I just wanted to point this out.

[TJScott]

Written By T.J. Scott

Im going to settle this, lately some people are saying that their four stroke is cheaper to maintain than a two stroke.

Lets say every 5 hours you can go through 2 tanks of gas on a 125. Now, your going to mix 16 ounces of premix to get a 40:1 ratio in 5 gallons of gas. Remember, we used 16 ounces, thats only half of a quart. The 2009 yz125 holds 2.1 gallons. So, you are going to have some left over, lets deal with that later.

Now, lets say that you get your yamalube or whatever premix you use for $5.00 (I do) and gas costs $1.60 a gallon equaling out to $8. Now, lets refund ourselves 2.50 since we only used half a quart. For 11.50 you are getting 2 3/4 tanks of fuel, approx 13.5 hours of ride time.

 

Now, lets spend 5 hours on a four stroke. I will give them more than enough slack and say they only use 1 tank in this period. There you go, $3.32 for gas, not bad at all, assuming they had the same tank volume. Now lets change the oil. Modern four strokes use slipper pistons and need special additives for their clutch in the case they have an all in one system for oil and transmission fluid. The rmz250 takes 3.6 quarts of oil per change. Ouch. Now, im going to cheat a little and say that four stroke yamalube also costs $5.00, im sure it costs more than that, but I never buy it so I dont know really. Ok, so all together thats $18 for oil. Now I did not take into account that your actually going to have to buy an extra quart for that .2, I just multiplied it using the .2, so theres even more money I am giving you guys. Alright then, $23.00 will get you 5 hours of ride time on a four stroke. You want to talk about how a two stroke goes through top ends faster? Then lets talk about valve maintenance on a four stroke. Then lets talk about how much it costs to rebuild a four stroke. THE FOUR STROKES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE!!! IM TIRED OF PEOPLE MESSING WITH FACTS!!!

 

 

Im going to bring up one last thing. As I have just shown you. Its going to take 3.2 quarts of oil to operate the four stroke for 5-10 hours. If, in fact you are using oil in your furnace, well you are polluting more than a two stroker. The two stroker burns that thin, cleaner burning premix at about 16 ounces in 7 hours. That four stroke, changing your oil at 5 hour intervals means you are going to burn that thick, black, unclean oil at 108 ounces every 5-10 hours. But thats only if you burn it in your furnace.

No matter how you tweak my equations you still cannot justify 108 ounces compared to 16, dont even try.

[lokisbuddy]

I agree with you on some points but you did not take into account that you must also use tranny fluid in a two stroke, top ends do go out more frequently than valves do ( I have a 225dx that has had no engine work done to it in its entire 24 years of existance and I think its had the oil changed like 15 times.) You must also take into account the engine bore and hone as well as the piston/rings oh and I have gone through alot of crank bearings on my old YZ I hear alot of other people going through crank bearings as well so it can't be just me. So bassically a two stroke is more costly to maintain but cheaper to mod. And a four stroke will usually last longer but is usually less fun to ride (my oppinion).

I appologize for punctuation and grammatical errors I am tired.

[TJScott]

I agree with you on some points but you did not take into account that you must also use tranny fluid in a two stroke, top ends do go out more frequently than valves do ( I have a 225dx that has had no engine work done to it in its entire 24 years of existance and I think its had the oil changed like 15 times.) You must also take into account the engine bore and hone as well as the piston/rings oh and I have gone through alot of crank bearings on my old YZ I hear alot of other people going through crank bearings as well so it can't be just me. So bassically a two stroke is more costly to maintain but cheaper to mod. And a four stroke will usually last longer but is usually less fun to ride (my oppinion).

I appologize for punctuation and grammatical errors I am tired.

tranny fluid is more than covered in the price difference. valves can run up to as much as $100 per valve. with a 5 valve, that covers 5 top ends on a two stroke, which is why i said they more than equal each other out.

honing. a hone costs $7 at ace hardware. however with most modern engines they are coated with nikasil, which means they are unnececssary to hone.

[sangheraent]

i race my yz250f and my oil costs 10bucks a quart changed every week or so. top end has to be changed every season that costs about the same as a top end rebuild for a banshee. the only thing is I can change a banshee top end myself. the 250f is a whole diffrent story.

I agree that 4strokes are cheaper but there are 2 type of four strokes. your honda trx3004x4 is going to be 100times cheaper then any 2 stroke. but then again your yfz450 is probably going to be in the same range if not more.

