Marines Get Diesel Kawasakis

[miniace]

Hayes Diversified Technologies, a military contractor in Hesperia, Calif., that has built specially adapted motorcycles for the Marines and the Army Special Forces for more than two decades introduced a Diesel powred Kawasaki KLR650 for the Marines.

This Diesel monstor uses M103M1 chassis, a few engine components and all the internal transmission parts of the KLR650.The difference was apparent the instant I thumbed the starter button.In contrast to a gasoline engine, which responds instantly to the throttle, a blip of the twist grip resulted in — well, not much. It takes a good three seconds for anything significant to happen

the counterbalancer that controls vibration in the stock KLR has been omitted to save weight and reduce complexity. Shifting through the five-speed gearbox gets the M103M1 past 90 miles an hour.

One of the great advantages of the M103M1’s diesel engine is its efficiency. At a steady 55 m.p.h. it gets 96 miles a gallon, according to Hayes, about twice the mileage of the Petrol engine.- Sourced.

MINIACE

[Ripper]

wow...nice ride.... but it "looks" heavy though...

the KLR's have always been very good dual sport bikes... judging by the final drive sprocket i'm sure this baby can climb a few trees if need be

the magic button or the electric leg shouldn't be an issue for a marine IMHO... and the bad thing about not having a kicker is that when your battery decides to quit on you it'll be only jump start... and jump starting a diesel motor in boggy terrain is not exactly a great idea...

And aren't petrol engines much quieter unless they have modified the exhaust also to be more stealthier

Wonder why they dint have a go at the might XR's They have been winning the Baja1000 constantly and are supposed to be very well built...

and yes i am a bit biased since i own one

thanks mini for sharing

[miniace]

Hayes has also recently established 8 World (FIM) and 3 American Motorcycle Association (AMA) records at Henry Ford’s racecourse at Bonneville Speedway with their diesel motorcycle.

All records are “unofficial” until the AMA and FIM have certified them. HDTUSA owner and rider Fred Hayes currently holds the two AMA diesel records for the M-D 650 and M-DB 650 classes. The “unofficial” FIM speeds were:

Diesel Motorcycle World Speed Records

Division A, Type III, Class 1, Kilometer, 154.392 km/h, mile, 95.875 mph

Division A, Type IV, Class 1, Kilometer, 167.893 km/h, mile, 104.512 mph

Division B, Type III, Class 1, Kilometer, 163.709 km/h, mile, 101.618 mph

Division B, Type IV, Class 1, Kilometer, 169.261 km/h, mile, 104.997 mph

Three new changes included a center-mounted radiator, new—smaller fuel tanks and lowered suspension. Full fairings were utilized for two of the classes. Pre-Bonneville tests showed that engine power increased 8 to 10 percent for both the normally aspirated engine and the turbo-charged engine.

MINIACE

[Ripper]

well seems like these fellas are more concerned about straight line speed and mileage in that regard

A 650cc or similar bikes are great for straight line speeds and are mostly used for relatively open terrain riding... They are a bitch to control if you encounter tight trails that demands more technical riding imho...

Probably these bikes were designed at those sorta riding requirements... open terrain fast riding with a load..

personally...my favorite class would be the 400cc limit where you have enough power to risk serious skeletal injury and good grunt to get out of a boggy situ a 250cc or so will fail at delivering...

nevertheless the 250cc's are good fun play bikes

I see locally our military have seems to have gone away from those Yammy DT125cc and 185cc 2 strokes into much nicer yammy 4 strokes...

Once had a friendly race with a fella on my XR250 but the guy never had a chance mine is geared for street riding mostly when i'm not taking it out for trips and the more free flowing disc type exhaust also is a big improvement over the stock unit

I have reached 156kmh on mine but now i'm thinking the digi speedo was f'd up or summin