# Motorcycles with gasifiers
**URL:** http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332
**Category:** History
**Created:** [February 2, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332 "2022-02-02T15:38:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@tcholton717](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/tcholton717)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/41 "2022-02-04T18:57:51Z")
I didn’t recognize that it was Koen on that trike but now I remember he mentioned that the steam coil around the reactor was his idea.
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### Author:  [@Shrappy](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/Shrappy)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/42 "2022-02-04T20:15:15Z")
Great Post . Loving back to basics of a time forgotten (but not) with the gasifier bicycles, and the bigger bikes/trikes , , O.M.G 😁🕶
Shrappy 🕶
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### Author:  [@giorgio](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/giorgio)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 8:09am UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/43 "2022-02-05T08:09:24Z")
hi göran, thanks for clearing up about the nozzle… have you an idea for what is the rettangular box on the side of the gasifier?
it is not hermetic closen, has a lid on the upper part…
maybee it is only a tool box?
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### Author:  [@Woodrunner](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/Woodrunner)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 9:31am UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/44 "2022-02-05T09:31:40Z")
Hi Giorgio, that box is probably for ash when cleaning the gasifier. During ww2 in sweden there was a law saying: every gasified vehicle should bring a ashbox, properly secured at the vehicle.
This was to keep people from dumping ash and char on the roadside, on parking lots, making a mess and starting wildfires.
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### Author:  [@giorgio](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/giorgio)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 2:30pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/45 "2022-02-05T14:30:13Z")
[https://www.flickriver.com/groups/1569777@N25/pool/random/](https://www.flickriver.com/groups/1569777@N25/pool/random/)
here an interesting side, belongs not really to our forum, but alternative energy for driving…
the haleson motocycle, in one of the upper fotos, always described as woodgas, is in reality a steam engine!!!
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### Author:  [@ForbiddenTuna](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/ForbiddenTuna)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/46 "2022-02-05T14:36:26Z")
The steam powered velocipedes were some of the first motorcycles. It could run on charcoal or fossil coal.
A famous inventor by the name of Sylvester Roper that invented some of the key designs for the Pump Action Shotgun also invented some velocipedes. He had set a Land speed record of 60 miles per hour before dying of a heart attack and crashing it.
Here was his first, the 1867 model
And here is his 1884 model
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### Author:  [@giorgio](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/giorgio)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/47 "2022-02-05T14:40:10Z")
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfAjIo6uoKg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfAjIo6uoKg)
here a film, seems simil to sperco modell…maybee the film is somewhere in the forum…
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### Author:  [@ForbiddenTuna](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/ForbiddenTuna)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/48 "2022-02-05T14:42:18Z")
I have shared the film before in the Life Goes On but this is the perfect place to have it. I like their little bag filter and cooling assembly.
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### Author:  [@tcholton717](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/tcholton717)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/49 "2022-02-05T19:08:46Z")
I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be sitting on top of a steam generator.
I once worked in a motorcycle shop. We built choppers back when people wanted to look like idiots. We had a bottom end out of a Harley drag bike that ran Nitro-methane. Somehow it leaked some down into the crankcase and blew the whole side off it. Luckily the rider was stretched out with his feet on pegs at the rear of the frame when it blew or he would have walked around pretty lop sided.
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### Author:  [@ForbiddenTuna](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/ForbiddenTuna)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/50 "2022-02-05T19:35:23Z")
By '67 they would have mastered steam engines pretty well. Roper designed an emergency ash dump to release all the fuel and redundant pressure valves to open up at abnormal PSI. I think by this point they used lead melt plugs as well incase of the water being used up.
I still wouldn’t want a hot thing under my crown jewels though, the exhaust is right there next to your buns.
I also still don’t like fire tube boilers, all it takes is one weak rivet in the crown sheet to blow it all up.
