to,those have rode 2 smokes we salute you

Man....if that's an RS, it reminds me of a riders school student I had at Grattan around '88. Suffice it to say, a new rider shouldn't start out on an RS, TZ, or any GP type bike.

 

I’ve been telling my kid (16yr old) he’ll likely be in the generation that have raced 2 strokes, 4 strokes and likely electric in the future

 

I took the riders school on a tz250. With the price of 2 strokes I'm glad I bought it when I did. It was my first road racer. I was blissfully dumb. I later bought bikes easier to ride.

Just a few years ago a guy showed up at Nelson ledges with his first attempt bike, a modified early 70s 750 Honda that looked more like a drag bike, way to low. I was in a wad of riders heading for the kink in the back straightaway. I didn't see him because of traffic. Everyone in front of me started swooping around something. I chickened out since there were bikes on both sides of me. Just barely missed him. I didn't see him the rest of the day. I suspect he quit or was told to.
Whatever you do start on an r3 or sv650 or the like.

 

I still have my priller 250 smoke show. Haven't ridden it in a couple of years and it may go up for sale soon but I love that bike. With a smaller rider (I'm 6-1 and 210#'s so basically a huge sail on the bike.) it would be a nasty little track weapon. No other feeling that I have ever experienced like a 2 smoke coming on the pipe.

 

Ape RS125 was my first race bike. It made both perfect sense and no sense at the same damn time…

 

So this was a timely post on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/motogp/com.../?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

 

Hope after all, albeit a bit pricey;

 

The student I had was on a yellow RS250. Daddy bought it for him as his first bike. Not first racebike....first BIKE. You can imagine how it went. He pitched it over the jump (witnesses claim he actually bailed off the bike on purpose when he hit the crest), and the bike was pretty trashed. His Dad comes up to me and asks who to talk to about the insurance claim. The day ended with him threatening to sue me, WERA, the owner of the track, and anybody else that might have disparaged his idiot kid for crashing the bike.

A first Gen Ninja 250 is the best first racebike. Conservation of momentum becomes an important term when you ride one of those!

 

Nothin like em.
I've had
5 RZ350s
A frankenbike RZ project now.
RZ500 w Toomey's
RG500 Gamma w Dymags $ Crawford pipes.
CR500
KX500
250 Elsinore

400 Kawi triple nothing sounds better than a 2 stroke triple...nothing! It's not even open to debate!
My Daytona Speci, Think I'm going to buy it back... Since I sold it ,it's been built to 425cc, Ported,case matched,77 Crankwerks crank,, Perfect machined DG heads,and PWKs and custom made tuned chambers.
I have to sell some bikes to make room for her....but this was her before...I don't like original anything .
But this "to me" us a street bike hooligan machine!
Plus my RZ's My current RZ, has YZR bodywork.
FZR400R Delta box swingarm.
Billet triples w Retuned RC51 inverted forks
Prolite Rotors .
Penske triple Rear shock
NSR250 Magtek rims
TZR tank.
GP side exuasts.
Engine is ??
Think I'm sticking w a 421,. Had dreams of a 100 h.p. 50 lbs tq stomper in my sub 300 lb. from a 7mm 465+cc cheetah cylinders etc.
But there's just something to be said for the stock Yamaha yvps setup I won't be racing it so no need to go f****** nuts.
.
But I bought way too many bikes..so I gotta be realistic

 

Looks like some cool DG heads on the RD... would love to see better pics of the RZ. I've got a Franken RZ350, with an '83 Canadian frame, and parts from probably 4 different racebikes. I made a bunch of billet stuff for it, just because I can, but have always had thoughts of doing a full build into something with better brakes, suspension, and a bigger motor. Problem is, adding USD forks and better brakes, adds weight to the bike.

 

Yes, it's true. They are heavier, and you do lose some of the nimbleness.
Honestly, I've never been good on Bias Ply tires, I'm just terrible?
Radials enabled me to be comfortable within my skill level..
My intentions were just to do minimal street use and track days.
I was doing a TZR /350 Delta box hybrid ..but builder and I .didn't see eye to eye, and if you know anything about two-stroke tuners builders and fabricators they are one f****** temperamental m************ they're worse than two bitching wives...
So I paused and said you know what I'm just going to keep it all pretty much RZ with updated suspension save myself $9,000
I too would love more pictures of it but since I moved and relocated she's completely disassembled down to every nut and bolt I had titanium axles machined ceramics bearings etc etc I spent a small fortune on this thing it's the longest project in history...lol hopefully later this year as I clean out some other projects I can get to it at least get in a rolling chassis so I can get to the cosmetic level

 

I had 2 different friends that rode 250's after racing 400's and it didn't go well,so I couldn't imagine trying to pick up the throttle coming out of a turn as a squid.
One of the guys was Very fast,and experienced, but had a wild hair up his ass.
He crashed a beautiful, expensive tz250 on his warm up lap,and we weren't surprised.
He did however recover and beat ass on it the rest of the season. He finished 2nd at the gnf back when the 250 field was stacked.

 

Have you ever ridden a tzr250 reverse cylinder?
That for me was the best sounding 250. It's was awesome!I wish I had bought. I test rode it and ran out of gas.I bought the 94 tzr instead.

 

I have an RZ with a gixxer front end and find the weight not really an issue but on a street bike the fatter forks block some wind getting thru the rad and temps run hotter in the summer traffic.

Being a stinkbike guy myself the garage is packed with 2 TZ 4DPs, Aprilia/RZ that needs to be complete and a tz125 with a KTM 300 motor thats almost finished.

 

You mean motorcycle engineering innovator don't cha?

 

I know what you mean, I was lucky enough to ride several TZ250s on track days, perhaps 4 hrs seat time 1 was a 89 reverse parallel, the other a later model TZ . I've ridden a RZ powered 1987 FZ600 and a NSR 250 powered by a RZ powerplant as well ..they were all just fantastic handling machines..but the TZs are just pure sublime .there's NO comparison to ANY production motorcycle..
The old Kawasaki triple cylinder 2Strokes...are music to the ears..they sound like a small block V8 w that intermittent firing cylinder. OMG..you can almost get wood listing to one..lol
link to music

 

WERA GNF Road Atlanta 199something, late in the day, kind of cold out with heavy moist air. F2 race and Lee Acree is full chat on his NSR250 on the back straight and that Honda making beautiful unique music lap after lap before he shuts it off coming up to the bridge, ahhh 2 strokes the perfect noise.

 

My Dad had an H2 that he bought new. That’s the main bike I knew as a little fella. I had 2 eventually but stupidly sold them just before the prices on those started soaring

 

Yeah...my 'street' RZ is a pretty high strung race motor from back in the day. Pre-Athena kits, and nowhere near the HP, but it was fast in the day. It's already had a few soft seizures from too much heat on the street. Anything below 8k on revs and it's a pooch, but it does rev to 11,500, and feels pretty lively up top. That motor was actually clocked at the old Road Atlanta at 146 coming into the gravity cavity.