Reply With QuoteI've got one on the back of my boat if it counts (Tohatsu 9.8). :-)
I'm out in Turkey at the mo and keep getting dragged back to my youth by the wonderful smell every time a 2 stroke bike passes - which is often. I learned on an old A 100, so thought I'd put finger to keyboard while I'm out here with a bit of light bloggery:
http://mmcmusings.com/2012/09/22/the...wo-stroke-oil/
Hope you enjoy it!
I've got one on the back of my boat if it counts (Tohatsu 9.8). :-)
My summers were spent in the northern Spanish countryside on a Vespino which had been modified by a cousin.
I literally used to cry when having to return.
I tried to relive that with a Gilera DNA50 here in the UK, but I got rid of it go get a 600.
If it smells right, it counts!
I remember buzzing around on a Yamaha FS1E (Fizzy) with an overbore and stinking of Castrol R racing oil. They were the days.
Worth a fortune now! Unlike Suzuki A100s!Originally Posted by fornowagain
Among many four strokes I've ridden a few, a Triumph Tigeress scooter, a Mobylette moped and three Raliegh Runabouts. Once I reached the grand age of sixteen though I switched to my first legal mode of motorised transport - a 1972 Honda SS50 four speed - which by that time was the 22nd motorcycle I had owned! Everything that came after that was four stroke, apart from a lot of fun with a Kawasaki KE100 trial bike and a Peugeot scooter I inhereted from my son once he graduated to a car - I still ride that one now occasionaly.
*Edit* I also had a Garelli Tiger Cross now I think anbout it, but the bugger was always breaking down. Italian electrics in the 1970's weren't at all good.
Last edited by Thewatchbloke; 23rd September 2012 at 18:26.
I melted my first piston on a Honda H100S 2-stroke, following it a year later with a melted piston on my brothers Suzuki GT185 RamAir
Oh and after getting used to a Honda 250RS 4 stroke single I managed to kick the kick start completely off a tuned Suzuki X7 - D'oh!
(the X7 was a wheelie monster and very fast).
2 strokes are nice and easy to work on though .............
Last edited by docd; 23rd September 2012 at 18:28.
aha! - the chip pan smell that meant either a racing bike or someone who was well practiced at using piston ring compressors.... :-)
then came nikasil and youngsters wondered what all the fuss was about.
my first road bike was a Puch Grand Prix which had a disk brake and everything! - once used Trex cooking oil to get it home from Wales when i ran out and couldn't get two stroke oil on a Sunday so found a Spar that was open....
I bet Pip is well impressed with you being on here whilst away!
Bring some sun back please.
Last edited by minkle; 23rd September 2012 at 18:43.
Yammy 250LC in red and white, with a Micron exhaust.
I had a Yamaha RD400E. You still see the occasional 2 stroke scooter, and yes, the smell takes me right back.
I had a fizzer and then an A100 which I had rebored. After the rebore it went like a rocket and would rev higher and higher.. I miss my A100 sold it for a CG 125.
Yamaha DT 125 , great fun . Still miss that one.
I used to have an old Villiers powered Greeves trials bike; loud and quite smelly - wish I still had it
I got back into bikes by restoring a Suzuki GT380. After weeks of stripping and rebulding I set off up the coast road with a huge grin. My teeth were covered in flies when I got back so it must have been good!
mike
I always wated a DT 175, my dream bike..... Maybe one day.!
Two stroke all the way hereShame they have gone to four bangers in motocross really, can't beat the powerband of a 2T...much fun.
Rode an RD350 to school age 16, quite legally :)
Raced 200cc and 250cc two stroke enduros - they were lovely!
It's just a matter of time...
First bike was a BSA Bantam D14/4, so filling it up always required two shots of 18 to 1, If I remember rightly.
Ah the RD350 , one of the reasons for creating the C.B.T (compulsory basic training ) , great fun bike that sadly claimed quite a few young lives.
