How was your Diesel Motorcycle weekend?

Post by **Stuart** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:00 pm

I've seen threads titled like this on other forums so thought I'd create one here for everyone to post things that sometimes don't warrant a thread of there own. I'll start the ball rolling...

Great to hook up with Mike Dixon on Facebook this weekend, a guy who attended the first Big Knock rally with Ernie Dorsett. Had a 20 minute chat over the phone about our bikes & related topics.
He still rides his diesel Matchless & will be over from Ireland touring the UK soon. He's on the lookout for a bigger bike if you know of one?

Forgot to mention I made the acquaintance of Paul Hamlin who approached me regarding the bike at Dorking Carboot sale. Said he knew a guy near Coolham war memorial who had an Enfield & was keen to convert it. Paul has also written a book on Coolham Airfield.

Sunday I took the Ruggerfield out to a few of my favourite haunts but it was freezing with snow in the air.

old clunker · Post by **old clunker** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:03 am

Bloomin' cold! At least 'Clunkie' started first time in the cold, on the electric start. Roll on the warmer weather, or even Spring? eventually......

Post by **alexanderfoti** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:04 am

Mine was in bits in the garden!

Slowly getting there!

Post by **Stuart** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:02 am

This Easter Friday my two diesel bikes will have to make way for the one petrol when I take part in the towns annual Italian day. Absolutely tons of Ferrari & Ducati in Horsham on this day.

zarquon · Post by **zarquon** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:16 pm

Good to hear Mike is still out there and dieselbiking!

Post by **Stuart** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 6:13 pm

Took delivery of the first of a few old magazines bought from eBay which contain Diesel motorcycle articles from the past. You never know, there might be something new in there

I attended the Horsham Italian show on the diesel Tiger after the Ducati decided to spring a leak from its oil cooler. I fitted a screw into the stone chip hole but it must have been hit by a huge rock as it was leaking all over.
Anyway, that aside, I met up with fellow diesel biker Len Hodder at the show & we spent an hour or so looking over all the bikes. Also met a mate who knew Paul Hamlin from my first post in this thread - small world! It was a freezing cold day though! Brrrrr...

Post by **Stuart** » Sun May 05, 2013 5:20 pm

Was out putting some fliers about & generally talking to people regarding the rally.

XLerate · Post by **XLerate** » Sun May 05, 2013 11:41 pm

My day was absolutely dreamy! Unfortunately it wasn't anything more than that, as usual.

All I have right now is the dream, the project bike ['96 KZ1000P-15 Police bike] most of the stuff needed to build a sidecar rig and a plan that includes diesel. I may have located an engine out of a freezer unit if I can cough up some coin and can also afford long distance $hipping of at least 1,000 miles, Texas to California.

Just found someone local who may want to purchase several vintage bikes and parts I have stashed, so there is a vague possibility it might all come together. As usual, I'll just pray a lot and hope for the best... That's always worked before

coachgeo · Post by **coachgeo** » Mon May 06, 2013 1:48 am

XLerate wrote:........ if I can cough up some coin and can also afford long distance $hipping of at least 1,000 miles, Texas to California...

Uship works great and can be far less way to ship....... but........ try first:

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/haulquery.pl

register, place an add. I bet you'll get some responses from folk trying to save (or make) a buck by sharing cost with others who are shipping from a place to another.. Cost me 100 bucks to ship my engine from OH to TX. The shipper that contacted me haules Travel trailers from Indiana to Texas monthly....... he makes a tiny amount on the side hauling a few extra things on trips like my engine.

That said though........ these "carrier" D722 and it's smaller 2cyl brother engines pop up in most every state monthly. Bide your time and you'll find one closer than TX. The 2cyl version is also used in Road Crew night lights too I think. In fact with CA regulation changes (emissions) I bet these refer/light engines are getting swapped out often to pass the emission rules so they are bound to show up on Craigslist in CA. If I recall right there was a thread in here on that topic.

Post by **Stuart** » Mon May 06, 2013 10:34 am

Bought some Dayglo sign paper & busy knocking up some direction signs. More fliers out & thanks to someone who has built Diesel motorcycles, Paul Senior, for helping get the word out about the rally..
"Paul Teutul Sr (@paulteutulsr) retweeted one of your Tweets!"

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: ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367836429.550117.jpg (18.92 KiB) Viewed 45935 times

XLerate · Post by **XLerate** » Mon May 06, 2013 2:02 pm

Thanks for the info, Coach!

Yeah these Kubota's are becoming available in Cali thanks to a crackdown on pollution regs. This one's a 4 cylinder, I think about 2.3 L, so it would build a good cruiser bike with maybe a Harley 5 spd? Borderline too big, but with a hack the weight and balance etc. is all different, lots more leeway and room to fudge. If I can get it for a good enough price then I could maybe afford the shipping, hoping for the best. Main event here is to get busy and sell off a pretty big pile of vintage bikes and parts, get a chunk of change together and be ready to buy an engine when I find a good unit at the right price.

Post by **Stuart** » Mon May 06, 2013 5:16 pm

More fliers out & a quick stop off at our old rally venue to add a re-direct flyer there too.

Post by **Diesel Dave** » Tue May 07, 2013 7:25 am

Went to Hastings with about 1,000,000 other bikes, ate chips on the beach, took the coast road home.

A tad over 200 miles on old Sluggy.

rednorfolk · Post by **rednorfolk** » Tue May 07, 2013 9:26 pm

ride out to ipswich on sunday.camped over at a pub.UXB bike show next day .ride back.all went well.200 miles.at 45/50 mph.loved it.

