Good one!, does that mean slavery is reinstated?

as for the 2 strokes, we will never see a new 2 stroke quad...

 

First off, 2-strokes are not going to be banned. The EPA says that they need to meet a certain emission requirement by 2006 and an even stricter one by 2011. I think the numbers are 30% less hydrocarbons by 2006 and 60% less by 2011(if anyone wants the exact numbers, I can dig them up). If any of you follow the snowmobile industry, you seen that Ski-Doo just released a semi-direct injected 2-cylinder 800cc 2-stroke that damn near meets the 2011 emmission requirements. It produces 50% less emission and has more power, and 25% better fuel economy. Anyone who says that 2-strokes are going to be banned have flat-out not read the EPA statement. Nowhere does it say it is going to be illegal to produce 2-strokes. Now Honda has committed themselves to producing 4-strokes and have openly stated that it would be too expensive for them to make a 2-stroke that will meet these requirements. Now I wouldn't say there will never be a new 2-stroke quad, because Ski-Doo(Bombardier) has the technology to build a cleaner 2-stroke(along with other manufacturers). The reason you haven't seen anything before now is because the EPA was a moving target and hadn't come up with some final number for emissions limits until this last fall. So it would be silly for any manufacturer to build something if they dont know what the emissions target needs to be. Now that they have a known limit to meet I would be willing to bet, a few are working at it. Time will tell.

 

The EPA has forced an evolution in the ATV/Dirtbike world. The manufactures are building 4 stroke power plants that are light, compact, and most importantly Powerful. I've ridden the Yamaha 426 and it rocks. I'm sure anyone would love to have the 55Hp of the Honda 450. I'm sure by 2006 we will see 4 strokers that make us forget about 2 stokers.

Woodo

 

55 hp is nice out of those four strokes, but to get that, they are running on the ragged edge. There is only so much more you can do to them. Talk to the speedway guys who build bikes with the 426 engines. Once they build the crap out of them, supposedly they are completely unreliable. Tim Farr's bike has a ported head and a custom exhaust, they left the cams stock because no one can beat the factory design. I read an article testing different pipes for the 426. No one produced a pipe that made more overall power with a better torque curve. The factories are making great stuff, but it seems that that is almost the reasonable limit. At least with a 2 stroke you can coax more power out of them relatively easy. I ride a four stroke, but I think that when Big Brother steps in a tells us what to ride, that sucks. Environmentalisim is despotism for the new millenium.

 

I agree with Woodo68. Fourstrokes are where the market is headed.

I don't see the comparison with snowmobiles and watercraft. Just because a 3 cylinder has 125HP doesn't mean that the single cylinder version would have 42HP. Those industries are also headed towards fourstrokes.

Anyone know why those engine assemblies are so heavy? Because of all the Hi-tech stuff to make them more emmisions compliant. I can see all this stuff crammed into a quad chassis right now. That's all we need, another 575 pound sport quad. Can anyone say Polaris??