2 stroke
 

Anybody done any serious miles on a two stroke.
Just thinking if there was a low tune two stroke, it would be reasonable economical. Cheap. Reliable. Easy to repair and service.
Just remembering the old mz250. Many did huge mileages with little work.
Anything current or recent available?

I've done quite a bit of two stroke touring in the (dim and distant) past and may well be going down that route again in the next year or so as a kind of retro experience similar to using a film camera and buying vinyl records.

The main problem with 2Ts is supply. There just aren't any mainstream touring smokers around these days so it has to be something donkeys years old or try to cobble together a silk purse out of a sow's ear. People still try though - here's a link to someone (recently) overlanding to Cairo on a 1952 BSA Bantam Overland To Egypt

I think an MZ250 could form the basis of quite a nice low tech, low cost tourer and they're still cheap enough on ebay. I had an early one many years ago and did many eurotrips on it although it could be temperamental at times. Even MZ technology moved on though and many of the things I found exasperating were sorted out in the later versions. There's a few other people here that still run them and I'm sure they'll be along to expand on things.

Just don't get MZ and CZ mixed up though!

Emmisions are what killed them. Piagio made high rech one which passed emmisions. Not sure if it went into production. Even then it was for a scooter i think. Mz live on i think under a different name made In Turkey. With the use of modern 2stroke oils it should help with longevity.

Just do it
 

Yes sadly, the green guys got their way here. Bought myself a Jap Yamaha TZR250 from the 1980's.
Good condition with low mileage, goes like stink. Limited to tarmac though as it's not built for sand. Most I ever did in a day is 460km. Economy is not really great - my car gets better fuel economy. Four strokes are way better a sipping fuel.

But nothing beats a two stroke for driving pleasure.

Well i don't have enough info regarding 2 stroke bikes but why don't you go for any 4-stroke bike? Isn't it affordable for you?

Are you planning to ride off road or solely on tarmac?

If your determined to stick to a 2T and you need off road ability then its impossible to overlook a DT125, they're as common as muck all across europe, tons of spares everywhere. Ive seen them clear 40ft tabletops round our mx track and they can withstand a lot of abuse.

The only trouble now is finding one that hasn't been crashed, bent, stolen, jumped and ran out of oil.

If your going to stick to the tarmac, consider a TDR125, similar motor to a DT but a bit of wind protection and more road manners, very common in Europe.

There are no commuter/comfortable 2Ts left really, the 2Ts only lingered on as race reps and off road bikes through 90-00s.

New there's really nothing out there.

Sorry about the essay, hope it helps

new 2t's
 

If you want to buy new in South Africa there are two choices:
Yamaha DT 175 @R32 000
Suzuki AX100 R 7999

You can get two stroke at most big supermarkets and many garages.

New 2 strokes!!

new jawa motorcycle price list in the uk

2 strokes
 

Rode my 350 LC 100 miles back home this morning...35mpg....ouch ouch ouch..can just about get double that from my Xt..

Sweet ...
 

That limited edition military style Jawa got me salivating ..... beautiful colour and look at those tires!

new jawa 350 motorcycle models in the uk

An average 60 mpg doesn´t sound too bad.

I own 3 MZ's plus enough bits to build another. I guess since 1990 I've done something like 100000 miles on them. I won't be selling, they are the most fun to ride machines there are.

I would however never use on for any journey of more than a day or two unless the sole purpose was to do that trip by MZ. Parts are now less available than the likes of BSA's. They need good oil which is stupidly expensive in Northern Europe and simply doesn't exist elsewhere. They are in a state of constant destruction. I have a 301 motor that has 65000 km on it and has never let me down. I've had that one from new and done the seals and de-cokes bang on the service intervals, it has had the sort of mixed use variable speeds smokers like. One bike I bought siezed on the way home because the PO had set the timing half a degree too early to get more power and had only ridden it on a 3 mile commute.

There is no way that Jawa does 60 MPG unless they've detuned it the sort of power you'd get from a CG125 and ridden it at 50 mph on a down hill autobahn. MZ's do 40-50 mpg in real world use, the Jawa is similar.

If you want easy use on a long trip get a small 4-stroke. If you want simple and interesting try an Enfield or Hinckley Bonneville. The only reason to go with a smoker is because of the way they ride.

Andy

See my comment on my 1974 Jawa in another thread here.

My first ever 'new' bike. Pure heartbreak. And I wouldn't believe 60 mpg for a minute. Mine got mid-30s at best. I doubt if electronic ignition has made that much difference. Kawasaki triple running costs with Bantam performance.

Maybe they are better these days. They couldn't be worse, after all.

Edit: I am a big fan of 2-strokes - owned, and loved, a 350 Power Valve and a GT250A. But I wouldn't choose one for an extended trip away from sources of good, low-ash 2T oil. A 4-stroke is much easier to live with.

I wonder just how important hi-tec two stroke oil is for 70's design smokers? Back then when we were running them all over Europe we'd buy two stroke oil if we could get it but if not then car 20-50 went into the oil tank. I can only ever remember fouling a plug once and no other problems. Of course people were slightly less sensitive to the clouds of smoke coming from the silencers back then. You wouldn't even notice two stroke smoke in the clouds of truck diesel fumes.

These days I do use the lowest smoke oil I can lay my hands on for my Kawa 500H1 but it only ever gets used for (relatively) short trips so the crankcases are never oil scavenged properly and the smoke just pours out. On a long trip the smoke level would drop but at 30mpg (and a two gallon tank) it'll be a while before I head off to Greece on it.

When we were two smoke touring we assumed for planning purposes we'd get 50mpg from the collection of stuff we used over the years (250 Yamaha/ Suzuki/ MZ, 350 Yamaha / Suzuki and T500 Suzuki) and by and large that's what they returned on long trips. I was going to upgrade to a new Suzuki 550 triple until I saw the magazine road testers were only getting 35-40mpg. That was just too low. Any two wheeler that can't get 40-45mpg has to have something else going for it. A lot of bikes do but the mid 70's Jawa 350 that a friend of mine ran for about three years wasn't one of them.

I had to resort to 10/40 engine oil in my Tdr 250 a few years back to get back along the m4 down m25 and home...didn't seem to do it any ham,just not ideal...

1970's petrol wasn't full of detergents and other stuff we have in there now. I started to get fouling using supermarket brand smoke oil in the 90's. For long trips it was just a case of mixing throttle settings, for city use it was better to buy the good stuff.

Andy