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Joined: Feb 23, 2007 Posts: 1045 Location: Orlando, FL
Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 11:55 am Post subject:
Yeah, tough crowd...
I, too, am now a confirmed 4-stroke guy. I had the jones for a 2-stroke and was coincidentally given a '77 Hodaka 250SL enduro.
I did a full resurrection on it including crank rebuild, seals and bearings, bore 'n hone, full frame-apart cosmetic refresh, etc.
Overall, it was exactly what you'd expect - thirsty, noisy, buzzy, messy, peaky and a real attention getter. Fun enough but not a good long-term companion. After 6 months, that fever had burnt itself out and bike was sold off to a regular Hodaka enthusiast. I don't think either of us (seller nor buyer) has regretted it.
So, snatch it up because that's a screamin' good deal, but DON'T think it's going to make anything other than a once-in-a-while companion... Just my two cents.
Joined: May 07, 2010 Posts: 299 Location: Gadsden, Alabama
Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:58 pm Post subject:
As much as I do enjoy just getting on my inline 4cycle bikes, NOTHING could take the place of my lil 2cycle screamers.
I'm still a kid at heart and my greatest goal, bike wise, is to regain my past bikes. Most of these are 2strokes. Just the feel of a "little 250" begging and peak happy, pulling the front up on occasion because you held a gear a tad too long. Admittedly, it's not so often in my second set of younger days, but I do still enjoy a little thrill ride on the private passes now and then.
On the other hand, If I'm going for a couple days ride, the 2cycles get to watch me leave on something more tour happy.
I remember the first time I had to build the top end on a 4cycle. I was in for serious sticker shock over how cheap 2cycles were to build. The catch is that building the 2cycles was more along the maintenance line as it was certainly often by comparison.
I used to keep a set of bored jugs, with ringed matching pistons and gaskets sitting on the shelf for the blue H2. Sad to admit it, but I bet I went to max on 6 or 8 sets of jugs for that thing before I finally joined the military and my family got rid of it. In hind sight, I should have rented a storage building for both H2s and the 250 triple, as they had tried for years to get me to "get rid of those dangerous toys".
In time I hope to regain something of a similar collection of them (too bad not nearly as cheaply as back then). Sadly, I doubt I'll ever run across another Kawasaki 250 triple that I could actually afford to own. I actually know the man who owns my old 250. It's in the UK now _________________ "There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can."
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it."
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
Henry Ford
I've owned a lot of both 2 and 4 stroke bikes. For touring a Suzuki GT750 was hard to beat. The torque curve was every bit as flat as a 750 honda four in fact I think the GT750 2 stroke had even more midrange. If development would have continued on the 2 strokes, we would have some very light weight modern bikes today. Fuel injection technology has progressed enough to make clean 2 strokes as long as you limit RPM to around 10,000.
The newest 2 stroke I've owned was an RG500 Suzuki Gamma. 4 cylinder rotory valved liquid cooled GP replica. Raced it for years then put it on the street. It was smooth, reliable, faster then GSXR750s and the most fun of all the bikes I've ever owned. After retiring from racing I took the Gamma and a new at the time Ducati 996 to the track and after riding both discovered that even though the Gamma was more fun, the V twin 4 stroke Ducati was so much easier to ride fast I sold the Gamma. Big mistake. Now the only 2 stroke I own is a 1974 TZ750 Yamaha racer. It sits covered next to three modern 4 strokers, 2 track and one street. As nice as the 4 strokes are, the TZ makes me laugh out loud every time I start it. For me, there is nothing like a purpose built 2 stroke racer. Give it a listen on this link.
Joined: Dec 13, 2008 Posts: 245 Location: Victoria, BC
Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2010 7:04 am Post subject:
Love the TZ's
I am trying to track down a gamma up here in no man’s land that was supposed to be tucked away in a trailer somewhere...they are superb bikes.
To each his own, but I think being type A all my life I just need to ride two strokes…dirt and highway.
I like looking at the sleepy bikes and helping my friends build them but they just don’t get my heart going. _________________ To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
I had a friend who had an H1 (see first bike stories) and always wanted one. One day in the mid-80s I was driving around in our town and I saw it-an H1 sitting at the edge of a driveway with a "Free" sign on it. Clear Title too. After getting it home, I spent the next week or so freeing up the motor. Finally got it running over the next year and it sounded awesome with the Denco expansion chambers. But it would not go in gear. It sat. So I sold it.
Now I would be happy just to have the original ad for the first year with the H1 in front of all the muscle cars of the day saying how much faster (12.9 quarter?) and cheaper ($999?) it was.
