Too bad, because they are typically capable, reliable and easy to use, with most having oil injection and some having electric starting. Once common, today these twins live mostly in garages rather than on the road. Yamaha built an array of 2-stroke twins from the early 1960s onward, soon followed by Kawasaki and Suzuki.

A highly coveted 2-stroke Single is the 250cc 1968 Yamaha DT-1, the first dual-purpose bike designed for America, which can garner $10,000 today. Iconic models include the chrome-tank Hodaka Ace 90 and 100, and the lovely Spanish Bultaco Metralla 200 and 250. Cute! And the choices move right up the ladder from there, satisfying both street and dirt interests.

Italian firm Fantic even sold a 50cc chopper. Suzuki offered a cool little 50cc TS50 Gaucho street/trail model, while 1980s Honda MB5 and Kawasaki’s AR50 are 50cc sportbikes. Street-legal one-cylinder 2-strokes from 50cc to 400cc can be found at relatively bargain prices. Here is a guide to the different kinds of 2-stroke street bikes.

Ingeniously, in its simplest form a 2-stroke engine has just three moving parts, and delivers power with every crankshaft revolution instead of every other revolution for a four-stroke. And today, these same virtues make many models collectible, at prices from a few hundred dollars up.įor the uninitiated, in lieu of a four-stroke engine’s valvetrain, 2-strokes use ports in the cylinder walls to transfer the air-fuel mixture into and the exhaust out of the combustion chamber. As such, in their time they were the perfect prescription for fun on two wheels. Built in vast numbers in Italy, Germany, England, Spain and especially Japan during the 1960-70s, 2-stroke bikes were relatively simple, cheap to build, and offered excellent performance for their size. We’re not talking about De Havilland biplanes here, but rather 2-stroke motorcycles. They are quick and light, smoky and loud, consume gas at a reckless rate, and will leave your jacket smelling like Eau de Castrol after a long ride. That’s good news for collectors today, as they’re cheap, plentiful and fun – and range from mild to wild. Like the horse and buggy, in their era 2-stroke motorcycles were a highly useful technology that eventually got left behind.

How does a 2 stroke work