I Found A Dirt-Cheap Turbodiesel Motorcycle For Sale In America, But There’s A Hilarious Catch

I’ve been obsessed with diesel-powered motorcycles lately, leading to me spending more time on Facebook Marketplace than I’m willing to admit. Sadly, my searches for an affordable motorcycle with a diesel engine have left me empty-handed, until now. For the delightful price of just $2,000, you can buy a motorcycle powered by a turbocharged diesel engine. It sounds perfect, except for one sort of hilarious caveat.

I’ve happily embraced my position as the Autopian‘s diesel chick. So long as the diesel has not been tuned to pollute, I will probably like it. Sadly, the words “diesel” and “motorcycle” don’t tend to mesh together that well. The handful of times diesel bikes were put into production they were largely done either for fuel economy or to streamline the military. Most people ride motorcycles for the thrill, and diesel engines aren’t exactly going to rev up the hearts of the typical enthusiast.

Sadly, diesel fans don’t have a ton of choice. I’ve written about a number of different diesel bikes, but the two most prominent ones are the HDT M1030M1 combat bike and the Royal Enfield Diesel. The multi-fuel M1030M1 was used by the Marines and has ended up in civilian hands through auctions. They’re still relatively easy to find in America, but the secret is out about them and their sellers want $15,000 or so for them.

The Royal Enfield Diesel was sold in high numbers, but those remain stuck in India. That leaves me desperately searching Facebook and Craigslist in America for a custom build. I can’t afford an HDT, but maybe I can get some shed build.

That’s what you’re looking at here with this custom Suzuki.

Perhaps the wildest thing about this Suzuki is that it’s one of countless custom builds out there. Builders all over the world have seen the prospect of putting a shaky, possibly underpowered diesel engine into a motorcycle as something to look forward to. There’s even a whole website dedicated to documenting as many diesel motorcycles as it can.

People aren’t just working with industrial engines like you see on this Suzuki, either. Check out this BMW airhead that’s been converted to diesel. Yes, it’s still a boxer, too!

Dieselbike.net documents a long list of ambitious projects from all over the world from builders of all experience levels. People are converting everything from Coleman minibikes to Harley-Davidsons. One guy took his old Harley Softail, put a 950cc Briggs & Stratton diesel engine in it, and then painted it in John Deere colors.

The projects are far and wide from Ural sidecars to bikes you’ve never even heard of and perhaps even more impressive are the engines. A number of Ford, Volkswagen, and Smart car diesel engine conversions make appearances on the page.

Though, perhaps the most surprising thing to me is that there are enough people converting motorcycles to diesel power that there are rallies for them. The Internationales Dieselmotorradtreffen, or the German International Diesel Motorcycle Rally, has been a thing every year for at least the past two decades. There’s one going on right now!

That’s just Germany! There are also diesel motorcycle rallies in the United Kingdom and France and those have been going on for at least two decades as well.

We don’t have anything on that scale here in America, but that doesn’t stop people from crafting their own diesel bikes. This Suzuki is just one of two custom diesel bikes I know of for sale in America. The other one is a Yamaha Roadstar for $8,000 that’s not even close to being road-ready:

Check out that Winsun 912cc diesel V-twin!

Why are people doing this? Dieselbike.net suggests that most of these builders are looking to get the best possible fuel economy and maybe an initial kick of torque, but it also realizes that diesels are a dying breed:

Governments maybe set on taxing us from the road but nobody can deny the history of the diesel motorcycle movement, what it did in forwarding car engine design and the spirit of those that made it what it is.

Riding an #Alternative motorcycle, whether it be with a diesel or, as legislators now want, an electric motor, is something we are here to encourage. To the average motorcyclist, both are presently seen as the antithesis to popular and petrol powered motorbikes and until that changes, we support both technologies.

The only problem that gives us is to figure where it all goes next!

That brings us back to the little Suzuki I started this post about.

It’s unclear what this motorcycle started life as, but it’s old enough that it’s equipped with drum brakes in both the front and the rear. The frame and wheels lead me to believe this Suzuki was once an enduro, which should be a pretty nice platform for a diesel conversion.

Power for this conversion comes from a Yanmar clone engine and it’s said to make all of 10 HP. That puts it on the level of a Yanmar L100 engine, which is good for the same power. These engines were made to be used in equipment like lawnmowers and generators, not motorcycles. This engine has an extra twist in the form of the cutest turbocharger you’ve ever seen.

Power goes through a CVT and reaches the rear wheel through a chain. So, this has the same “twist and go” functionality of a scooter, only you have a thumping single-cylinder diesel under your saddle.

The motorcycle is also mostly complete. The left lever pulls the left drum brake while a foot pedal actuates the rear. The seller tells me that it does run and ride. But, the motorcycle has gone perhaps all of 10 miles since the engine was brought online. Sadly, this poor bike is in a sort of purgatory because the seller never finished it. The buyer will need to give that front wheel a fender, power those lights, and do other miscellaneous tasks. But at least the hardest part is done.

The seller doesn’t have exact power numbers, but he does know the top speed, and here’s where things get funny. In theory, 10 HP should be enough for a top speed of around 55 mph. A Honda Grom will go that fast with just over 9 ponies in the stable. This? The seller tells me it’ll go maybe 35 mph or somewhere around that. I love the thought of someone going through all this work just to reach a top speed beaten by just about any 80cc scooter.

You might be asking what’s up with that top speed and there are a couple of explanations here. These engines are designed to run at 3,600 RPM, so they rev way lower than any purpose-built motorcycle engine or even a scooter engine. Builders of custom diesel bikes often experiment with different gearing setups to play with acceleration and top speed. This bike’s gearing has been fiddled with, but you’ll need to do some more experimentation if you don’t want to be beaten by the neighbor’s kid on their Huffy.

I was briefly excited about the prospect of buying this dirt-cheap $2,000 ride, but that leisurely top speed means I can’t even hit the speed limit of the roads outside of my apartment complex. With that said, if you’re looking for a weird motorcycle with the top speed of a 50cc scooter and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, this bike is still for sale in Ishpeming, Michigan after over a year on the marketplace.

If you do buy it, you’ll join the ranks of people who think diesel power is the right fit for a motorcycle. Sadly, that person isn’t going to be me, so my search for an affordable and practical diesel motorcycle continues.