Javelin bus breaks out
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• Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford has completed its first Javelin single-deck bus chassis, which will be bodied by Duple with its latest 300series bus body.
The new Javelin bus chassis shares the same basic driveline as the smallest (8.5m) Javelin coach (CM 3-9 December), with both vehicles powered by the mid-mounted turbocharged 157kW (211hp) 6CT version of the 8.3-litre Cummins C-series engine. Peak torque on the bus chassis is 760Nm (560 lbft) at 1,500rpm. The more powerful 179kW (240hp) charge-cooled 6CTA Cummins engine is already fitted in the full-size 6.25m wheelbase Javelin coach chassis, launched in 1986.
Like the Javelin coach, the Javelin bus chassis also has a six-speed ZF manual gearbox, with the option of an Ecomat HP500 four-speed fullyautomatic transmission, and a single reduction Eaton rear axle. For bus operations the Javelin chassis has a slower rear axle ratio permitting a reduced maximum geared speed of 921cm/h (58mph).
Unlike its coach counterpart, however, the Javelin bus has flat frame rails extending the full length of the all-welded chassis — on the full-length coach chassis the frame has a raised section between the axles. The 5.6m-wheelbase bus chassis will be capable of taking single-deck bus bodywork up to 11.3 metres long.
The first production bus chassis is going to Duple at Blackpool, but Dennis says it will be available to other bodybuilders in the same way as the Javelin coach.
The bus version can be specified with either steel parabolic springs or air suspension, and will be sold through Yeates of Loughborough, which currently handles the Javelin coach chassis. Yeates has already received an order for two Javelin buses from County Travel: the County vehicles will have ZF Ecomat boxes.
Dennis says that the price for a steel leaf-sprung Javelin bus chassis with a ZF sixspeed manual box and Duple 300-series body will be around £55,000.
The Javelin bus will be sold alongside Dennis's existing low-frame Falcon single-deck bus chassis, which will remain in production. The first Duple bodied Javelin bus is expected to be on the road by July and will be used as a demonstrator. Yeates of Loughborough has already sold close to 100 Javelin coach chassis to a variety of PSV operators.
Cl Dennis is offering its rearengined Dominator double-deck chassis with a Cununins L10 engine and ZF transmission. Two-axle Dominators are available with the L10 rated at between 134-187kW (180-250hp), while the three-axle Dragon chassis will also be offered with the charge-cooled L10 rated at 216kW (290hp).