My lohmann engine; a tale of woe

My lohmann nolonger runs. It was in perfect running condition on a beautiful old bicycle. I have good memories of riding with it running . I put this combo together in 1982. It was very low powered, wouldn't push me up a hill without help. I really liked it being sort of a diesel. I stored it in a friend's barn. While I was on a year long trip, the barn burned down and melted alloy parts off the motor and ruined the antique bicycle it was mounted on. I kept the remains hoping to someday find replacement parts. No luck sofar. I had an ownersmanual as well, it totally burned up in the fire. The bicycle was british racing green, with a Hong Kong Bicycle co. decal, a front hub generator, rod brakes, and a 3speed rear hub with a coaster brake, 28X1 1/2 inch wheels, comfy leather saddle and a locking front fork. I bought this bicycle from a man who at one time had been the British Consulate to Hong Kong. He only rode the bike 3 times because he said that Hong Kong was too hilly. It was really very heavy for the little Lohmann to push.

 

[Wheels]

Well, there is always a new engine, truly, the scarcity myth need not apply, technology is on the march, rampant.

wheels

 

[Saabsonettguy]

Wow man thats rough, I really hope you can get your hands on some parts and restore it to its former condition. Didn't those motors run on all sorts of different fuels?

 

[Wheels]

No kidding, wouldn,t that be a major coup to manu8facture a biodiesel cycle?

wheels[/b]

 

[psuggmog]

more Lohmann info

Here are two patent drawings of this engine:

This is an 18cc compression ignition engine. the controlls consist of two twistgrips. one controlled the fuel and the other controlled the variable compression ratio via a movable cylinder head. Lohmann claimed up to 300mpg for this motor. Maybe that was possible if you only went downhill. This is a 2cycle engine and was designed to run off of a light distillate mixed with a measured amount of lube oil. There was a nifty measure for the lube oil built into the fuel tank cap. I usually used kerosene in mine but stoveoil or diesel #1 worked too. #2 diesel seemed a little too viscous. The engine made a buzzing sound when running and left a little trail of smoke behind it. I don't have any surviving pre fire pictures of my bike and engine but here are a few of a bike that is in a museum in Europe.

This last picture show the twist grip that contolled the compression. It had two cables that went down to the engine.

 

[psuggmog]

If my lohmann were in running codition I would have tried it on biodiesel by now. I have been using various mixes of biodiesel in 4 different turbodiesel Mercedes and one Ford diesel truck as well as a diesel generator for the last five years.

 

[Wheels]

WOW

 

[Minnesota Hyena]

lol 18 cc diesel??? that's smallest diesel engine i have ever seen.
that engine is so small, yet enough to pull bicycle which is amazing.

 

[psuggmog]

It is a diesel in the sense that it is a compression ignition engine( no spark plug), but it doesn't have an injection pump or fuel injector like a conventional diesel engine.

 

[luke]

try looking on ebay france for engines as i brough a couple of lohmanns at less than 50 euros each from there last year not complete ones though.i just brought an itom motor only item no260075717133 which was a lot better price than the one i was looking at in the uk 150083851575.although the uk one was more complete it was not worth it.