When i worked on a farm in Pembrokeshire we had a Polaris which was a Derv quad.
It was great fun to drive with loads of grunt but luckily not much top speed as a quads steering is best described as vague at the best of times.
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see www.f2motorcycles.ltd.uk/usedbikes.html diesel engined royal enfield , built and suplied by a british company,
also see realclassic.co.uk/diesel05112800.html for full discription and roadtest
ps , i own one
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Well - Yes my car is a diesel (albeit a very smooth one !) my bike (A BMW1200 boxer twin), has very diesel like properties - a torque curve to die for and diesel like grunt in both senses of the word. It is really the best of both worlds, at its hypothetical cruising speed of over a 100 mph it is genuinely as smooth as any Japanese 4 I've ridden. At slow speeds it delightful little tugs of torque from the twin cylinders and shaft delight and entice you into doing things on a big bike that you shouldn't dare - hell you can steer this thing on the throttle, blip the throttle at the lights and the torque effect of the shaft ( though much ironed out Dr. Beemer) still reminds you that this a beast caged for the time being. I love it, I love it....This is a true engineered whole, everything designed for the experience of being alive (apart from stupid indicator switches). BMW did diesels in the war.
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Le Mans having been won by a diesel car last year might open the minds of more performance enthusiasts to diesels. I don't know much about motorbikes but I would have thought that diesels might have a place among mid-range bikes where even greater economy might be a plus point. And let's face it, even a slow-revving, vibrating diesel bike is likely to be quieter and smoother sounding then your average customised Harley! LOL
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>>My Kawasaki ZRX 1100 revs to about 10500, high by car standards though not by Yamaha R6 standards
My Yamaha R6 touches the redline at 15,500 rpm and the rev counter dial goes all the way to 18,500 rpm. I have touched the redline a few times but I certainly try not to take it past 15,500 rpm. It screams like a banshee at that point as it is.
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Lets spread this a bit, there are three types of engines diesels, small (Under three litres) capacity overstressed hysterical overs petrol engines and BIG lazy petrol engines.
All are vastly different in feel and character.
A small hysterical high reving engine suits a motorcycle perfectly. The power delivery is more linear than the others, its quick to respond to throttle up or down (and complete throttle shut off) and hence easy for the human ear and hand to balance the delivery of the power to the road.
In a car this hysterical nature is not required, and not relaxed at all. Small, mutlivalved, high reving hysterical petrol engines are like two year old toddler temper tantrums, you want to get out and hit them, and tell them to shut up. You constantly have to scold them, thrash them, changing gear all the time - Nasty -
BIG petrol engines (4 litres, 6 cyliders or more) are gorgeous. Fat lazy great things, relaxed bundles of torque to shoot you to the stars without much effort, flexible, tractible, controlable. Lovely
A diesel engine fits nicely between your hysterical petrol jobbie and your loveable big gaz guzzler, sharing a great deal of its characteristics, but without its prodigeous thirst.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I disagree a little bit. The Ford Puma 1.7 is a gem. It is like a motorbike engine beautifully free revving - it suits that car to a tee. You can have a load of front wheel drive fun in it. I actually feel that, dunamically, it is better than any Focus I've driven, far more alive. The BMW 1200 is the complete opposite to your theory, by comparison to four cylinder engines it is a big lazy lump - but it never ever fails to delight. Horses for courses I feel !
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Another great example is the mk1 Peugeot 106 1.3 Rallye. No torque to speak of, idles like a bag of spanners, doesn't even wake up until 5,000 RPM and then charges round to 8000 RPM, 5th gear sees over 4000 RPM at 70 mph, and it has virtually no soundproofing.
If you had to drive it any distance every day you'd probably shoot it, but for a blast around the lanes, I still rate this as one of the most enjoyable cars I've ever driven. It begs to be thrashed to within an inch of its life, and when you do, it is not only astonishingly quick point to point, but both chassis and engine reward being taken by the scruff of the neck and given a caning. Keep it on the boil and the throttle response is just a delight, which is a good thing because it can be a lively little so-and-so in the handling department. Part of the satisfaction of driving it is that you have to work at it, but it rewards by the bucketload.
If it had the 110 bhp 1.6 HDi under the bonnet, it would be just as quick, if not quicker, and vastly more economical, but that's not the point in a car like this. You wouldn't get the induction roar, the bark from the exhaust, the throttle response or the reward for driving it hard.
I also completely agree with Pugugly on the Puma - a blinding car.
Surely, the best type of engine depends on any combination of the car, the mood, the road and the preference of the driver. I think there's a place for both torquey and revvy engines, as well as petrol and diesel, but they are so different in character and strengths/weaknesses that saying one is better than the other.
I love revvy, screaming bike engines, but I know other bikers that hate them. Variety is the spice of life.
Cheers
DP
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Lets spread this a bit, there are three types of engines diesels, small (Under three litres) capacity overstressed hysterical overs petrol engines and BIG lazy petrol engines. All are vastly different in feel and character.
Take the point, though for bikes where you say (under three litres) read under 600cc. I.e. as i said before a large bike engine, say an 1100cc four cyl is to a bike what a 5.5 ltr superchaged V8 is to a car.
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