There's a diesel motorcycle under development, but it's not being made by Suzuki in Japan or BMW in Germany. It's being developed by a group of pensioners who call themselves the Gray Eagles, an informal collection of retired engineers and executives from Harley-Davidson and Outboard Marine. And if that doesn't strike you as out of the ordinary, the engine is not being developed from scratch or being retrofitted from another application (like the ThunderStar 1200 TDI) – it's being converted from a gasoline engine.
The Gray Eagles started with an '88 Harley-Davidson FXRS and converted its V-Twin to run on diesel, fitting it with a turbocharger and electronic fuel injection. Karl Nilson, one of the team members, was once in charge of Harley's "Nova Project", a program to develop a unique 150hp six-cylinder engine in collaboration with Porsche. That project was shelved in the early 80's due to budgetary constrictions after $15 million was invested, but Nilson, along with his fellow Gray Eagles, hopes to see diesel bikes on the road during his lifetime. The diesel bike is being presented to potential customers such as Harley-Davidson and even the Pentagon, who already run some dirt bikes on the same diesel the army uses for its tanks, jeeps and trucks.
(You can check out a video of the turbodiesel chopper by clicking here.)
[Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Motive]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
George @ Feb 17th 2008 8:07PM
There's a company that already makes Diesel motorcycle cranking out 500cc called Royal Enfield.. Maybe you guys haven’t heard of them...
nagmashot @ Feb 18th 2008 2:33AM
there are more than one...
Royal Enfield is building diesel powered bikes since a long time.. and btw it is the oldest still existing bike producer in the world.
They have or had 5 diesel powered models.
Sommer Motorradmanufaktur is currently the only bike producer in Europe who has a EU street legalized diesel powered bike in program the Sommer Diesel-26.
The first europen diesel powered bike prototype was from 1980 and later this bike went into a small scale prodcution, it was designed by the british Ernie Dorsett the bike was called Matchless-Robin ..based on it Enfield start its diesel bike production..
The Harley boys are 30years late..
other @ Feb 17th 2008 8:38PM
Sign me up for one!
Razor @ Feb 17th 2008 8:39PM
Is that an android in the background or a real guy?
WillDaThrill @ Feb 17th 2008 11:44PM
I was thinking the same thing. looks like a dude with a mask on or something.
mikomi @ Feb 18th 2008 8:01AM
Everyone is missing the boat on this one, the article states that what should be interesting is that they are converting a petrol engine to be an oil burner. Not a new feat, but if they can find a way to make it cheap to convert existing bikes to be oil burners, they may have themselves a niche.
mikomi @ Feb 18th 2008 8:03AM
That is hilarious. No offense to the gentleman but it looks like he came right out of Thunderbids.
Guenther @ Feb 18th 2008 8:50AM
As a KLR rider I have to like the Diesel version the Marines get, but the coolest diesel bike I've seen to date was a BossHoss with a Buick V6 diesel. All in low-gloss black and a tank that must have been two feet wide.
Remember- this isn't some upstart company- its a group of retired engineers using their time to show what can be done with a bit of free thinking.
Troy D @ Feb 18th 2008 9:01AM
Wow, an even "slower" Harley...
Jorge @ Feb 18th 2008 12:25PM
I think they look like two guys wearing a George Bush Sr. and Dick Cheney latex masks... lol
calebe @ Feb 19th 2008 8:06AM
Lets hope they did a better job converting a gasoline engine to diesel than GM did. Blown head gaskets and cracked blocks are never fun.