Larry _________________ ´73 Honda CB350G
´72(1) Honda SL100K1
Joined: Jan 19, 2007 Posts: 493 Location: Burbank,CA/Lake Havasu City,AZ
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 7:01 pm Post subject:
Steve Searles wrote:
My 2 cents. These bikes I guess are not for me. Two guys rode in to the local bike show last weekend with H2 750s and what a mess. Oil all over the exhaust pipes. Leaking from the exhaust. Smoking badly and loud. Almost rat bikes due to hard to keep them clean with the oil spatter. Guy couldn't start it when he went to leave. Flooded. Had to push it to get it going. Nope. I will stick to my nice smooth, quiet inline four strokes with electric start. Just my opinion. If you want a bike to just sit and display, never start it or ride it and have it appreciate in value then I would consider one. That's just me, a japanese motorcycle addict for 30 years.
That's strange.........my '74 H2 lights off on the 2nd kick cold and 1st kick hot........smokes some when cold but no smoke when hot..........chamber tips go tan after a long putt(I use 112 Sunoco race gas)and no oiling issues on my bike. Agreed on shitty mileage.......best I've gotten is 22mpg.
I'll keep mine....... _________________
And it was loud,
Like a trashcan cherry bomb,
Like a storm before the calm,
.....it was loud!
-"LOUD" by Sammy Hagar
2009
Joined: Dec 13, 2008 Posts: 245 Location: Victoria, BC
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 5:33 am Post subject:
a lot of my buddies were getting 34 to 42 mpg this year on there H1's and H2's.
and no, they don't drive like little gammas.
Mine is a different story and i won't go there. _________________ To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
Joined: Dec 26, 2007 Posts: 1283 Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:20 am Post subject:
H2Lou wrote:
a lot of my buddies were getting 34 to 42 mpg this year on there H1's and H2's.
and no, they don't drive like little gammas.
Assuming your memory is accurate, they were either fibbing, didn't know how to calculate fuel consumption, or they started at the top of a 42 mile long hill and coasted all the way down in neutral. 34 MPG? That's possible at a steady 55 mph cruise. But 42 MPG? That never happened on a H1 or H2, regardless of what your buddies may have told you. But most folks who bought these bikes bought them for the acceleration rush, not for touring. And with gas at around 35 cents a gallon, most owners didn't give a crap about the fuel mileage... unless they thought they'd bought a touring bike. The dealership I worked in had a lot of trade-ins of H2s for Z1s and even for the KZ750 twins, just for the extended touring range.
Stu
Last edited by Bikegeezer on Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:48 am; edited 2 times in total
Joined: Dec 13, 2008 Posts: 245 Location: Victoria, BC
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:42 am Post subject:
Whoa boy, put your testosterone down.
Just because, you or your friends never did get good gas mileage or were able to ride long distances, we most certainly do.
This is my buddy Rick Brett
The leading expert on all things triple related.
He gets 40 plus mpg on his h2 as do most of us that ride these bikes now a day.
Were slow to learn, it took us 40 years to get there.
The myth of how rotten these bikes are…they are just that, myth.
You may go on here and ask your mpg question from any of the guys…they don’t bite and please don’t be afraid of what you don’t know.
Joined: Dec 26, 2007 Posts: 1283 Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:53 am Post subject:
I have no testosterone issues, Lou. Just relating my experiences from back then as a working dealership mechanic and for a short while as a DSM. I'm not disrespecting your love of the triples. But you and your like-minded friends know how to ride them and work on them. Most folks, both then and now don't. And they don't care to learn, because the 4-strokes are so much easier to ride well, are thriftier on gas, and are far less maintenance intensive. There's a reason why Honda outsold the other 3 Jap companies combined back then, and it wasn't due to lower emissions. If you've learned how, in the past 40 years, to get 40 MPG from a H2 without strangling the power, then more power to you (pun intended). Trust me - if Kawasaki had known how to do that back then, they'd have done it. They tried to make the KH models more tour-friendly, but only succeeded in strangling the bikes' power.
Joined: Dec 13, 2008 Posts: 245 Location: Victoria, BC
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:10 am Post subject:
No problem Stu
So true.
They needed to down play the H series bikes so they would go away and not be missed.
They even changed the info on the dealer sheets to make the Z1's, KZ seem more desirable.
If left alone and they were able to be developed like the TZ’s …wow the power to weigh ratio would be mind boggling. _________________ To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
Most triples that came into the dealership I worked at had shorter gearing than stock. The bike was marketed as a performance bike so naturally lowering the gearing was very common. I don't remember how mine was geared as it changed a lot as it was modified and used as a road racer but I'm sure it was taller than stock. I can see a stock geared H1 getting mid 40's on MPG. I know mine was comparable to my friends CB750.
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