Been contemplating wasting money and killing myself by looking to buy one just for a bit of fun.

Anybody have one for just that and NOT competing?

which CC is better?

2 stroke or 4 stroke?

piccies would be nice as well

Ta

Dave

Yes, I have husky 125 2 stroke. So much fun and not a waste of money at all, in fact it's one of the most fun toys I've ever bought.

I would like something bigger as it's not quite powerful enough now I've got quite good. It's a challenge riding a 2 stroke, you have to keep in the power band a 4 stroke is a lot easier.

is it cheap to run?

8 quid for a tank, that will last me an outing. Sometimes I need two. Parts aren't too bad. Cheap compared to mountain bikes! You can fix most of it yourself and around £80-£150 a shop service (once a year).

Can cost if you get the upgrade bug. I now have a full dep exhaust, rethal bars and other goodies.

two strokes cheaper to maintain than fourstrokes. However there is the (very) minor hassle of mixing premix. That is if you are looking at competitive stuff. Older fourstrokes run forever with regular oil changes, XR250 springs to mind. Just for messing about? What land access do you have? Is there a local practise track? Do you have a bike license?

what year is it?

Local practice track in Charnock Richard, and no I don't have a bike licence

Laughs at the idea of a cheep to run 2-stroke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a years (non compettative, on road commuting use) me an 4 friends (so about 25k between us) got through……………

3 barrels, 3 pistons

3 sets of piston rings (on the odd occasion they did enough miles between blowing up to need repacing)

2 big ends

1 small end (usualy this was replace wit the pistons anyway)

1 gearbox

5 chains and sprockets

several clutches.

Basicaly assume that whatever you put in the tank it will cost you again in parts at some point, either preventative maintnance, or it just blowing up becasue its having a bad day. Thankfuly as they blow up so often, parts are cheep.

4-stroke on the other hand…………

errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, does a new clutch lever count when i droped it?

As for what cc, a 125cc 4t will do 70mph (just), so anything above that in terms of engine size is just aceleration.

2 stroke, new clutch £80, full engine rebuild £300. Even though they break they are cheap and easy to fix. 4 stroke you will be looking at a lot more for a rebuild.

I've got through 7 clutch levers since last year!

If you look at 4 stroke then look at 400 – 450 cc but with 2 stroke 250 cc should be fine.

Mine is 2004.

I used to race karts for 15 years, so i'm quite awrae of the cost of 2 strokes. I was unsure how that related to general use on a motorbike. Seems quite similar.

In the reed valve 100cc 21,000RPM days of karting it was a new piston every meeting!!! and a new main/big end every 3!!

May I recomend a Maico 490 quite rare but if you look hard you will find one. I think it is safe to say it will be a life changing experience 😉

Dirt bikes are very expensive toys, I do trials and that is as cheap as it gets but Saturday I will drop £200 at BVM for new back tyre, clutch and some beefier fork springs.

Not sure how much parts are as it never broke down, (guess they'r comparable to 2t parts) but 4t's aren't that complicated to work on, if you can build a bike you can probably rebuild an engine. With no real training and about 3 hours I managed to have a honda 350cc air cooled pushrod engine (i.e. as simple as they get) striped into little pices (enough to change big and small end, piston, barrel, valves etc), rebuilt, all the valve clearances set, and up and running again.

That's how all university engineering interviews should be!

Is this weird- I love the smell of two-stroke 😀

I have got a dr350… love it… good thing about 4ts are, so long as you keep the oil clean they are reliable… but when they do go wrong you are looking at a big bill (on average)… I regularly put this into hedges… pull it out, get it going with no problems… I use it for greenlaneing and the odd enduro… has done my bike skills no end of good.

Like alwyn I had a 1998 Husky – wr125. Best bike I have owned… fast… you could ride it on the stops eveywhere… real quick and handles like a mountain bike… you could really push it about. But I got through a couple pistons and barrels …

you have to be prepared to get on the spanners if you want one of these as a toy…

thing is… going quick on a moto makes mountain biking seem slow

neilforrow-What do you get out of them mpg-wise? Always wondered if people get stranded/you must have pre-planned loops?

hora – depends: if I am out for a bimble on some local lanes then I will get about the 50-60 mpg… in an enduro event when you rag the tits off you can half that…

yer we have pre-planned loops with stops are garages… on a full days riding I will fill up once…

As for getting stranded… it is common… things like people dropping their bikes during river crossings (ahem)… snapping clutch levers… but we carry ratchet straps to toe people out…

it is the electrical gremlins that appear when you get 75 miles from home… and your bike just wont go… that is when it gets frustrating to say the least… the husky loved that trick!

smashed cankcases seem to be the number 1 breakdown in the peaks, seen countless poor sodds having to push bikes home.

Go for it!

If you are contemplating it, perhaps have a go on a tryout day?

I did a stag do with http://www.mxtryout.co.uk last year. What a blast! I had no idea how hooked I'd get. Wanted to buy a bike but just to make sure, booked them again for my birthday and bought a bike 5 days later!

I went 2 stroke as they are simpler, lighter and cheaper to maintain. 2 stroke is little and often, 4 stroke is infrequent but spendy (with the potential for a show stopping valve failure) so they seem to even out. For me, having ridden both back to back, the 4 stroke was easier but the 2 stroke was much more of a giggle when the power hits.

Unless you are heavy, a 125 2-stroke will be plenty fast enough and build lots of skills. 2005/2006 YZ's win lots of the mag shoot outs.

I had no plans to race, just hit local practice tracks. Now I'm faster and starting to clear doubles (was stoked to first jump the double/double rhythtm section at Apex!) I may give a local race a pop.

Costs – I'd say a typical practice session is £25 to ride. £8 in fuel and premix. Add in filter oil, gearbox oil and wear and tear you're about £42 a ride. Of course, there's always unforeseen damage on top!

Maintenance tips:
http://forums.mxtrax.co.uk/showthread.php?t=230010

Ignore postings regarding two-strokes being expensive, this is b******s. A modern four stroke s very expensive due to maintenance and even more expensive in the event of a large failure.

I would look for a 125 two-stroke, very reliable, not fast enough to get you into any real trouble and greta value. 250 if you want to go a bit/lot quicker.

Suzuki are poorly made, always have been, Yam are OK but I suggest you go for either a Honda or KTM.

….and don't worry, the engine are nothing like a TKM or 100C reed valve 🙂

As an mtbing motor-biker I'd love one, but lack of time/responsible locations/riding buddies mean that it's not practical. If I lived in mainland Europe/North America/Australia I'd have one.

Yes, 2 strokes need re-builds, but they're mechanically very simple.

moe_szyslak – Honda or KTM

+1, he is right… (even tho I ride a suzi, although that dr cost me £400)

Have a look for a KTM 200 EXC.. bit more grunt than a 125 but not full bore 250.

I had one for a few years when I lived in Cheltenham… wished I never sold that bike…

+1 on that, 200 is nice, has a lot of torque and very rideable, best of both worlds.