Swizcorner

Swizcorner: The Acronyms Killing our Sport

Comments (6)
  1. I have a theory that if things must be totally equal between the 2-strokes and 4-strokes in SX and national MX that the classes would have to be 200 and 350. 125/125 would be a bloodbath for the Thumpers (the hottest one would make what, 30hp?) and so would be 450/450 where the factories could probably get 85hp out of a 2-stroke 450 by now. But for some reason 250/250 seems like it would be a gift to the 4-strokes. Without top factory pros on 250 2-strokes racing against their equivalents on 250 4-strokes we still don’t really know yet. We also don’t know if the 450s are sleeveing down or just retarding the ignition timing in SX since they’re barely any faster than the 250s.

    The 350 and 200 2-strokes would have enough bottom and could get away the with milder porting and heavier flywheels needed to deal with the traction advantage of the 4-strokes. They’d be nice and blurpy when needed in order to do the “big double right out of a 12mph super-tight 180 degree turn” that American tracks became obsessed with once 4-strokes happened…. yet Europe doesn’t even have.

  2. I wish this sentiment was being expressed 5+ years ago. Sure, you had the lone voice of Jodi arguing for 2 strokes, but people, ie Steve, just called him crazy and no one listened. What a shame.

    That said, there’s no way we’re going back to 2 strokes- and that makes me very sad. Maybe it’s because I grew up with them, but I think it simply comes down to the fact that they sound so, so good, and 4 strokes don’t. In fact 4 strokes sound horrible to me. One top of that is the overall challenge of riding a 2 stroke. Controlling one really did feel like you accomplished something. Sometimes easier isn’t necessarily better.

    I’ll still go to the races and I suppose that flat, in professional sport attendance, is the new up, but it’s never going to feel quite like it used to when you heard the whole pack “rip a phone book in half” as they dropped their collective throttles.

    Bring on the electric bikes. We might as well get it over with.

  3. I believe the sport is closer to going back than it ever has before. The fervor has turned into what is essentially the beginnings of a revolt by not only the fans, but now the industry. Sure, Ken Roczen may not like the idea of racing a 2T full time, but I’m sure that Chad Reed wasn’t thrilled with having to switch from a 250 2T to a 450 mid supercross season either. He wasn’t the only rider to deal with those challenges- but he adapted, just as great riders do. Great article that needs to get in front of some intelligent decision makers.. Problem is you will never get the “Tomac generation” of riders to agree with any of this. The kids racing the A and B classes at Loretta’s should have zero issues with it though. Hence why we saw Parker Mashburn KOd Villopoto at RBSR. and Max Vohland almost won his run before breaking his collarbone. No “adaption” necessary for those kids.

    1. Sorry, but I think these kid’s ability to ride RBSR won’t really translate to how good they’d ride a 2 vs 4 on a real track.

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