Anyone do a long distance trip on a 2 stroke?

[ApriliaRS]

Is it even possible..2 cruise at a 100ks (without the plug fouling?) from wellington to palmy?Advice?

[pzkpfw]

Is it even possible..2 cruise at a 100ks (without the plug fouling?) from wellington to palmy?Advice?

Do you really have that problem?

Back in 1990 I had a ratty old RD350LC.

Used to ride Palmy to Wellington all the time. (Not back in same day).

Did day trips around the Tararuas, and from Palmy to Mt. Ruapehu and back to Palmy via Wanganui.

Never stopped on me.

(Though it was a pre-mix due to half-arse conversion from 250. Having said that I probably used too much 2 stroke oil in it.)

[Jantar]

I used to regularly travel from from Dunedin to Queenstown on a Suzuki T125 (Stinger) at an indicated 105 kmh over 35 years ago. While this is not as far as Wellington to Palmy, a 125 two stroke will do the trip Ok. Just remember to fill up at every oppurtunity, particularly down the Kaikoura coast, and watch the temperature on those long flat straights.

Have fun.

[ApriliaRS]

Nope, never encountered it:) Just wondering..goog to know

[soundbeltfarm]

my first bike was a rgv250 and it never missed a beat .
used to ride from taranaki up to tauranga alot and from taranaki to welly alot too and that was when i was learning and stuck to pretty much the speed limit and bike always went awesome.
never had it overheat or anything go wrong with it.

[merv]

The old two stroke I had back in the 70's would only foul a plug after a lot of town riding and then when you opened it up it would whisker the plug, but if you ran it from the garage with a clean plug straight out on to the highway it'd run ChCh to Napier even without a hint of a problem.

These days you've got synthetic oil, electronic ignition etc so they should be a whole lot better.

[Racey Rider]

Heres another thread (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=43977)about the same thing.

[Mr. Peanut]

Never had a problem with my NSR, aside from the annoying drone. Charismatic cruisers they're not... :sweatdrop

[banditrider]

Dude did the GC on an RG50 one year & apparently he's also done the Southern X on it. Hard work!

I did over 10,000 miles on my '84 RG250 and while a lot of that was commuting and scratching, I did do some longer trips (pack rack loaded up) - no worries at all.

The only time it ever fouled a plug was on a really crappy day - made the ride a bit more exciting, see here (http://banditrider.blogspot.com/2007/06/hard-rides-fouled-plug.html).

[White trash]

I rode my 99 RGV250 from Wellington, through Taupo, Napier to Wairoa in a day. Then from Wairoa, Gisborne, Opotiki, Gisborne, Opotiki, Gisborne, Wairoa the next, then home directly to Welly the next. No problems.

[Daffyd]

Is it even possible..2 cruise at a 100ks (without the plug fouling?) from wellington to palmy?Advice?


I used to regularly travel from from Dunedin to Queenstown on a Suzuki T125 (Stinger) at an indicated 105 kmh over 35 years ago. While this is not as far as Wellington to Palmy, a 125 two stroke will do the trip Ok. Just remember to fill up at every oppurtunity, particularly down the Kaikoura coast, and watch the temperature on those long flat straights.

Have fun.

Wellington to Palmy via the Kaikoura Coast?
That would have to be the long way round!

[DonaldH]

Is it even possible..2 cruise at a 100ks (without the plug fouling?) from wellington to palmy?Advice?
RD350LC toured europe for 3 weeks 2 up never missed a beat. Regular trips from Edinburgh to London - 1,600KMs round trip

[Jantar]

Wellington to Palmy via the Kaikoura Coast?
That would have to be the long way round!


No, Palmerston is only 35 minutes north of Dunedin.

[Daffyd]

No, Palmerston is only 35 minutes north of Dunedin.

I would have thought that a Wellingtonian would be referring to Palmerston North as 'Palmy'.
My bad.

[Jantar]

If he meant Palmerston North, I would have expected the reference to be Palmy North. But maybe I've got it wrong and he didn't realise that Palmerston is actually in the South Island. In that case its hardly a long ride at all.

[pritch]

I did a coupla trips Wellington - New Plymouth return on my Yamaha RT360 dirt bike before my arse cried, "Enough!".

It was a single with a two plug head and just the one HT lead, I had two platinum plugs fitted: a soft one for round town and a harder one for the open road. The hard plug wouldn't work in town at all so I would pull over at Porirua on the way north, swap the lead over and away she'd go.

[ApriliaRS]

My bad..meant palmerston north. Looks like it should be a good ride then. Thanks for the input!

[quickbuck]

It will be fine.
It's only 90 minutes up the road.

[jade]

it will be fine

[gijoe1313]

I may have to take Daisy down to Wellywood and back just to test it.... :innocent:

[James Deuce]

I used to commute from Wellington to Auckland, Every Weekend, on my RG250. No dramas. Every overtake was an opportunity to clean it out and it handled droning along the open road quite happily.

[NiggleC]

Waaaaay back in about 1978 i rode a Suzuki 2 stroke 50cc stepthru from Nelson to Greymouth (1st day), Greymouth to Christchhurch (2nd day), needed a push up the Arthurs Pass zig zag though:beer: and then a few days later Christchurch-Nelson via Kaikoura in about 13 hours. This with luggage. Sometimes i recall i was struggling to 50km/hr depending on which way the wind was blowing and at one stage a cyclist tried to draught!!!Just added some extra oil to the fuel tank. :Punk: Just go for it.

[ApriliaRS]

It was a good ride...no dramas at all:)

[chanceyy]

yesterday rode shannon > Lower Hutt > over taka's to Martinborough > Masterton > Mangamarie > Pahiatua Track & back to shannon

today Shannon to wellington > toy run & back home via Paekakariki Hill

all on a '83 RZ 350 (two smoker)

did not miss a beat all weekend :sunny::scooter:

last month rode shannon to christchurch thread here (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=59948)

[Dcati]

Is it even possible..2 cruise at a 100ks (without the plug fouling?) from wellington to palmy?Advice?
Way back in the late 70's I used to ride from Chch to Nelson on a Kawasaki 750 triple with my mates and no problems with plugs etc. However, as other KB'rs have noted, two strokes aren't known as great cruisers.

Make sure the bike is properly tuned and has decent plugs to start with and you'll be fine. Mine burnt a fair amount of fuel at high speed so it was always a challenge keeping an eye out for the next garage.

[fredie]

did a tour on the rg500 around snowy mountains . no worries mate from sydney over 1,000 klm . toured on ns400r aswell not a prob bob:scooter::yes:

[aderino4]

Earlier this year, when I still have the NSR250. We did Auckland - Taupo - Overnight Stay - Track day - Back to Auckland

Not a single problem. Even my bum was OK

[Ixion]

Is it even possible..2 cruise at a 100ks (without the plug fouling?) from wellington to palmy?Advice?


I've covered the length and breadth of New Zealand on two smokers. Judiciously consider your spark plug selection, carry a few spare plugs, and ride it like a two smoker. It'll be just fine. It's around town that two strokes foul up.

But "cruise" and "two stroke" do not go well in the same sentence.