remember reading about this in the march issue of overdrive so googled it and giving the first link:

EVA Track T-800CDI diesel motorcycle launched, equipped with fortwo engine from smart

Another interesting link that turned up in my search:

DieselBike.net - 5nd British Diesel Motorcycle Rally.

I don't think Enfield made those Diesel Bullets. If I remember correctly, they were called "SooraJ" made by a 3rd party using the Bullet Cycle parts and Greaves Diesel engines.

I have a Diesel bull for this very reason. The torque produced by 5 hp machine is more amazing than the power 16Nm @ 1800. Many times i just slip to top gear and leave it in idle. The bike pulls cleanly in idle. I do have many plans to swap the engine with a much better options for touring purpose. Imagine triple digits of touring all day long and average of more than 50 kmpl that too diesel advantage. Currently the market is limited to 3600rpm for High speed diesels. Only force mini four super has an engine capable of hitting 4300 revs which is pretty close to bullet engine speed so i dont need to alter the gear box. But the con is its a single with 14 hp and 28 Nm engine. Ace HT is a twin perhaps the only twin in the market but the engine is slightly bulky and the revs limit to 3200 revs.

dear bro at shubhanker,
sorry would put it in the poll soon . just missed it

ma friend prajwal!
great job regarding the link u have provided by you. i appreciate ur intrest

dear coplay,
if u good give its specs i'll be very much happier

dear joel,
that some good technical thinking, i was rather thinking of 300cc 15-30 hp coupled with a turbo

dear sarvajit,
sorry bro will add it in . missed it in a confusion

dear gasolinejunkie,
seems ur unaware of current market trends. r&d are developing at a thunderous rate in our country . diesel engines rules indian markets, hope u r not aware of that too.anything is possible with dedicated r&d .just check the link

main_en

also check this data

main_en

bajaj, tvs or yamaha are not people who started to sell bikes just from few months back , they r in this field for more than few decades. thay have a strong r&d team and they have the potent to do so . thier potent is totally destroyed only by the conventional customers who dont want any new technology or still not yet came out of an pre-independence era

thanks,
madengine

Converting old army bullets to run on diesel was a common mod till the late 90s. Even RE had a diesel model called the Taurus, with a factory fitted Greaves diesel engine. It made about 6.5 bhp, was a devil to kick start and wasn't quick or fast. It was reviewed by Dilip Bam on Auto India mag. As I recall, the vibrations were so bad that the tail lamp unit fell off after a certain time.

There was also at least one other manufacturer of Diesel bikes. The bike was called Sooraj. It was similar to the bullet in build, but had a square headlamp, and slightly different fuel tank and covers and stuff. It too used a similar pumpset engine. It was a composite of various old school Indian bikes, mainly the Rajdoot and the Bullet.

Maybe someone should introduce a common-rail single cylinder diesel bike. The bullets are heavily priced as it is, but a CRDI cruiser sounds intriguing lol. Of all the indian bike manufacturers, I think that Bajaj is most likely to introduce something like that now. Especially since they have experience with small capacity diesel engines and mating them to two-wheeler gearboxes - The RE diesel autorick.

Maybe a two-stroke diesel would be a good idea.

you know what i was thinking the same and was about to post, just saw your post

The riders of diesel bullets also proned to some heart problems used in the long course of time due to crazy vibrations..

Are you serious???

i have been hearing rumours from a long time of kidney problems but not heart related problems...

modern diesel engine on a bike would love to see that thing run..

i guess its right

'kin hell I would rather have expensive fuel and low mileage and not compromise on me heart or me kidneys. And i thought riding my electra was difficult in the city. pffff

A morder engine with a PD injection or a computer controlled injectors will surely make a hell of a diesel. But looking at the prices for our petrol bikes a diesel bike will be far costlier for the same performance.

There are two options in making a diesel bike
- a high performance sport bike
- a high mileage bike

Hi performance bike, I dont think any of our current makers have proper expertise to make a high performance bike like we are talking about. At the best they could plonk in a custom developed 400cc single(may be a twin since Bosch is going to make a CRDI unit for NANO) with short stroke to rev till about 5kRPM. This would give you crazy mileage.

If they want to make a mean high mileage bike some one could plonk in a 200-250cc mordern single diesel with square stroke setup. This could give our old Splendour a good competition but should be costing atleast twice.

Chance of making though is real zero, for example none of our makers have shown any interest in making or displaying any diesel bike in the past. Enfield themselves stopped the production of their diesel, though theoretically it should have been a super hit.

Even the educated people in India are not ready to put a few more thousands for a FI, despite clear signs that FI is smoother, better in gear accelerations, gives you more kilometers per can of petrol, hassle free starts, no chance of your mechanic screwing up your air-fuel mixture, lower carbonation and what nots. I wonder who would pay for a mordern diesel engine on a bike. It will be too complicated and roadside mechanics are certainly out of option. At the best this bike could be targetted at Farmers but will they buy this instead of their good old splendour especially since they can save many thousands.

I think a hybrid bike is a better bet for long distance travellers but then who wants a hybrid. I would rather drive that old 200cc carbed bike for which our manufacturers charge like crazy because reboring costs like 10k bucks around or my old 150cc sport bike which looks like a replica of that 1000cc one.

i would love to see gas turbine engines on bikes !! like tha MMT Y2k turbine...

Yes man its true due to lots of vibrations (if only used for long course of time)

it would be hero and RE

saw a news on ndtv profit today 9 pm show (Profit at night) today. 05JAN2011

Hero is planning 400 cc diesel bike after HONDA divorce , most probably they will launch it in Q4 2012 .

they told a lot of details i could not remember all, deal to be signed with some Chennai firm for engine supply they also told the engine is under ARAI certification.
They also mentioned that Royal Enfield also planning the same.

We are really obsessed with mileage