Two Stroke Riding Tips or Techniques?

[damnpanpan]

Hello! I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or opinions on riding a two stroke.
I guess it's a pretty vague question, but I'll appreciate any input at all!
Thanks a lot!

[wanderer]

vague is about the right word.

2 smokers have 2 power settings. on and off. no engine braking. when it's on, it's all the way on.
they love clutches. eating them i mean

are you looking at a real 2 stroke or one of those baby 50s

[damnpanpan]

hehe.. baby 50.. I guess I'm asking for some tips on street riding (stop & go) stuff.

Kinda hard to figure where and when to shift and it's really obvious when I get it wrong. It seems hard to get going smoothly.. etc haha.. thanks for the reply! please keep em comin!

[wanderer]

well the "baby" 50s are good learning tools and they still have enuf power to put you on your back.
just find a parking lot to practice or something. i really wouldn't recommend riding one on the street. think about this. you're at a stop light. you look over at the lane next to you and your EYE LEVEL with a door handle. get the picture?

[damnpanpan]

Yeah, I really just wanted to use it as a track tool, although the nice fella I bought it from used it as a San Francisco commute tool. Of course, I want to get a good familiarity with the bike before I go to some tracks. I'm fairly new to this area, do you know of any nice lots to practice in near UCSD area?

Would you or anyone else know of some two stroke or mini bike communities or individuals around? I'm thinking if nothing else, it will speed up my learning if I can see and hear how others work a bike similar in at least a few dimensions as mine (mini/two stroke). Would it be better to put a new post looking for two strokes and/or minis?

Here is some pic I snagged from the internet for some sense of scale:
http://www.bikepics.com/pics/pics/derbi-smxtreme-03-bikepics-158098.jpg

And here is mine - if anyone sees me struggling try not to point and laugh! haha maybe an L on the forehead will suffice.
http://sdcc15.ucsd.edu/~epan/Derbi1.jpg
http://sdcc15.ucsd.edu/~epan/Derbi2.jpg

[wanderer]

oh ok, i thought it was one of those little bigger than pocket bike bikes.hhahaha
that thing looks like a super motard deal. pretty sweet.

[druiid]

Basically with the 50s (like my rs50) the goal is gas, gas, gas and go.. not like a normal large displacement bike where it's gas and go :). You will learn clutch and throttle control very quickly with a 50, though, that's for sure. The minute you don't give it enough gas you'll be bogging the engine. There's not much rotating mass in the cylinders so when you don't have gas, you don't go. The engine can't compensate for not giving enough gas. It's funny as hell to ride one, though. They're suprisingly quick when at their proper rev-range.. unfortunately they have a very thin range of power. On the rs it's about 10k-13k. Below or beyond that it's entirely gutless. Really funny when you get the engine wound up and hear it whining like an rc car.

[BontaKun]

They're suprisingly quick when at their proper rev-range.. unfortunately they have a very thin range of power. On the rs it's about 10k-13k. Below or beyond that it's entirely gutless.

I would agree, small powerband but once you hit the band, 2 strokes just take off. Maybe not so much on a 50cc but on a 250, you can get yourself into some nasty wheelies if you're not careful.

[damnpanpan]

Thanks for your input! It really helps me to reconfirm what I was doing when I was trying to figure the bike out. I guess I still have a couple things to learn...

I noticed the tons of throttle needed to get the bike to respond, so going from 0 mph, I gave it a lot of gas so it wouldn't just sit still, but then seems like soon after, it starts to bog again... I'm not sure if I was hitting the rev limiter or smth. (How long do you use the 1st gear?)

I'm glad to hear that you are running in the upper rev range because I didn't see any other way it would run smoothly. How close is the 10 - 13K rpm to your redline? I think like riding right next to redline felt better, but I was worried that it was just because I was used to an R6 and the 50 isn't supposed to go the same.

Next time, I'm just going to practice starting from 0 mph over and over. Is it just me or does it seem impossible to really inch it out smoothly? Maybe my clutch control is not so good, but like you said, that's why I got the 50cc two stroke - to learn to control a bike more "finely."

If any two-stroke and/or mini riders wanna gather, I'm totally down. I think it will help me a lot to ride with some others.

Thanks!

[damnpanpan]

I would agree, small powerband but once you hit the band, 2 strokes just take off. Maybe not so much on a 50cc but on a 250, you can get yourself into some nasty wheelies if you're not careful.

Haha.. this is really embarassing, but when I went to test ride the 50, it was rainy and I hadn't ridden a bike in about a year so I stalled it twice by not knowing how much gas I needed to give it compared to an R6. Then, after the guy telling me to give a good twist and smooth out the clutch, I gave it a good twist but didn't really smooth the clutch out...

The rear wiggled around and then the front almost came up.. and of course.. I was sold. hahaha :cheers:

[druiid]

Thanks for your input! It really helps me to reconfirm what I was doing when I was trying to figure the bike out. I guess I still have a couple things to learn...

I noticed the tons of throttle needed to get the bike to respond, so going from 0 mph, I gave it a lot of gas so it wouldn't just sit still, but then seems like soon after, it starts to bog again... I'm not sure if I was hitting the rev limiter or smth. (How long do you use the 1st gear?)

I'm glad to hear that you are running in the upper rev range because I didn't see any other way it would run smoothly. How close is the 10 - 13K rpm to your redline? I think like riding right next to redline felt better, but I was worried that it was just because I was used to an R6 and the 50 isn't supposed to go the same.

Next time, I'm just going to practice starting from 0 mph over and over. Is it just me or does it seem impossible to really inch it out smoothly? Maybe my clutch control is not so good, but like you said, that's why I got the 50cc two stroke - to learn to control a bike more "finely."

If any two-stroke and/or mini riders wanna gather, I'm totally down. I think it will help me a lot to ride with some others.

Thanks!

If it's bogging when you are trying to accelerate you're still not giving it enough gas and/or dumping the clutch too quickly. As for first gear I use it all the way into redline (note not to do this with other 50's as you'll hurt your engine as I have a 68cc kit so it's not 'true' redline). Once you learn the friction point for the clutch on the bike you should be able to gas it and then accelerate smoothly. It'll take practice but it's great when you get it. As for where to gather, check out www.racecmrra.com or www.grangeracetrack.com. I'll be racing in the cmrra novice 68cc class this year and will probably be at grange for practice quite a bit.

[pfork]

pretty cool looking bike, how much was it? do you race those guys? or is it just a weekend toy to mess around with??