Deciding on what dirt bike to get 2 stroke vs 4 strokes #3

Deciding on what type of dirt bike to get? Can't decide between 2 stroke or 4 stroke? This is guide should hopefully make the decision a bit easier with all the answers to that and more!

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Many of you may be asking yourself the common question  "Which type of dirt bike should I buy?" or "Should I get a 2 stroke or a 4 stroke". Well, many people who I have given advice to suggested I write a guide on it, so here it is.

One major thing to keep in mind in buying a bike is 2 strokes usually have about 2 to 3 times the power in  the same cc rating than 4 strokes. Or in other words, a 2 stroke 125 is IN NO WAY EQUIVALENT to a 4 stroke 125. In fact even a 2 stroke 85 like a yz85 is 2-3 times more powerful than a bike like a ttr125.

1. First question to deciding what type of dirt bike to get:  "What will you be using it for?"

There are 3 main types of dirt bikes:

Family / easy - medium Trail   4 stokes - (and in rare occasion 2 strokes ex. pw80) series examples; TTR's, PW's, CRF-F's, KLX's, DRZ's, XR's

Racing 2 stokes - series examples; YZ's, CR's, KX's, RM's

Racing 4 strokes - series examples; YZ-F's, CRF-R's, KX-F's, RMZ's 

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-----Family / trail 4 strokes-----

PROS

• Great for beginners
• Easier to ride (often without clutches even)
• More reliable
• Require less maintainence (and can often take quite a beating and neglect)

CONS

• Not designed for hard riding
• Poor ground clearence and shock travel
• Less power and sometimes heavy for its power and size

All in all these types of bikes are Great for beginners and starting your kids out on bikes and also for if you want a good bike that will hardly ever give you trouble. But thats about all they are good for other than that; they are only good for nice easy trail riding - nothing to big. If you are big enough to get on a 250 (like a ttr250 or an xr250), the only reason you wouldn't want to move into the 4 stroke racing types are because of maintenance; If you are comfortable with working on bikes then it would be best to move up to the racing types] 

---THE EASIEST WAY TO SPOT THESE ARE THE LACK OF A RADIATOR---

*** One bike I would stay away from is the crf150F; It is incredibly heavy for its size, some weighing as much as 230lbs full***

++++ Recomended bike series: TTR90-250 ++++

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-----Racing 2 strokes-----

PROS

• Usually very light and easier to throw around
• Very peppy - the powerband has quite a kick and some people like it
• Much better power to weight ratio - meaning that you will get more punch per cc.
• Faster top speed and more power for the motor size - ( 2 stroke 125 is equal to a 4 stroke 250)

CONS

• Break down more often
• Require more short term maintainence
• Harder to ride - the powerband is smaller so requires more shifting
• Requires more effort in clutching
• Wears you out faster (less natural breaking and takes more effort to control the motors punch)
• Require mixing of gas and in some cases higher octane (more expensive)
• Not to great  for trails

Everyone who has ridden a 2 stroke can describe them as the lighter faster bikes. They have a real kick to the motor and have more power in motor size. A 2 stroke 125 is essentially the same as a 4 stroke 250. It is good for motocross racers who can handle the kick and need a super light bike. But, at the same time, they are harder to ride and require alot more work. It seems to wear you out faster, and for some people, the higher motor revving has a tendency to scare / intimidate riders. Therefore it makes you feel like you are going faster than you really are. Many kids make the mistake of thinking they can fit on a 2 stroke 125, without ever having tried to ride one. If you were on a ttr125 and looking to move up, the ideal bike would be a 2 stroke 85 (which has 2-3 times the power of a ttr125) or if it is to small, a KX100.

When it comes to maintainence, Two strokes require more short term keeping up and monthly replacements. But at the same time the parts don't cost as much as if a 4 stroke broke down. To me it just wasn't worth it, but thats my decision. 

++++Recomended bikes; KX100 (perfect mid bike between 85 and 125), YZ85-250, ++++

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----Racing 4 strokes----

PROS

• Much Smoother powerband and easier to ride (especially in trails)
• Less effort to ride (less clutching, less braking- due to more moving motor parts, and less shifting [in most cases])
• Break down less often
• Less short term maintainence
• More power down low
• Don't require mixing of gas
• Good for both Racing and trails

CONS

• Heavier
• When they do break down, it is usually pretty costly
• Not as much top speed

The 4 stroke racing bikes are becoming more and more popular each year, and for a good reason. They are much easier to ride and don't wear out riders as fast. They dont require as much short term maintainence as 2 strokes but when they do eventually break down, it can get quite expensive. It is also harder to work on yourself, but well worth it if you can (save alot in service fees). Another great thing about them is the fact that they are good for both trails and Racing motocross, meaning you wont have to be stuck riding one or the other.

