Merry Christmas to the 2 stroke lovers...

Dang, you turned on Bob pretty quickly, although I doubt if two-strokes are in his future. I thought the rumor was of some sort of other illness. If so, I sincerly hope he is able to beat it and return to the field of honor asap. C'mon Oddball, rooting for you.

Alright, FT500 in V-2, I was pushing for this and did send a letter to wera for its inclusion in the class. Altho I dont see the part about it being ss spec. :wow: Oh well, so be it, I say, BRING IT ON kenwithoutsex and chumsmibster.

 

Oh darn, serious talk about FT's, I really thought we could get to the bottom of this hamster debacle once and for all...

Anyway, FT's in V-2...OK, first off, what limited attention I have to focus upon anything will be centered squarely upon one CB350 and the V-1 class, as such V-2 will be my bump up class and the closest I'm likely to get to an FT is on the track or pre-grid. I'm unconcerned...Why? Because a superbike spec FT is no more intimidating, from a performance standpoint, than a superbike spec SR, of which I can think of a couple in this region, one of which I've rode, that are faster (relatively speaking for a 500 single) than stink itself.

Including the FT in V-2 does nothing more than put us squarely back in the early 80's when FT's, SR's, and RD's squared off on any given weekend in E Superbike, and subsequently in the Clubman class...A pumped up CB350 makes ponies in the high 40's, a pumped up SR makes ponies in the mid-high 40's, same for the FT...

SR's that had been leaned on had a tendency to frag cylinders, that problem is easily solved with a stud kit to properly bolt the jug down. FT's had an unnerving tendency to frag lower fork legs, this was easily alleviated by a front end swap, that could be problematic in V-2. I always ran the stock front end on mine, but I was absolutely anal about torque specs on the leading axle fork, and learned the value of replacing the little Teflon bushings at the bottom of the dampers. I don't know if this did any good but I never fragged a lower fork leg, maybe I wasn't riding it hard enough. You'd know if you ever had one go "KABLOOIE", it would look exactly like a Pillsbury Dough tube you rapped hard on a kitchen counter top...

As far as a SS spec restriction on FT's, you might as well just continue to exclude them if that restriction was implemented. An SS spec FT couldn't get out of its own way, neither could a SS spec SR for that matter. Not to mention finding one would be next to impossible unless you are building from a Craigslist find and starting from square one...Singles benefit greatly from even the simplest aftermarket mods and it's cheap to do, so almost everybody has done them, carb, cam, high-comp piston, the thing wakes up, SS-spec it's a toad...

Anyway, back in the day FT's were fast, so were SR's and RD's, back then if you put Keith Wakefield or Cliff Niblock on a moped it would be one fast moped...I can see showing up on a grid and thinking, "Oh Gawd, it's Niblock," or, "Sacre bleu, it's Wakefield, he's gonna suck the stickies off my tank," but it wouldn't be the FT that had me concerned. Look at Oldakowski or Harrison on their SR's, both past national champs, both very fast SR's, those bikes in their state of tune with them riding will eat FT's depending upon who the Honda pilot is...

So anywho, if I break my FT out it will likely be to get Bus through rider's school if necessary. I did fire off an e-mail to an old friend who used to race an FT back in the 80's, he still has the bike. He's considering coming out of hibernation this year, but he has three potential bikes that could run V-2, an FT, a CB450, and a (somebody restrain Charles here) Kawasaki S-2, 350 cc's of triple shrieking insanity that will ameliorate any flying insect problem we may have in the paddock...I think he may be leaning towards the triple as the FT as it currently sits would not be V-2 legal until he swapped out the Interceptor 500 front end for something more, well, vintage I suppose...

 

That's the most important thing you wrote. You finally saw the light.




"Go triple, go insane!"
-Jim Hinshaw, 2010

 

Don't push it, Chaz, you oil burning malcontent...I'm not advocating insanity, nor the force feeding of rodents on performance enhancing steroids, Dr. Mengele...You two stroke boffins should be required to carry on-board fire extinguisher systems and 10 pounds of dry sweep...

 

Let's see.... so the valve and spring thingies in that one may not blow up as fast in the valve and spring thingies in the other one while the big 4 stroke singles make a small mushroom cloud when they finally let go. Did I get all that right?

