The military just contracted for a diesel motorcycle. It gets 150 mpg!!! Carries enough deisel to go over 400 miles on a single tank. It is an enduro style bike. Top speed of arround 85mph. Also runs off of kerosene. Another company just this month released their prototype deisel sportsbike. The engine is based of the 3 cylinder deisel used in the VW Lupo in Europe. Then they turbo charged it! Bike does 170 mph! Another company build a diesel/electric hybrid sportsbike. This is arround a year old and i don't remember the specifics but it is cool as hell. Oh yeah, and the Y2K Jet Bike, that one Jay Leno rides, that was in that crappy motorcycle movie, it is run off of diesel. That bike has over 300 hp at the wheel and a top speed (projected) of 250 mph! Thought I bring up on some up and coming green technology. Don't forget now, you can make bio-diesel in your garage out of used frier oil for pennies a gallon. Damn, I hope to hell this technology actually makes it to the public.
Yeah, there are already a few commercial makers of bio-diesel. I think one plant is somewhere in Florida. I also have some friends who make their own bio-diesel and are starting a biodiesel co-op in the Sacramento area. Some of them also convert their cars to run directly on used fryer oil, so all they have to do is go up to any greasy restaurant, find their used oil collection container, and pump the stuff right into their fuel tank (through a filter of course). They keep a hand-cranked pump in their trunk for this purpose. It's free fuel! To make your diesel car run directly on restaurant fryer oil, you need to install a fuel heater to make the oil less viscous, and put in a small secondary tank and changeover valve so you can flush out the lines with regular diesel or biodiesel before shutting off the engine. Now I really like the idea of a diesel motorcycle. Since a motorcycle has a smaller fuel tank, shorter fuel lines, kick starter, simpler engine, etc., it would be much easier to run directly on fryer oil with minimal modification. Also, since they get awesome gas mileage, you wouldn't need much oil to go a long way. And even if you went through the trouble of making biodiesel in your garage, you'd only have to make small batches of the stuff to get lots of miles out of it. Anyone who's made biodiesel before knows it's a lot easier to make small batches! So the biodiesel motorcycle is really the way to go.
okay, is anyone else a little concerned about this? if the military is contracting out for alternative fuel-type transportation sources, isnt that another sign that peak oil is happening? ~ps, i love the idea of biodiesel. as soon as i have enough funds, i'm absolutely getting rid of my dino-car and getting something that'll run on biofuel
Actually, their recon motorcycles were their very last field vehicles that ran on gasoline. They contracted a diesel motorcycle for logistical reasons. The bike runs off the same fuel as their tanks and hummers. And the military uses petrolium diesel. I don't think they give a rats-ass about alternative fuels.