[lokisbuddy]

100 dollar valves? There may be valves that cost 100 bones but I usually pay like 30 each. That's like saying that a rebuild can cost upwards of 2100 bucks, all depends on what you are gonna do. How much have you spent to ride your shee in the past month? I have spent a grand total of 12 dollars to ride the 225. My shee on the other hand has taken roughly 56 bucks. I am not against two strokes by any means but face it bro we are on the short end of the stick as far as daily maintenance cost goes.

[TJScott]

i said as much as, that doesnt mean they all cost $100. i wasnt saying four strokes were cheaper actually, i was saying two strokes were. $10 oil for your four stroke is almost doubling the price that i figured out. so, thats just hurting it even worse.

[lokisbuddy]

I know you said as much but that is like saying a banshee rebuild can cost as much as 2100 (depends on who does the rebuilding) We could argue all day bro, but the facts are there do you own a 4 poke? I put way less maintenance in my 4 poke than my shee and had way less money into my other 4 pokes than my blaster or tri-z or tecate or 250r or YZ250 I have had lots of trikes and a few quads and bikes but I am sure you will find that for everyday riding (not mx or drag) a four poke is just cheaper to ride (not rebuild)

[TJScott]

I know you said as much but that is like saying a banshee rebuild can cost as much as 2100 (depends on who does the rebuilding) We could argue all day bro, but the facts are there do you own a 4 poke? I put way less maintenance in my 4 poke than my shee and had way less money into my other 4 pokes than my blaster or tri-z or tecate or 250r or YZ250 I have had lots of trikes and a few quads and bikes but I am sure you will find that for everyday riding (not mx or drag) a four poke is just cheaper to ride (not rebuild)

with riding comes rebuilding, unless you are just straight up neglecting maintenance. but lets leave it at that.

[lokisbuddy]

Yeah I have had the 225 (in my sig) for as long as I could ride and as you see it has been ridden hard since 84 If I took it apart today it would probably fall apart but that goes to show how durable a 4 poke is, I have also seen some that need new valves every other year ( My old ktm) and others that need rings every year (My old 82 xr200r) but I would say you could neglect the maintenance on a four pokewith less repercussion than on a two stroke, so maybe that is where the cost effectiveness lies (all you four poke owners out there....don't do shit for maintenance it willl save you money )

Well I am off to bed, later guys.

[TJScott]

Yeah I have had the 225 (in my sig) for as long as I could ride and as you see it has been ridden hard since 84 If I took it apart today it would probably fall apart but that goes to show how durable a 4 poke is, I have also seen some that need new valves every other year ( My old ktm) and others that need rings every year (My old 82 xr200r) but I would say you could neglect the maintenance on a four pokewith less repercussion than on a two stroke, so maybe that is where the cost effectiveness lies (all you four poke owners out there....don't do shit for maintenance it willl save you money )

Well I am off to bed, later guys.

well its like that other guy said, it doesnt apply to bikes like that really. there are bikes like the crf100 which needs nothing, and race bikes like the crf250r which are bikes that i am referring to. not stuff like your xr200 and 225.

[MistBanshee]

Are ya'll trying to make some of us think?

I am getting confused :ermm: and my head is starting to hurt! ::

 

Either way, 2 strokes all the way. To addicted to Klotz :thumbsup: to play with a 4 poke! :yucky:

Oh and this is a BANSHEE board so what's with the 4 stroke talk?

 

Have a good night boys and play nice.

Edited February 26, 2009 by MistBanshee

[BellicoseBanshee]

It depends on the two-stroke as well. I spend $80-100 (8-10 gallons of fuel + premix) a day to operate my 421 cub in the dunes. Add two quarts of oil per change, filter cleaner and oil, cable lube, cleaning supplies... It adds up.

 

Don't forget the oil filter for the 4-strokers... :yelrotflmao:

[TJScott]

yes, let me add. this doesnt work for banshees if you are going to compare them to regular four strokes. you would actually need to have a 2 cylinder four stroke to do a proper comparison.

[boneyardbanshee.]

so.... what was it you were trying to point out?

[lokisbuddy]

I think it is safe to say that cost cannot be compared between 2 and four strokes in a fair manner because I am sure there are people on this board who blow better than 200 bucks a day to ride there machine, while others may simply run 87 octane pre-mixed with 10-30 from walmart (my buddies dad) So I am out of this one. Besides as Mist said this shit is making me think and my head just isnt used to doing that :biggrin: .