Classic Motorcycle Mechanics – December 2018

It’s funny how certain motorcycles really get under our skin.
Or in the case of a two-stroke, under our skin, fingernails and into our lungs: if there’s a sweeter motorcycling smell than a freshlywarmed up two-stroke, I’ve yet to smell it.

It’s as good as cut grass… My own two-stroke experiences were limited to a 125cc learner bike (ahhhh the KMX125…) and an RD350 F2, but they left their own indelible mark on me: I always have two fingers hovering over the clutch, for a start. I then got into four-strokes and never looked back, but perhaps I should.

People like reader Tim Partington and our own Andy Bolas love their two-strokes. Andy has a large number in his collection and this month we see his rare-ish Yamaha R1-Z. Tim, meanwhile, tells us the journey to creating the beauty you see above. For me the strokers I miss most are the race bikes.

Even today in a time of 250bhp four-strokes with anti-wheelie, traction control and various engine maps the brutal simplicity of a 180bhp 500cc two-stroke with only your wits and right wrist to control it for my mind can’t be beaten. As a spectacle, we will never see their like again. Racers think so too. CMM’s Stafford show guest Terry Rymer hit the nail on the head: “The Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV500 was the most awesome bike and the one that wanted to hurt me the most: think of 180-190bhp in the weight of a 125 two-stroke, but a beautiful bike to ride when it went right.”