Government Issue

Love the smell of diesel in the morning ?
You're a sniper and have to sneak up on a target you've been assigned to eliminate. You have a long distance to travel and must go undetected by the enemy for some 200 miles to the targets lasl known sighting. You've parachuted into hostile territory and have no ground support except for the HDT M1030MI diesel-powered motorcycle that made the air-drop with you.
At least that was the scenario going through my head as 1 made my early-morning rendezvous with HDT's Fred Hayes and Bryon Schmidt-who arrived in a diesel Sprinter van-in the high-desert at 0-dark-30 for a ride of the Marine Corps-issue diesel dirtbikc. Shortly after we rolled up, Clark Jones, our guide and IIDT's hired-in suspension engineer, arrived. As the 61 lec diesel Single warmed up in cold crisp morning air, its industrial clackity cadence made it clear that this was no ordinary enduro.
The first advice from Hayes? "Don't give it any gas and let out the clutch," Okay! It was hard to make myself do that but the bike just chugged away, at idle, in soft sand. If you've got the balance at low speed, even small hills can be tackled no-throttle: the bike simply idles along. That is torque!
I wondered what kind of special training was required because of the bike's riding characteristics.

"From zero to good rider in two weeks, as long as trainees are considerably coordinated." replied Gunnery Sergeant Schmidt, a retired Marine motorcycle instructor who started working for Hayes in late 2006. "The worst people to teach are sportbike riders who haven't spent much time on the dirt. It's harder to undo their bad habits than teach someone who's never ridden," "There's not a ton of power, but it's very predictable." remarked former off-road-racer Hayes.
As we bashed around the desert, differences from the stock KLR became apparent. Through whooped-out sand trails and fast, sweeping washes, the M I's becfed-up suspension worked way better than that of the stockcr. Ride a standard KLR hard through whoops, you are greeted with chain slap and loud clanking from the consistently bottoming suspension. In contrast, the Ml could be ridden a lot faster without getting out of shape. Suspension guru Jones" day job is president of Noleen .16 Racing, which sells fork springs ($99) and a shock (S495) for stock KLRs that he designed and thoroughly tested on the combat diesel.

The overall riding experience was pretty impressive. There were, however, a few basic Rules of Engagement. First, it took a special-ops maneuver to make sure the shift from first to second was positive and complete because of long lever travel-strange because the MI uses a civilian KLR transmission and the stockers we've ridden don't have the 1-2 shift balkiness.
Next, the Marines aren't looking for a platoon of Bubba Stewarts. Trying to keep up with Jones and his fleeing Yamaha YZ450F, 1 got sideways in the whoops and was chucked miiiayvry down the trail. I ran back to the M1, still chugging along on its side with a few bent parts but nothing broken off.



"You guys were riding too fast," admonished Gunny Schmidt. 'The bike's not designed to ride like a motocrosser. What it will do is carry a 200-pound rider with 45-pound backpack and a 50-pound tailpack just about anywhere." I le told mc also to not worry about crashing the bike: "I've seen them fall down cliffs before and not break," Of all the special features on the HDT bike-big IMS fuel tank with dry-break fuel line, camo seat cover, braided stainless-steel brake lines, hardened sprockets, special handguards, etc-the coolest was the blackout headlight unit incorporated into the front numbcrplatc, which can be replaced with an infrared projector beam so the M1 can be ridden with night-vision goggles when necessary!
1 asked Hayes how close in performance terms an HI Hummer can come to keeping up with an MI.
"Not even close, especially in hilly, rain-rutted terrain " he replied, "An HI will beat you up. Plus, no other military vehicle can match the bike's range."
I asked, "What if a helicopter gunship is on your tail?" He chuckled, "You're screwed!".

Hopefully for civilians the gun-ship scenario will never be an issue. But our exclusive ride of the civilian-version prototype of the bike-called the MD670F and based on the 2008 KLR650-dtd show that it exhibits some of the same unstoppable qualities of the mil-spec machine. Just like with the military version, it was virtually unstallable because there is so much torque on tap. In fact, with displacement increased to 670cc, there is more power and torque everywhere. You'd never describe the engine as "snappy" but it does grind out the power with only a little less sizzle than the stock gas KLR. Even the overall riding experience is comparable. There was hardly any more vibration, with a definite sweet spot in the revs where it was really smooth. It didn't even sound all that weird. There was some of the characteristic deto-rattle you get from diesels at idle and leaving the line, but it quieted right down at cruise. An off-road opinion on the civvy model will have to wait; we only were able to go on a short street ride, but because the bike has similarly modified suspension, dirt performance should be comparable.
What our ride on the M1 and its non-enlisted brother showed is that these machines are meant to motor onward in the face of almost anything. If plans for the production civilian version come through and you are a rider seeking adventure at almost 100 miles per gallon, you might learn to love the smell of diesel in the morning.