While four-strokes have become dominant in motocross, supercross, and desert racing, many builders still burn with nostalgia over the two-stroke dirt bikes of yesteryear. There’s nothing quite like the sound, smell, and manic power delivery of these machines.
Below, we have a list of our favorite 2-stroke dirt bikes and supermotos we’ve featured here on the blog.
“Smoke Oil Everyday” – 1983 Yamaha IT175 Resto - Two-Stroke Woods Weapon from a Former Factory MX Race Mechanic… The IT (International Trial) series was Yamaha’s range of two-stroke enduro motorcycles, based largely on the YZ motocrossers but tailored for enduro competition, hare and […]
Swedish Steel: 1975 Husqvarna 400 CR Restomod - For Sale: ’75 Husky 400 Cross — The World Championship Weapon… In 1975, Husqvarna stood at the absolute summit of the motocross world. The 400 CR wasn’t just another big-bore two-stroke — it was the […]
Sand Queen: Jessie Grondin’s 1996 KTM 250 SX Sand Racer - The KTM 250 of French Sand Motocross Championship Vintage Champion Jessie Grondin… Though the color orange has become synonymous with KTM, it was only 1996 when the company’s motocross machines began wearing the signature hue. […]
Genuine Yamaha Tuning: 1968 Yamaha DT-1 250 GYT Motocrosser - From Enduro to MX: Yamaha DT-1 GYT Motocross Conversion from DG2 Motorsportz… Before there was a YZ, before monoshock, before the production moto wars, there was the DT-1. When Yamaha introduced the DT-1 250 […]
Yankee 500Z: 488cc Two-Stroke Twin Enduro - The 488cc Dick Mann-Developed Two-Stroke Twin Desert Racer and Enduro… In the late 1960s, before “adventure bike” was even a phrase, a small company in Schenectady, New York set out to build something radically different: […]
AJS Stormer 370: Two-Stroke British Motocrosser - Before European and Japanese motocross machines reshaped the sport in the 1970s, a handful of British manufacturers were still pushing hard to stay competitive. One of the most interesting — and often overlooked — examples […]
Megalodon 700: Two-Stroke 700cc Dirt Bike! - “Why wouldn’t you want to build a left-hand-kick 700cc two-stroke?” We may think of the Honda CR500 and Kawasaki KX500 as the kings of the big-bore two-strokes, but Austrian firm Mega RS Engines produces a […]
Mega 2 Stunner: Maico 490 Custom Motocross Bike - From Donzzilla: A Legendary Motocrosser, Reborn… The legendary 1981 Maico 490 is widely considered one of the greatest motocross bikes of all time. None other than the late, great Rick “Super Hunky” Sieman, original editor […]
One Mile: Yamaha YZ125 Tarmac Tracker - Fast as Lightning: “One Mile” YZ125 Supermoto from Class Act Cycles… From 1974 to the end of the two-stroke pro motocross era, the Yamaha YZ125 was a mainstay of the 125cc MX Lites class, taking […]
Mini Trials: Italjet MT5A, Reborn! - In 1960, former Ducati factory racer and designer Leopoldo Tartarini founded Italjet in Bologna, Italy. In 1952, at just 20 years of age, Tartarini had won the sidecar class of the grueling 18-hour Milano-Taranto race […]
MEGASGAS: 700cc Two-Stroke Supermoto! - GasGas “EC700” Supermoto from Sib Mustard… For most of us, the Honda CR500 and Kawasaki KX500 represent something akin to the apex predators of the two-stroke dirt bike world — 500cc smokers infamous for […]
“Mai Tai 125” Honda CR125 Restomod - Bender Built’s Polynesian-inspired Play Bike… There’s little on two wheels as smile-inducing as a two-stroke dirt bike. In fact, with the motocross world shifted to four-strokes, more and more riders are picking up old-school premix […]
Smoky Runner: Yamaha DT125R Restomod - BCKustoms returns to his two-stroke roots… The original Yamaha DT-1 250 Enduro and the long line of successors it spawned remain some of the most popular, influential motorcycles to come out of the 1960s. Here […]
Monsieur Dakar’s Super Smoker: Yamaha “YZ535” Supermoto - Stéphane Peterhansel is the most successful racer in Dakar Rally history, having won the world’s most demanding race a record 13 times — six on motorcycles, seven in cars. Born in 1965, “Monsieur Dakar” first […]
