Teenage Two Stroke Tearaway Tales

[Warren t claim]

So what did any self respecting 17 year old with a wet full bike licence buy in 1987?

Being both cheap and plentiful at the time I bought a Yamaha 250LC. Other options back then were the coffin tank, air cooled, Yamaha RD400, a great bike until the crank seals shit themselves. Suzuki GT380s were cheap but considered bland and gutless. Air cooled Kawasaki triples were getting rare and valuable even then so no chance of a bargain there. The Suzuki X7 was seen as a great bike, especially when fitted with Allspeed expansion pipes.

By comparison, the four stroke alternatives seemed dull. The Honda 400/4 was still a regular in the small ads for under £500. If you had a few quid you could bag yourself a Suzuki GS550, in all fairness not a bad choice. Kawasaki Z400/750 twins were both cheap and shit. Honda had the 250/400 Superdream if you wanted to lose all street cred and the CB250RS if you enjoyed top end rebuilds.

[Eddie Honda]

I agree, but Suzuki still imported the GP125.

Good point caller.

restlessnatives.jpg (215.93 KiB) Viewed 2456 times

[Warren t claim]

I can still remember a copper walking into the shop asking for false tits!

[Eddie Honda]

"Have you got any?"

[Eddie Honda]

I see that the film has just had a restoration and re-release.

That'll be the the price of GP125s gone up again.

[Warren t claim]

I see that the film has just had a restoration and re-release.

That'll be the the price of GP125s gone up again.

I blame the SNP.

[DodgeRover]

Given the easy access to porting maps on the internet I actually think I could have built quite a rapid X1. One company used to do a 50cc barrel that was unrestricted and good for about 9bhp which was about 3 times the standard.

[Warren t claim]

Given the easy access to porting maps on the internet I actually think I could have built quite a rapid X1. One company used to do a 50cc barrel that was unrestricted and good for about 9bhp which was about 3 times the standard.

A mate called Mike bought an X1 from a lad called Snotty Scotty for £40 and managed to not only derestrict it, but tune the fucker to hit 50mph. We were most impressed.

[DodgeRover]

Another friend had one with a 65cc kit and micron which have it a useful turn of speed.

In all honesty 16 year old me had absolutely no idea about tuning and no access to funds to pay for stuff which was probably why it remained so slow

[Guest]

I have only ridden one two stroke bike and I was 29, so nowhere near being a teenager. I had ridden bikes a bit in my teens, but they were thrash it around a field bikes.
I decided to take my bike test before I was 30 so went to a place on the outskirts of Bristol, where they get you through the test. Started off with a CG125 which was pretty foolproof. Unfortunately for my test I was given an MZ 125, which I had never ridden. The disc brake came as a surprise the first time I used it, when I set off on my own to the test centre. I did pass first time surprisingly, of course that meant I had to buy a bike, ending up with a Moto Guzzi V50 because I liked how it looked.

A friend's brother is more of a nutter, his first bike (which he still has somewhere) was an RD350 LC. One day after spending some tinkering time on it he took it for a run around the block, it was going so well he decided to call in to his sister. He lived in Ramsbottom, she lives in Barry. They were quite surprised when he turned up, at which point he remembered that he had left tools out in his yard and the backdoor open. He stayed the night and all his stuff was where he left it when he got home.
He still has that bike but has progressed to bigger faster stuff that he chucks down racetracks.