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Comment by jksmith | Hacker News Reader

Hell yeah at least he used a bike old enough to be a two stroke. Four stroke dirt bikes are just wrong.

There's actually been a bit of a 2 stroke resurgence in the last few years. Yamaha still has brand new ones rolling off the line

I heard a rumor that there would be a ban on them due to emissions. Assumed after the 2007 federal emissions law, would be RIP for new 2 stroke dirtbikes. Glad to know that doesn't seem to be the case.

They are in the process of being banned in Europe. Rumour has it KTM is releasing fuel injected models in 2018 that will pass the emissions laws (and have improved throttle response), which is great to see. They're dubbing it "TPI" or "transfer port injection".

I think the general view on this issue is that 2 stroke dirt bike emissions pale in comparison to other 2 stroke equipment emissions and thus not really worth making a stink over.

It is odd that 2 stroke street bikes died out here in the US back in the 60s, but off roads have continued until pretty recently...

Noise and emissions controls.

It was in the 70's too. I had a 1976 Yamaha DT250 and a 1974 Suzuki TS-185 as dirtbikes a few years back and they were both street legal back in the day (I had all the lights and stuff removed though so wasn't gonna go through the process of registering either for the road).

My neighbor had a '76 TS-185 registered though, kinda wanted to buy it to cruise around locally and annoy the crappy newer neighbors.

When I was in high school at the end of 70's, I worked in a motorcycle and gun shop (seriously). We used to see a few Suzuki GT 750 water buffaloes come through there for various repairs.

750cc 2 stroke engine? That's crazy. It must've sounded like the apocalypse.

Braaaaappppp. The funnest days of my life have been on 2 stroke dirt bikes. Living in a major city, it's something that I miss on a daily basis.

Buy and then sell a sport bike. They're a TON of fun, if not in exactly the same way. They're also dramatically more dangerous.

Also incredible amounts of fun. However, I've always felt safer flying through the air on a dirt bike than riding a sport bike surrounded by hoards of distracted drivers paying more attention to their cells phones than their external environment.

Yeah nothing like that powerband. Pure ridegasm.

And the smell! Some combination of the oil burning and the smell of the seat. Man I love that smell.

From a storytelling perspective, the sound of a two stroke engine probably conjures up the image of a motorcycle when the bike is not in frame (similar to the way the screech of a red tailed hawk is used for storytelling).

Sometimes you've got to do some enduro!

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