New Member signing in to say Howdy!.

[Curtis in Texas]

Howdy ya’ll,

I am very excited about finally getting signed on to this site with an actual membership.
I've been lurking here for over a year and I think I have read everything written about diesel motorcycles. These are two of my 5 passions in life.

As you can probably tell I'm from Texas. And I live in a small town just north of Fort Worth. Although Rhome is a small town, we are large compared to some others I ride my motorcycles through. We have no stop lights and not even one flashing light in town. Main Street is 4 blocks long.
Most of our residence commute into the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex daily. The rest of them are ranchers. Some are both!

Let me give you guys a little Bio on myself and hopefully we can build on my strengths and ignore my weaknesses. Ha!
I am 57 years old and grew up as a Military Brat. I have worked for the local Electric Company for the past 35 years as a Distribution Operations Technician and am looking forward to retiring soon.
Having been into almost anything with wheels and engines I have built many different and Varied Forms of transportation. Six years ago the Wife and I bought this new place north of Rhome so I would have enough land to build my dream shop. We completed the shop build two years ago and although I'm still filling it with tools, there are many projects that have already been built out there. My local Motorcycle Group loves coming out here for tech days. Here's an inside shot of our last gathering two weekends ago. There were more than 30 KLR's here that day and I'd say maybe 15 or 20 other makes came by to see the carnage. ( Our group had a Pie Run Gathering at a local resturant 15 miles north of my shop so we were on the way!)


At the moment I am building a 450 gallon Bio Diesel WVO processing plant in one corner of my shop. We are looking forward to getting to drive my Motorhome on Bio Diesel as I did the Diesel Conversion on it for Bio Diesel 5 years ago. The next project in line for a Bio Diesel conversion is my 89 I Mark Sedan to a 1500 TD and my 86 Isuzu Trooper to a C223 TD. All the parts needed have been gathered and just need time to get them done.

BTY, I started gathering parts for my own diesel motorcycle conversion over the last few months. And think I'll use one of the Honda Gold Wing rear drive lines.

I have the skills to do what ever I need, and many of the tools. Including tubing benders for making my bike frames. You can see the JD2 bender & dies in the picture to the left of the blue KLR.

Anyway. I know there is at least one of this sites members here in Fort Worth and I'd like to extend an offer to all the Members to come by if you’re in the area.
I'd entertain the idea of collaborating on a Diesel Bike conversion with some locals. I can learn on your junk before I build mine! I have a metal lathe and mill, if you need some incentive. (I used to make my own flywheels for my race cars.....)

Enough already!


Just wanted to you folks know who I am and extend an invitation to get to know each other.

Curtis in Texas

p.s. I was one of the guys who HAD plans to own one of the 1st KLR Diesel bikes.
Oh Well! Guess I’ll just build my own.

[Byrdman]

Welcome aboard Curtis, we're glad to have you.

I'll use one of the Honda Gold Wing rear drive lines.

Great idea, I'm doing the same thing! Wings are bulletproof and once you get the concept laid out, I think you'll have a smooth running bike.

[Curtis in Texas]

Welcome aboard Curtis, we're glad to have you.

I'll use one of the Honda Gold Wing rear drive lines.

Great idea, I'm doing the same thing! Wings are bulletproof and once you get the concept laid out, I think you'll have a smooth running bike.

Thanks Byrdman, my wife is from Lake Forest Il., so who knows. Maybe one of these days we actually get a chance to meet.

I'm out in the shop now, stripping down a CB 550 a freind gave me yesterday. The engine is toast and the suspension is really dated, but it has a lot of wires, brackets, and other junk I can use on my diesel bike project. I may hang on to the front suspension, wheels brakes, triple clamps and stearing head just in case.

Time to get back to work!

Curtis

[Stuart]

Hiya Curtis and welcome to the forum. Great workshop you have there and it looks like we have something in common, both being electrical techys. (That tube bender looks very much like a conduit bender I used to use when I had to form small metal pipes to protect cables - just scaled up a bit I guess.)

All the best with your project. I've heard that a few others will eventually use a Goldwing but I don't think any have come to through yet.

