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Which Bike? Comments and Questions on what is the best bike for YOU, for YOUR trip. Note that we believe that ANY bike will do, so please remember that it's all down to PERSONAL OPINION. Technical Questions for all brands go in their own forum.
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  #1  
Old 12 Oct 2008
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2 stroke touring
Hey hubbers!

It's been a while since I last posted, been a bit busy and whatnot. Finally sold the Triumph Tiger off (pheeewww!) and a set of events got me buying a 2 stroke Kawasaki (kdx250) dirt bike a couple of days later.

2 stroke is a new things to me and I'm still getting used to the idea of a bike with no on-board electrics, kick-start, wildly high revvs, nimble weight and crazy acceleration.

Now, the take home message I've got from this forum is that everything is possible and any bike can do any trip, if ridden right, maintained well and common sense prevails. However, discussing the potential of a long distance stint on the KDX250, friend telling me that the engine will burn-out/jam-up if ridden for a long time.

I just need some validation from someone with some experience with 2 strokes and touring to tell me whether this is true or not, prior to me spending lots of time/money/effort on modding this bike for next summer.

So over to you guys, cheers!!
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  #2  
Old 13 Oct 2008
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I asked if people had done this a while ago, I definitely wouldn't recommend it personally as they seize, foul plugs and tear up tires. A 250cc needs a new piston every 30 hours or so competitively, I would say approximately 50 hours to be safe, if you put it off then it will seize and scratch the bore you will be up for heaps of $$ (been there ). The KDX is a strong, powerful and cheap forest rider though, you won't regret owning it if you keep up with the maintenance but it's not made for long trips (the vibration would get to ya too).
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Old 13 Oct 2008
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I've personal toured on a 175 two stroke .. with me the engine did 20,000 miles from new .. orignal bore and piston and I traded it in .. the sales guy said it was a very strong bike engine wise and asked what rebore it was on .. he was amazed.

That said I've no personal knowledge of the kdx250 so cannot comment more ..

The only problem I found tourning with the two stroke was finding two stroke oil..
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  #4  
Old 13 Oct 2008
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Back in the early '90's I put 20-odd thousand miles on an MZ in a year. It was a mixture of London Traffic and full throttle motorway runs back home. It broke down once, way less than the BMW that replaced it. Yes it can be done, although I would say that MZ was a particularly good example.

The trouble is, you are running a highly strung motor basically designed to wring the last HP out of the capacity. Keep it tuned, use decent oil and go at the pace it's happy with and they work. Get anything out of whack, or misuse it and rather than a bit of wear, you get destruction. If you can detect weak mixture by the smell of the exhaust and can take a head off for a decoke/piston change in your sleep go for it. If not there are other bikes you might be happier with.

You also have the issue of fuel. The MZ could turn in less than 40 MPG at times, the BMW F650 averaged 60 and there was no need to go hunting supplies of oil.

Andy
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  #5  
Old 13 Oct 2008
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Hey guys, Thanks for your comments, I posted a similar query out on thumpertalk to see what the overall view was. I think I made a slight error of judgement on 2 strokes. I thought the only difference between the two was how the engines run, hadn't factored the other variables (that I wasn't aware of) into the equation.

However, I like this bike, it really is a fun thing to ride, it's reliable (starts with 1-2 kicks) and simple (mechanics that a child could do), worthless (making it not a theft trap), and a great conversation piece when parking up in the centre of london (covered in mud with nobblies)... and did i mention nothing on the insurance?

Anyhow, with the left over money from the Triumph sale I still can buy another bike, I'll keep the 2 stroke as a back-up bike whilst I'm doing-up whatever the next bike is for my trip next summer.

As a certain Mr Pirsig would put it: this bike is a "gumption"-full bike, even if it makes no rational sense to others, it's worth keeping.
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Old 14 Oct 2008
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Neil, ignore the negative comments here and stick with the two stroke. The facts are that I spent two years on the road on my Yamaha RD350 (2 stroke twin road bike) in the mid-late seventies.

The RD was the proverbial pocket rocket of its time and I used to race mine locally (at Philip Island) before I stuck it on a ship to Singapore, rode it two-up to Europe, around Eastern Europe and then down through the Sahara to South Africa.

By the time I replaced the pistons (fractured due to sucking in water on a river crossing in Kenya) I had covered over 40,000km - which equated to around 700 hours of riding. I leaned out the jets to improve fuel economy and averaged 5l/100kms (56mpg) and she would run on anything - even on kero in Africa!

Lightweight (well before I loaded all the crap I carried on her), reliable, easy to repair (I tore down the motor in a hotel room in Nairobi with only a shifter, allen key, set of pliers and spark plug socket - I'd lost all the other tools in that infamous river) and great fun to ride.

I still own the old girl - she's been sitting in my shed now for 30 years.

Garry from Oz.
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