NYT test drives the Marines' diesel motorcycle
While spending a little time over at Faster and Faster, a site devoted to motorcycles posing with very beautiful, very scantily-clad women, (I was only reading the articles, honest) I saw a piece on this 100-mpg diesel motorcycle that Hayes Diversified Technologies builds for the military. This got my attention so I did a little digging and found out that, although these have been around for a couple of years, the New York Times has only recently got it's grimy hands on one and published its thoughts. After going over some informative back story relating to the Marine Corps' need for a motorcycle that runs on JP-8, NYT reporter Dexter Ford tells us what happened once he jumped aboard the beast, brought the clattering diesel to life and bore down on the throttle: "Not much." Apparently, it takes the bike a couple seconds to get to grips with the concept of forward motion. After that though, it's relatively smooth sailing. There is some vibration as this diesel lacks the counter-balancer employed by another, larger and more expensive diesel motorcycle. Still, the Hayesmobile is Marine tough and gets a tested 96 mpg. At 55mph.
If you are like me and are excited by the concept of mashing up knobby tires with a diesel engine. HDT is planning on doing a civilian version as soon as it can catch up with its increasing military business. I subscribed to their newsletter so I can keep up with all the happenings and keep you informed.
[Source: New York Times via Faster and Faster]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 7:30AM (2/29/2008)
Throttle response is poor because this is a naturally aspirated single-cylinder engine. A balanced parallel twin with a turbo would be preferable for a civilian diesel bike but the Marines understandably favored the higher reliability that comes from keeping things as simple and rugged as possible.
Btw, the Neander bike retails for EUR 95,000 - a bit steep, if you ask me.
Reply
dean 9:24AM (2/29/2008)
Still...I want one!
Reply