Post by **Stuart** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:24 pm

I went in search of the Diesel KLR at the UK's War & Peace Revival Show but just missed it. But I did see Angelous who I last saw in Hamm and we rode out on his bikes. He rode his Enfield & I his Lombardini.
He is aiming to take this bike to the America's so look out for blog posts sometime in the future!

Post by **Stuart** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:32 am

A closer shot of the engine & gearbox..

Post by **Stuart** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:10 am

I've been seeing just how hard it is to find a Daihatsu 3 cylinder engine by visiting breakers yards & phoning around to breakers specifically located near to the Daihatsu dealerships. Absolutely no luck, so even the slightest hope I may have had that this engine could form the basis for a kit is fading fast. Wouldn't it be nice is I could get a container full shipped in from the Far East or something? Lol.

sbrumby · Post by **sbrumby** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 8:20 am

Bank holiday monday was a nice day, so i thought i would have a ride out, all over north wales and turned into a 240mile ride. At one point had fish & chips in Barmouth. Plenty of bikes there, two guys came to chat that had seen my bike when we did the uttoxeter show. They asked me about mpg, and then pointed to a guy on his latest ducati, he had driven 70 miles to get to Barmouth and used £17 of petrol, and needed to fill with another £17 worth to get back home.

Post by **Stuart** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 12:27 pm

I'm just back from touring the West Country on the Tiger where I've been looking into the history of our early diesel bikes. I burned out my brake pads on the Cornish & Devon hills!
I've concentrated more on Gordon's bike and must say it's been good fun & I've met some great people. I'm still following up leads & still hoping for some more enquiries 'to bear fruit'.
Lots of Gordon's old friends are connected with the vintage vehicle & steam traction side of things which us interesting in itself.
I've found out his bike was stolen, dismantled but recovered. Someone is still taxing or SORNing it (statutory off road notification).
Hope to get a write up posted in time.

Post by **Stuart** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:40 pm

Just heard back from the U.K. Patents office regarding Gordon's bike. Appears there is no patent (as mentioned in article) so assumption is that as he got no backers there was no money to complete the application. Either that or it didn't qualify.

I'm currently trying to contact the current owner of the bike.

coachgeo · Post by **coachgeo** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 2:29 pm

Stuart wrote:... I've found out his bike was stolen, dismantled but recovered. Someone is still taxing or SORNing it (statutory off road notification).
Hope to get a write up posted in time.

Stuart wrote:...I'm currently trying to contact the current owner of the bike.

Judging by your last to threads........... you actually found out who is SORNing the bike!!! NICEEEEEEEEEE detective work. Hope to hear of its where about's soon

Post by **Stuart** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 3:31 pm

It down to old fashion letter writing now. I've still got to get confirmation.

No reply on this yet BTW. Fingers crossed though.

Post by **Stuart** » Mon Dec 02, 2013 10:46 pm

Had a cold ride out Sunday on the Tiger. I took part in a local Toy Run for the second year running. Did it last year on the Ruggerfield but better attended this year.
We collected lots of cuddly toys

old clunker · Post by **old clunker** » Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:13 am

Last weekend was changing the rear wheel bearings on old 'Clunkie', due to a wobbly back end, starting to be noticeable at certain speeds. Found a good on-line bearing factors that supplied good quality replacement bearings at a very competitive price. Fitted a better spec. equivalent metal shielded bearings, instead of the original open ones.
Also used the access opportunity with the wheel out, to make a fully enclosed chain cover, like on a Honda CG125. Look forward to much longer long chain life and low chain maintenance now, especially in winter.

Yesterday morning took 'Clunkie' for an MOT, got through no problem and the rear wheel bearings are also now ok!
So that's been my recent diesel motorcycle weekends,

Post by **Stuart** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 10:43 am

I've been hard at work trying to make the garage/workshop a bit warmer for the winter Daihatsu project. Got my hands on some freebee tiles & have been cutting them in cold. Hard work without a guillotine!
Then I insulated to doors some more with top & bottom strips making the damn thing like an airlock. Also put foil on the garage door with evostick - messy!
I've also been up to Essex way to collect another Charade engine, primarily for spares, and getting that thing into & out of a carboot/trunk took some doing

mark_in_manchester · Post by **mark_in_manchester** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 2:40 pm

Blimey Stuart - you've done well to find another! Unless you know it's knackered, it would be a shame to break it - they're thin on the ground now. Do let me know if you need anything before you mess with it - I have a lot of stuff, though no bottom ends since someone nicked my spare one...

Well done on heating / insulation front too. I have resorted to bungeeing a hot water bottle to my belly, and while sitting down or at the bench, pointing a 400W element in a parabolic reflector at my head from 18 inches...

Post by **Stuart** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 4:22 pm

The spare engine hss 42k miles on it & turns over by hand ok. It has a starter an original manifold so I had to grab it. V good price too

mark_in_manchester · Post by **mark_in_manchester** » Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:30 am

where did you find it? I've kept half an eye on ebay for a long time, but not noticed anything for some time.

Post by **Stuart** » Mon Dec 30, 2013 9:38 am

A friend on the Ducati forum put me onto it on ebay. It was in Essex. It had been kept back for a boat project (because of its low mileage) but proved too heavy in the end. Pretty much the same scenario for my 1st engine. I put the starting bid in & forgot about it & then won it at that price!
I had a few sets of wheels collected from boot sales so made a little trolley for it

Post by **Stuart** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:49 pm

Out in search of flood water this weekend on the Tiger. Fun along the way too

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