Another great article from MXA.
MXA is not telling you what to buy and we aren’t anti-four-stroke. We just want to see affordable motorcycles offered to the public (not to mention bikes that can be fixed in a garage by its owner for about one-fourth the cost of a four-stroke rebuild). If you don’t want a two-stroke, or have some schizoid fear of them, don’t buy one…but the motorcycle industry is rapidly pricing itself out of the budgets of the people who made this sport popular in the first place. And the costs aren’t just the initial investment in the machine, but also its upkeep, labor costs and parts bill. We test every bike made and you don’t have to be a high school graduate to see that the number of four-stroke tests and articles in MXA far outweigh the number of two-stroke stories. The interplay between the two types of engines seems to set people’s nerves on end…and they want to defend their $9000 purchase by trying to stop people from buying the other type.
The 2011 Suzuki RM250 sells for 2000 British Pounds less than the RM-Z450 in England. That is $3146 less.
Additionally, Yamaha is not the only manufacturer to still make two-strokes. Suzuki still manufactures the RM125 and RM250—but U.S. Suzuki does not import them. We have included pages from Suzuki of Great Britain showing that they sell the bikes. You can go to www.suzuki-gb.co.uk to see for yourself.
Also, Italian manufacturer TM and British-brand Maico have new American importers. And, you conveniently forgot KTM, who sells more two-strokes than any other manufacturer and might well be on its way to being the number one selling brand for offroad motorcycles in the near future.
At 4288 British Pounds, the 2011 RM250 is a bargain over the 6331 pound RM-Z250. The RM125 costs $3313 less than the 250 four-stroke in Great Britain.
