As we move bravely forward into the era of alternative fuels, there are dangers that await. Picture yourself riding through a national park on your new diesel motorcycle and because you're very "green" in your thinking, you use biodiesel to power your bike. Since biodiesel is often made from discarded cooking oil, the aroma trail your bike leaves is slightly reminiscent of … [Read more...]
TDI Diesel mpg claims may be true
After questioning the 150mpg claims of the Thunder Star TDI sportbike the other day I did a little research on the subject. It seems the TDI technology is pretty popular in Europe and VW claims their 3 cylinder TDI diesel gets 90mpg, and that's in a car! The problem with TDI over here in the states is that the more highly refined low sulfur diesel fuel necessary for these … [Read more...]
150mpg motorcycle?
Just following up on yesterday's post about the Thunder Star because I was rereading that article in Sport Rider. They toss in one statistic that I find pretty amazing, almost to the point of unbelievable. The Thunder Star gets 150mpg! It's in the article and on the cover so it isn't a typo, of course they call it a V-twin on the cover, too, and it's a triple, so... I didn't … [Read more...]
Thunder Star 1200 Diesel by Star Twin
Stop the presses! er... stop the keyboards, I love this! Star Twin, a company over in Holland, has designed and built the Thunder Star 1200 TDI Sportbike. This is a 1200cc, three cylinder turbocharged direct injection diesel. They started with a 3 cylinder diesel engine from the VW Lupo, redesigned numerous parts using SolidWorks 3D computer modeling software, created patterns … [Read more...]
Most powerful diesel
I have to mention engines again since I saw this. This turbo diesel comes in multiple versions from 6 to 14 cylinders and is a bit larger than most. Bore 38 inches, stroke 98 inches, each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches. Each cylinder produces 7780 horsepower. The pictures are amazing, the photo on the right here shows a section of the crankshaft and that little green … [Read more...]
Motorcycle engines and car engines and airplane engines and …
I've always loved internal combustion engines, anything that powers and moves something else is fascinating. These days, electric motors are getting into the act but they don't hold the same appeal, at least not for me. I like cars, but there's often so much sheet metal and plastic covering up the engine we lose sight of the mechanical drive system and that's what is so cool … [Read more...]
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