Hey Guys,
I'm sure this is a very efficient engine.
If the only things that make you excited about owning and riding a 2 stroke conveyance are:
1. The fact that it combusts on each downstroke of the piston, and that *every single revolution of the crank has a power stroke. *(Single Cylinder)
2. It burns fuel.
:then maybe this is exciting for you.
Personally, a couple matches on dry technical parameters are not enough for me.
I feel that engines like this are an almost complete departure from everything that makes people passionate about their 2 strokes, and vigilant enough to fight to preserve the right to own and ride them, and to have access to them in the future along with the alternatives. This thing hardly even resembles a 2 stroke.
A while ago, in another thread about Direct Injection, someone posted about a 600cc Direct Injection sled and pointed the way to some videos of it on YouTube.
Well, that thing sounded like an electric toothbrush inside a toaster oven, crossed with a hopped up pool filter. Am I supposed to get excited about that instead of the wail of my YZ's? I can't see that happening.
The video showed the Direct injection sled running with another sled, either conventional 2 stroke or 4 stroke. The two appeared to have very similar performance, with neither one really looking superior. Tell you the truth I don't remember if the other sled was 2 or 4 stroke, because I was too put off by the neutered DI 2 stroke that was supposed to be the star of the video.
How about the power? The DI numbers are impressive, but isn't it just as much about the way the engine serves it up? It is for me... If just any horsepower would do, why care as much as we do about 2 stroke as an alternative to 4 stroke? Why not just "Get it straight with Honda!" ....And don't start with some crap about "You can program the power curve! It can be either a mop bucket for when grandma rides, or they also have the Rick Johnson CR500 module at the dealer... You just plug it in and... WHAM-O! Exciting power!..." Atari Cartridge power bands are phone sex. A big part of the fun and excitement of riding a 2 stroke has always been the unique topography of the power curve, and the fact that a skilled rider learns his engine and knows how to work with it... Without some electronic mediating committee in the pipeline between you and your vehicle to negotiate rider input and engine response. Fuck that.
Then there's the new cylinder head... WOW! you mean now WE 2 stroke guys would get to have engines with a 10 or 11 inch tall, 6 layer wedding cake of a cylinder sticking up above our cases? Sounds like "AMA MowerCross" the 2 stroke version. Whoa!.. What's next? Will they tilt the weddng cake back 4 degrees, off center to the crankshaft, and put the fuel boiling tank under the seat? And the airbox in the space where the old fuel boiling tank was? Only one thing's missing... "Unicam Technology"
Well... No thanks, I think what I've got right now is better, and simpler, and more reliable.
What about the EPA and all that crap? Hmmmm.... While it might be nice to be able to go into a dealer and get a new dualsport bike with one of these Eunuch 2 stoke engines in it, I could never really say it would be exciting... What IS exciting to me with regard to the EPA vs 2 Stroke conflict in the USA is the fact that there are so many loopholes allowing us to get REAL 2 STROKES only a handfull of years old if we want them. Gas Gas EC's, KTM200EXC-GS's from England and Singapore, Suzuki RMX250ST's and HondaCRM250's of 3 different types from Japan's domestic market, just to name a few. Actually, it works with ANY KTM of any age because of the way the papers are written, The 200EXC-GS just caters to my preference for volumetric oil injection.
Maybe there are 3 types of engine. The 2 Stroke, the 4 Stroke, and the Eunuch 2 Stroke.
No castor smell... No Crank Case Scavenging... Difficult to recognize with your eyes. Difficult to recognize with your ears... Difficult to recognize with your throttle hand...
We had excellent, vibrant, reliable bikes for a long time and then along came some manufacturers, some stupid motorcycles, and a media blitz and now we find ourselves awash in a sea of crappy, complicated, perfectly boring motorcycles... Now, here comes another wave...
If we want to be able to enjoy riding 2 stroke motocycles, it might be time to stop letting people sell us one stupid idea after another.
Thanks,
Jim