The Two Stroke will Never Die Completely

My bike is the Yellow one.

Even if Zeus were to descend from the clouds tomorrow and declare that all two-stroke engines must cease production for the remainder of time, lest the factory face his mighty wrath, 2-strokes will survive. This can be attested to by the fact that in my garage are a pair of two-strokes, one from 1982 (running good-as-new) and another from 1967 (running better-than-new) - Expansion chamber wasn't stock in '67.

Less than an hour's drive from my house, there is a MX track that caters to events centered around bikes from the late '60s all the way through 1983 - and they're almost all two-stroke. The only time a four-stroke ever wins, is when the special "four-stroke class" runs, and they only get two motos in a weekend. So long as riding remains legal, there will always be a community focused on keeping 2-strokes alive. As noted in the article above, the people want their powerband, noise and adrenalin rush.

They're not going to die, but that doesn't mean we should just let them go into a niche market, though. I happen to dislike the new dirt bikes, both two stroke and four (though I dislike the four a lot more). Nevertheless, I would hate to see modern motocross reduced to a situation in which the only option available comes with valve trains and timing chains. If we can successfully get direct-injection into the 2-strokes, I believe we will see a second two-stroke revolution like the one in the late '60s.

Before anyone accuses me of being old and behind the times, I'm seventeen. :-)