Cars that manage to eke prodigious miles from a gallon of fuel are, understandably, all the rage right now - but while motorcycle technology has always been big on increasing horsepower and reducing weight, little effort seems to have gone into lowering the fuel consumption of two-wheelers.

I was somewhat startled to discover that it now costs almost £30 to fill the tank of my ageing BMW R80 (it only feels like yesterday that £20 did the trick), so I'm beginning to think that a diesel-engined bike might be the answer.

The problem is, most attempts at building motorcycles that run on 'heavy oil' have produced pathetically slow, overweight and horrible-sounding lash-ups that are not, actually, that fuel efficient. The ghastly Enfield Robin, for example, could manage only around 85mpg despite having a feeble top speed of 50mph, although engineers at Cranford University achieved more success with a Kawasaki-based diesel bike designed for military purposes, following NATO's switch to a 'single fuel' policy.

Now, however, a Dutch firm called E.V.A. Products BV (the CEO is Erik Vegt) appears to have made significant headway by shoehorning a specially developed three-cylinder turbo diesel engine (similar to that used in the Smart ForTwo) into an 'adventure sport' style motorcycle chassis, to produce the Track T-800CDI. Not only does it look the part, it promises to return up to 113mpg and have a top speed of 100mph.

E.V.A. has developed its own CVT transmission and the engineers have managed to keep the overall weight down to a very respectable 225kg. And with top quality White Power suspension at both ends, handling should be good, too.

The 'Dieselmotorfiets' website, where the Track can be seen, proclaims that sales will initially be confined to the Netherlands (where the relentlessly flat landscape probably means prodigious mpg figures can be obtained by the restrained-of-wrist), with other European countries due to follow this spring.

As with all 'new technology', pricing is a little higher than you might expect for a motorcycle - in Holland, the Track costs 18,750 Euros, but that includes taxes of 34 per cent. It can be brought into the U.K. on a personal import basis.

I calculate, incidentally, that if the Track really does return 113mpg, its 20-litre fuel tank should provide a range of almost 500 miles. God only knows what effect that would have on one's gait.

More details can be found at www.dieselmotorfiets.nl.

Text: Simon de Burton
Photos: E.V.A. Products BV