Any other motorcyclists here?

[Tiberius]

Hyrdogen 2 stokes?

and presumably no need any more to decoke the pistons/heads? any one remember having to do that?

I remember it well. Not just the piston and head but but also running caustic soda through the exhaust pipe.

Forty odd years ago when I was an apprentice, I had a little Peugot moped that needed regular decoking. I got so used to doing it that I could carry out the whole job during my one hour lunch break.

[pete75]

Some Villiers motors ran on 16:1 - half a pint of oil for every gallon of petrol - a lot of carbon!

[mercalia]

Hyrdogen 2 stokes?

and presumably no need any more to decoke the pistons/heads? any one remember having to do that?

I remember it well. Not just the piston and head but but also running caustic soda through the exhaust pipe.

Forty odd years ago when I was an apprentice, I had a little Peugot moped that needed regular decoking. I got so used to doing it that I could carry out the whole job during my one hour lunch break.

well I never had to do the caustic soda thing as the silencers of my S1 Triple tended to oil them up even though it had an oil pump, didnt use a petroil mix. But removing the black gunge was hmm not pleasant

The silencers of the bike, internally were as new as a result as they were bathed in oily gunge

[mattsccm]

My bikes first had engines the same year I first joined a cycling club aged 16. I'm not as "classic " as some of you lot here. That was in 1979. M/c s as follows. Gilera 50cc Enduro. DT175mx, Gilera TG1 ? 125 road bike, DT125mx, XL125, Husky 430 mx, Cagiva RX125, 3 AJS girder forked things and a similar BSA, all non runners, , Beta 125 enduro with XL 125 engine, KE 175 sometimes with a chair on, Honda G5. 250 with leading links and a chair, MZ250 converted to LDT spec, MZ15 same spec, Honda SL125, the Beta back, Derbi 50cc trail bike (won enduros on that) Cagiva 75cc Supercity, another Derbi, couple of Fantic trials bikes about then, a green 80cc trial bike, DT125lc, another KE175, Reiju 125 trail bike, 520cc Maico/EML outfit, Honda Express motoball bike!! CCM 604, CCM 404, another 604, Honda CRF 230, Gasgas Pampera, the second 604 back, CCM 230. Currently Royal Enfield Woodsman and a 1922 Watney that nearly runs.

[AgentWayward]

I used to build stuff like this.

[Cowsham]

...I know..I know..I know......We will ALL believe it when we see it, BUT....Wouldn't this be great...

https://www.bikesportnews.com/news/news ... gp-by-2026

The current MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 bikes sound great close up but it would be great if they could introduce a class for the modern, ultra clean 'strokers'.

Hyrdogen 2 stokes?

and presumably no need any more to decoke the pistons/heads? any one remember having to do that?

Clicked some click bait about Scott Redding " comes clean about pre 2019 BSB season broken leg --- he's a keen cyclist btw --- really good video -- shows you the pain these guys have to go through to participate in that sport

I watched the 2019 BSB season which he won ---- massive respect!
https://www.bikesportnews.com/news/news ... broken-leg

[Cowsham]

Some Villiers motors ran on 16:1 - half a pint of oil for every gallon of petrol - a lot of carbon!

I think our old AMC James ( usually villiers engined ) was 20:1

[Cowsham]

desktop1.jpg

I used to build stuff like this.

Bonkers but love seeing this sort of stuff at shows -- saw an RD700LC at the Ramsey sprint one year built from two 350 engines back to back v formation --- the sound was sheer delightful violence.

[merseymouth]

Hello again, Certain early two-strokes used even worse mix ratios the the Villiers engines, even stating "Heavy Oil" must be used. The thickness of the mixture made up for the lack of decent oil seals internally, so when folk mistakenly used regular TS Oil years later they found the machines wouldn't run.
These days with modern synthetic oils the ratio can often be leaned off. A BSA Bantam was stated as to needing 25 to 1, but with new oils 32 to 1 is certain a usable mix.
More importantly with semi & full synthetics there is less carbonizing of the internals & exhausts. One really horrible oil that was used years ago was Filtrate Two-Stroke. Terrible stuff, bores wore out at a visible rate (exaggeration on my part), but what wasn't an exaggeration was the whiskering of the plugs, useless in no time at all! Riders carried almost a ballast weight in clean plugs waiting for the inevitable
I am a confirmed adherent of using Rock Oil Semi-Synthetic, lovely stuff to guard the innards of the MZ Supa 5. TTFN MM

[pete75]

Some Villiers motors ran on 16:1 - half a pint of oil for every gallon of petrol - a lot of carbon!

I think our old AMC James ( usually villiers engined ) was 20:1

AMC James often used the AMC engine. AMC were trying to get away from Villiers so developed their own two stroke engines. They looked good but weren't very reliable. Their lack of expertise in building two strokes didn't help. Eventually and somewhat embarrassingly they got Villiers to assemble the motors for them. Finally they reverted to Villiers engines.

If the head on your James had radial finning it was an AMC engine, straight fins a Villiers.

[merseymouth]

Evening all, The AMC lumps where designed by an Italian named Piatti, they had to get Villiers to sort them without much success.
He also designed the worst scooter ever made, an eponymous one. A real Horror MM

[pete75]

Evening all, The AMC lumps where designed by an Italian named Piatti, they had to get Villiers to sort them without much success.
He also designed the worst scooter ever made, an eponymous one. A real Horror MM

Nah that was the Velocette Viceroy. It's the worst scooter ever because it broke the back of a fine motorcycle company. They never recovered from the amount spent on designing and developing the thing after only about 200 people bough them. Sales of teh big singles remained reasonably good. Maybe without the Viceroy fiasco Velo could have carried on as a motorbike version of Morgan. The Venom was quick, reliable and handled and braked well. Looked good too.

[merseymouth]

Sorry Pete, you are wrong ! Having hands on experience with a Piatti can swear as to their total inadequacy!
The Velo was a tub of lard, looking like a Maicomobile, but weighing a half a ton more!
In comparison the Brockhouse Corgi the Corgi feels like a Fireblade against the Piatti
Wouldn't have one as a gift. Can I have my Vespa 90ss's back please? IGICB MM

[Hobbs1951]

It was a revelation when Bel-Ray became available in the UK for discerning two-stroke owners.

John.

[Cowsham]

Hello again, Certain early two-strokes used even worse mix ratios the the Villiers engines, even stating "Heavy Oil" must be used. The thickness of the mixture made up for the lack of decent oil seals internally, so when folk mistakenly used regular TS Oil years later they found the machines wouldn't run.
These days with modern synthetic oils the ratio can often be leaned off. A BSA Bantam was stated as to needing 25 to 1, but with new oils 32 to 1 is certain a usable mix.
More importantly with semi & full synthetics there is less carbonizing of the internals & exhausts. One really horrible oil that was used years ago was Filtrate Two-Stroke. Terrible stuff, bores wore out at a visible rate (exaggeration on my part), but what wasn't an exaggeration was the whiskering of the plugs, useless in no time at all! Riders carried almost a ballast weight in clean plugs waiting for the inevitable
I am a confirmed adherent of using Rock Oil Semi-Synthetic, lovely stuff to guard the innards of the MZ Supa 5. TTFN MM

Don't like the smell of the new fully synthetic 2 stoke oils -- hate the smell my back pack has when I've been on a long ride. I hear if you add just a tablespoon of caster oil in the tank you get the good smell back -- never tried that with my ( apparently famously ) fickle TDR engine ( don't think they were that fickle just that they got mercilessly thrashed back in the day -- it's hard to resist winding that throttle and revelling in the howl sometimes. Don't know about the banshee engine it's unknown territory )