Hayes diesel dual-sport

[haven]

Hayes Diversified Technologies developed and is manufacturing a diesel-powered motorcycle:

Hayes plans eventually to sell these to the public. Here's the link to their web pages.

http://www.hdtusa.com/home.htm

Chip Haven

 

[Andy G]

Mmmmm...diesel KLR....

 

[Pskhaat]

:drool:

 

[wesel123]

Drool, but then you see the price tag of $25k.......ouch!!!! I get 45 mpg on my 08 KLR, 100 mpg just aint worth it..... But frekin cool non the less!!!!

 

[MuddyMudskipper]

Drool, but then you see the price tag of $25k.......ouch!!!! I get 45 mpg on my 08 KLR, 100 mpg just aint worth it..... But frekin cool non the less!!!!

That is some oil burnin' goodness right there, but I have to agree with wesel, $25k is a bit steep. For that price I'd get a decent diesel rig I can sleep in instead of next to.

 

[haven]

NY Times article

Here's a NY Times article written by somebody who actually rode one

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/automobiles/24KAWASAKI.html

The article says throttle response is poor.

I suspect that the $25,000 price tag is what the company can get the military (source of many gold-plated sole-source contracts) to pay, not the price they would put on a civilian version. But who knows?

I wonder how well the diesel engine would scale down to smaller sizes, say 400 cc instead of 611cc?

 

[goodtimes]

I have been watching that for several years....still no word on civilian production.
For the price, it just ain't worth it IMO. You could buy a used gas KLR, take the $$$ you saved and buy a quarter million miles worth of gas (literally...do the math!).

I like the concept....hopefully it will be further developed to get the throttle response up and the price down. Every trend has to start somewhere...and it is usually has poor performance and high cost when it starts....

 

[WhereTheHellIsJames?]

PERFORMANCE:
Acceleration: 0-30 mph (53 kph), 3.1 sec
0-60 mph (106 kph), 9.3 sec
Gradeability: 60% (32 degrees)
Turning Radius: Less than 7 feet
Maximum Speed: In excess of 100 mph.
MinimumConstant Speed: Less than 3 mph.
Fording Depth: 24 inches
Fuel Mileage: 105 mpg @ 45 mph (Tested)
Range: 630 miles @ 45 mph



I think that a 50cc scooter will accelerate faster than this bike. There are some pretty cool aspects of what HDT is doing with developing a consumer-available diesel motorcycle, but the performance is REALLY lacking. I don't see the price to value ratio as being even remotely close at this point.

 

[Willman]

Thanks for the spec's^

Wonder what the weight diff. is???

I like the idea......over time....i'm sure it will be the bike of the future!

I would rather by a gas one......more :roost:

 

[gjackson]

All it needs is a turbo!

cheers

 

[ntsqd]

I wonder who will be the first to run one of veggie?

The problem with downsizing a diesel engine is that in many of the high precision parts the tolerances scale down proportionately. For example, say that the pintle in a PSD or Cummins common rail injector has a total diametrical size tolerance window of .0050mm (0.000197"), meaning that it can only vary from the ideal, as-designed size by .0025mm (0.0000985") big or small.

If the cylinder displacement shrinks by 30% then that tolerance could very easily also shrink by 30% since what is important is how the part interacts with all of the adjacent parts, and they all got smaller because of the smaller fuel demand. It's not a linear and direct thing, but that's about what happens in generalities. So now that total tolerance window could easily be 0.0015 mm (0.000059").

That is a really tough part to make in large volume. It's not terribly easy to make in a small, prototypical volume.

 

[motoexplorer]

The military application makes sense to me since they now mandate a single fuel type. I've been underwhelmed by other applications of small single cylinder diesels (and I say that as a diesel lover. I have an F250 diesel. I love the sounds and smell of diesels).

In 2000 I bought one of the newly introduced Polaris Diesel ATV's to use up at our northern Minnesota cabin. It was a 455cc single. A big heavy hulking beast. Two batteries. Much more noise than the gas equivalent. I love the clatter and sound of 6 and 8 cylinder diesels, but the single just kinda clattered.

Immense stump pulling torque. In all other respects it was a dog really.

Polaris assumed that farmers/construction people would buy them since nearly all of their equipment was diesel. The lack of performance killed it though. The Polaris Diesel lasted only 3 years: 99, 2000, 2001.

I see that Arctic Cat offered a diesel ATV the past couple of years, but now it is off their line up as well.

 

[805gregg]

When this first started they were rumored to cost $10,000, but why take a slow bike, make it slower, double the price and add more expensive fuel? And, what is our stupid Gov. paying to have this bs built? There is gas everywhere, why not buy gas KLR's?

 

[HINO SG]

When this first started they were rumored to cost $10,000, but why take a slow bike, make it slower, double the price and add more expensive fuel? And, what is our stupid Gov. paying to have this bs built? There is gas everywhere, why not buy gas KLR's?

I can't vouch for the viability of the program and you must have some idea of what you're talking about if you own a CRD, but diesel is both cheaper and more widely available almost anywhere in the world besides the U.S., which is rarely where the Marines deploy.

or maybe it's just BS.

 

[jesusgatos]

I wouldn't want to ride a KLR even it was powered by a flux capacitor.