New minis vs. 2 strokes

[Ported&Polished]

What the heck happened here? I was thinking about making a AF80 so I was looking at all the minis. Well up until 07 you could buy a new 2 stroke race bike, all modern and aside from the frame, just as advanced as the 125's and up. Now all that's out there are wuss machines. They only have old fasioned air cooled 4 strokes instead of the modern 4 stroke racing equivilant. And thats not all, the frames and suspensions are weak! Conventional forks? Steel wheels? Friggen DRUM brakes? Carbon bars and frames, it's a joke. If nothing else, as a kid you have to endure riding a bike that doesn't even look cool, how embarrasing.
NOW THAT IS COOL!

THAT IS WEAK This thing looks like a 1985 xl100 with 09 plastics.

[dannygraves]

yup... LAME..

[Ported&Polished]

Oh it gets worse. That one I showed is a 100cc, an actual 80cc bike is a absolute toy by comparison to the cr80. I'm mean all they need is dual rear shocks and it would be 100% 1960's technowledgy. And correct me if I'm wrong, but the new Honda crf line is actually not made by Honda anymore! Yup, they outsource the motors and all the rest from, are you sitting down, CHINA! It's a sad time for Honda when even their motors are made in China, terrible.

[AlisoBob]

This was made in China..... I wouldnt mind riding this around the backyard....

[bearorso]

I don't know what planet you've been living on, but that's the way it has always been.

Foo Foo bikes have always existed, outselling the traditional CR, YZ, KX and RM 85s by enormous amounts.

Honda set a target for cessation of 2 stroke production by 2007 - the last CR 2 strokes in all sizes were stopped at the 07 models.

Honda replaced the CR85 with the CRF150R - far from a CRF150f. In their arrogance ( and I presume after the realization that the then AMA legal 125 4 stroke sizing would be beaten by the 2t 85s, unless it was a complete hand grenade) , Honda brought out the 150. Pretty much every racing body around the world, bent over and took it from Honda & allowed it to race against the 85s. The AMA, for once, perhaps seeing their mistakes with the larger 4t bikes capacity increase over the 2ts, or being finally willing to stand up to Honda's' bastardry, made the 150 compete against 112cc 2 strokes.

The 150s have about 1/2 HP over a 85 and a tiny bit less maximum torque ( but a big increase down low & over a much wide range than the 85 - as a bigger engine should have), at least as I saw it on dyno graphs when they were first tested. Plus they weigh about 30lbs more than the 85s. No other major manufacturer has brought out a competing 150 4t, which is surprising. But, the FIM has started to recognise the extra expense the 4ts have brought to minicycles and the loss of participants due to this, and seem now to be actively pushing both 85 & 125 2t racing now - there is a 125 2t World Cup/ Championship planned for 010. And many countries are kicking the 150 out of the 85 class now. It's a pity the FIM let the major manufacturers & Lluongo "persuade" them to rescind the plan to allow 250 2ts to compete in MX2 in 2010 - spineless bastards!

[Ported&Polished]

I know the turd bikes always exsisted, but they wern't intended to be race bikes. I didn't know there was a crf150R but I see it's a real racer, I would have never guessed a 150 was the equivilant of the 80. It still seems stupid that it is a 150, which isn't even legal in AMA, under the rules, it can be no bigger than a 125 cc. The cr80 still looks more like a kids race bike, but anymore kids don't ride, the bikes ride them. I swear I watch the new riders on the 4 strokes and they look like they just hold the gas on and the bike does all the work. Which is great I guess, but it feels like cheating to me.

[arleybeer40]

the only good mini's left are ktm.

[Roostius_Maximus]

or that lem?

[kball1313]

That is a cool bike. Makes me want one. In case I ever have a kid. FOr now i'll ride it.

[Bean]

or that lem?

now come on guys build a bbr
go get a crf150r
pull the frame out and slide in a bbr frame
best damn fun bike you can get right now

[Ported&Polished]

That's true but putting a couple grand into a fity is insane by my standards. I've wanted an 80 as an adult for years. I remember when I was just getting into 125's when I saw Bob Hannah riding an 80 and he was kicking ass on it! Not by todays standards but he did stuff on an 80 that nobody thought of back then. I think he actually invented the back flip on that thing back in like 82.