Diesel Powered Bobber Chopper
March 20th, 2006 by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider"
Well that didn’t take long. Right on the heels of the Audi diesel winning Sebring, Bruce wrote in with a few details of his homemade diesel powered bobber chopper.
The build started when his son began a science project on renewable fuels. When they got caught up in the idea of making their own fuel the next logical step was building a bike to try it out.
They started with a Honda CJ360 frame. Next up was a 9hp Yanmar diesel along with a tank and seat, all found on ebay. They added a Comet torque-a-verter, the choice of mini chopper builders everywhere, plus assorted pieces from other suppliers. As Bruce tells it:
The rigid frame was fab’d out of 1020 mild steel tubing, 1 1/2″ for main down tubes and 1″ for all other tubes. All welds were mig done by an experienced welder. The frame was molded with NAPA ultralight filler and painted dark grey using a textured paint called Hammerite. All electrics are hidden in a metal flower-pot under the seat (to keep with the bio-friendly theme). To complete the bio theme, we airbrushed the tank and fender using gold base coat, leafs were done in black using freehand stencils, then it was covered by 7-8 coats of green apple candy (all Createx AutoAir). Cleared using Napa rattle can. It gives a nice color shift effect that doesn’t show up in the photos.
Bruce says it pulls like a train right up to 70mph, smokes, shakes and smells like french fries. It also gets over 100mpg on homemade biodiesel. It has that old school bobber look, pretty cool.
The Yanmar diesels seem to be one of the primary engine choices among diesel bike builders since it’s easy to fab up a drivetrain. When you start with something a lot higher tech, like the VW 3 cylinder TDI diesel in the Thunder Star, fabrication gets a bit complicated but there’s no reason some of the larger motorcycle companies can’t do this. We’ll be looking a little closer at more of the recent diesel bike projects around and if you have one or know of one, be sure to let us know.
Posted in Diesel Engines, Diesel Motorcycle, Engines, Workshop & Tools
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6 Responses to “Diesel Powered Bobber Chopper”
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March 20th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Its funny; the very same environazis that promote this sort of engineering are the ones that will turn you in for a smoking vehicle. My friend’s old “french fry” mercedes gets reported for excess smoke at least once a month. Little do they know he’s saving the planet….
-todd
March 21st, 2006 at 5:19 pm
Wow. I really hope that kid got an A on his science project, even if his dad did give him a little help.
March 23rd, 2006 at 2:37 am
Hello my name is Chris Sanchez, President of Cartel Customs, Dallas TX & we recently (November) completed a custom chopper built for Earth Bio Fuels company. The bike is on tour at various conventions & was presented to Willie Nelson who sits on the BOD of EBF. Please forward me an address (email) of the editor & I will forward you photos of the completed motorcycle. I promise you this one will raise the bar in custom Biodiesel bikes.
Our next project is building a bike to run on E85 fuels. I can be reached for comment at chris@cartelcustoms.com
March 24th, 2006 at 3:17 am
That’s a really cool project. I’d like to see more pictures of it, (and of Chris Sanchez’s bio-custom as well.)
The next step in tire melting torque should be one of the 750cc V-twin Yanmar industrial engines (I don’t know if you get them in the US, but we see them a lot over here in Japan.) I think it’s time for me to do some tinkering….
April 15th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
The Yanmar 2V750? It’s used in tractors QUITE often…
May 14th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Yo, my name is Ronnie and I’m starting a shop in Olympia Washington. I’m into new stuff for bikes and I would love to now if there are any Diesel motors for Bikes? This is cool but I want to know if there are any bigger engines for real bikes? If someone knows of anything, please write me back. By the way, look for Phat Ass Choppers by the end of the year!