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### Author:  [@r\_wesseling](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/r_wesseling)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/51 "2022-02-05T20:18:50Z")
> [@ForbiddenTuna](#):
>
> don’t like fire tube boilers
Amen, to that. But…
[Abner Doble](https://www.automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/abner-doble/), the [Besler](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvQsvfa2N_c) bros, Commander [Lamont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaMont_boiler).
Just a few things to consider. And did you know that a steam power plant can be up to 60% efficient? !@#^^\* I always wonder what a gasifier coupled to steam engine might do.
Rindert
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### Author:  [@ForbiddenTuna](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/ForbiddenTuna)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 8:22pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/52 "2022-02-05T20:22:21Z")
I thought Doble used a monotube boiler like White Steam Cars did? Gaseous fuel was always preferred for them, they used rapidly vaporized gasoline in the Stanley White and Doble cars.
It wouldn’t be hard to have a computer controlled PWM powering a blower setup to heat the boiler. Would need a pilot light to keep it lit. Might not even need a computer could use a thermostat set to a certain temperature to shut the blower on and off or have the blowers constantly run and the thermostat goes to a servo motor for flaps to direct flames to the boiler or to exhaust.
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### Author:  [@TomC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/TomC)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/53 "2022-02-05T21:19:21Z")
Giorgio; Over here it seems girls are more interested in riding horses\_ They often wear shirts that say, “Put a little excitement between your legs.— ride a horse”. I think that should be “ride one of these old motor cycles”. TomC
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### Author:  [@Norman89](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/Norman89)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2022, 12:01am UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/54 "2022-02-06T00:01:49Z")
Sounds like a very simple modifications to a travel trailer water heater
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### Author:  [@giorgio](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/giorgio)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2022, 5:49pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/55 "2022-02-06T17:49:07Z")
> [@The Motofier - a Simple-Fire powered Honda XR-100R](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/the-motofier-a-simple-fire-powered-honda-xr-100r/978):
>
> I’ve been working on this project for some time, but today we had a very successful test. This is a 2003 Honda XR-100R dirt bike, obviously in very good condition for its age. I already had this machine, or I would have chosen something larger, perhaps with multiple cylinders. The gasifier is perhaps a bit large for the bike, but I wanted something with some range compared to that fire-extinguisher-equipped Honda from the 80’s which we’ve all seen (previously the cover photo for the Yahoo Woo…
here another link from the dow, a very good work from martin payne! a dream from everyone!!!
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### Author:  [@MikeR](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/MikeR)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/56 "2022-02-08T16:20:19Z")
Giorgio, and @Woodrunner: The small side box could also be dual used for some spare fuel, before cleaning the ashpit. Keep a small amount of your charcoal warm and dry.
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### Author:  [@bsoutherland](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/bsoutherland)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2022, 7:14pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/57 "2022-02-08T19:14:55Z")
This is a painful topic for me. There is a nice Yamaha 250 left in my barn 25 years ago by a previous owner. I check to see if it still turns over whenever I venture to that part of the barn. Every time, I hear a little whisper, “Please gasify me.” I have resisted so far by turning away quickly. This topic has revealed a low grade guilt that has been building up for ignoring this patient machine.
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### Author:  [@ForbiddenTuna](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/ForbiddenTuna)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/58 "2022-02-08T19:30:51Z")
I’ve been wanting to do this to my 1990 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 for forever. I’m not sure if it’s worth it though because I think it has a blown head gasket and the starter clutch keeps going out. Might need an engine swap to something air-cooled before I put a gasifier on it. I bought a 1990 Ninja 500 rear wheel which matches exactly but replaces the cog belt for a 50 series chain size just for an engine swap.
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### Author:  [@don\_mannes](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/don_mannes)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/59 "2022-02-08T19:37:10Z")
Looks like things that follow you home are taking precedence over the things that are already home. 😃
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### Author:  [@bsoutherland](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/bsoutherland)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/motorcycles-with-gasifiers/6332/60 "2022-02-08T20:26:24Z")
Yes, I don’t know why I prefer picking up strays rather than paying attention to what is at home.
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