Unfortunately my spidy senses say 14 or 15 before we see them. 2015 for sure as thats when the new Euro regs kick in.
2014 would sound most accurate. 13 is somewhat over optemistic and by 15 a manufacturer in Europe would have watched the "Ship sail" and sales lost badly. henceforth, 14 is my call
Any rumors what the new technology the bikes will be sporting? I would guess injected and maybe the reverse cylinder ala OSSA.
Apparently KTM/Husaberg have built & fully tested a DI 2t, but to sell it, it will cost about $3000 more than conventional 2ts, or about $1500 more than current 4ts. My guess is that plain efi will be the next step.....
Why is everyone so wanting to get DI or EFI on a 2 stroke ? Simplicity is the way to go. In this economy also costs. What I would love to see is a new Air Cooled bike. Honestly I think they would sell.
EPA stuff I guess? Expecting a bike to be made 3-4 yrs from now is starting to sound more like a pipe dream than reality... Reality today is ~3 new street bike models ... 1 semi-new dirt model that is rumored to be on the way out ... Plus the more I think about making a 2t engine as complex as a efi 4t on it's tuning and some maintenance cost, your gonna cut out the very people who what the simplicity of a 2t machine ... Maybe this epa stuff is gonna kill off these engines ...
I hate to say it, but the classic 2 stroke engine is incredibly dirty. It's light, simple, and fun, but it pollutes like a tire fire. When they are on the pipe consistently, the emissions aren't so bad, but who among us can truthfully say they ride hard on the pipe 90% of the time? I know I can't. Injection has the potential to clean the emissions enough to make these bikes road legal again, so I'm all for it. Yes, they will be more complicated and heavier and more expensive, but eventually costs will come down, and we can get used to the added complexity. Plus, there will always be easy-to-rebuild used 2Ts on Craigslist!
If everyone in the world that had a 2-stroke fired them up at the same time, I don't think they would pollute as much as two burger kings or one golden corral! Technology is here to make a 2-stroke more efficent than a four stroke but it would no longer be light weight and simple. I could almost entertain the aircooled idea, but I have heard storys of there faults, fins get packed with mud, get heavy, start running hot and power drops. Before my time, just what some vintage guys have told me. GP
Let me disagree with the above. As to the air cooling and mud in the fins. I won't say it isn't true however the husky air cooled bikes I have got muddy the exhaust pipe is pretty much in front of the engine and I have totally filled the brake drums with mud and didn't have any cooling issues I recall. Sure I have cleaned out some mud betwen the fins but I also wash mud out of radiators after an event too. Are you stating di vs di a two cycle engine can be made to run cleaner than a four stroke one? In the marketplace, not motorcycle there is currently dual turbo direct injection. Are you willing to allow turbo for the four stroker in this comparison? It seems to me the variable valve timing is starting with the second generation about now perhpas not at all in the motorcycle market though.
I got a little note with my RED sticker for each two stroke bike that I had bought brand new. This note was from the California Air Resources Board, and it informed me that my new two stroke put out as much pollution per mile as 100 brand new cars. Well, that may sound pretty bad at first, but if you stop to think about it....just how much pollution does 100 brand new cars put out. especially in the state of California? The second most obvious point would be that two stroke recreational vehicles are not operated and driven even a tenth of the amount of miles that most automobiles are driven annually, so I'm not buying into the severity of all this hand ringing over these machines. The "clean" technology is already in place and being utilized on large displacement two stroke outboard engines. They all have to pass the strict C.A.R.B. emissions standards of this state, and they can even beat comparably sized four strokes at this, so I know that it could be applied to motorcycle engines as well.
Pollution ? There are not enough running at any given time to contribute any measureable amount of pollution. Not offroad bikes. Added complexity ??? NO THANKS. Look at what the added complexity has done for 4 stroke bikes. Run off potential riders due to the upkeep expense. Who can afford to keep riding hand granades. That is the reason I got off 4 strokes after racing them for 24 years.
No, Fins don't get packed with mud as badly as radiators do. Water cooled bikes don't cool unless they are moving at least 8mph. Any slower or stopped they are overheating to the point of failure. Aircooled bikes work much better in adverse conditions. I never ever siezed an aircooled bike due to a muddy race or even having to push up a long bottleneck hill. Water cooled bikes fail all the time under such conditions. Under perfect conditions a watercooled bike can indeed produce more power. But under adverse conditions a aircooled bike is better. With proper finning and nicasil cylinders aircooled bikes will last and stay reasonably cool. Ever see a Sachs 100 or 125 ? Look like enough finning for a 500cc. Over heat that !
I've thought about this more and more recently & am starting to be inclined to agree- I'm pretty sure a 150-200cc sized aircooled 2t could be built and sold for around $5000 brand new. If the bike had a nice DT200 like power delivery, about 25-30hp & a nice reasonably wide ratio 6spd, it would be waaaay more than enough for most racing/enduro events and perfect for trailriders, newbies, hackers & punters. Experts are fast on anything, so it would work well for them also. The bike could easily weigh less than 200lbs. Make it oil injected & that could extend the bottom end life and add to the 'ease of use' factor. The price point would make it attractive for a larger contingent of riders & would draw folks away from the CRF-type trailbikes. Without water cooling, top ends could be replaced in less time than it takes to get geared up to ride..........With nice easy torquey power, even that wouldn't have to be done that often as the engine wouldn't be stressed very much. Probably could get 300 hrs out of a top end for the average hacker........
Air cooled bikes definatly do better in high load low speed conditions. I'v always liked snow rideing and the speeds on tight trails and the load caused by deep snow ruts cause modern water cooled MX bikes to overheat in no time. Not so with air cooled two stroke or four stroke.
