If you understand how to get the best out of them they are very rewarding certainly in their power output.
Starting with the reliable plodder of a Villiers 175 or 197 I forget which I progressed to the Villiers 2T which was one of the best of that era if you knew how to make the most of it.
F;rinstancee two strokes work best under load so if you want to really see what she'll do you need an incline to find out.
It was Degner an East German rider and mechanic who cracked the big secret of two stroke power through specially shaped exhausts.
However unyil that one became universally known other companies tried their own ideas such as Kawasaki's disc valve system which cleverly kept the crankcase mixture from leaking away.
Yamaha went with reed valves which were simpler, cheaper and did just as well but it was outsider loom maker Suzuki who really benefitted from Degners revelations.
I mentioned Ricardo because he was used by Triumph motorcycles amongst others to produce the most power from their engines. If memory serves Ricardos obsession was with valve timing and valve area, he liked 8 valve heads on twins amongst other things like minimising weight.
I've owned or ridden all of the bikes referred to but the Suzuki was the best by far. The RD series Yamahas didnt have the reliability of Suzuki and Kawasaki have always gone their own way and very successfully too. I've always thought that the big K used BSA engineering as their role model whereas Yamaha were fans of Triumphs approach.
Alex will remember my old BSA 500 A7 which took everything in its stride and never let me down, she was a faithful old lump not as fast as a Triumph by a few mph but she'd keep it up and the Triumph would always eventually fade.
Gods how I miss my 1500cc Vulcan Classic the cruiser that thinks its a sportbike. Brilliant power, superb handling, gorgeous looks, sigh.
What a lucky man I am to have a wife that bought me that machine as well as my W650. Enfield 500 and Honda 750.
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