The only downside is that the smallest 4 stroke racing bike is Honda's CRF150R (not the CRF150F!). This means that unless you can fork out around $3000, you won't be able to get a good 4 stroke that is small.  In my opinion 4 stroke racing bikes are the best type of bike; good for the average rider but at the same time good enough for the pro's.

*** Bikes like WR's would also fall in this category because of the amount of maintainence it requires and the motor setup.***

+++++Recomended bikes: CRF150R(perfect step up from ttr125), YZ250F YZ450F ++++++

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All in all, if you want to ride trails (taking it easy without to much hassle) get a Family style 4 stroke. If you want to ride serious MX hard and fast get a two stroke. If you want to do both get a 4 stroke racing bike (I recomend 4 stroke racing)

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2. Next question you want to ask yourself is previous experience; Have you ridden bikes (or quads) before?

Most bikes have clutches once you get to about a 125. As previously stated, it is much harder to ride a 2 stroke with using the clutch with the powerband, so I wouldn t recomend getting a 2 stroke as a beginning / learning bike.  Clutches aren't that great for beginners because it tends to distract their concentration away from the actual riding. If they have to learn to use a clutch at the same time as learning how to simply ride it, they usually become frustrated. Once you learn how to ride, then you want to consider getting a bike with a clutch. Clutches can be good and bad, but mostly good. Once using it becomes second nature to you, you learn to appreciate it. With clutches, you have more control over where you put the power. It is more work but usually well worth it.

Also, just because you might have been riding a 450 quad does not mean that you can just jump over to a 450 dirt bike, especially not a 450 2 stroke bike. If you do have previous experience you can get a bigger bike because you know what to expect.

Most importantly, Don't get a bike that is to big. You are better off getting a bike that you can outgrow and move up from. If you get your kid a bike that is too big in hopes that they will grow into it, they are more likely to get scared or intimidated and also more likely to get hurt. You can always buy your kid a bigger bike if he likes it, but if you get him a bike that is to big say for Christmas, you will feel terrible when he bursts out crying in frustration.

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3. Buying the bike; Where should I buy it from?

The rule of thumb is that you should never take a dealers advice on what bike to get, and here's why:  The whole reason why they are there is to make money, this being the case they ALWAYS recomend a bigger bike that you can handle, claiming that "Oh, you will grow into it, don't worry". And as if it isn't obvious, the whole reason for doing that is that the bigger the bike the more expensive it is.

Your best bet it to go to a dealer strictly to look and see what bike fits you the best. I highly recomend you don't have a sales person there. The only reason you would want to buy it from a dealer is if you want a brand new bike. I have personally seen dealers trying to pawn off bikes where (from my experience) you can tell the motors are completely junk. (I've even seen one try to sell one with white smoke spewing out of the top end and he claimed it was nothing!!)

You can get good bikes from personal sellers, you just need to be careful of who you buy it from. Try to resist the urge to buy older bikes, they usually bring nothing but trouble. Your best bet on getting a good used bike is to buy as new as you can afford, then arrange to meet at a dealer or a good bike mechanic that you can have look over it ( If you don't know what you are looking for it can save you a lot of money because they usually do).

4. Maintainence; How do you plan on maintaining it and what maintainence skills do you have?

You don't want to buy a bike that you won't be able to keep up with when it comes to maintainence. If you do, then it will just break down every time you go out to ride it. So if you don't plan on changing the air filter and oil after about every other ride, then a racing bike probably isn't the best bike to buy.

Although the Family / Begginer 4 strokes aren't that great of a bike when it comes to performance, they do however go much longer without maintainence. I had a PW80 for a bit over a year when I was little and I don't think we ever changed the oil or air filters on it. But if you did that to a race bike, It would break down faster than you could pay for it.

If you don't know how to change the oil or replace a filter, but would still do it if you knew, then there are plenty of places where you can learn how to do it, and it should even be in the manual. But if you know good and well that you are going to be to lazy for it, then shoot for a bike that can take that kind of torture. (That or you better have a good mechanic and lots of spare cash ;)  ). Also try to keep away from big dealers when it comes to repairs; they will always put anything on it that it may even sort of need replacing.

If you have any questions or would like a bike reccomendation  drop me a message!

If you found this helpfull Please give it a vote!! Thanks!!