Any other 2-stroke lovers??

[radioranger]

Another quick note on two stroke oil, lots of them are completely bio degradable rated now, even though all oil is ,

[radioranger]

not to sound like an advertisement here but the spectro is amazing, I accidentally put too little oil in my 6 hp Johnson outboard and it seized up , after flushing th ecylinder with WD 40 and adding oil it ran again, I added the spectro premix race oil to the gas next time and honestly it ran a good bit faster than when new !!

[hzoltaan]

i have a really crude design, Jawa 350. Has a consumption around 50MPG. I rode the old version (jawa modell 634) for about 20000kms and it was usually around 45mpg. (older carb and point ingnition (very poor design, needed check and setting every 600kms))

the point about the oil cost is a good one. never thought of it this way. My GS 450 needs an oil change every year. 2.5-3 liter of 10w40 bike oil. The Jawa requires very simple 80w90 transmission oil, 1 liter. there is a difference...

But i have to tell, if it's about ecodriving, the Jawa would not be my choice. I'd go for some 125 4 stroker for the everyday communting. But since I do not want to buy a new bike, I use the Jawa anyway.

would love to push the consumption lower though... but do i drive it enough for investing a lot?

[Stan]

Back in the 60's and 70's I had a couple small-displacement, single-cylinder 2-stroke scramblers. Great little bikes that hauled my skinny carcass all over the PNW. In the 70's I had a '66 Saab Monte Carlo 850, a 3-cylinder 2-stroke car that was quite a change of pace from my prior '53 Plymouth sedan with a straight-six flathead.

I'm currently planning a motorized bicycle, but have pretty much decided to go with a 4-stroke. I want it to be really quiet, and that seems incompatible with a 2-stroke.

[Iexpedite]

I know this is a motorcycle area. But if you can talk about two strokes in an economy sense, then I can talk about my Banshee. I have had a lot of ATVs since letting her go, but she is the only one I miss. Getting on the pipe and your arms stretch out, and that smell. I still run my weed wacker on expensive oil so I can enjoy that stink. I use to love going out on the gravel and lugging in too high a gear. Bury the throttle and in just a few seconds you were in the power band and throwing rocks.

[old jupiter]

There is an engine modification that is a win-win-win proposition in almost every possibly way except the ease of doing it, . . . and like nearly any other engine work, it is a lot easier to do on a 2-stroke. Establishing a good tight squish-height gives an engine better swirl, slightly more compression with probably less tendency to detonation, more torque, AND better fuel efficiency, ta-dah!, and a great feeling of pride on the part of the fellow who does it, not least because he feels himself part of the somewhat limited in-crowd who knows about the technique.

I'm guessing nearly everybody here has at least heard about squish (Brit. "quench"). Any amateur mechanic rightly should know, since the technique dates back nearly a hundred years to Sir Harry Ricardo (who also pioneered water injection). Setting the squish on a car engine has to wait for when you're doing an engine overhaul, since it involves machining the deck surface of the block. But on an old 2-stroke bike it's not a huge deal to pull the jugs and deck them, and with certain engines you can set squish by shaving the head(s), and leave the cylinder(s) alone!

You can also make a 2-stroke (or whatever) a bit more fuel-efficient with piston coatings and with exhaust system thermal wraps, and a few other tricks.

This is mere supposition, but I believe that after I overhaul and upgrade (for fuel efficiency and longevity) my politically-incorrect 35-year-old RD400 2-stroke, its total environmental impact over, say 100,000 miles (yes, it's do-able), including fuel consumption and emissions, will be less, far less, than the total environmental effect of a brand new Prius being manufactured, shipped across an ocean, and driven 100,000 miles here.

I comfort myself with this thinking every time I overhaul (and improve for fuel efficiency) any old car or truck (admittedly I choose them for their fuel efficiency potential, which wasn't the case with the RD400).

(Uh . . . I have to admit that MY RD400 would do better in this comparison with a Prius than would anyone else's RD400 . . . because I'm getting too old to ride an RD like it's supposed to be ridden).

[GeoMoto]

"If it don't smoke...
...must be broke"

2 smoker here!

Working on my 1974 Suzuki TS 185 to get her on the road then we go for MPG, of course just trying to improve the breed, knowing it will be tough, but totally dedicated to smokers!

Great thread...

[Varn]

Here was my RD350's first breath in 30 years.

RD350 short ride

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I'm also favorable to the 2-strokes.

workaround ideas to discuss among friends: Two-stroke engines: still a viable technology?

[radioranger]

Had great luck with the golden spectro sythetic two stroke oil very good results my GT 380 picked up 10 mph top end, dont remember the fe though was back in 76