Two stroke Thursday

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 01/02/2020 at 16:51 • Filed to: Yamaha RD350, Two stroke, Starting

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The other day I came across a Yamaha RD350 like this (bonus Toyota Avensis in the background. Favourite taxi here for many years)

Approaching it with purpose was an older gentleman, because people tend to collect the things they remember from their youth and this is an 80s bike.

The RD has a kick start, because electricity was for wimps in the 80s, so he started it using the lever. Except that he didn’t kick it. He sat on the bike and used his hand to push the lever instead. It took seemingly very little effort and even more impressively for a stroker it started on the second or third push and proceeded to tick over smoothly without a plume of smoke.

Don’t recall hand starting a bike (dodgy knee or hip I suppose) before but there you go,

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Cé hé sin 01/02/2020 at 17:18

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I want it.

facw > Cé hé sin 01/02/2020 at 17:26

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Ban two-strokes! (Well maybe don’t ban them, but at least tax them heavily since they are pretty appalling from a pollution standpoint, even given the high-efficiency of bikes vs. cars).

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Cé hé sin 01/02/2020 at 17:27

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My first bike was also a 2-stroke . A 1974 Suzuki GT380 triple. It sounded like a pissed-off chainsaw, but would run all day with my friend’s KZ750.

Cé hé sin > facw 01/02/2020 at 17:47

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It’s been quite a while since you could buy a two stroke bike for road use in much of the developed world! Plenty of two stroke chainsaws and the like but in the overall scheme of things I doubt if their pollution is significant.

Two stroke ships, still very much being built, are another matter altogether. Two stroke outboards are still a thing too. I looked up I think the Evinrude site recently and they’re very careful not t o state anywhere in the specs which engines are strokers but reading between the lines all of their non-portable ones are two strokes.

facw > Cé hé sin 01/02/2020 at 17:51

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Plenty of two stroke chainsaws and the like but in the overall scheme of things I doubt if their pollution is significant. 

IIRC, the California Air Resources Board expected smog emissions from landscaping tools to overtake road veh ic les in the state last year (2-stroke lea f blowers being the biggest offenders) .

Cé hé sin > facw 01/02/2020 at 18:16

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If that’s the case, either small two strokes are very dirty indeed or there are a hell of a lot more leaf blowers in California than there are here!

There’s also the story about how  15 or 17 or some other random number of the world’s biggest ships produce more pollution than all road transport combined.

SiennaMan > Cé hé sin 01/02/2020 at 18:31

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I think both.  It was only a 4-5 years ago that I got rid of the old 2 stroke lawn mower I inherited.  Especially start of the season it belched a lot of smoke indeed, when you multiply that out and with California fielding more hybrids and battery electrics on their roads, the CARB statement isn't surprising..

TheJWT > facw 01/02/2020 at 18:39

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There is a pretty heavy tax on desirable 2-strokes these days... Any one of these will set you back at least $10k

DipodomysDeserti > facw 01/02/2020 at 19:03

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Motorcycles, especially older ones,  are much less efficient than cars in all flavors. And there’s a pretty heavy market tax already on two stroke sport bikes.

DipodomysDeserti > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom 01/02/2020 at 19:06

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There’s a guy on my street that restores and mods old GT750s. The things fucking rip.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Cé hé sin 01/02/2020 at 20:43

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When I was young, I fawned over a Kenny Roberts edition that was at the local Yamaha dealership. I’m surprised they didn’t kick me out.

Caveman > facw 01/02/2020 at 21:31

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2-strokes produce less CO2 than Tesla owners do bloviating about their environmentalism.

SilverShareHolder > facw 01/02/2020 at 22:22

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Please don't, just because you don't want one doesn't mean you should ban others from doing so or tax them. 

facw > SilverShareHolder 01/02/2020 at 22:26

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Even if I did want one, I’d want it taxed. They are seriously terrible for the environment, it’s only fair that the user should pay for that. Internalize the negative externalities and all that.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > DipodomysDeserti 01/02/2020 at 22:33

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Never rode a GT500 or GT750, but I've read they were stupid fast. 

