New Fantics

[SwapperMX]

We may be witnessing a trend.Typically the smaller companies will jump into a niche market first, a good example being the Husaberg and Husqvarna four strokes that preceeded the YZ400 four stroke.

I like your thinking !!

[evo550]

A street-legal 300cc 2 stroke for the Aussies? Those lucky b*stards!!

I think there are a few older ktm 380s on the road down there too

How about a road legal CR500 !!! Straight off the showroom floor a few years ago.

[burn1986]

Yeah, Sachs definitley hit on a possible trend.

[JohnN]

Where did these things come from. Its like all these little countries have a some dark corner with a cool 2-stroke in it, but you almost never hear or see anything about them racing or otherwise. You have to wonder why these companies are building 2-strokes.

Burn - You bring up a good point. But one thing I noticed is that at least on the Internet, very few people post information. Of course there are many that do, but I think you would be surprised at how many do not. What does happen is that people read stuff on the Internet than tell their friends that do not read stuff on the Internet. This is how your little petition spread so far.

I had heard rumors that people very high up in the Industry had heard about it and were concerned about it. In many cases they do not even look at the message boards or anything else.

How does this apply to your question above? I think that many of these small countries have markets for these machines and they sell enough to make a living. But not everyone that buys a bike is interested in posting photos, videos or writing about their experiences. So the folks that do write are a much smaller group in the scheme of things than you might imagine.

What I've noticed is that many racers can not really write. This is not a dig, just an observation. So if you knew that you didn't write well, why would you write something to be posted on the internet for all to see? It could be embarrassing!

Using this information you can see why texting has taken off... you don't really have to write.. just some words to express something.

As for why we don't hear more about these small companies that makes bikes... it's kind of simple actually. The magazines have very little reason to "promote" them when the companies do not have enough money to advertise in the magazines.

Which brings us to the reason that I started this web-site. At the time I began there were NO sites that were dedicated to two-stroke motocross on the web. Not to say that this site is solely responsible for the slow realization that two-strokes are still viable, but I think it helped.

Now if I could just get some of you guys to write small articles, say about these bikes or the Zundapps. Or even the Race at Reynard's track with Travis Pastrana, we could make this site even better. Anyone up to the challenge? You can change the world with you ideas!

[opfermanmotors]

This is most definately true and what I have thought about for a long time.  Everyone always wonders why there aren't any pictures of so called "rare bikes", well those bikes obviously DO EXIST even if there were only ~100 of them made. 

Just think about it; how many Maico 501's were made?  Almost 1000.  Someone DOES have to have one and infact I've seen them before in person.  It's not like these bikes don't exist but not everyone says "la de da let me take some photos and videos and dedicate a website to my bike and here's tons of information and virtual reality rides and games based on my bike!  And let me submit articles to magainzes (whom may not even consider publishing b/c they are hard core only print info on brand new four strokes)"  Unlike me 

I mean, the biggest Maico site used to be http://www.maicomadness.com/ which hasn't been updated in 10 YEARS.  So, my thought was along with John's there are several reasons why ppl don't post videos or photos. 

1. They don't feel like it. 

I mean, why would they even want to do such a thing?  Maybe they don't even have internet or have their own site or know where to post them.  They just ride and that's it or it's just too much trouble.

2. They don't have a camera or they have an older computer.

Without proper equipement you aren't going to be posting anything.

3. They can't write.

So as John said they aren't going to write any articles about their new or rare bike.

4. They aren't technically or web savvy so they aren't going to put up a web page. 

Half of those websites you see out there look like crap and are rarely ever even updated!  There's websites that still have bikes listed they sold years ago.  If they aren't web savvy they would have to pay someone to do it or they would open up a website on a crappy server like GEOshitties that has a ton of ads and their website would look like a myspace page (i.e. someone puked on a webpage).
 
There's two parts of maintaining a webpage.  The first is the technical ability to implement the features and whatever advanced stuff you want to do.  Some of this can be automated through tools or purchase of your own professional.  The second is the artistic ability to create a nice usable webpage that is aesthetically appealing and easy to use.  That portion you can buy also though or get free webtemplates (which I do) but you then go back tot he technical ability to modify those pages.

This is one of the reasons I was able to get one of my sites so popular www.maicowerk.com.  In fact, ppl sometimes email me asking for parts even though I clearly state on my page I'm not a shop, I don't sell parts and this is my personal page.  But I take the time to scan in rare documents (like maico manuals and spares lists) and put them on the site for anyone to view for free.  I'm probably not the only one with these documents but when I get them I provide them out.  If everyone who had a copy scanned them in we'd have a lot more maico manuals downloable for free!