Originally Posted By: Jeff_D
RD350's are those stinky 2cycles, that ruin the environment and cause global warming.
Couple that with the fact they just plain sound silly, like a weedwacker with a squeaky baby toy shoved in the muffler, and only one conclusion can be......... well, concluded.
They should be retro-actively outlawed and sent to the crusher, where they belong, before they kill more innocent children with their poisonous exhaust fumes or annoy any more neighborhood pets with their obnoxious nose whistle ding-ding-dinging.
If I ever do buy one I'll change my mind at that time, but until then my moto will be "RD350's. Child killing bug foggers, destroying pet tranquility with every ding."
Atleast my '73 'zuki GT550 handled decent and had 3 cylinders.........like any real 2 cycle street bike should.
Sound like your a bit short on fact there Jeff. Two stroke exhaust doesn't contribute any more hydrocarbons than burning regular gasoline. It does emit more particulate in the form of soot. However, one must look at the amount of fuel being burned and it's overall contribution to pollution.
If ridden sensibly, my RDs return close to 50 mpg. If I ride them two thousand miles in one year, which is the most I do, that would result in the consumption of 40 gallons of fuel. Now, look at how much fuel you burn in a year in whatever vehicles you operate? I personally pay particular attention to how much fuel I burn. I choose a vehicle for the task required. If I need to run to pick up some small items, I'll take the KLR650 (58 mpg). If I need to haul big items, I take my Toyota T100 (22 mpg). If we're going out for dinner or traveling, we take the Camry (30 mpg). Overall, I probably have a much smaller "carbon footprint" than most.
Here's more food for thought:
Do you own an outboard motor? Have you any idea how many two cycle gas guzzling outboard or PWC engines there are in North America? Do you have any idea how much fuel one of those large watercraft consume be it two cycle or four cycle?
How about the military? How much fuel do they burn in a day? Tell me that the millions of gallons of that jet fuel and diesel fuel being burned daily by them isn't a cause for concern.
I think you should look in your own back yard before you condemn on little RD for burning 40 gallons of two cycle fuel.
By the way, an RD would run circles around a GT550. I rode a GT550. It was quick but it certainly wasn't an exceptionally good handling machine. Nor was it as robust as the RDs. Try to find GT550s. Not too many left compared to the RDs. Center cylinder issues were common as was with the GT380. Ever look at the race history of the RDs?
That weed whacker,baby toy squeaking noise you refer to, is the sound of power. Cube for cube, pound for pound, two cycles can't be beat. Nothing more embarrassing than a shrieking 35 year old 350cc two cycle blowing the doors off of a bellowing modern 1400cc wheeze bag is there?
I rest my case.