deseasel 2 wheeler.

Posted this a while back.

Clearly it exists to annoy you...

"DervMan" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

It's not even as if it's the first diesel bike.

Boccardo/BFG in France were building 'em with Pug/Cit TU diesel (AX/106) lumps way back in the early '90s.

The Enfield Robin featured in Diesel Car many years ago.

Its worked.

On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:24:12 +0100, JackH spouted forth:

Just one question. Why?

Mike

I'm thinking that one is in the wrong 'clothes'.

Something like a BMW K1300GT [1] with a diesel lump would be an immense long distance tourer.

Why what?

Err thats what I said...

Safety.

You're not keeping up, diseasel bikes have been around for over 100 years. They're popular with the military who have a rule that all machines should run on the same fuel (diesel) if at all possible. IIRC there's a Royal (Indian!) Enfield that runs on diesel and any number of off-road bikes.

Feast your eyes on this:

Mmm. Millitary sense. Bit like "millitary inteligence" then.

Diesel offers no advantages at all over petrol and lots of disadvantages.

Since the ONLY thing diesels are better at is economy. And thats not really an issue on a bike...

Fuel at the front line costs about £3000 per litre. That's the cost of moving it forward in convoys + the attrition and losses during the move. It's also rather better to be moving diesel in a war zone than petrol, because petrol makes a much bigger bang when the tanker is hit. Standardizing on one fuel makes logistics easier, and it means that it's easier to fuel your vehicles by transferring fuel from one to the other. In WWII the standard fuel was petrol, even for tanks. And that was the era in which the Germans referred to petrol-powered tanks as "Tommy Cookers".

Diesel is safer, gives better mpg - and that really is an issue with a bike on a battlefield - works far better for off-road vehicles including bikes where CI engines are more reliable than spark ignition.

The current army bikes use a Rotax diesel IIRC, although it's some time since I've worked with such things so it may all have changed again.

Steve, you're losing your touch here. This post suggests that Diesel isn't entirely the work of Beelzebub himself.

Quick, follow it up with something quite contrary to the above while you still can. ;-)

That's the cost of

Are you sure? Calorific value is about the same or slightly higher for diesel...

On a bike? Dont see how.

gives better mpg - and that really is an issue with a

Why are motorcrossers and trail bikes all petrol then? Lighter, more responsive and therefore more competent and safer?

Thatlbewhy we also saw a load of trucks on the motorway with fires lit under their fuel tanks to try and get them going again then!

I'll bet they que up to ride "those"!!!

I also suspect that while in makes logistics easier it means less flexibility when no fuel is available. If you have a bunch of vehicles that run on different fuels it might be easier to find one fuel or another in desperate times. Plus at a push a low compression petrol vehicle can be made to run on parafin, kero, diesel, petrol, turps, or almost anything that burns allbeit badly, but putting petrol or any high octane petrol type fuel (anti detonating) fuel in a deseasel will stop it...

Drop a match into an open container of diesel.

Don't drop a match into an open container of petrol.

See above.

Not how bikes are used though.

A shell has the same result in both cases. As soon as its atomised it burns and ignites just the same. They dont light it with a mathch!

I saw...

They are off road no?

I got the point. I was just pointing out a few flaws in it...

Not when you see what's involved. Remember you are trying to get fuel up a long supply line while people are shooting at you.

Yes, and it has a much lower flash point and it vapourises much more slowly. [snip]

Try putting a 9mm through a bike tank full of diesel and one full of petrol.

Because people who off-road for a hobby do so (mostly) with their mates and do so in teams and in truth aren't going very far. If you look at military motorbikes they have always been heavy monsters - even when used off-road. A heavy engine isn't such a drawback, and the ability to go further on a tank if fuel tends to look damned handy when the only fuel stations are on fire.

In Iraq?

Well there's no shortage of applicants.

Indeed, but you can run diseasels on AVTUR which tends to be easily available in the situations mentioned. Face it, if you siphon a couple of gallons out of a Harrier the pilot isn't going to notice.