As much as I love my triples it would be difficult to race a 250, 350, or 400 triple to due to very poor parts availability nowadays. A better bet would probably be a A1 250 twin or a A7 350 twin. Both are rotary valve motors which properly set up can make a lot of power. I've been on the lookout for either a Kawi A1R and A7R for a while. If I track one down we'll add a little Green to the V2 grid. :up:

 

We don't need no stinkin' fire extinguishers or dry sweep!

Our own beloved Scott "Fireball" McCain has already demonstrated the acceptable 2-Stroker method of dealing with onboard fires and explosions: we simply ride it out, hoping to get across the finish line before erupting into a ball of flames or series of explosions... Only at the very last second do we dismount our machines, and only if our back protector is melting. Whenever possible, we put out the fire by hand unless our gloves have burnt off, and we never leave a dead machine in enemy territory.

 

Jimmy Triples:

Couldn't one 'sleeve down' a 500 triple to make a 350-400 triple?

 

Now there's a telling statement...English translation: IF one races a two stroke, THEN one better have a ready supply of parts...

Now why would that be? Oh yeah, Newton's often overlooked Fourth Law of Motion, a two stroke object in motion tends to explode...

 

Fixed it for you.

 

You could but it would not be legal in the V classes - only the Formula classes.

 

Why? ...like design...hybrids...updating and backdating...the 350/400 Kawi was a production street machine. What didn't I see in the RB?

 

My rules interpetation only ..... your mileage may vary.

 

I only included the ss spec portion because some didnt even think the FT should be allowed in F-500 or V-3 at all, in any trim. Now it can bump to both of those classes, more entries, more revenue...more racers, more fun.

Like I said, Bring It On.

I keep hearing of all these problems with two-strokes, siezing and holing pistons. I have NEVER experienced this on any engine I have put together, except one time when I failed to check the piston to bore clearence. It was machined below clearence specs. Not checking was my fault, not any design flaw that doesnt exist. For those who have had and keep having these problems, I say stop over building an already faster and superior in every way engine. And take better care when assembling it and these falsehoods that fourstrokers keep regurgitating, wont happen at all.

Bottom line is, two-strokes are faster,cheaper and more reliable than fourstrokes, always have been, always will be.

 

Exactly. This should bury all of the slanderous remarks made by the 'Clan of the Cave Bear'-type four-stroker miscreants, like our Lost Boys Chumbucket and Ken.

 

what about the glorious aroma, of hi-octane, and Maxima pre-mix ? ...c'mon! Hearken back to the day of the T-Zed...an endangered species ...dead, even... but not rotting. Long live the King(Kenny)...!!

 

Oh yeah, listen to the voice of reason here, the man with the hamster ranch...

Hey, I didn't say it was impossible to build a reasonably dependable two-stroke, I suppose if pressed there are probably responsible ways to enjoy heroin recreationally and juggle chainsaws as well...But given the frenetic nature of the ner-do-wells attracted to the potential benefits a two-stroke offers, internal combustion doom and DNF's are almost a foregone conclusion...Look at Charles for example, he's babbling about sleeving down a Kawi triple, do you think for one moment that he'd leave those ports alone? Well do ya? Of course not, he'd be egging on poor Mr. Hinshaw (an otherwise altogether reasonable sort), "HOG IT OUT!" his little eyes bouncing around on springs like some marine iguana...

Nothing good comes of it...It's a study in accelerated entropy driven on by speed-addled nihilists...About the best I can say is two-strokes are light, all the better to load them into the crash truck for the slow ride back to the pits...

 

Mr.Buck-it,4 strokes need to be lightened as well, to facilitate EZ loading, onto the crashtruck, AFTER the they handgrenade from trying to keep up with the fast guys,on the 2 strokes

 

Pshaw...Unless the two stroke pilot tap dances like Freddy Davis Jr., he can usually be found at the exit of any corner creating a traffic flow disruption as he frantically seeks a powerband that requires NASA-calibrated laser tools to measure...Then a squirrel farts, the air density changes minutely, and the annoying, oil belching madness squeaks to an unceremonious halt...

 

We went from Good Bob's first post to here how?

 

too many martinis.