i) Diesel ii) Having been put on sale purely as a front so that Batman could have them all for spare parts
there have been diesil bikes though.. the military like em because of the v high mpg (up to 200) but your average biker is more interested in high bhp/weigh than massive levels of torque. that and if you spill any when you are filling up...
Here's another. The Altius Scimitar. Basically a KLR650 with a diesel motor. That's not quite true. The military like them because they'll run on pretty much anything. Diesel, jet fuel, lighter fluid, vegetable oil etc and they don't have to transport petrol specifically to run their bikes. I however like them because of the torque and mpg. Imagine the range of a 200 mpg bike with a 45 litre tank.
Acerbis 45l tanks are very popular with the R80G/S crowd. I met a guy the other week with an SP2 R1200GS (wish I'd got a photo) carrying about 50l, over 1000km range but split into 4 different tanks spread over the bike. I've only got 23l on the XT which gives me just under 500km, it's generally OK but I find myself carrying jerry cans in more remote areas.
Aye, indeed. Now that diesel KLR, if they ever go into civilian production, they were anounced in India with a book price of something like £3K. If you can get the Acerbis tank, that's a case of riding it home and only having to fill up three times.
Acutally, thinking about it, it's loads less. That's 1000 km on the SP2 GS and 2000 miles on the diesel KLR. That's 3200 km.
I don't think I could even get on an R6 to be honest, back, wrists, joints etc. I get about 500km (300 miles) on the XT which is a long day because it doesn't go very fast and about 220 miles on the oilhead. Both are 23l tanks.
I met a couple of Brazillian lads back in Patagonia, one on a Fireblade, one on a CBR600RR. This was right in the middle of the petrol shortages and we were camped outside a petrol station for two nights waiting for the tanker to turn up. They were fishing water bottles out of bins to fill with fuel so they could make it to the next petrol station. How you can manage with a 100 mile range when it's sometimes 300 miles between fuel stations is a mystery to me but they were having a grand time.
to be fair it helps fuel consumption a lot if you dont cain it quite so much on my rgv i was lucky to get 70 miles but i was in my 20s... speed cameras were not common....
Jeez. I remember my C90 back in the year dot. It would only take 50p worth of fuel and would run all week on that I wish I'd had a sports bike when I was the right age. I'm certainly past it now, well maybe there's room for a 1200 Bandit in my life, or a 350 power valve as a project. I want to work on my off road skills though so I think the next purchase is likely to be a road legal four stroke enduro. Of course I need to find somewhere to live and get a job first. [eta] Also, I really like the looks of the new(ish) BMW K 1200/1300/1600 GT tourers. I'd have to trade in the oilhead for one though and what worries me is that my oilhead (2001 1100) is probably the most recent BMW in existance that can be home serviced and given the right care and attention, it'll probably do a million miles. I'm also very attached to it.
A slower, heavier, more expensive KLR650 is what the bike market is crying out for right now! I don't think many people are physically capable of riding more than about 400km in one stint so I'm not sure of the value of an ultra long range bike.
I have done between 860 - 900m in one sitting, in 14.5 hrs, well stopping to fill up every 100 miles or so.
I've done over 1000 miles in one day, in Europe, on motorways. The value of an ultra long range bike is in remote parts of the world where it's an ultra long way in between fuel stations. The main limiting factor in taking a bike to a remote part of the world is in how much fuel you can carry, with a 4x4 you can always sling a 40 gallon drum in the boot but this isn't possible on a bike. A 2000 mile range would take me places where fuel stations don't exist.
I've been going backwards and forwards over the Andes, the Atacama and the Altiplano. I'm often having to carry jerry cans in remote areas and I've also had to bang on doors begging petrol. A 1200GSA is well out of my price range, I'm making do on a 20 year old XT600.
