out there.... indestructible idiot that I was back then! :banghead:
Anyhow, I'm not really convinced that a diesel motorcycle or any type of diesel Spyder/Ryker etc would be all that good - great concept, maybe; possibly even theoretically a viable machine; but for my 2 bob's worth, I doubt it'd ever work well enough to become anything more than a punishing novelty torture device ridden by suckers who might think they're tough.... before the machine pounds that right outta them! :lecturef_smilie: Still, there's one born ev... arrr, you know how that bit goes!
) make the fuel tank easier to fill to the top with better venting & overflow lines.
