California Autos Examiner

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Diesel Motorcycles? 611cc and 100+ MPG?




California based Hayes Diversified Technologies has, in cooperation with a number of partners, developed a 611cc Kawasaki KLR based bike that makes 30hp and 33lb/ft of torque while using either aviation kerosene (JP8) or diesel. That bike, developed for the Marines, gets 96mpg @ 55mph and has a range of around 400 miles with its 4.2 gallon tank.

How about for civilians? HDT is gearing up the D650A1 Bulldog that is setup just slightly different from the Marines' version and gets 102mpg @ 55mph. With a 6.1 gallon tank, you've got a bladder busting 600 mile range.

Now these bikes aren't crotch rockets, taking around 10 seconds to get to 60mph, but for riding offroad that kind of range would simply rock!

Due to increased production requirements for their military motorcycles, HDTUSA has had to delay production of their commercial models. You can still sign up for their newsletter on their website and checkout all of their models by visiting here.

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