Two-stroke revival?

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simonw
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Re: Two-stroke revival?

Post by simonw »

Interesting. There's a bit of information about modern 2-strokes in the excellent book Stealing Speed, by Matt Oxley (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stealing-Speed ... 1844259757), towards the end. It's been a while since I read it, but the gist of it all was, I think, that 2-strokes are far more efficient and consume less energy (in the building of, and running) than 4-strokes, but that they're currently unlikely to see mainstream production because the world has so heavily invested in 4-strokes over the last 50 years or so. I seem to remember the author saying that Renault had done a lot of research into 2-strokes.

(Stealing Speed, for those that don't know, (from Amazon's precis): tells the compelling story of how one of Japan's biggest motorcycle manufacturers stole a Nazi rocket scientist's engine secrets from behind the Iron Curtain to conquer the world. In 1961, with the Cold War at its height, East German motorcycle manufacturer MZ was using World War II rocket technology to win Grands Prix, only for rider Ernst Degner to defect and sell the secrets to Suzuki, while his wife and children were drugged and smuggled through the Berlin Wall. The following year Suzuki and Degner made history by winning the world title. Branded a traitor by the communists, Degner suffered horrific injuries in a fiery racing accident and died in mysterious circumstances.)
Spike941
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Re: Two-stroke revival?

Post by Spike941 »

The one bike I wish I had of kept was my 1976 2 stroke Suzuki GT500. I did love that bike.

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soho
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Re: Two-stroke revival?

Post by soho »

F1 cars screaming down the road at 50,000 rpm & p*ssing CastrolR into the world again ? I can run with that idea ! 8-)
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mark vb
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Re: Two-stroke revival?

Post by mark vb »

Spike941 wrote: Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:46 am The one bike I wish I had of kept was my 1976 2 stroke Suzuki GT500. I did love that bike.


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Me too - what a great day it was collecting my spanking new , red GT500A from Heron Suzuki in July '77 for the OTR price of £666! Possibly my favourite bike ever.
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Asgard
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Re: Two-stroke revival?

Post by Asgard »

Last summer I saw 3 GT750s riding along together, it made my day and I wonder how many of these classics are still being cared for and ridden.
Anyone remember the Bloke who fixed motorcycles in a small lock-up behind Reg Braddicks cycles?, I'm sure he had other bigger bikes but for decades he would ride to work on a well fettled B120P.
Perhaps he still does
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Toe
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Re: Two-stroke revival?

Post by Toe »

Now that sounds very interesting!

I'm a fan of VisioRacer on youtube so hopefully this does link to the 2 stroke search with some nice vids of 2 stroke cars and bikes (usually with all sorts of stats and facts too)
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PeteDuke
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Re: Two-stroke revival?

Post by PeteDuke »

Stealing Speed is a brilliant read.
Well recommended. As for 2 strokes - I wish I had my KH400 today.
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