US Diesel Bike Endeavor

[pietenpol2002]

Very interesting! And with the hope that they're ultimately successful.

http://www.motorearth.com/index.html

[coachgeo]

Well interestingly this might be more than just a website of a dreamer. The FAQ states "...We currently have over 120 bikes in possession ..." So apparently some money has been laid on the table.

They are also looking for some investment funds https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/diesel-motorcycles

[henneberg]

It looks quite the way Henry Price is doing diesel conversions, at least in terms of the frame modification and the exhaust pipe.

[coachgeo]

They have agreed to put both dieselbike.net and this site on their links page

Hope yall hit up their indiegogo with a buck or two to help this diesel bike biz have a better chance of surviving!! Think Im going to go for a T-shirt

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/diesel-motorcycles

[coachgeo]

What do ya'll think the funky thing they've put outside of the secondary clutch on the TAG model is? A clutch lock so you can push start? I've been batting around in my head to get around this issue of no push start option on my bike.

[coloradobiodiesel]

Greetings fellow bikers.

Tom Judd here, the other half of MotorEarth. That was Aaron's import co, but we've worked together on biodiesel projects for years, did the engineering on the conversion in India many years ago and even wrote a book about it (Misadventures in India - Amazon/Kindle).

Fast forward to last year. I was in Sri Lanka when the floods (epic level, Noah's relatives building boats kind of thing) hit Boulder. The house where I had my things stored was safe from floods, but not from ground water (hydraulic pressure under the slab), so the sump pump was running non-stop for weeks. After Sri Lanka, I was to be a cinematographer/assist. director on a feature film in south India, first halfway decent paying project for me in a long time - had spent a while in Cairo for the Morsi overthrow and that fizzled financially - at least I didn't get ventilated). I was in south India when the woman renting the house called me on skype to inform me that the sump pump finally failed and the basement had officially flooded. Seriously flooded. With all my gear in the basement and now mold and such issues, I had to leave India and fly home to deal with the mess. Had many bottles of Bordeaux's and ports that were destroyed (labels ruined, but wine still good..., gee..., now I'll just have to drink it all...), sporting gear, tons of my engineering books from years past, all ruined. And..., no work here, other than helping a friend with his construction co now and then, doing construction, form-setting, etc., but not enough to pay bills.

Aaron was in a similar place, just struggling along, had 12 modified chassis for diesels, but no money for the engines, conversion parts, etc.

Over tea one afternoon (we're both partial to really good black teas, both having spent much time in India where there are excellent -and really crappy- teas), we made a pact that we'd use what credit we had left on our cards until they were maxed-out, to buy the parts and finish these bikes. Do or die kind of decision. I would wake up, roll out of bed, hop in the biodiesel MB I pretty much built from parts (4-spd conversion from auto, built 300D turbo, changed diff gearing, new interior -from a brilliant junkyard car-, mods to about every system you could imagine), start work at 0900, finish at 2300 or so (after many teas and a lunch break), head home, turn around the next day and do the same. For many months. Some days I'd do the machining on various parts before heading to Denver where the shop is (the machine shop, mill/lathe, is in a garage in Boulder).

So..., here we are, I have almost $20k in credit card debt now, Aaron is about $40+K in the hole on this. We're at a point we're just hoping we can pay the minimums to keep from defaulting. Thing is, we know someone will want a bike. They're the standard Enfield thing, but many mods to mitigate for the crap parts (transmission mods, electrical, etc.), the frames we have modified in India before shipping them over.

Ideally, we want to build a new design, ground-up, using a v-twin, turbo, CVT and an optional heated WVO/SVO tank. The only place we can afford to do that is in India. At least to really get it done and not just dream about it. Another that I want to design is a high-rpm, 2 or 4 cylinder turbo diesel the size of the single cylinder we use now, unit construction, or small scooter-type CVT. Lighter, much higher HP output, in an enduro frame. Light, go anywhere, run on about any fuel (diesel-based), haul gear, efficient, clean-burn. I could talk about that forever, but when I can live in India for next to nothing and do the CAD/engineering work at the factory we use in Delhi, it becomes much more of a reality.

