Military Production Diesel Motorcycles
The Kawasaki KLR 670cc Diesel Motorcycle
It appears that this bike is late coming to both the Military and Commercial sectors. Watch this space for updates.
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You can download the latest PDF document detailing the spec of the 670cc version of this motorcycle here.
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October: The HDT Newsletter has indicated that the Limited Edition Bulldog KLR will most probably retail in the region of $18,995.
Sept 5th-9th 2005: KLR sets new speed records on the BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS. Checkout their site for detailed information. HDT.
Hayes Diversified Technologies (HDT) of California have recently revamped their website and announced that they will begin a limited production in March 2006. Download some of the latest .PDF documents. US Bike and the Euro Bike.
Visit the new HDT and F1 Engineering websites.
Latest Press Release from HDT/F1 - August 2005
Currently all diesel engines and M1030 diesel combat motorcycles are produced under a military contract for the USMC, they are not available to the general public.
However, to promote the civilian version of the diesel motorcycle we will shortly be offering a limited number of bikes to the public with serial numbers xxx-001 through xxx-100.
We will be requiring a substantial deposit that will go into an escrow account, in the event that something unforeseen happens to prevent us from producing a civilian version, this deposit will be fully refunded.
Full details will be on our website as we get further into the project.
When we do go public with the diesel motorcycle it will be available in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, then the rest of the world.
Price has not been set yet but we are guessing at about 20% over the MSRP of the KLR 650.
The diesel engine itself will be available separately, for retrofit and for OEM and special project use.
Other projects that are in the development stages include a 1000cc, 4 overhead cam v-twin diesel engine designed for the US Army for ATV use, this engine will be offered in 90hp normally aspirated and 110hp turbocharged versions.
This will be a single unit engine (no transmission), so it will make a great engine for large cruiser motorcycles.
One other project is a 1500cc flat 4 (boxer) high performance diesel engine being designed for US Army and USMC low profile gunship platforms, again this engine will be in the normally aspirated and turbocharged configurations.
All of our family of high performance, small diesel engines are designed to start and run on multiple heavy fuel oil and kerosene based fuels, specifically JP8 jet fuel as well as all aviation kerosene, AVTR, NATO Mil Spec diesel, CARB low sulfur diesel and B20 and B100 Biodiesel fuels.
We have run sub zero start and run tests in Labrador, using #2 diesel fuel, JP8, B20 and B100.
The bikes started easily after being left outside all night and performed all functions of the test flawlessly.
Thanks for your interest,
Roger Flynn
F1 Engineering Inc.
Earlier News:
F1 recently took two bikes to the Bonneville Salt Flats and set a new Speed record for a diesel powered bike. 85.46 mph was achieved by one of the machines. Sept 2004.
522 machine are now being delivered to the US Marines. F1 are now looking into doing the civilian version.
Check out some EARLY fact files on the bike in PDF format here and here. These relate to the 584cc version of the KLR.
Earlier Press release from HDT:
Production of the civilian version of our military diesel KLR has had to be delayed for a short time.
We are just a small company and have been working on this engine for about six years now, however we have been unable to attract any financial backers or partners to the project.
Even though the US Government has pretty much paid for all of the development of the engine, we still need private funding of around $2 million, a very small sum considering the huge market for this particular, world's only high performance small diesel engine, especially in light of current events and current gas prices.
This funding is required for EPA and DOT testing, crash testing, reliability testing (even though we have thousands of miles on the military bikes and upwards of 60,000 miles on a couple of the earlier test bikes), production facilities, marketing, advertising, warranty and spares programs, etc., plus a million other details that we are not required to perform on the military units.
All of our resources are currently being used on the new USMC contract for 600 Diesel Combat Motorcycles.
Scheduled delivery of the first production bikes to the USMC is August 2004, with production continuing through 2006.
We had hoped to be building engines for the civilian version alongside the military unit, as this would have reduced cost quite significantly, the cost of 5,000 sets of engine castings from the foundry is obviously a lot less per engine than 600 sets. The same goes for everything else in the engine.
So, although we are still actively searching for a partner / backer, we are sad that we have not yet been able to get this great machine out on the highways. We do however, still hold out hope that someone with the financial resources needed will come along to help us continue on with the project.
Meanwhile, yes we are continuing to build the diesel engines for use in the USMC Diesel Combat Motorcycle, and of course our development program continues on alongside the production line.
With NATO's new requirement for "one battlefield fuel" several NATO countries are currently testing our bikes, all have given glowing reports on the bikes performance, especially the ease of riding even with amateur riders, and of the quiet, smoke free, easy starting diesel engine.
We now have software engineers working on mapping the engine for a new common rail fuel injection system, the same system used on the new Ford Powerstroke and GM's Duramax.
This should give us quite a boost in horsepower over the current mechanical unit and make the machine very tractable under all conditions.
The production USMC version of the diesel KLR is now right at 40 horse power at 5700 rpm with 45 foot pounds of torque. With a power range from 1200 rpm thru 7500 rpm!!
The very latest version now running on the dyno has a lighter weight flywheel, a new cast aluminum cylinder and a re-designed cylinder head.
