Posts
557
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
San Diego, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
11/16/2014 4:10pm
I'm in the market for a new bike and I've always wanted to go back to a 2 stroke for riding the track, but I also do allot of desert riding and trips down in Baja. When I ride down in Mexico, I never see any one riding 2 strokes. A couple things that worry me though.
1. I would have to carry 2 stroke oil with me in my backpack as these trips can last 2-3 days and travel over 200 miles. Some places we stop for gas are just some lady selling gas out of milk jugs out in the middle of nowhere, so no oil to be bought there and I'm not sure I would be able to get or trust and 2 stroke oil I get at a Pemex.
2. The gas millage. My friend who runs riding tours and also races the Baja said 2 strokes get less millage and I would need a desert tank to ride.
3. There is allot of 5 gear WFO riding like riding down a beach for 10 miles or straight desert roads for miles. I don't know if this is a valid concern or not.
1. I would have to carry 2 stroke oil with me in my backpack as these trips can last 2-3 days and travel over 200 miles. Some places we stop for gas are just some lady selling gas out of milk jugs out in the middle of nowhere, so no oil to be bought there and I'm not sure I would be able to get or trust and 2 stroke oil I get at a Pemex.
2. The gas millage. My friend who runs riding tours and also races the Baja said 2 strokes get less millage and I would need a desert tank to ride.
3. There is allot of 5 gear WFO riding like riding down a beach for 10 miles or straight desert roads for miles. I don't know if this is a valid concern or not.
Back in about 1998 I took my 97 RM250 from Santa Varonica to San Quintin. Then the next day over to Mikes, by way of Melings. And on day 3 back to Veronica. Fouled a plug once. Carried octane booster and premix. It was OK. Make sure to turn off the petcock when dropping oil in otherwise it'll drop straight down into the carb.
Oh, and I put a 14 tooth countershaft sprocket on the bike in place of the stock 13.
@Casper shoot me a pm. took my 300 1400 miles from Tecate to LaPaz in April.
The Shop
I'm jus' sayin'...
1 - i bought the Wolfman Day Tripper SaddleBags to haul oil. i put the oil in 20oz MtnDew bottles as they seal well, are slender, and easy to measure. i then bought the KTM Oil Flask strictly for measuring the oil (don't try to ride with oil in it you can thank me later). I also bought an MSR watter bladder and put it in a back-pack for the long days that we couldn't stop for additional fuel. it holds fuel very well while riding, i bought the 4litre (1gallon) but if i did it again i would get the 6litre as the 4 holds just under 4litres. 1 gallon of fuel on your back is no big deal, but you don't want to carry all that oil on your back. i highly recommend the saddlebags, maybe even spring for the next size up for additional room depending on how much oil you want to carry. i always had enough oil to last 250 miles (just in case). we were fortunate enough to have a chase truck to haul my 2 gallons of oil for the whole trip, but you could do it if you needed to.
2 - i got anywhere between 22 and 26 mpg, with most of it being dirt roads i was right around 25mpg average. the beach KILLED my fuel mileage... bad, i'm talking around 10-12mpg... that can spell trouble in a hurry in MX. also, make sure you carry extra gas on the beach days... i bought the Acerbis 5 gallon tank. it's a fuckin' monster but you can get about 125 miles on a full tank, 140-150 if you carry 1 gallon on your back.
side note... one of the days i had to be able to go 190 miles, slower technical riding from San Ignacio to Mulege, i had to carry my 5 gallons in my tank, 1 gallon in my back-pack, and i hung a gallon of fuel in antifreeze bottles from each shoulder. every 30 miles i'd stop and pour fuel in. i made it the entire way but i was sore.
3 - there is A LOT of 70mph+ WFO riding down there... our trip averaged 49mph over 1400 miles... that's hauling ass for a long time. i never had problems, but a trick i learned the 2nd day is to get up to your cruise speed (70-75) and tilt your head down to block the wind so you can hear your bike rev... i was cruising at 75 with about 1/8 to 1/4 throttle. you can't hear fucking anything and it would be easy to seize that bitch up. i also pulled my clutch in and held the throttle for a short time every time to slow down to keep it from going from a huge rev to none.
like i said, PM me if you want any more info.
i was on a 2012 KTM 300XC
6 speed
gearing 14-47 (i don't think i could fit a 15 on there and i don't know if anyone makes a 46 for a KTM)
my jetting was super fat as the elevation fluctuates so much down there. leaner jetting = better fuel mileage but risky.
if i was on a 5 speed 2-stroke... i think i would have had problems cruising at those speeds.
he's a bad dude.
if you're talking about Manny, you're a bad dude too and next time i go down there i'm taking a big 4-stroke
STOKED!
Speed Zones where VERY INTERESTING & will decide a lot of class wins this race.
after riding down there, i honestly never want to race the Baja. before i did ride down there, i had grand plans of attempting it... but NOPE.
Broke my wrist (throttle hand) on day one.
Made a cast out of duct tape the next morning before breakfast. Rode back to 'Merica.
Good times.
Back in the 70s ,long before the tree huggers and nature boys shut the public forest from the public we would go 100 to 150 miles out the mountain tops and hollers,being on a 73 mx360 with small tank I would strap a antifreeze jug to the forks and charge like a demon till she went lean,dump in the gallon and nurse it to a little mountain store we would stop at,
Refill,get a moonpie and yeller dope and charge like hell was a catchin'
Cant even ride a bike in the mountains now.
Post a reply to: Anyone take a 2 stroke for long trips in Baja Mexico?