| I'm building a practical diesel motorbike. Using a 954cc twin cylinder Ruggerini diesel engine for reasonable speed & economy. It's one of the bigger air cooled stationary engines that's practical to use, not the fastest diesel engine or even the best on fuel economy, that would be a car engine, but certainly a usable fun bike. I will try to take you through the building of this diesel bike stage by stage including photos, also the mistakes that I have made. | |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
To achieve the engines full potential, and get the bike as close to 90mph as
possible by the use of good overdrive gearing and the use of all available revs, and
still achieve very good mpg. |
|
|
 |
|
|
10/JUNE/08 - I now have a 5 speed Greeves gearbox, and it took a year and a half to find it. I was hoping to fit the Diesel Enfield (Taurus) longer main shaft but the whole box is way too small. A miniature of the standard Enfield box but 5 speed. Well gutted!! 3/JUNE/08 - I went to the uk diesel bike rally this year (what very nice people they all are) and I'm glad I did, as I have come away with plenty of information. The trip was done on my petrol bike, at a cost of £50+ for petrol. One of the things I found out was 150mpg is not impossible for a twin cylinder generator engine. 21/APRIL/08 - As usual things have been slow lately. Several gear boxes that I have bought have been cluttering up the place and tying up cash, so I've been busy rebuilding them to sell on. The plaster board ceiling fell down in the garage, looks like it's been snowing all over my bikes, so I'm replacing the plaster with wood panels. I have decided to take out the engine out of my Harley, so this will be my next diesel bike. 19/NOV/07 - I have swapped the bars over as the riding position was all wrong, this is the problem with using a small frame, so it now has a stonking pair of after market fatboy bars. 10/NOV/07 - I've started the wiring. The fuse box has gone as it was too big, instead I'm using Harley trips tie wrapped to the frame under the tank. 23/OCT/07 - Engine now in, rubber mounts gone, but rust that has appeared on the subframe that I put together. This was another mistake, don't use cheep paint, so it now has a coat of Hammerite. I have not used the expanding bolts to hold the subframe in place, so I have welded three nuts together and welded them in the tubes. More money wasted, but a better job. 10/OCT/07 - I had a rethink, the engine / frame is too low, nowhere for the exhaust or the side stand. And I have been thinking on what Sam Brumby said about rubber mounting, not good when the gearbox is rigid, as the primary will take a hammering. So I have decided to get rid of the rubber mounts and raise the engine by 3+ inches, just about 1 inch lower than the standard frame height. So a few mistakes there ie: time and money wasted. SEPT/07 - Yea I know, the project has stalled for a while. I have removed the asbestos roof from my garage and replaced it with box contour steel sheet. Now the garage is dry, drying out anyway. The damp air was rusting just about everything in there so it had to be done. January 2004 I saw a concrete mixer in a ditch and thought of the diesel bike idea. August 2004 I saw a diesel bike and found out that I wasn't the only person that had this idea (great minds think alike), and the end of 2004 I started buying parts for my project. |
|
|
The Neander diesel engine has a twin crank and hence very little vibrations. Just like the Ariel square four in the 1950's the design is a good one. A 180 degree crank rocks from side to side, a 360 degree rocks backwards and forwards, and a twin crank cancels the rocking actions that cause unwanted vibes. I believe it's 50mpg, so that's as impressive as the voice on the Neander website. Not. So it aint the fastest bike and it aint the most economic bike. There are petrol bikes that are faster, and petrol bikes that are more fuel efficient, but where this diesel bike scores over the rest of today's bikes on the market, is that it has both reasonable speed and economy, which makes it long legged. However I have a feeling that when the Japanese start making diesel bikes, they will rip the legs off the Neander and beat it to death with the soggy ends. In my opinion Neander needs to put this porker on the treadmill and shed some serious lbs, the mpg has to get better if it is to compete with tomorrows diesel bikes. The price is outrageous. |
|
|
The Bulldog would be $18,999.00, or £11,090.51 if you could buy one, for a single cylinder 650cc that may do 86mph. This will be the petrol equivalent of about 400cc. The HDT order book is so full with military orders it will be a long time until the public get them. Or never if the rumour is right that it's all a big con job for Government grants. |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|