Does anyone else miss 2 stroke sports bikes?

[lazybike]

Bill tuned my Lc's when I was racing them, he was a good fella, how he put up with a load of skint teenagers pestering him all the time I'll never know

[Mr Tidy]

A KR1S was a pretty impressive piece of kit, but RGVs seem to have been somewhat more powerful!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_RGV250

I really do miss 2-strokes!

[PeterGadsby]

Dalmahoy said:

Don't miss them at all - from what I can remember though - they need a lot more tinkering now then they did back in the 80's

Fantastic looking bikes, I'm very jealous :-)

- Pete

[NITO]

I loved two strokes and miss them. The RS250 has eluded me for years after having Aprilia AF1 50, RS125 and subsequent Polini kitted 175cc!

The Bimota V-Due is another one that fascinates me, that must be a hell of a power band with a 500cc twin 2T. Using a modern day ecu with that must be awesome, shame it was dogged with fuelling issues that helped sink Bimota.

At the time I always wanted a 4 stroke thinking the 2T's were tinny sounding, however having had 4 strokes, the lightweight and handling agility of the two strokes made them handle and stop so incredibly well, no wonder they could run circles around the 750/1000cc bigger bikes of the day on any given country lane.

[tvrolet]

Mr Tidy said:

A KR1S was a pretty impressive piece of kit, but RGVs seem to have been somewhat more powerful!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_RGV250

I really do miss 2-strokes!

Just read the wiki article and it says Aprilia bought the engine, did some mods and used it in their 250 stroker. I did not know that...every day's a school day.

But then again, with the view that enginies without cams and valves are the devil's work it's not information I'd have tripped across any time previously.

[1602Mark]

I grew up with 2 strokes and love the things. My all time fave was my RD400F with 480 kit and Stan Stevens tune. Also ran black Allspeed with polished coke can, K&N's, Mel le Moto rear sets and flat bars.

Rear wheel antics galore.

[anonymous-user]

tvrolet said:

Just read the wiki article and it says Aprilia bought the engine, did some mods and used it in their 250 stroker. I did not know that...every day's a school day.

But then again, with the view that enginies without cams and valves are the devil's work it's not information I'd have tripped across any time previously.

One guy used to race his RGV in the lightweights. Think they got it up to 70 odd HP but it was always in bits. TZ’s, from 96 up always made 75-78 on safe fuelling, the 01 we had was up to 92HP, but wasn’t quite as friendly at the top.
I remember a PB review where a load of them went to the south of France on RGV/RS/KR1. A racer (can’t remember who) went with them. The conclusion was the Aprilia was head and shoulders above everything and nobody wanted to ride the others afterwards.

[xstian]

yonex said:

I remember a PB review where a load of them went to the south of France on RGV/RS/KR1. A racer (can’t remember who) went with them. The conclusion was the Aprilia was head and shoulders above everything and nobody wanted to ride the others afterwards.

I also read a magazine review which stated the RS had much better suspension and more neutral handling, but the engine was way too peaky for the road compared to the rgv.

I think each bike is different depending on how its been set up, exhaust etc.

[NS400R]

tvrolet said:

But then again, with the view that enginies without cams and valves are the devil's work it's not information I'd have tripped across any time previously.

I don't think your riding life is complete for our age group without having owned one.

Nowadays, modern 4 stroke sports bikes are so light that I'm not sure you'd gain much with a stroker.

[Grindle]

lazybike said:

Bill tuned my Lc's when I was racing them, he was a good fella, how he put up with a load of skint teenagers pestering him all the time I'll never know

Was he at the Woodford place when you knew him or in central London?

[Grindle]

The Americans have been getting 100 bhp out of the Yamaha 350 LC engine for some time for off-road vehicles, that's incredible really. I believe they are enlarged to achieve that, maybe 460cc, i am not too sure, but to kick out the same as a 2002 Suzuki 1400 is pretty amazing in my book.
It's just a shame the inherent advantages a 2 stroke has cannot be honed into a viable street bike or even car.
I am very jealous of the select few who bought one of the Yamaha TZ750-based street legal bikes i mentioned earlier. 150 bhp and 140 kgs and 4 expansion chambers singing would be HEAVEN.

[rigga]

A few lads on the hybrid Facebook group have some pretty powerful 350lc based bikes, using aftermarket cylinders, heads and mahoosive carbs, I'd say its easy to get 100hp plus, but its damm expensive, and takes some looking after, pipes of choice are a grand a set.
I'd love a big 535cc lump in mine

[lazybike]

Grindle said:

lazybike said:

Bill tuned my Lc's when I was racing them, he was a good fella, how he put up with a load of skint teenagers pestering him all the time I'll never know

Was he at the Woodford place when you knew him or in central London?

He was in Hainault, he had Howard working for him, Bill built some very fast sprint bikes mainly 50cc, I think Howard rode them, Bill tuned a lot of LC's for club racing, he was really helpful and he's engines were good, and legal! Unlike some other tuners.

[Grindle]

lazybike said:

Grindle said:

lazybike said:

Bill tuned my Lc's when I was racing them, he was a good fella, how he put up with a load of skint teenagers pestering him all the time I'll never know

Was he at the Woodford place when you knew him or in central London?

He was in Hainault, he had Howard working for him, Bill built some very fast sprint bikes mainly 50cc, I think Howard rode them, Bill tuned a lot of LC's for club racing, he was really helpful and he's engines were good, and legal! Unlike some other tuners.

He got around 125 bhp out of my RG500 when hew was at the unit in East London. That had a 550 piston kit and was really quick. Especially in the day.

[1602Mark]

Anyone recall Stewart Pearce and Pearce Production Tuning back in the late 70's and early 80's?

[anonymous-user]

Had a bit of work done by Stan, was ok, but not s patch on Graham File. His porting was absolutely brilliant, gave great results.

[NS400R]

Take a look here. Creating a YZR replica. This isn't your usual use an RZ engine and stick it in another frame job...

http://www.2t-special.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&...

[lazybike]

Jesus...that's insane! I remember when creating a custom bike meant painting your wheels red

[Yazza54]

rigga said:

A few lads on the hybrid Facebook group have some pretty powerful 350lc based bikes, using aftermarket cylinders, heads and mahoosive carbs, I'd say its easy to get 100hp plus, but its damm expensive, and takes some looking after, pipes of choice are a grand a set.
I'd love a big 535cc lump in mine

The Mito I built a couple years ago was a 443 YPVS/Banshee hybrid, 109hp, mental

[rigga]

Yazza54 said:

rigga said:

A few lads on the hybrid Facebook group have some pretty powerful 350lc based bikes, using aftermarket cylinders, heads and mahoosive carbs, I'd say its easy to get 100hp plus, but its damm expensive, and takes some looking after, pipes of choice are a grand a set.
I'd love a big 535cc lump in mine

The Mito I built a couple years ago was a 443 YPVS/Banshee hybrid, 109hp, mental

And that indeed was a top build ..... enjoyed your journey with it.