22,000 miles on a new TZR125 (unfaired), well new when I bought it in 1989, then opened the power valve for another 5,000, sold on original rings (I never skimped on the motul). The TZR was followed by an off the track powervalve RD350 with a chocolate frame which was stolen after about 3,000ish miles....ah happy days...
This was mine back in the day......:)
Was a despatch rider in the late 70's on a Kawasaki KH250, happy days, looking back God knows how I survived!
I like to be different and had one of these while my mates all had Fizzies and SS50's.
I remember the plug lead melting in the middle of Stirling on a camping trip and doing 70 down hill on the A9! Happy days!
Anybody care to identify it?
oh God yes - brings back some great memories :)
1st was a maico 490 when i was about 12 or 13 i think?
then a Yam DT50, Honda NSR125, Kawa KDX125, and had a Yam DT175 then KX250 for mucking about in the woods.
A few years later i had a KR1-S and it could be hustled real quick round the twisties.
Still love the smell..............
Is it an AP50? Can't see any pedals though .....
A Lambretta 125 in 1970-1972.
I still remember the thrill of wondering whether I would be able to overtake Andrews School Bus on the journey betwixt Frome and Bruton. It was often a close run thing as the bus was also capable of reaching my top speed of 50 mph.
By the way I've just read your blog. Strangely, I was careering down Woolverton Straight on Monday after my new scooter, a Vespa GTS 125 Super Sport (4 stroke though) had just had it's 1000 kms first service at Fowlers, Bristol. I was rapidly approaching The Red Lion and the 30 mph sign when I hit 65 for the first time! An epic moment.
scooter
Started on a Yam TY50 then a Suzuki GT185. I moved on to four strokes after that with a brief revisit when I had a 350lc.
You can still smell the castrol R (or equivalent) at any motocross or Enduro meeting where there's still a number of two strokes available today.
Yamaha RS100 - holed the piston on the Rest and be Thankful, back of a car and a train home to Glasgow, bought a new piston and fitted it myself in 15 minutes - try that on a 4 stroke!
A lot of fun. Rode it to Liverpool to see the Reds beat Coventry and Man City in the 70s, Keegan and Toshack - good job we have memory eh?
Honda H100 - utterly reliable but a bit like a spam fritter - ok but boring.
BSA Bantam - horrible - held together with bungees and blu tac - broke regularly - left it outside my hall of residence near Russell Square in the 70s and I p****d off home to Scotland. Good look to whoever lifted it.
Does a Suzuki RGV 250 with a :tweaked: Micron count? Recall racing a m8 to the pub only to be met by the local plod stood in the middle of the road (along with his cycle) doing his best number#1 stop sign; we blitzed him left & right as he just stood there in the carriageway!
Regards M
Last edited by TooTall; 23rd September 2012 at 23:03.
I too had a BSA Bantam back in the 1960's, before a lot of people on this forum were born.
Loved them, very easy to work on, all my spare money was spent on them and racing.
I had a credit account with Lee Bros at the age of 15!
1979 YZ125
I used to have a Kawasaki H1A 500 triple, went like a rocket and handled like a camel.
I'm a lucky man indeed. Not only does she encourage my watch and motorcycle addictions, she encourages my writing too. P'raps it just keeps me out of her hair!I bet Pip is well impressed with you being on here whilst away!
Bring some sun back please.
Let's catch up when I'm back - there's beer to arrange!
I spent half my teenage years in Lee Bros.Loved them, very easy to work on, all my spare money was spent on them and racing.
I had a credit account with Lee Bros at the age of 15!
1979 YZ125
Are they still there?
I passed my bike test on an old rd125,then bought an old rd250(non PV) Two years later living in That London meant I could afford the 500...I have had fireblades since,but NOTHING was a scary as that thing.
The only bike I ever had was a BSA C15 when I was a youth (used to ride it around the British Steel car park in Brightside on a Sunday) but my brother had a Kawasaki 400 2-stroke which he described as "mental".
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
I was a scooter boy mod back in the day so very used to two strokes.
You used to be able to drive up to the two stroke pump and tell the bloke serving you (those were the days) to set the dial to the mix you wanted before he delivered the fuel.