Regards
Stuart

[andrewaust]

G'day Curtis and welcome to the forum.


Looks like you have got one great workshop there! Looking forward to building a large one myself at the end of the year.

Hay! now ya talkin' "race cars" I was involved with speedway with both the bikes and cars some years ago. Funny how you get tinkering with different idea's.

Now I just like to chug around on the Enfield ...................



Cheers


Andrew

[balboa_71]

Curtis,
Welcome to the group. Missed your earlier posts, am trying to catch up ...

Cris

[Curtis in Texas]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.
I pop in here once a day to check and see if I missed anything.
Been playing with Bend Tech Pro Software to see if I can design a dual sport diesel bike that won't kill my back if I have to pick it up off the ground. (I have a tendency to push things to my limits until I fall down.) Trying to correct that character flaw as I get older.! I don't remeber get offs hurting that much when I was younger.

Well since Hayes isn't going to let us have our production Diesel KLRs any time soon. I decided to (ahem) get"more power" out of my gasser motor. So yesterdahy I sent the jug to Indiana to get it bored for one of their 685 piston kits.
Even broke out my Dremel to massage the head a little. (havn't done that in years) Sure wish Hayes would sell us the diesel engines in kit form for conversions. But, since they can't even keep up with the Military Contract I doubt they would be able to handle the conversion guys demand. Wouldn't that be sweet? An actual Diesel Motorcyle Enigine Conversion with tranny and everything????

Woops sorry for dreaming out loud there. I get carried away with my passions sometimes.

Wonder if I could water jacket a diesel single jug? That cooling fan looks goofy! I've done Honda gas powered 4 stroke single jugs before, but there were no radiators small enough to make it practical back then. HMMmmmmmmm!

Gotta go take some measurements.


Later Pardners!

Curtis

[balboa_71]

Curtis,
I'm guess your up'ing the jug size on a KLR? Just sold my KLR, it was too tall for me and I didn't want to tear into the engine for the doohicky thing, even though it looks like a simple change out. I broke my shoulder while parking my KLR last year when the kick stand sunk into the soft sod next to my house. It was over before I could do anything about it and it still hurts to think about hitting the ground.
Big singles are hard to get a lot of punch out of because they are so many things rolled up into one tight little package. Last engine I can remember that was easy to tune was the 500cc Rotax sold in MZ bikes back in the middle 90's. Water cooling makes it worst with weaker head gaskets. I will try and never get another water cooled bike, but like anything else, when a good deal comes along.... I seem to have better luck with aircooled bikes that sport good oil cooling engine designs (squirting oil to the underside of pistons is a plus) rather than water cooling and radiators.
One bike that comes to mind was my Suzuki 1400 Intruder, you could push it very hard and it never had a problem with summer heat. My KLR always ran hot and had half the radiator found on the first 600cc variations of this bike dating back to the mid 80's, go figure.
Good luck on doing a diesel conversion, if you can afford it, start with a midsized bike frame and buy you a Hatz 1B40 from Northern Tool (around $2,400 for the electric start version). Probably the finest diesel engine around unless you go with a small Kubota water cooled multi-cylinder engine. I think Kubota and Yanmar have 10hp aircooled singles, but they are around $1,200 more than the Hatz, and smaller in displacement....just a thought.

Cris

[Curtis in Texas]

Curtis,
I'm guess your up'ing the jug size on a KLR? Just sold my KLR, it was too tall for me and I didn't want to tear into the engine for the doohicky thing, even though it looks like a simple change out. I broke my shoulder while parking my KLR last year when the kick stand sunk into the soft sod next to my house. It was over before I could do anything about it and it still hurts to think about hitting the ground.
Big singles are hard to get a lot of punch out of because they are so many things rolled up into one tight little package. Last engine I can remember that was easy to tune was the 500cc Rotax sold in MZ bikes back in the middle 90's. Water cooling makes it worst with weaker head gaskets. I will try and never get another water cooled bike, but like anything else, when a good deal comes along.... I seem to have better luck with aircooled bikes that sport good oil cooling engine designs (squirting oil to the underside of pistons is a plus) rather than water cooling and radiators.
One bike that comes to mind was my Suzuki 1400 Intruder, you could push it very hard and it never had a problem with summer heat. My KLR always ran hot and had half the radiator found on the first 600cc variations of this bike dating back to the mid 80's, go figure.
Good luck on doing a diesel conversion, if you can afford it, start with a midsized bike frame and buy you a Hatz 1B40 from Northern Tool (around $2,400 for the electric start version). Probably the finest diesel engine around unless you go with a small Kubota water cooled multi-cylinder engine. I think Kubota and Yanmar have 10hp aircooled singles, but they are around $1,200 more than the Hatz, and smaller in displacement....just a thought.

