We don't need the rules to keep the prices accessible. If the big factories are losing customers and losing money by making bikes that are too expensive and like to blow up, then they will eventually have to either change their ways, or make room for someone who knows how to make a proper bike. The fact is, if the two-strokes were at the disadvantage they are now, but were at equal-displacement, it'd be a different conversation. It would mean that in order to get passable performance, you'd need to buy a bike that blows up every ten minutes. But, the reason people put up with these things is because they've been given an unfair advantage. If the system can be hauled back to normal in terms of displacement, then eventually the superior technology (with regards to performance, cost, etc) will win out. That just happens to be the two-stroke. As long as there's a rule saying you have to race what you sell, then the factories will be limited to only racing what the buying public is willing to take. If they make a $500,000 bike from hell, they may win the championship, but winning a championship doesn't put black ink on the page when that's what you have to sell.
Everyone keeps asking why the big four would try and sell two-strokes when they have so many unsold four-strokes hanging around. The fact is, having a lot of dead-weight four-strokes is precisely the reason for them to bring two-strokes back. They're out to make money, and they will eventually realize (if they haven't already) that their customers are beginning to reject that which is expensive, and look for that which is cheap. Even if they only make 1/3 as much profit off a two-stroke (who knows what the real ratio is) you can bet your ass that they'll make more money by making two-strokes and selling them, than by making four-strokes and NOT selling them.