This engine is producing horsepower up to 8500 RPM and has extremely good throttle response through the whole power range.
Dry Weight: 369 lbs.
Fuel type used during tests; Diesel / Aviation Kerosene / Biodiesel (20% and 100%)
Performance: 0-30 mph, 3.3 sec. - 0-60 mph, 8.6 sec.
Maximum speed as tested; In excess of 102 mph.
Fuel Mileage as tested (full military load); 105 mpg @ 55 mph.
We are hoping to run one of the bikes at the Bonneville Salt Flats in September, we have managed to talk the organizing body into making a series of new classes for a diesel engined motorcycle, one of the planned runs will be on 100% biodiesel if we can get a little backing from the biodiesel or soy industries etc.
Our future plans include a v-twin diesel engine for ATV and Cruiser use, we have our engineers already working on this engine and several other variants.
For those of you that are looking to replace your gas engine with one of our diesel engines, unfortunately at this time all of the units are being produced under a military contract and, until we start production on the civilian unit with private funding, we are not able to offer any of the engines, engine components or complete bikes for sale.
Thanks for your interest, and if you know of an enthusiast or someone with the financial resources available that might be interested in our project, please let us know, we need to get the word out there.
Regards,
Roger G. Flynn
F1 Engineering
10844 "E" Avenue, Suite A-1
Hesperia, CA 92345
www.f1engineering.com
Earlier Updates
I'm hearing that an order for 500 machines is expected any day now. It's thought that Kawasaki USA may start to manufacture the machines.
Latest: HDT have received a $2.2 million order from the United States Defence Dept to manfacture the KLR.
The HDT-RMCS motorcycle is a collaborative venture between Hayes Diversified Technologies (HDT) of California and RMCS to develop a production diesel motorcycle. The engine was designed at RMCS and is being produced by HDT. Development has been undertaken jointly by HDT and RMCS. The bike uses a Kawasaki KLR 650 rolling chassis, modified for military use. Current status of the project is that pre-production bikes have been fully trialled and evaluated by the US Marine Corps. As a result of these trials, the USMC has now accepted the bike for service, and production is expected to commence next year. USMC currently has gasoline KLR650s in service and all these will ultimately be converted for the diesel engine. The UK MoD currently has several bikes under test, and other NATO armies, including France and Germany, have expressed serious interest. We are now looking at other applications, both motorcycle and non-motorcycle, for this engine technology. However, there are NO immediate plans to offer the motorcycle to civilian customers, as we are presently fully committed in satisfying military orders. It is possible that a civilian version of the bike will be made available eventually but this the cost would be about 20% up from a standard bike. For the forseeable future, while the Military are swallowing the cost of this machine, they are unlikely to want to see it sold cheaply to the general public.
Based on a Kawasaki KLR650 the 584cc engine is designed to run on either diesel or aviation kerosene. Some parts from the original engine, such as the generator, have been used on the new machine in order to save money but essentially this motorcycles engine is completely new. This makes this machine completely unique, it being the first purpose built diesel motorcycle engine ever built.
The new KLR Diesel eclipses the older style generator bikes.
With a range of 120 miles per gallon the bike develops 33ftlb of torque and has a top speed of 80 MPH.
A nice close-up of the engine.
Yours truly gets to grips with a prototype Diesel KLR.
As you can see from the above picture, those great guys at R.M.C.S. invited me along to see the new machine and even went so far as to let me loose on it. I completed a route of around 5 to 6 miles, in damp conditions, circling the nearby town before returning. I can report that the bike performed and handled well as I shifted up through the five gears and got it up to speeds in excess of 70 M.P.H. down the local bypass. The engine revved very freely up tp 5,500 R.P.M. and being water cooled was surprisingly quiet for a diesel. The harsh knock normally associated with such engines was absent to be replaced by a muffled thumping only marginally louder than a normal KLR. Indeed, I suspect this machine, whilst running, could easily pass unnoticed in amongst a group of similar petrol bikes.The only givaway may be the actual speed at which it ticks over. It is noticably slower.
I did not get to take the bike off-road though but the 5 new gears seemed very well ratioed to cope with any eventuality. I think the 584cc Diesel engine's output can be compared to that of a smaller petrol machine with added low down grunt. I was told that some riders had felt excessive vibration but I experienced nothing until the engine reached its highest revs. Even then it did not seem unduly troublesome. Anyone expecting the engine to be heavy will be pleasantly surprised. Compared to others of a similar capacity it is compact and lightweight and perfect for a motorcycle. I'm told the many hours of testing have gone well and the future is looking exceedingly bright for this bike.
I must say it's one thing to read that this machine has a totally new engine and quite another to actually get you hands on it. You begin to realise just what these guys have done in designing and building this engine from scratch. After almost ten years in the making it's great to see this progect coming to fuition. This kind of venture is incredibly expensive and it has to be done right if it's to make a market for itself. I'm pleased to report that this rider gives it the thumbs up and looks forward to the day he can get one for keeps.
Lastly a big thank you to the guys at R.M.C.S. (you know who you are) for giving the author of these humble pages a day out to remember.