OK, gearheads and home wrenchers: Sit down, grab a drink, and watch what I think is the best video I’ve ever seen showing the differences between two-stroke and four-stroke engines.
Combining a pair of cutaway engines with some basic animations, thedriving 4 answers YouTube channel这样一个好job of explaining the respective combustion processes of 2T and 4T engines that I wonder if anyone else need bother. Along with an excellent depiction of the function of internal bits such as reed valves, power valves and other unique parts of the two-stroke design, or the cam and valvetrain of a four-stroke design, we also get some explanation of the strengths and weaknesses of each design.
Thirty years ago, most serious riders would take a lot of this knowledge for granted. But as two-strokes are almost completely pushed out of motorcycling (except for the world of trail bikes) and even internal combustion engines themselves are increasingly pushed to the sideline by government diktat, this sort of video will be increasingly useful for new riders trying to understand the differences of technology—or maybe even more useful for parents or teachers who are trying to explain this stuff.
Other perspectives on two-strokes
Arguably, nobody misses two-stroke engines’ heyday more than motocrossers, where the ring-dingers once reigned supreme. If the explanatory video above made you miss the days of the CR et. al., you might want to check out the video below:
And for a road-going perspective, from our friends in the UK:
