A Tribute To 2 Strokes

[VocalNeal]

The rivals were certainly the Ariel Arrow and its brother (can't remember the name now)

Well I'm not sure about your age but the answer you require from my equally old memory is Ariel Leader, the one with the two-tone paneling over the engine.

It wasn't two-stroke I don't think but the policeman in the neighboring village had a bike with hand gear shift. Perhaps you can help me with that one?

Most of my contemporaries declined Honda for Yamaha YDS2 or Suzuki Super-Six. Don't know the year of the Kawa 250 triple by none of them had that one. Also not forgetting the quick for the day Arthur Francis S-type 225 (father forbade motorcycles)

Not claiming to be older but you forgot the Scott Squirrel. Another two-stroke legend.

My all time favourite? Honda NS400R. A bit newer but never the less...... got a soft spot for the sound of three cylinder engines.

You are quite right, it was the Ariel Leader and I thought it looked really smart with all of the panelling. It was a two-stroke engine, and I helped a friend of mine take his Arrow to pieces because it was notoriously bad at starting – – – actually it was so clapped-out it's a wonder it went at all.

Well if you remember the Scott Squirrel, then you may well be older than me (respectfully) as they were not really around in my day although I did see one once!!

The motorbike you are talking about that the policemen used to ride was a Velocette and I think it was about 200 cc, with a hand gearshift as you quite rightly say, and it also had little running boards and leg shields (with many fitted with a windshield) so it was ideal for the policeman doing his rounds.

it was a pity that the British motorcycle industry never saw the threat that these Japanese machines posed, and I seem to recall a Suzuki bike coming out which was a 2 stroke but with a separate oil feed?? and that really purred. The fact that these bikes could do the same speed that the old clunkers used to do was also quite amazing................ speaking of old clunkers, a friend of mine who was, shall we say diminutive in stature, had a 650cc AJS and it was so heavy and so much bigger than he could manage that as often as not, he would fall over with it while trying to put it on the stand.

Well i may not be that old.

Ah yes plod on his Velocette, that was replaced latter by a Triumph Saint. Plod used to join us on the wooden bench at the crossroads probably wondering if his saint would match the Super-six, or YDS? "Can I try your bike" said plod to one of the lads. "Only if I can try yours" Sadly not. (company car).

One of my friend's father had a Squirrel. Apparently they were notorious for running backwards, if left idling. They would phut..phut,,phut...cough...and phut ...phut.... quite happily backwards and it could be quite a shock if one tried to ride away in a spirited way

As a lad I use to ride an old BSA 500 around a field, b#$tard to start!

I may have missed the Villier's heyday Except at the scrambles, but just remembered that another guy in the village had and Enfield 250 GT. Most guys got cars at 18/19 so the bike thing didn't last long.

Also just remember that Villiers found their way into those small Berkley kit? cars. Open the bonnet to start!

[David006]

It would appear that many of the posters here are not as old as yours truly!!! I say that because it my era the BSA Bantam was probably the most popular bike on the road, the Villiers 250cc two-stroke twin engine was used in such bikes as the Ambassador, Norman, Francis Barnett and I think a road version of the Greaves. The rivals were certainly the Ariel Arrow and its brother (can't remember the name now) and they were a little faster because they were designed for speed and I think the compression ratio was a little higher and perhaps had a shorter stroke???

The place to buy bikes was a company called Pride and Clarke in London and they advertised extensively.

In my time I had two different Ambassador twins, and at one time a Triumph 500 cc Speedtwin, and for me the two strokes won hands down. I agree with Elliss that they could be a bugger to start, however I found that they frequently had problems with the choke mechanism on the carburettor and when that was fixed, starting was pretty well two kicks on any morning.

Now here's a bit of nostalgia, in the early 60s, before I was eligible to get my licence, a couple of guys on the estate I lived on bought brand-new Hondas (CBR 250?? some of the first in the UK) and were proudly showing them off to all and sundry and I was absolutely amazed at these machines, ticking over silently, all nice and shiny, and very compact, whereas the guys driving the likes of the Triumphs, Matchless, AJS etc were looking on and stating that they were cheap Japanese sh@t and they wouldn't last.

