Old Commercial Diesel Motorcycle Conversions
The BOCCARDO Diesel Motorcycle
Facts concerning the Boccardo Diesel Motorcycle
|
|
The Diesel Boccardo owned by Yves Claquin.
And here is the motorcycle complete with sidecar.
(If anyone associated with BFG project, including Louis Boccardo, would like to contact me please do. Louis, if you read this why not come to the next Diesel bike rally? If I spot anyone wearing a turned up collar and dark sunglasses I'll assume it's you ;-) Anyway, I'm sure you would find many like minded people there and it would be good to see you.
Engmann M.Z. Diesel Motorcycles
Engmann seem to have produced and offered several Diesel Motorcycles down the years, the MZ framed bike being the most prominant. Click here and here to see different pages of a magazine advert (german text) offering both Ruggerini 850cc and Robin 412cc bikes. Notice that Engmann has tilted the Robin engine in an effort to reduce vibrations. Niether of these machines are still being made, Engmann having died some time ago. The D3 means the bike requires 3 litres of Diesel to travel 100 km.
An MZ fitted with Fuji Robin engine. D2 means the bike requires 3 litres of Diesel per 100km.
An MZ ETZ301 fitted with 850cc Ruggerini MD 191 engine and Variomatic Drive. Right side bike may not have Variomatic.
MZ Robin 412cc with Variomatic Primary Drive.
The MZ Robin DR400s 412cc single cylinder diesel with variomatic transmission is owned by William Hogervorst.With an engine producing 9.5 BHP Max speed is 55Mph. Only ten were ever converted by Robin and beyond that I know very little except that Robin also fitted thier engine into the Royal Enfield. I'm told some people do not like the Variomatic asspect of the machine, it being sometimes troublesome.
MZ & Sidecar
This interesting machine appears, at first sight to be some kind of one off. Further investigation uncovers that it was produced by one Mr Fritzsche from Zwickau, Eastern Germany. He has a small motorbike shop and also tried to produce a series of Diesel-MZ-conversion, but hasn't found an investor yet. Another sad story of someone with foresight but no backers. Again, it's an MZ, this time with a side car attached, but I'm not totally sure as to the engine. I am told Mr Fritzsche still builds customized Diesel MZs.Way to go.
MZ Diesel with Sidecar. Low orders mean this bike never got off the ground.
Reinhards 850cc Ruggerini twin
Reinhard tells me he first experienced this engine on a Variomatic bike and from then on decided to fit it to an MZ frame. He was not taken with the Variomatic part though and did not incorporate this. This bike is currently undergoing some repairs after an oil pipe fractured causing a piston seizure. Reinhard originally meant to make a small series of these bikes to sell. It is in this section because he is currently hard at work on a smaller machine which uses mainly belts instead of chains.
Robin Enfield 412cc Diesel Motorcycle
Paul Holdsworth's ambition was to produce 200 of these machines a year but it is doubtful this target was ever met. However, about 100 bikes were produced and sold at the rather expensive price back then of £4500, the engine costing £1500 of that. Production started after the legendary diesel enthusiast Ernie Dorsett approached the company after first producing 5 G3 Diesel Matchless machines. Problems procuring the Matchless frames led all concerned to turn instead to the Royal Enfield. (Notice the error on the title photograph)Bikes began to roll off the production line in 1992.
The D R stands for Dorsett Robin
ROKON
Ever heard of the Rokon? Apparently they're quite big Stateside. Reading through their page I find that some were made with diesel engines at one time. Check out their homepage for more info http://www.geocities.com/rokonworld/
A big thanks to Dave who sends me this picture of a genuine Diesel Rokon. He tells me these machines are used by a certain mining company in Mexico. Bob from Rokon World tells me only about 20 of these machines were ever made. I've put it in this section because it was actually converted from the petrol, all be it by Rokon themselves. They (perhaps mistakenly) used the Hatz 1B20 engine and understandably were not overly impressed by its power output. Other's have used the 1B30 & 40 engines.
An American made Diesel Rokon motorcycle.
Note: With the military so interested in Diesel powered bikes and given that the American and British Armies have used Rokon machines at various times one can only speculate as to why they never ended up owning any Diesel versions of the bike. I suspect the Rokons overall design meant it was never really suitable for the kind of things the army use bikes for, namely dispatch, and convoy work.
This link is a bit hit and miss (and no mention of the Diesel that I could see) but some of the site appears to be working. Check it out here.