Cris

Yep Chris. I'm punching it out to a better balanced 685 cc piston from Schnitz Racing in Indiana. They developed the kit for the KLR and Patman in Denton has done some testing for them.
I have never had my KLR get hot on me and I ride the snot out of it. One of the reasons I bought it was it was tall and water cooled. I'm 6'1", so I like a taller bike. Tired of riding mini bikes.
I had a 800 Intruder that I tricked out. I wish I'd never sold it. A co-worker came along and offered me more money for it than I thought it was worth.

I've got a couple of Isuzu Diesel engines I'm toying with in the shop. And may even find use a smaller 2 cyl one I have at my partners in Atlanta. It came out of a refrigeration unit and is capable of 3K rpm. I originally got it for my Motorhome generator. Once I converted the Motorhome to diesel I had to do something with the gas Onan generator.

The Kubota 3 cyl motors are really sweet for a road bike. Just pricey for an experiment.

My luck with water cooled bikes is just to opposite from yours.
I never could live with a 2 stroke air cooled motor. That's why I went to the KLR. We've evaluated the KLR bottom end to see if it would handle the diesel compression without pulling the studs out of the block. It's marginal. But, I still think if the diesel pulses could be controlled with an electonic injection system that somewhere there's a bike engine case could be made to work. Maybe not the KLR block, but something would. I run with some pretty sharp diesel engineers. Anythings possible.

We need to get together someday. Sounds like we've got a lot in common. I'd like to see your converted bike work. I've got several old bike frame up here to play with.

I'll shoot you a PM with my cell # in case you have some free time.

Curtis

[balboa_71]

Curtis,
Will like to hear how you make out on your KLR upgrade. Guess I kinda mis-stated about my KLR getting hot. It would get up to 60% of the gage and the fan never turned off when riding in town....that sort of bugged me cause the fan running can put a strain on the electrical system over time (depending on other factors as well). I felt the engine design was okay, but the chain driven counterbalancers could have been gear driven instead, just a matter of personal preference. I savvy the engineers trying to keep things compact, light weight and costs down (don't we all?). I'd have to say that the best big single I've owned was my '78 XT500 (bought well used and abused). True, it had a crappy (6 volt, I believe) electrical system, but a bullet proof engine. It was easy to kick start, and didn't vibrate much. Also had a '95 MuZ Skorpion (660cc Yamaha), but it didn't have the heart and soul of the 500. You can read about my thoughts here:

http://www.thumperpage.com/articles/mzreview.html

If you read all that I wrote, I'd like to add something to it all:
In retrospect, the MZ's with the Rotax were really neat bikes, air cooled fun to hop up, less expensive and they had a kick starter!!! The down side
was a 180 watt alternator, carb icing, and too many metal stampings, instead of cast and welded parts.

Back to the diesel thing and KLR's, I have yet to read that diesel KLR's are being produced.....there was a great deal of interest last year about it, but
I've yet to see a video of the real thing. As for retrofitting a stock KLR for diesel, I don't think it would be worth the effort, even if it were possible. Better to pay for gas at $.40 less a gallon, instead of the high dollar diesel fuel on top of the cost to change the engine over.

I think Americans are sold on donkey piss ethanol, we are brainwashed into thinking ethanol is good for the economy, environment, green house gassing, CO2 levels and maybe a cure for cancer. For me, it's
garbage and hurts anything automotive related.

Enough rambling!

Cris