Two stroke street bikes?

Not a street bike, but one of the coolest two stroke motorcycles ever was the Tularis: http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2006/04/21/tul-aris-two-stroke-racer/ It was built by a guy here in Minneapolis and uses a Polaris snowmobile engine. I've seen it in person, and the build quality is awesome. There's a short video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DlBdNAXz0A

Nitroracer wrote: My Dad has been working on this bike for a year or two now, 77' RD400 with 96' FZR forks and swing arm along with a race ported engine. It'll scoot. Still a project.

This is exactly what I want to do. Does anyone have an RD lying around they'd like to part with? As long as it's complete with a title, I'm interested.

That RD is sexy. I just wish I fit better on them....they're like 7/8ths scale of what is comfortable for me.

Anyone know if the RD400 was any more roomy ergonomically than the R5 and the RD350?

Fun fact: ride a two stroke long enough and you end up smelling like a lawn mower.

I've had and run both RD's and a RZ 350. The powerband gets in your soul. I'd suggest either looking to Canadian models in the US, or a Supermotard conversion with lights if you're looking for a newer bike. Sticky titling either way, but a rewarding ride. My brother had a Suzuki GT550, and I a GT 350, but neither was ever fully sorted-neat kinda big bikes, though. The GT 750 "water buffalo" was a 3 cylinder two stroke that was near bulletproof, and torquey, I'm told. Would make a great donor for a modern chassis.

I had an H2 750 that looked a lot like the pic below. It had a custom British roadracing frame with an aftermarket head that put it in the 800cc+ range, can't remember. At the time the tires available were too small and even the custom frame wasn't all that great for corners. Not to mention I wasn't nearly good enough for such an insane bike. It idled at over 3,000 rpm and the sound was absolutely unbelievable.

The very first H series 750s (blue tank) had a weird problem in that they cornered completely differently left vs. right. CYCLE WORLD had a long term test bike which they were scared to corner hard because of this. They discovered that the front and rear wheels were not centered with each other, IIRC the rear wheel was out of line 3/4". They took the rear wheel to a shop which shifted the rim on the hub by loosening/tightening spokes and they said that made all the difference in the world.

psteav wrote: That RD is sexy. I just wish I fit better on them....they're like 7/8ths scale of what is comfortable for me. Anyone know if the RD400 was any more roomy ergonomically than the R5 and the RD350?

The 400 was definitely larger than the 350 or the R5, but not by a lot. There's really no question--for street use you want the 400.

^^ Looks like a first CANOE with sprockets.

Something else about the RD350: way back when the Honda 750 Four dominated road racing here in the Great Satan. Yamaha had no 750 but the RD was easily as quick as the CB750. So they entered (IIRC), 5 TZ350's (RD based works road racer) in the 750 class at the Daytona 200 in 1971. Ballsy move. Only problem was, Yamaha's race engineers kept telling the brass the engines would not last but the marketing guys insisted on running them anyway. All 5 bikes broke cranks before the halfway point. It was known as the 'Daytona Disaster'. But in 1972 a TZ350 won the 200 outright.

therex wrote: This is exactly what I want to do. Does anyone have an RD lying around they'd like to part with? As long as it's complete with a title, I'm interested.

There is an RD200 in the Richmond Craig's List right now.

This thread brings back a lot of good memories. At one time or another, I've owned or done porting work to most of the bikes listed. I'm sure that I have ported at least 1000 Kawasaki cylinders and milled and reshaped the combustion chambers of as many heads. 95hp out of the H2 was cheap and easy, 120hp easy but extra money for the required 34mm carbs, and 138 or 149hp possible but required milling the back of the cylinders off and 38mm carbs.

I had several H2 drag bikes, including the Denco triple engined H2. Sure wish I had kept that one. I made a coffee table out of the engine pod and bare blocks and still have parts that connected the engines.

There are pics of one of the drag biles and the triple engined bike on my website under "Other vehicles" album. Bike pictures were scanned so not the best quality. No digital cameras in 1975.

http://wlbsite.com

That 'triple triple' is scary looking!

Woody wrote:

Ian F wrote: My mother's husband has a early 70's Kawasaki H1 in the garage... 3 cylinder 500cc 2-stroke... from what I've read it was a monster in it's day... don't ask it to stop or turn, but in a straight line it could more than get out of it's own way...

My neighbor has had Kawasaki Mach III since new. Loudest bike I've ever heard. When he leaves, you can hear him for about two miles. Seriously. He's mentioned that it's hard to keep the center cylinder cool.

I had a Kaw Mach lll with many go fast mods... would out run KZ 1000's stop light to stop light... but as Ian F wrote.... don't ask it to stop or turn

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Jensenman wrote: That 'triple triple' is scary looking!

According to Boris Murray, who rode the bike, it was an easy bike to ride. It had a B and J two speed automatic transmission out of a funny car and a Crowerglide dual disc clutch, also out of a funny car. It did 8.2 at 170 mph on a 6 inch tire. Had 450 hp and in it's time was the fastest gas bike in the country.

wheelsmithy wrote: The GT 750 "water buffalo" was a 3 cylinder two stroke that was near bulletproof, and torquey, I'm told. Would make a great donor for a modern chassis.

A guy at works rides his in occasionally, he has like a dozen bikes and likes to keep them all "exercised".

Gorgeous water buffalo there. Love that blue.

A buddy of mine in school rebuilt his 750 triple and I rode it. Once. Turn? No. Stop? No. Go? Not yet. In gear, open throttle, slightly more noise, no power no power no power a little more rev more noise no power HOLY BERKLEYING CRAP WHERE"D MY SKULL GO

That bike was nuts. A rolling open casket.

It's like saying the Devil's name three times. Do it enough and he shows up!

Kwak 350cc 2 smoke for sale in Va

Another..

Kwak 500cc 2 smoke for sale in Va

One night a friend bought a circa 1969 Kawasaki 90 two stroke single for the price of a beer.

Next day we cleaned the plug, drained the fuel, and got it going. For a 90cc it was stupidly fast.

My RZ250 was so tame compared to the 90, but my TDR250 gave similar thrills.

I have a 1986 Suzuki RG500 and no other bike I've riden compares to it, most of the other bikes mentioned were older but I think The 500 was the last of the big roadgoing two strokes

Yamaha made the DS7 and RD both in 250cc DS7 is the smaller version of the R5. I mistakinly once got my hands on a DS7 and slapped it in my rd 400 frame and for the life of me could not figure out why is would not pull hard. Dyno showed 22hp at the wheel EGT were right on the money too. Change the plugs and droped on while picking it up i saw 250cc on the cyl and laughted The dnyo guy was not so impressed. untill we looked it up and saw 12.5hp in stock trim. I had pipes and bigger carbs on it.

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Taiden wrote:

foxtrapper wrote: Hendrix did a song about it, purple haze.

I am gullible. Are you serious? I've debated about it being about either LSD or weed, but never a motorcycle.

Well it depends on your lube oil of choice, Hedrix must have been using Klotz, my favorite for my RD350 was castoral, it leaves a greenish haze.

Check out this RD400F (Daytona Special) that someone posted on the other forum I'm on.

Sex on wheels. Look at those pipes!

^ thats sweet!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamaha-yamaha-rz350-yamaha-rz350_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ65Q3a12Q7c66Q3a2Q7c39Q3a1Q7c72Q3a317Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem20ac7d0213QQitemZ140332827155QQptZUSQ5fmotorcycles

is that really worth THAT much or is he smokin something I dont know about????