Aaron and I have been through it on this project. I almost died from contaminated water (swimming the Ganges near Rishikesh), on a break from working in Delhi doing the initial engineering on these, came back and spent months on death's door (what I had was an 80%+ fatality rate), Aaron came back the next trip to India with typhoid and CDC had him quarantined for weeks. We've both had the emotional shyst, hard relationships we left behind (or left us behind), had to stop for a week on this a few months ago when my father finally joined his ancestors, Aaron lost the big shop and we ended up in his garage where he lives, all in all though, we kept the joy for riding and bikes. We couldn't just let these go to waste, having come this far.



This project has been totally self-funded to this point (why it was stop, start for years). Now we need help. Serious help. We'd love to have someone with funding capabilities join us, or even take the whole thing over, as long as we can still be involved and oversee the mfg/engineering on the new ideas.

Anyway, check out the video on the Indiegogo campaign for details about the bike. Since the vid was tailored to the general public, we didn't put a lot of technical stuff into it, but feel free to comment and ask whatever, I'll try to answer and post pics now and then when I get on here.

Keep the faith everyone, glad to find this site, cheers, Tom

[coachgeo]

Congrads are your two's getting this far past your ups and downs. Been there bent that. Going into a year and a half of no longer being homeless myself so I got a tiny inkling of how your struggles felt.

well it must have been an intereting debate between you two. Go with the indiegogo or just put the bikes you got together up on Ebay and craigslist. IMHO your prices are fair. Wonder if putting some up on ebay as a promotion for the Indiegogo fundraising might be a good idea to do as well. Bill them as Vintage ultra MPG bikes for city dwellers or back road adventurist? (cant be much else at 45mph-ish)

[coachgeo]

They have agreed to put both dieselbike.net and this site on their links page

Hope yall hit up their indiegogo with a buck or two to help this diesel bike biz have a better chance of surviving!! Think Im going to go for a T-shirt

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/diesel-motorcycles

Went for the Kickstand plate instead. My budget neccitates practical purposes. Gotta wear work shirts pretty much every day of the week so stand plate it is lol. You guys pop to Indiegogo too. We need to keep the Diesel Bike biz's out there alive!!! We lost Track .... in part to high price product..... these are more than reasonable so lets give-em a chance to make it thru the start up finacial lows, and to support their; throw it all to the wind Hail Mary attitude when the times got tuff.

[coloradobiodiesel]

Coachgeo,

Thanks SO much for the support. Been a long road and it seems we're past time to do these. People were much more interested years ago when we debuted the first prototype at a sustainable living fair in northern Colorado, but we were just getting started, then had lots of "life" get in the way of the important stuff like bikes...

So..., we're looking at selling the modded chassis with trans as kits. Offer tech support, etc., but basically pass the bikes onto people who want to do the finish work themselves, saving the cost of having us do it. Got any thoughts on this?

Tom
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dies ... /x/8320836

[coachgeo]

Coachgeo,

Thanks SO much for the support. Been a long road and it seems we're past time to do these. People were much more interested years ago when we debuted the first prototype at a sustainable living fair in northern Colorado, but we were just getting started, then had lots of "life" get in the way of the important stuff like bikes...

So..., we're looking at selling the modded chassis with trans as kits. Offer tech support, etc., but basically pass the bikes onto people who want to do the finish work themselves, saving the cost of having us do it. Got any thoughts on this?

Tom
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dies ... /x/8320836

Kits also put you in a legal advantage because it reduces your liability. Lawyers.... and insurance companies are like family...... can't live with them.. Can't live with out them. Kits though should lower your liability insurance cost.

IMHO your best market is not here in US but UK side of the pond. Others will chime in.

[coachgeo]

Just thought of another market to shoot for. College kids and just out of college kids.

[coloradobiodiesel]

Well, our indiegogo campaign officially ended. We didn't make our goal, so we've decided to sell off the modified chassis we have (eleven of them) along with the conversion parts as kind of a kit bike for people to do their own thing. They'll have to buy an engine and a few other off the shelf parts, but it will be a perfect winter project. I'll post more info on this when we've hammered out the details.

Also, a long-time friend from the Mercedes diesel days will be helping us build him a turbo twin, probably with a comet instead of the 4-speed. We'll post up pics of progress on that, but it will go pretty quick since I want to head overseas before snow flies here.

Wait..., snow just flew here in Colorado..., DAMMIT JIM!!!

[coachgeo]

Well..... maybe hang on somehow. Look at this. RE coming to America

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-1 ... field.html