Some cool two stroke bike photos....

[JETZcorp]

Holy Balls!  Although I do think the YZ465 is a much better engine than the 490 (which was renowned for being hard to start, impossible to jet, and vibrated like your mom's...), the idea of taking a big, bad-ass piece of air-cooled weaponry from the past and putting it in a modern frame is a very cool idea that I'd like to see more often.  It's a big step in bringing things back to the good old days of awesome.  Next step is to get rid of the plastic spikes and replace the recycled-beer-can frame with some proper, manly steel.

[scottydog]

I'm not sure if its up and running yet?
Yeah I've heard that the 465 was a better donk, I know my WR 500 was bitch to get right.

Just before I seen this I was reminiscing about the WR 500 and thinking of doing something along the same lines.
I've got a 01 rm 125 that im tempted to do something to, was thinking a PE 400 motor? (I have no idea if they were any good?)

Any suggestions on a good motor would be most helpful.

[JETZcorp]

The best motor you can get is the 1981 Maico 490.  Flat-out.

[JohnN]

I guess my thing is that I'm a bit sensitive to seeing someone go through a lot of effort to give something credentials it doesn't have.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting that the bike has been made to be very capable, but that's not the thing that it's getting attention for.  It gets attention for being different and flamboyant, rather like someone showing up to a formal function in a brightly colored tuxedo.  In my idea of a perfect world, there wouldn't be a market for "false sponsor" stickers and flamboyant tires, because people would look past that and appreciate what really makes the bike go.

I'd like to take a page from the world of fast cars.  The exterior is simple and stylish, but what really sets it apart is the piece of equipment under the hood.  People don't adorn these things with stickers unless they're being paid to do so.  There's a Calvin & Hobbs cartoon in which Calvin wants a shirt with a company logo on it.  "It says to the world, this company has manipulated me so much, I will pay THEM to advertise for them!"

So, I suppose if you were to condense this all down into one pithy statement, it would be this.  I don't like anything added to a bike or other serious piece of machinery that's there to distract from the things that really matter.  When people see that YZ, they instantly think, "Wow, blue tires!  He must be compensating for something!"  Even if you managed to get 55 horses from that thing, all that true performance work would be completely overshadowed by the aesthetic elephants of cotton-candy-knobbies.

If my opinion may seem a bit strong, that's because it is.  I believe that when one softens their statements, they come dangerously close to the sort of censorship that has struck the Bike Magazine industry.  At what point does the true opinion, "I think X is ridiculous," get transformed into, "X is sure to make great waves in pit lane?"  That's my take, anyway, and I expect the same thing from everyone else.  If 80% of everyone thinks my bike is ugly, I don't want to hear from just 20% of the people.  It leads to delusion; because being ridiculed is a great way to tell whether you're doing something ridiculous.

LOL now that was funny!
Dude if everyone had the same mind set as you the world would be a bloody boring place thats for sure.

Anyway back to bike pics

spotted this the other day a RMZ 450/YZ 490, now its not to pretty but still cool in my books.

That is one interesting looking machine! It could use a really good cleaning (clean bikes run better!) and a new pipe... cool machine!

[ford832]

Blue tires?  Blue chain?  I'm sorry, but that's gone beyond the normal level of stupid.  Now we're getting to the stage where that bike can be compared to a Honda Civic with 50 horsepower, seven spoilers, and underglow.  I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone, but that bike seriously belongs parked next to the Ball Pit at McDonald's.

Actually,I like it.Well,actually,I don't but what I do like is somebody doing something different to their bike so I can gawk at it.To each his own and all that .I think it would be pretty dull if everyone left their bike stone stock although as I get older my tastes tend to lean more toward stripped down and basic than they used to.Still, I like seeing other people do their bikes up,whether I like it or not.After all,if you weren't somewhat individualistic,you wouldn't be riding a dirt bike bike in the first place-or a two stroke for that matter.

[maicoman009]

The owner of that RMZ/YZ-490 rigged bike needs to take that "Hot Cams" sticker off of the radiator shroud!!!It just don't belong on a bike with a YZ-490 2t engine!

[opfermanmotors]

The mid 80s Honda CRs looked awesome IMHO, that stock CR250 picture is just badass.

[JETZcorp]

I never really liked Honda's "Blue Seat" look, and the fact that M-Stars followed that style like a lost puppy in 1986 makes it worse.  I actually prefer the look of a full-on modern bike over the mid-'80s generation.  They're growing on me, but the blue-on-red just doesn't do it for me.  A black seat cover would go a very long way, in my opinion.

[opfermanmotors]

I like those blue seat covers and the red plastic.  Infact when I got my CR500 I changed the seat cover to stock (it was a newer 90s one).  I don't like the new bike look at all, its actually growing further away from me!

My CR500 looked like this when I first got it:


Then I changed it to this:


I was going to change the side plates to red and I actually ordered them.  However, after 2 months of waiting they still never came into motosport so I canceled the order.  The white side plates didn't look too bad once I had already gotten the new rad shrouds, those were absolutely stupid looking in white with a red tank.

I don't like the blue frame, would have prefered to paint it back to red but a water cooled bike is a bit too much work to tear down.

I had the cylinder off and back on my KTM 495 the other day real quick, couldn't even think about that on my CR500 with the water cooling, especially given that it's not O-Ring sealed.  Newer bikes are even worse, you couldn't get at the cylinder with a crow bar, you need to dismantle everything from the valve stem of the rear tire to your neighbor's bed post to just even change the spark plug!

[opfermanmotors]

[RideRedMx2]

For the vintage fans.....

Man i had one of these back in 87 i wish i would have never gotten rid of it they look so cool

[admiral]

For the vintage fans.....

ahh, the '87 CR250. i had one. great bike.

[JETZcorp]

I have to admit, that black motor just looks deadly.  Why doesn't anyone seem to paint their engines anymore?

[Rota Ash]

that first YZ and the DC RM 250 both look friggin awesome!!