The diesel bike is on the road and working well.

The gearing is: Engine 36, Clutch 68, Gearbox 21, Rear wheel 34.

The bike can only achieve this level of high gearing due to the trials gear set up in the gearbox.

No more practical up gearing can be done.

The most economical speed is 57.6 mph at 2300rpm.= 136.38 mpg.

Fast motorway riding with camping gear at 3400rpm = 75.5 mpg.

August/20/10 - I have just got back from the bulldog bash where the bike got a lot of attention, I wish I had entered her in the custom show. The bike works well on motorway runs achieving top speed quickly enough, and returning 75.5mpg. She ran out of diesel shortly after leaving the motorway service's, at the time I remember seeing a Harley going in to gas up, and thinking very smugly to myself "I don't need any of that thanks, my bike does 136mpg". It wasn't until she started to run out of diesel that I remembered that she does 136mpg at 58mph and I had no idea what the mpg was at top whack. Well I paid for that lack of knowledge by chugging and kangarooing in the hard shoulder for the next 12 miles. What I was afraid of was dragging air into the fuel system, but I was amazed that it didn't happen. I am now wondering if the lifter pump is working and the fuel is reaching the injector pump by gravity. If this is the case then the bike can do away with the lifter pump all together.

June/20/10 - The bike has received a lot of interest at the Plymouth Mega-Ride charity run, seeing it perform well on the road and then finding out the economy and speed figures amazed other riders. The bike did suffer with a badly dragging Bob Newby clutch though. After the clutch reaching only 1000 miles it needs to be re built. So I have been busy buying up some clutch components of various makes, to build a clutch that will be well designed and operate flawlessly.  I have yet to work on the gearbox's temperamental gear change, but with the clutch dragging the way it did it was hardly surprising that it didn't operate properly.      The problem with the electrics is now sorted. The alternator stator was shorting out on the engine body, and the regulator / rectifier was dead.

June/7/10 - I have just got back from the British Diesel bike rally, where I had an excellent time. The bike worked well except for a flat battery, unfortunately there is no power from the two alternator leads. Thanks to Diesel Dave for his help in tracing the root problem. This is what happens when you presume things work but not check them. Oddly enough this did cross my mind before leaving for the rally, but the bike had done 500 miles previously with no problems. But I did occasionally leave it on the Opimate battery charger, so either the alternator has never charged up or a lead has broken etc.

The heavy camping gear really slowed down the bike, and she could only achieve 70mph when faced with a hill. I must say the weight of the kit and my 18 stone, combined with the camping table acting like a parachute would have been the equivalent to riding two up. If the bike is to go faster fully laden then it must be down geared as she didn't reach 3000 rpm in top gear. The bike does rev to 3600rpm, but I still have to see if she can achieve this in top gear without the camping gear.  I did gear the bike up to get the fuel curve (2300rpm @ 58mph) as close to top speed as I could, but doing this was detrimental to the power output with a heavy load. So I now have a decision to make, keep it as it is and eek every bit of economy out of an already very economic bike, or down gear and gain power at the top end which will make the bike more responsive, and be a bit safer.       

 The gear box is a temperamental cow, and will not go into gear at times, and it seems to have a mind of it's own. Third gear was always hard to get in and out of, and fourth gear is now being a pain to find, and then all is sweet as pie and working well until next time it has a hissy fit..... I am now thinking of ways to fit the five speed Enfield box.

May/24/10 - Ok, I couldn't stop playing around with the gearing as it was way under geared. I fitted a 34 tooth rear sprocket which geared up nicely, but still not enough (where will it end). So I decided that a 20 tooth gearbox sprocket should finish the project. While I was waiting for my 20 tooth gearbox sprocket to arrive through the post, I re fitted the 21 tooth just to satisfy my curiosity. At first I thought it was over geared much like I guessed it would be, but when I removed the silencer baffles, due to them rattling, the engine had a new lease of life. Pull away power was much better, just what it needed. The 21 tooth stays, in fact the rear sprocket could loose one tooth giving the bike an extra 5mph more at 3200rpm which would be 85mph.   The bike will do 80mph now, I just can't get the right angle on the throttle cable where it joins the engine. It's just too cluttered at the front of the engine, with no room to route a cable properly. In time I will build a linkage system and attach a cable to that. This will mean the throttle will open to the full, where I'm sure 90mph lives.

