Why Four-Strokes? - Feature Review - Dirt Rider Magazine

Dear Dirt Rider,Your article on sound was very enlightening (January 2006). It had many good points. One thing overlooked is the question why? Why are we riding four-strokes? Why are we riding bikes that are 30 to 40 pounds heavier than a two stroke? Why are we riding machines that feel like teeter-totters on single track because of engine braking? Why are we riding bikes that require hours of maintenance and scatter like cockroaches in the light when they aren't maintained? And finally, why are we riding motorcycles that annoy the living #%@! out of everyone within a light year? Please don't tell me it's an air pollution issue; my big block Suburban spews more filth warming up in the driveway than my 300 MXC does all weekend.Dirk

Dirk,We ride them because they have twice the usable rpm range of power delivery, they get better traction (especially on low traction surfaces), they can be only 10-pounds heavier and most of all, they are new and exciting, not old and boring. You don't have to mix the gas, you can get a green sticker for some of them, and all the top racers seem to ride them in SX and MX. I really like the ones that have electric starting, even with the weight gain. Most riders properly maintain their bikes with few problems. The bikes blowing to pieces is exaggerated due to the power of the internet. In fact with the rapid growth of the off-road bike segment and so many unit sales, you be hard pressed to find any information showing that the parts sales increase is as big as the bike sales boom has been, and there has been plenty of time for all those bikes to "blow up" if the fuse were truly so short.The sound is an issue. We need to collectively get our asses in line here or it will be a big problem—bigger than it already is. But the same dimwits who run loud stuff on their four-stroke are the same guys who ran shorty, unpacked mufflers on their two-strokes, too. The sound wave wasn't as powerful to others as the four-stroke one is. Believe it or not, the pollution issue was the "politically correct" path that started the four-stroke movement, but as soon as the light was turned on, four-stroke development never dimmed.Yes, there are still places where two-strokes will never loose flavor. Right now I have the most fun on 250cc two-strokes on the MX track and wouldn't think about racing anything but a two-stroke at a GNCC given the choice. But I prefer riding a four-stroke on the trails and would never dream of going to Baja on a bike I had to mix the gas for.Don't tell anyone, but the oil I drain out of my four-stroke not only costs more the oil I'd be mixing in my gas, but I also use more of it per gallon of fuel burned. Use that argument next time and it will get you farther before you seize in arguments with your thumper-riding friends...Just Ride,
Jimmy Lewis