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Cé hé sin 01/03/2020 at 00:51

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my Dad had an RD250LC when I was growing up. I could kick start it when I was 8 so there’s something.

iheartburpees > facw 01/03/2020 at 02:21

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Why would you want it taxed?  T axing it doesn’t make it better for the environment, does it?  “Shame on you evil fossil fuel devil! Give me your moneys”

Someguy > facw 01/03/2020 at 06:53

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2 strokes are smokers not strokers, strokers are 4stroke. Js... 

Someguy > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom 01/03/2020 at 06:56

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I guarantee you had more fun than he did cause he was most assuredly having slow down for you lol

Someguy > Cé hé sin 01/03/2020 at 07:10

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Strokers are 4 stroke or 4t, 2 stroke or 2t some ppl call them are smokers. The person that wrote the article messed that up because NOBODY that knows anything about bikes calls a 2 stroke a stroker. It literally doesn’t even make sense to call them that because the point of the name is because 2 strokes smoke because of adding 2cycle oil to the gas ie mixed gas, get it? A stroker is a 4 stroke and called a stroker because of the extra strokes that a 4 has to revolve than a 2 stroke. 4t= 4 strokes/revolutions of the crank   per single fire of the plug, 2t= 2 strokes/revolutions of the crank per single fire of the plug. This is known!

Stangthang85 > facw 01/03/2020 at 07:15

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U sir are appalling, and most likely a cock smoker,,ever wondered how  ur homosexuality has on our habitat and future,? Ban that fag ass

Someguy > Cé hé sin 01/03/2020 at 07:17

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Theres a lot more of everything In California than everywhere else. That’s why it’s a shithole, and more of ten than not the case when liberals are in charge of everything and bumbling around like they know what they're doing when they obviously don't. 

Someguy > Stangthang85 01/03/2020 at 07:22

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Moes, I guarantee will have less effect on any and all things than an asshole like you that cant fucking spell. I'd imagine illiteracy, you know, the problem you have is vastly more problematic to others than some homogays private personal preference of who they take to bed. Js

Someguy > Cé hé sin 01/03/2020 at 08:21

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2t street bikes are low volume cylender displacement and relatively slow and not really anything that a serious rider would even consider buying, unless they catch a wild hair and just want to feel nostalgic for a minute then jump back on their baddass 4t bike that has huge volume cylinder displacement and straight up rips. So yeah, 2t dirt bikes on the other hand are awesome!! Even with today’s modern 4t engineering making 4 strokes wicked fast and powerful out the gate, theres still no comparison between 4 and 2t liter to liter because a yz250 as compared to a yz250f is like the difference between a biplane and an f16 tomcat, especially when you have 450f models racing 250 2t models and getting spanked by something with a piston that’s half the size. I ride an older model yz, 99 yz400f and its crazy fast and the power is hard to handle if you aint ready for it but I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t miss my yz250 t2, lighter, more powerful out the gate, but not nearly as good of gas mileage, and has less topend than the 400f, and service intervals come twice as fast as a 4t. 2t is a far less complicated engine to maintain where I can do a complete topend rebuild on a t2 in 45 minutes and I’m riding again, where now on my 4t it takes all afternoon to pull the topend off, re ring/piston, hone the bore, check the valve clearance/adjust if necessary, put it all back together, and I didn’t even mention the part where I accidentally drop the timing chain 5 times and have to use a wire to fish it out of the block, then set timing and cams and bla bla bla. I love my yzf but its complicated and tedious compared to the 2t model dirt bikes, but I’m a fairly decent mechanic so I kinda like that aspect. I just wish that they still made large cylinder displacement 2t like the older yz490 or kx500 or cr500 because those bastards were and still are scary fast and stupid powerful to the point where its kinda unnecessary to have all that crazy in an under 400 pound wet machine, but it’s fun to try holding on to something that wants you dead and trying at every opportunity to get away from you. 4t in dirt bikes has come a long way so the 2v4 discussion is almost a moot point anymore , but I really hope they never try to reimagine the 2t street bike outside of an enduro bike platform cause they will still be small displacement obnoxiously loud and sharp sounding compared to the relatively slow speeds you get out of them sitting next to a 4t street bike that is smooth, sounds amazing, and gets better gas mileage, all while being far faster of a bike. 

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Someguy 01/03/2020 at 10:01

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Nope. Both bikes were evenly matched.