Two-Stroke Supermoto: Honda CRF / CR500 Hybrid! - MCNC builds a CRF-framed, CR500 supermotard! Introduced in 1984, the Honda CR500 would become one of the most infamous motorcycles of all time, a two-stroke open-class monster that made more than 60 hp in stock […]
Two-Stroke Time Machine: KTM 300 Enduro - Retro-Mod KTM: Vintage style, modern performance… Innovation and development in the world of electric motorcycles is happening at a lightning pace, with electric bikes getting closer and closer to traditional gas-powered in terms of performance. […]
Stiletto in Drag: 1972 Ossa Pioneer 250 Enduro - Clinton Hill Classics returns a Spanish two-stroke to its former glory… Believe it or not, Spanish factory Ossa (Orpheo Sincronia Sociedad Anomina) began in 1924 producing movie projectors and other film equipment. Founder Manuel Giro, […]
Two-Stroke Desert Racer: Street-Legal Husky 390 OR - In the late 1970s, the Husqvarna 390 OR (Off-Road) was the king of the desert, a two-stroke monster that reigned supreme from the Mojave Desert to the distant tip of the Baja Peninsula. Said the […]
Bullet Bob Moto: IT200 Supermoto x Dirt Twins - Team Bullet Bob Moto builds a pair of vintage two-stroke tarmac x dirt weapons… By the mid-1970s, the Yamaha had revolutionized motorcycling with their dual-purpose DT series — a range of lightweight, affordable, low-maintenance motorcycles […]
’86 Honda CR500 Supermoto by Canellos Racing - An open-class two-stroke supermotard built in the spirit of Superbikers…. Starting in 1979, ABC commissioned Superbikers, a made-for-TV series hosted at California’s Carlsbad Raceway, where motorcycling greats from all different disciplines raced head-to-head on special […]
Kawasaki KX500 “Carbolution” by JZ Handmade - Carbon KX from the Czech Republic! The Kawasaki KX500 is one of the most infamous dirt weapons ever created. The 500cc 2-stroke motocross bike made 63 horsepower in stock trim and weighed just 220 pounds […]
The Wasp: Yamaha RD350 Scrambler by Danners Automotive - An RD350 dirt bike built for the Malle Mile… The Yamaha RD350, built from 1973 to 1975, is one of our favorite machines from the heyday of the two-stroke street bike — a 39-hp parallel […]
GNAS Life: “SK8TM” KTM 200 EXC Scrambler - Written by Mark Turner of Blacktop Media. Images by Steve Watts (@stevtec). Ben and Dave live in the same small town in North Cornwall. Dave is an engineer for a local company and a keen […]
“The Blue Duck”: Custom Yamaha YZ125 by Max Miille - On the pipe: Custom two-stroke dirt bike from Oregon… The Yamaha YZ125, introduced in 1974, boasts the longest production run of any motocross bike in the world. The liquid-cooled, 125cc two-stroke has evolved over the […]
“Street Lethal” Kawasaki KX500 Cafe Racer - Meet the ultimate lightweight, big bore 2-stroke street weapon… The Kawasaki KX500 is one of the most notorious motorcycles ever built — a fire-breathing 2-stroke legend of motocross and desert racing whose power delivery has […]
Yamaha YZ/RD350 Supermoto by Spoken Moto - Zed’s Not Dead…a two-stroke, nitrous-injected supermotard! About five years ago, Brian Gingerich and his partner started a small shop to work on their “collection” of 75+ vintage barn finds. When they discovered how much people […]
Two-Stroke Honda Grom by Jesse Davis - YZ250-powered Honda Grom…50 horsepower! The Honda Grom has been more successful than anyone ever imagined. The overgrown monkey bike won Motorcycle USA’s Motorcycle of the Year award in 2014, and the 125cc four-speed machine has […]
Honda CR500 Tracker - The Honda CR500 was perhaps the most wicked dirt bike ever produced — a 53-horsepower, liquid-cooled 2-stroke beast, with a hair-trigger throttle and the power band of a Saturn V rocket. As this Craiglist seller […]
Yamaha RD350 Scrambler by Moto Exotica - This might be the wickedest scrambler we’ve ever seen. Nicknamed “Eight,” she’s a 2-stroke, 210-pound RD350 scrambler built by Arjun Raina of India’s Moto Exotica. As you may know, the now-legendary Yamaha RD350 was produced […]
