MXA's Reasons "Why the Two-Stroke Isn't Dead"

You should know the market trends if you've set foot in a motorcycle shop at any point in the last ten years. Ten years ago the only four-stroke motocross bike in production by any of the "Big Five" (Honda, Yamaha, KTM, Suzuki and Kawasaki) was the Yamaha YZ426F.

The YZ426F was an updated YZ400F, which was Yamaha's production version of the historical YZM400 bike that Doug Henry road to win the 1998 AMA Motocross Championship, the first time for anyone on a four-stroke. Henry also was the first ever to win a U.S. Supercross race on a four-stroke in the 1997 Las Vegas AMA Supercross.

Without any more history lessons, it's apparent that four-strokes are outselling and outperforming two-strokes. This is especially obvious by the mere fact that only two of the "Big Five" still even produce two-strokes - Yamaha and KTM.

MXA points an accusing finger at the people that caused the dramatic dwindling of two-strokes: "We have met the enemy and he is us." Check out the article in Motocross Action Magazine, December 2008 issue, pg. 126. Just flip to the glossary and click on the article, "Why the Two-Stroke Isn't Dead."