Quote:
Originally Posted by Grant-53
The Hayes Diesel was advertised once at $19-20k; compare to the gas version. I did price a 900cc 3 cyl. Kubota diesel and the dealer quoted $1800.
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There is no close comparison here comparing the cost of a limited production, single-purposed, diesel motorcycle designed, built and sold in numbers below one thousand, military contracted to deliver to a finite customer group over a specified short period of time, to an off-the-shelf production diesel engine that one can purchase and then do his or her own assembly and modification to build a cheaper bike. And we should remember that the Hayes bike came in as the low bidder to the U.S. Navy by a long shot for a desired diesel motorcycle, and that if Kubota had a way to have made a pile of money and meet the specs required by the Navy, they would have likely put together a package for a motorcycle engine and offered that engine to bidders or would have bid themselves with a superior design or lower price, or both than what HDT offered.
Looking at the specs of each engine, the Hayes diesel looks to me far superior in just about every way for a mid-sized mc except refinement, because that Hayes diesel is a real clatter box with no pilot injection. The Kubota is larger, heavier, more cylinders, liquid cooled, far slower revving, and around 9-10 fewer peak horses. They are both NA, but much different beyond that, and while the Kubota provides a possibility for a self-made bike that is much more reasonable from a price standpoint, if the HD bike had ever sold retail, one can't use that price figure proposed as a limited production vehicle to make a guess at what such a product would sell for as a mass production vehicle, a.k.a. a Kawasaki-sold bike. My guess is that not only is the HD a superior engine for a bike, but could also be less costly than the Kubota made in equal production runs, all else being equal.
The big spec that stick out is that the Hayes 667 single revs well over 6000 RPM, nearly as high as the rev limit on my gas-powered bike or typical car and peak hp over 30, whereas the larger, more cylinder, heavier Kubota reaches peak hp at or about 3200, which indicates its rev limit is far lower and would be much more piggish as an mc engine, and likely no more economical.