One of the rarest types of motorcycles of all is the diesel motorcycle. Only a few diesel motorcycle designs were ever put into mass production, while most of the others were relegated to odd boutique motorcycles, one-offs, or vaporware. The most successful diesel motorcycle ever built was the Royal Enfield Diesel, a bike that was advertised as getting an incredible 200 mpg. And now you have the opportunity to own one for the tantalizingly low price of $6,507.
The Royal Enfield Diesel is a product of another era. This bike wasn’t meant to be fun to ride. In fact, its top speed is less than that of a Japanese kei truck. Instead, the Royal Enfield oil-burning machine is all about saving the rider tons of money. It was never sold in America and the vast majority of examples that still exist are still in India. Even diesel conversions of Royal Enfields are very rare to see on this side of the world, let alone factory-built examples. It’s been over a year since I last saw one without having to translate an Indian site first.
Unfortunately, this bike is not for sale here in America. However, it is just a hop, skip and a jump across the pond in the Netherlands. It’s also a 90’s model, so it’s just a call to an importer and a boat ride away from being in your hands. One of you should buy this little thing before I start calling importers.
Okay, I know you’re probably still puzzling over the diesel thing. History is full of diesel motorcycles that were designed for specific tasks.
The most famous example of diesel power on two wheels is the Hayes Diversified Technologies M1030M1 combat motorcycle. This bike, which I’ve written about before, was designed to fulfill the military’s mission of streamlining the refueling process. The military saw a problem in having to carry different fuels for its many vehicles. The more vehicles that could run on the same fuel, the easier the logistics became for managing fuel purchases and fuel allocation. The fuel of choice was JP-8 because the planes already ran on it. Thus, the M1030M1 is essentially a Kawasaki KLR650 that can run on JP-8, diesel, or almost any other fuel. As a bonus, the bikes also achieved 100 mpg in service, which is great!
I say the M1030M1 is currently the most famous example because it seems like every motorcycle YouTuber has been playing with one of these for the past few months. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t seen a FortNine video on the M1030M1 yet. The M1030M1 is arguably the only other mass-produced diesel motorcycle, and it’s believed that only around 440 were built, so we’re not talking about a huge number.
There are many more diesel motorcycles, including the Star Twin Thunder Star 1200 TDI sports bike, which uses a VW diesel engine, or the EVA Track T-800CDI adventure bike, which uses a diesel engine from a Smart Fortwo. Then there is the Boccardo Aero 97, a commuter motorcycle based on the same idea as the Royal Enfield Diesel, but far less successful. Also shamelessly unknown is the Sommer Diesel 462, a German diesel motorcycle. It even brewed a few diesel muscle cruisers like the Axiom and the Neander.
Most diesel motorcycles aren’t built for fun, but to save the rider tons of money. Diesel engines are already efficient, but some manufacturers have found that diesel engines have absurdly high fuel consumption when hooked up to a pair of wheels. Well, that’s true for most of the bikes above at least. Some of them are just plain weird, like the Thunder Star and the muscle bikes that were built to prove that diesel motorcycles can be just as good or better than gas motorcycles.
Unfortunately, most of these bikes are so unknown because they never sold in any significant numbers, if they ever went into production at all. You’re more likely to be struck by lightning than find a single Track T-800 for sale. This brings us back to the HDT M1030M1 and the Royal Enfield Diesel as the only diesel bikes you’re likely to find without trying too hard.
Unfortunately, the secret surrounding the M1030M1 is out and most examples I find for sale are around $15,000, which is crazy considering they have sold for a third of that at government auctions. But if you know where to look, the Royal Enfield Diesel is still affordable!
Why Royal Enfield switched to diesel
The history of the Royal Enfield Diesel, also called Taurus, is somewhat shrouded in mystery.
Royal Enfield itself says production began in 1993. However, there is a strange twist in that local news sites like DriveSpark says that Royal Enfield even started building diesel engines as early as the late 1980s. It’s also easy to find late 1980s Royal Enfield diesel engines on the Indian equivalent of Craigslist. We’re not sure which is closer to the truth, but the year difference isn’t big enough to matter.
I wrote about the diesel last year and this part will be relevant:
When the Taurus was introduced, a Bullet 350 produced about 18 bhp from its 346cc four-stroke single-cylinder. That was enough for a top speed of nearly 70 mph, depending on conditions. Royal Enfield’s history page doesn’t say why the diesel was put into production, but DriveSpark reports that it had something to do with fuel prices at the time. Diesel was reportedly about half the price of petrol at the time, which made a diesel-powered motorcycle attractive, even if the bike was initially more expensive.
There’s something different inside the familiar Bullet frame. The Taurus trades in spark ignition for a 325cc diesel engine from Greaves Lombardini of Italy. This industrial, air-cooled engine makes 6.5 hp and 10.7 lb-ft of torque. As you can imagine, these are slow, and top speed is around 49 mph, putting performance about on par with a 110cc gas motorcycle. According to an owner’s manual I found, this engine also tips the scales at a whopping 370 pounds.
These engines peak at 3,950 rpm and I need to know how much they vibrate at that speed. If you were willing to endure the torture of driving a wobbly single cylinder that won’t go faster than 49 miles per hour, Financial Express drives says you’ll be rewarded with a whopping fuel economy of 190 to 211 mpg.
To put that in perspective, Honda says a Grom should get about 166 mpg. Of course, the actual figures for both bikes will be very different, and the Grom is known to get closer to 100 mpg in practice. But there’s no doubt that the Taurus is economical. Being economical is the Royal Enfield Diesel’s whole mission. A Honda Grom does wheelies, reaches 55 mph, and is a real blast. The rider of an Enfield Diesel doesn’t have as much fun. At least the Royal Enfield Diesel has a nice 3.4-gallon fuel tank.
This Royal Enfield Taurus
If you hit the magic 200 mpg, you’ll get a whopping 600 miles between fuel stops. Don’t expect to get there quickly, though. Even a more realistic 150 mpg is still 500 miles of range! Combine that with the supposedly low diesel price range at the time, and the Royal Enfield diesel makes perfect sense. If you didn’t care about the fun, you saved a ton of money.
Unfortunately, the diesel experiment was not to last that long. Royal Enfield never released sales figures, but the diesel/Taurus is said to have sold well. What was their undoing were stricter emissions regulations and the last diesels rolled off the production line sometime around the year 2000.
I’ve been browsing the OLX marketplace in India for longer than I care to admit, but I’ve noticed that while diesel vehicles from the late 1990s are worth a lot more than the older ones, they’re all still dirt cheap to Americans.
This bike is currently in the Netherlands at Dutch Lion Motorbikes for the low price of €5,850. There is no description other than the fact that it has low mileage and a Dutch registration. I can tell you it will be weird to ride. These bikes are known for their hilariously bad brakes and a reverse gearshift where the first gear is up and the remaining four gears are down.
Unfortunately, at the current exchange rate, that’s just shy of $6,507. At least the dealer says he can arrange worldwide shipping, which is good. All in all, I bet you’ll come in well under the $12,500 an Enfield Diesel sold for on eBay last year.
If you buy this bike, you’ll have a turnkey diesel motorcycle that, while it won’t be the most thrilling ride of your life, should be easy on your wallet. And even though Royal Enfield doesn’t make the bikes anymore, the company still prides itself on having made the most mass-produced diesel motorcycle in history, which is still pretty insane. Just give it plenty of time to get anywhere.
(Images: Dutch Lion Motorbikes, unless otherwise stated.)
