Hello from Nova Scotia

[sbes]

Hi, I ridden bikes for over 35 years and still looking for the perfect bike.
I have had diesel VWs and trucks, and work as a machinist (not presently) and millwright.
My current bikes are KTM 125 and 300 2 strokes, a KZ1000 and XS1100 touring bikes.
I converted a E350 van to fulltime 4wd and currently have a KTM250 powered Yamaha Blaster, no fear of swaps and mods.
Working on a Mustang SVO and Thunderbird SuperCoupe, I am familiar with turbos and superchargers to a degree.

I have always had singles and twins, Honda Dream 150, DT200, CB360, XL250 and 500, XT600, Nighthawk 450, Ascot 500, etc.
I like these big touring bikes for lack of vibration and high top speed, but 35mpg really sucks.
Terrible when a Toyota Corolla is cheaper to run than your bike!

What would be the perfect street touring bike for a 50 year old guy who like to explore?
2 up, with windscreen and saddle bags for traveling, that is about 500lbs of passengers and cargo.
Capable of at least 70mph (110kph) at least in bare single up form, and 55mph all day heavily loaded.
I like gears better than CVT, but it has to shift well, be truly drivable.
Did I mention I like dirt roads and occasional off-road? Yup, the KZ1000 goes there too.
Quiet and no vibration would be nice, but I realize am talking diesel. Minimizing these would be important.

So, where do I start?
I live in Canada, we have the 10 HP 418cc Horizontal Diesel Engine with Electric Start, $899, Princess Auto.
Would this be enough engine? or could it be with propane injection or supercharging?
What other engine options in Canada?

What about gearboxes?

Looking forward to reading and learning.

Steve Best

[Stuart]

Welcome to the forum Steve Finding the right engine is something which exercises us constantly. The Chinese V twins are favoured by many but if you could get an original Yanmar then that would be more reliable. There are a few different versions out there,old & newer (quieter). Judging by what you say I think you'd need more power than a single could give you.

[coachgeo]

Sorta agree....
. Best bet is 3cyl Lombardini, kohler, Diahatsu/Briggs-n-Stratten or Kubota etc.
. then Yanmar 2cyl air or water cooled, even a Kubota water cooled .......
. followed by china twin/Yanmar clone (Yanclone)

[Stuart]

I've tried a little off roading with a triple & believe me, they are too heavy. That's why I suggested the twin

[coachgeo]

I've tried a little off roading with a triple & believe me, they are too heavy. That's why I suggested the twin

Good point...... sorta. "offroading is different to different people. for example to me...... when it comes to Jeeping like offroading (to me) its... defined as.. "you might damage your vehicle and even your skull so HAVE A ROLL CAGE and winch" rockcrawling kind of stuff. While to others it is follow a well defined forrest service road and needing 4wheel drive is sorta of a joke of a neccessity. Have not defined it "offroading" on a bike yet but I expect it will be the second because of the size of the bulky Tiger. Granted Im hoping to build a modestly light Tiger and know I'll have to work out more than I do now before I start exploring offroad.

So which "offroading" did you find difficult on the triple Stuart?

[Stuart]

Getting from the gate at the rally site to my tent. All of about 100 yards I reckon. It's enough to come to grips with a heavy bike let along one that's tallish & on an undetermined ground. The slightest turn too sharp & would feel as if you we're gonna loose the front. They are a big bike anyway, the Tiger, so am passing on that advice.
It's a whole new ball game off roading a big diesel triple coach

[Rhynri]

Growing up on miles of gravel with the FJ1200 I know exactly what you mean. Curiously enough, I found the solution to instability was often to speed up a bit: the same patch of gravel/mixed terrain that felt shakey at one speed often felt fine at another.

[Stuart]

Maybe if I had some stiffer springs up front? Even messing about with front brake on & spinning the rear wheel is dangerous. All that weight wants to go down real quick lol. I've not dropped her yet & don't aim to going against my own judgement. If others wanna push it, well, it could be costly in more ways than one.

[Rhynri]

I've seen a lot of experienced riders who have trouble with the mixed surfaces. One thing I commonly see is a death grip on the handle bars, trying to force the front wheel to straight instead of letting it meander a bit. Our bikes want to stay up, it's rider input that brings them down more often than not (youtube and it's thousands of fail videos involving riderless mounts that do just fine after dumping the guy at the controls bear me out on this). As far as stiffer springs what you probably really want is more preload so you have less sag. Check and ensure you are at no more than 20-25% of your full (as in unloaded) excursion on the shock when at rest, sitting on the bike with average load. I tend not to use the fronts on uncertain surfaces, and if you are unavoidably spinning the rear tire you may want to look some refinement with the throttle response if your rig is tunable. It's a very mixed bag.

[sbes]

All good advise guys, thanks!
I have been keeping my eyes open, looking for an engine. Not many choices here, when a 10hp Yanmar clone popped up. I know I want to do this so I pulled the trigger and bought it. Nearly new, I am very impressed how well it starts in cold weather. I realize this is a bit underpowered for 70mph and a 600 lbs bike, but it was there and I want to do this. Get me up to 55mph and I'll figure out how to increase the power later. Readng the turbo efforts of Banzaibob, this may be harder to do than I expect.

I haven't picked up a bike frame yet. Looking at something with a fairing and panniers for touring, am I going too heavy? I like the thought of a large 750-1000cc bike frame for frame strength if I have to cut it, and room the fit the diesel and gearbox. Planning on using a DT200 2stroke engine as my 6 speed gearbox and clutch. I will replace the crank with an input shaft and put a cover over the basegasket surface. I will have to sprocket it up faster about 2:1 from the diesel. Designed for 30hp I know it will hold up if I can fit it in the space available.

The main purpose of this bike is going to be long distance touring, but with enough ground clearance and tires to deal with gravel roads and a wee bit of exploring. I already manage that with my KZ1000, and I realize it will never match my KTMs.

So. I have my engine, an idea on a gearbox, now just looking for donor frames...

Steve

[coachgeo]

All good advise guys, thanks!
I have been keeping my eyes open, looking for an engine. Not many choices here, when a 10hp Yanmar clone popped up. I know I want to do this so I pulled the trigger and bought it. Nearly new, I am very impressed how well it starts in cold weather. I realize this is a bit underpowered for 70mph and a 600 lbs bike,....

Bit underpowered??? IMHO your ridiculously underpowered. You need minimum twin cylinder; better 3cyl diesel for that size bike even before trying to up the output with turbo etc. Hope someone with more knowledge than I speaks up and says Im full of it and should not be bursting your bubble. Have been wrong more often than not.