As an onlooker I was able to see the irony in this because the guys on the UK built machines were sitting astride big clunkers, lots of timing chain rattle and just about everything else rattling, dripping oil all over the place and heavy to boot. Well those Hondas proved to be the downfall of the British motorcycle industry, and just a couple of years ago I was up in Phitsanulok when one of these Hondas appeared at a gas station and although it was a bit battered, it was still in good working order. so much for them not being able to last!!

As I recall, Norton did try and keep up with the new technology etc and introduced a 400 cc bike with electric start, which was a first for any UK bike. Lost track of things from there as decided to migrate from my trusty Ambassador after having a major accident when I hit a car, to a clapped out, rust ridden Mini, but that's another story!!

no idea how it happened but had an old Villiers .....engine..... I swapped for a billiard table????......had a plan to build a a bike for it...

.....but grew up and migrated to SA.before it came to fruition ..probably land fill now.

Yup Norton was THE bike ..rich Polish classmate had one .....jealous as hell!!! Hey but his one legged WW2 fighter pilot dad made great sausage....all forgiven..

[David006]

It would appear that many of the posters here are not as old as yours truly!!! I say that because it my era the BSA Bantam was probably the most popular bike on the road, the Villiers 250cc two-stroke twin engine was used in such bikes as the Ambassador, Norman, Francis Barnett and I think a road version of the Greaves. The rivals were certainly the Ariel Arrow and its brother (can't remember the name now) and they were a little faster because they were designed for speed and I think the compression ratio was a little higher and perhaps had a shorter stroke???

The place to buy bikes was a company called Pride and Clarke in London and they advertised extensively.

In my time I had two different Ambassador twins, and at one time a Triumph 500 cc Speedtwin, and for me the two strokes won hands down. I agree with Elliss that they could be a bugger to start, however I found that they frequently had problems with the choke mechanism on the carburettor and when that was fixed, starting was pretty well two kicks on any morning.

Now here's a bit of nostalgia, in the early 60s, before I was eligible to get my licence, a couple of guys on the estate I lived on bought brand-new Hondas (CBR 250?? some of the first in the UK) and were proudly showing them off to all and sundry and I was absolutely amazed at these machines, ticking over silently, all nice and shiny, and very compact, whereas the guys driving the likes of the Triumphs, Matchless, AJS etc were looking on and stating that they were cheap Japanese sh@t and they wouldn't last.

As an onlooker I was able to see the irony in this because the guys on the UK built machines were sitting astride big clunkers, lots of timing chain rattle and just about everything else rattling, dripping oil all over the place and heavy to boot. Well those Hondas proved to be the downfall of the British motorcycle industry, and just a couple of years ago I was up in Phitsanulok when one of these Hondas appeared at a gas station and although it was a bit battered, it was still in good working order. so much for them not being able to last!!

As I recall, Norton did try and keep up with the new technology etc and introduced a 400 cc bike with electric start, which was a first for any UK bike. Lost track of things from there as decided to migrate from my trusty Ambassador after having a major accident when I hit a car, to a clapped out, rust ridden Mini, but that's another story!!

no idea how it happened but had an old Villiers .....engine..... I swapped for a billiard table????......had a plan to build a a bike for it...

.....but grew up and migrated to SA.before it came to fruition ..probably land fill now.

Yup Norton was THE bike ..rich Polish classmate had one .....jealous as hell!!! Hey but his one legged WW2 fighter pilot dad made great sausage....all forgiven..

okay on me fourth beer and just remembered the bag 'o nails on two wheels ...the Ariel...square 4?? or somesuch ???

[xylophone]

Quote, "okay on me fourth beer and just remembered the bag 'o nails on two wheels ...the Ariel...square 4?? or somesuch ???".

I did see a few of the really large bikes around, the Ariel 1000cc was one of them, as was the 1000 cc Vincent, and a Royal Enfield 750 cc?? however to me they just looked so old-fashioned and cumbersome that they really didn't appeal in any way whatsoever. I also remember a friend had the 500 cc BSA Goldstar and that was a single cylinder 500 cc engine and you had to be bloody near Superman to kick the thing over and start it and many was the time when I saw this friend fly off the bike when it "kicked back" at him.