APRIL/3/10 - I have had the engine pulley modified, moving it closer in to the engine, and the clutch to match. I have done this so I can use any aftermarket Enfield clutch that may appear on the market and so I can get shot of the bloody awful Bob Newby clutch.  She now has a 19 tooth gearbox sprocket and still shoots up the hill and is still low geared but I'm not going to change it as I'm through pissing around with it. The back brake rod has been replaced with a cable which operates a hell of a lot better than the old rod.  The gear change linkage gave up the ghost, I got angry with it when it didn't change gear, and gave it a boot. It now has a very responsive hand gear leaver along side of the tank.  The indicators have been replaced with some alloy none rubber mounted jobs, as the last lot simply fell apart, what a waste of money.

NOVEMBER/1/09 - Gearbox sprocket changed for a 17 tooth and the bike pulls my porky self up a steep hill like a friggin train. It could easily go to an 18 tooth, and when it's run in I'm sure a 19 tooth will be just fine. Which is calculated to get the bike to 87mph, which is close enough to 90 to make me happy. One thing, the back break has to be operated via a cable due to the way that the plunger suspension works. If you use a rod like I have and  you hit a bump in the road the break jams on. Not nice.

OCTOBER/14/09 - There will always be adjustments to be made and of course things that we forget to do, like swap the 21 tooth gearbox sprocket for the 17 tooth. Amended: I realize now that  the bike was way under geared, but I thought it was over geared as I was trying to pull away in second or third gear. The left foot linkage was ok, but the gear box didn't like it!

OCTOBER/12/09 - A slight hiccup with the injector pump fittings but now sorted, the engine is now running well and I am happy. The bike is running and finished.

OCTOBER/4/09 - Well it's done all but a bit of tweaking, the injector pumps working and the bike's waiting for the battery to charge again for the final time, yes it's on the road tomorrow.

SEPTEMBER/25/09 - I've been trying to kick the engine in to life but no joy, it seems to have a blocked injector pump so I've used injector cleaner on it. It seems to have worked  for the right cylinder, but the left seems to be a bit stubborn so it's getting a week long soak in the stuff. I wanted to get the engine running days ago but I got stuck with fabricating unavailable plunger parts, case of deja vu there I think. The exhaust pipes and the stubby silencers are now on and looking smart. When I finish piggin around with the plungers it should be on the road, if the injector pump kicks fully in to life that is.

SEPTEMBER/10/09 - The drive chain was a bit too close to the frame for comfort. Changing the  rear sprocket from 42 to 38 tooth did cure the problem, only changing the home made plunger suspension tops for the proper 1940's kit has brought the problem back. So I have cut two inches off the top of the main springs, and the rebound springs have been raised by a 1/2 inch. This will lower the bike at the rear, I don't suppose it will be by 2 1/2 inch cos things never seem work out that way, but enough for the chain to  miss the frame. This will also give a softer ride which is good, as some Ariel owners say the plunger suspension is not up to much and may as well be a hard tail. Amended: Not so, the plunger suspension works really well, except for pot holes that is.  

AUGUST/26/09 - The bike is almost finished, the fan guard is on and looking ok, I just need to make some exhaust down pipes, and make a primary cover / guard. I have decided to run it with the Bob Newby clutch for now and replace it at a later date. There are a few other things that I have gone back to, I'm changing the home made rear suspension parts as I have found some much better parts on eBay. The Indicators are coming loose due to the cheap rubber mountings and I'll need to arse around with them to get them right. 

JULY/18/09 - Bearing carrier now has a protective steel cover either side, and fitted over the main shaft. I decided to totally strip the Bob Newby clutch today,  I was shocked to see rusty plates, and the bearings were loose not a sealed bearing race. In fact a very similar design to the old Enfield clutch.  I'm now looking for a replacement.  