I guess people with two strokes nowadays just mix it up at home?
Only two stroke I have now is my Kawasaki brush cutter.
Cheers,
Neil.
I've had Fireblades and R1's, but the ride that sticks in my mind was on an NS400, three cylinder two-stroke. Was a bit underwhelmed as I entered the motorway slip road. Then it hit the power band in second. "Oh my f-ing god!" Feed it another gear and another and another. Just pure joyful motorcycling. So smooth, but vicious. Loved it, but couldn't buy it because I would have killed myself. Two-strokes and Castrol R rocks.
BTW drop a bit of 'R in your petrol lawn mower for a trip down memory lane :)
Passed my test on a Kawasaki KH 250 stroker. Loved that bike, but had a variety of 2 strokes over the years: 350 LC Yamaha, RD 500 Yamaha V4 ( best bike ever made and the only bike I've ever enjoyed riding in the rain) but recently had a Greeves trail bike with a Villiers 2 stroke twin engine (quite rare as they were, apparently, rubbish!) and really enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
Had this as well a couple of years ago. To say it was "scary" was the understatement of the decade... but it did smell nice and sounded epic!
you rode a 350 as a learner ?
Most modern engines have auto-lube systems, in fact my Bantam was the only one I've had that didn't. Anyway...
I had a D14 BSA Bantam when I was 14 - if anyone needed an example of why the British motorcycle industry failed, there it is right there! Still, at 14, I was happy. It went backwards one day
At 16 I had an AP50 - it seized up one day on my way back from school and some kind soul stopped and put it in the back of his van and took me the 5 miles home - can't see that happening these days!
At some point I had a KH125 too, but don't recall too much about it - it was pretty bland TBH.
Always wanted an RD350YPVS, sometimes look at the eBay ads but luckily common-sense has prevailed so far!
Nice beastie bike - i had an SWM 440 enduro many,many years ago. I think in hindsight, i should have kept the money and just thrown myself downstairs on a regular basis to get the same "thrills" :)
Had this as well a couple of years ago. To say it was "scary" was the understatement of the decade... but it did smell nice and sounded epic!
I have ridden many fast bikes and had a few track days in 4 wheel exotica and to this day nothing, ..... and i do mean nothing..... compares to the hit of opening the taps on a big capacity two stroke engine.
It is the torque as much as anything - i am sure that your Yamaha 465 gave you the unique, big bore MotoX experience of trying to lift the front wheel AND spin the back wheel at the same time !! :)
I think nearly all of my bikes in my youth were 2 stroke
AP50
DT125
DT125MX
RD125LC
RD250LC
Theres something special about that smell - always brings back memories
Ah right, makes sense, thanks Simon.
My two stroke knowledge is from a long gone era.
Cheers,
Neil.
C15? I had one of those - mine was restored by George Harrisons brothers, Harry and Peter. Peter was a paint sprayer by trade and Harry was a classic motorcycle enthusiast with many beautiful machines of his own. They did it up for Harrys son Paul to ride and take his motorcycle test on when he was 17. I bought it from Paul (after he had passed his test) who was a good friend of mine during my teens. A lovely, if very slow by todays standards, machine. I used to love the little distributor they had situated just behind the cylinder - just like a miniature car one!
Me circa 1978 - the C15's to my right, and thats a Royal Enfield Continental GT behind me that I bought in a tea crate aged 14. It took me three years to restore that to concours condition:
Some cracking bikes on here - and memories too.
The Yammy 500 models most certainly were mental - as were most sports 2 strokes!
Just discovered the splendid David Angel at F2 is selling modern 2 stroke Jawas. Now there's a thought...
That looks bl**dy lovely....and a lot nicer than mine was......recently had a Greeves trail bike with a Villiers 2 stroke twin engine (quite rare as they were, apparently, rubbish!) and really enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
As for being rubbish, I recall it ran okay when the gearbox wasn't in bits
Last edited by Stanford; 24th September 2012 at 18:11. Reason: ** the profanity!
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