As for the Scott Squirrel running backwards on its own, many of the single cylinder old-fashioned two strokes would do the same especially if you tinkered around with the points/timing and then tried to kickstart it and got a misfire!

[doctorchee]

On 12/5/2012 at 8:20 PM, Leckyman said:

Nice little write up.

I had a TDR 250 for a good few years here, mostly spent in bits in my garage. But when it did go, it went well.

I miss it.

Hi 

 

i know this tread is long overdue, but i just happened to see it. 

 

do you still own your TDR250? is it for sales? 

 

i am actually looking for a yamaha 2 stroke twin engine. RD350, TZR250 etc. 

 

i am planning to do a 2 stroke cafe racer. 

 

thanks. 

[OneMoreFarang]

Another entry for an old thread. Enjoy!

 

 

 

[papa al]

ya papa follows this guy.  What a trip,

[ballpoint]

For all those who miss that good old 2 stroke smell:

"We hand make every candle in house with real live 2 stroke oil boosted with high-octane fragrance. Designed to deliver that familiar scent of brappy trail rides and supermoto day dreams"

 

 

[VocalNeal]

Or buy some castor oil from a local mocy spares shop and use a floating candle thingy often seen in restaurants. 

 

[xylophone]

14 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Or buy some castor oil from a local mocy spares shop and use a floating candle thingy often seen in restaurants. 

 

On the subject of the smell of two strokes and also engine oil, there was a particular sort of high-performance oil made by Castrol (Castrol T?) which some of the bigger racier bikes used and the smell was "unique", so I decided to put a little of it in my two-stroke mix to get that same lovely smell, but it didn't quite work the same way and anyway someone told me that it was the wrong sort of oil to put in the two-stroke mix, so I stopped it!

 

Anyone remember it??

[sidgy]

On the subject of the smell of two strokes and also engine oil, there was a particular sort of high-performance oil made by Castrol (Castrol T?) which some of the bigger racier bikes used and the smell was "unique", so I decided to put a little of it in my two-stroke mix to get that same lovely smell, but it didn't quite work the same way and anyway someone told me that it was the wrong sort of oil to put in the two-stroke mix, so I stopped it!
 
Anyone remember it??

I believe you are thinking of Castrol R. Magnificent aroma


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[xylophone]

2 minutes ago, sidgy said:

I believe you are thinking of Castrol R. Magnificent aroma


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That's it...............well done, and yes it had something about it, just loved the smell.

[OneMoreFarang]

45 minutes ago, xylophone said:

On the subject of the smell of two strokes and also engine oil, there was a particular sort of high-performance oil made by Castrol (Castrol T?) which some of the bigger racier bikes used and the smell was "unique", so I decided to put a little of it in my two-stroke mix to get that same lovely smell, but it didn't quite work the same way and anyway someone told me that it was the wrong sort of oil to put in the two-stroke mix, so I stopped it!

 

Anyone remember it??

I also remember that special smell. I loved it!

But I didn't love it enough to check out how to make my bike smell the same.

[VocalNeal]

Modern is now Castrol 747

 

BUT local mocy spares shops probably have Castor oil in small 50ml bottles. Just put a little in the gas tanks 

 

Still looking for image of said 50ml bottle

[Jdiddy]

Had a TZM150 for awhile, will never forget it

[sidgy]

That's it...............well done, and yes it had something about it, just loved the smell.

It was made for high revving race bikes, but that didn't stop my mates with fizzers from putting a capful in their petrol tanks. I had a RD50M at the time and the rumors/local myth? was if you used it once instead of the normal 2 stroke oil in your auto lube tank then you had to use it all the time otherwise you would damage the engine. This could have been true or false since we were always filing out ports , changing piston rings etc in the hope of getting an extra mph or two and subsequently having to buy new cyl heads and Pistons etc after the inevitable seized engine



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[Damrongsak]

I think this is the castor oil my brother used in his Montesa 125 MX bike back in the early 1970's.  They still make racing oils.  http://www.blendzall.com/