JUNE/21/09 - Forward Foot rests and levers now on, but still need hooking up. Bearing carrier now modified, has a metric bearing in it, and now in place over the gearbox main shaft. The bearing carrier still needs to be allowed to slide along the primary plate, this just means making four small curved slots in the 6mm primary plate and bolt it all up. Then clutch and belt permanently on.

JUNE/3/09 - The forward foot rests, break pedal and gear lever are now going on. I just have to hook them up with the rods and leavers. I still haven't done the bearing carrier but as soon as I do the clutch and primary will go on, and then I'll have to make some covers for them. Exhausts bought and paid for, just waiting for them to turn up. One thing that I just can't get over is how light this bike is, this should be good for fuel economy. I can't wait to get her on the road and find out. 

APRIL/9/09 - Started fabricating the primary plate for the gearbox main shaft bearing carrier. This will stop the shaft flexing.

1/FEB/09 - I have just bought wide ratio gear set from Hitchcock's, this will overdrive 4th gear to get a reasonable top speed. Bob Newby is helping me work out the bikes ratios and supplying a clutch kit and making a bespoke 36 tooth engine pulley, and 30mm wide belt. 

4/Dec/08 - Having dozens of clutches and gearboxes and other bike parts, and hoping to codge them together and make them work was really naive,  very time consuming and extremely expensive. I am now selling everything that I am not using and only buying parts that I know will work and that I really need. I'm buying a Bob Newby belt clutch ( £485) as the six or more clutches that I've been playing around with (£150 - £200 each) just aint going to do the job. The same with various makes and models of gearboxes. Time to get the bike on the road.    

10/JUNE/08 - I now have a 5 speed Greeves gearbox, and it took a year and a half to find it. I was hoping to fit the Diesel Enfield (Taurus) longer main shaft but the whole box is way too small. A miniature of the standard Enfield box but 5 speed.   Well gutted!!

3/JUNE/08 - I went to the uk diesel bike rally this year (what very nice people they all are) and I'm glad I did, as I have come away with plenty of information. The trip was done on my petrol bike, at a cost of £50+ for petrol. One of the things I found out was 150mpg is not impossible for a twin cylinder generator engine.

21/APRIL/08 - As usual things have been slow lately. Several gear boxes that I have bought have been cluttering up the place and tying up cash, so I've been busy rebuilding them to sell on. The plaster board ceiling fell down in the garage, looks like it's been snowing all over my bikes, so I'm replacing the plaster with wood panels. 

19/NOV/07 - I have swapped the bars over as the riding position was all wrong, this is the problem with using a small frame, so it now has a stonking pair of after market fatboy bars.

10/NOV/07 - I've started the wiring. The fuse box has gone as it was too big, instead I'm using Harley trips tie wrapped to the frame under the tank.

23/OCT/07 - Engine now in, rubber mounts gone, but rust that has appeared on the subframe that I put together. This was another mistake, don't use cheep paint, so it now has a coat of Hammerite. I have not used the expanding bolts to hold the subframe in place, so I have welded three nuts together and welded them in the tubes. More money wasted, but a better job.

10/OCT/07 -  I had a rethink, the engine / frame is too low, nowhere for the exhaust or the side stand. And I have been thinking on what Sam Brumby said about rubber mounting, not good when the gearbox is rigid, as the primary will take a hammering. So I have decided to get rid of the rubber mounts and raise the engine by 3+ inches, just about 1 inch lower than the standard frame height.   So a few mistakes there ie: time and money wasted.

SEPT/07 - Yea I know, the project has stalled for a while. I have removed the asbestos roof from my garage and replaced it with box contour steel sheet. Now the garage is dry, drying out anyway. The damp air was rusting just about everything in there so it had to be done.

 January 2004 I saw a concrete mixer in a ditch and thought of the diesel bike idea. August 2004 I saw a diesel bike and found out that I wasn't the only person that had this idea (great minds think alike), and the end of 2004 I started buying parts for my project.