 Hey guys, welcome to off-road engineered steps to podiums new segment in these videos I will explore all the engineering details behind the bikes we ride and explain you why they work the way they do in the first Episode I'll answer an age old question, which is better two strokes or four strokes This has always been a huge debate among riders and fans Some say two strokes are the best and others fight tooth and nail saying that the four strokes are came But this matter isn't that simple. So let's break down some misconceptions first the weight For example both the KTM 450 SXF and a 300 EXE way around a hundred kilos with a little difference of one or two kilos But when you ride them the 450 will feel way heavier than the 300 Why is that? Well, that's because of something called inertia Inertia is a resisting force to any change of direction or speed and if you want to understand this phenomenon Just need a bearing Hold it with your fingers and spin it as much as you can While it spins try to change the direction of your fingers You'll feel something opposing your movement, right? The quicker it spins the harder will be to change the direction of your fingers and between the two strokes and four strokes There's a big difference when it comes to rotational inertia The two stroke engine only has the piston the rod the crankshaft and all their bearings On the other hand the four stroke engine has the piston the rod the crankshaft the valves the camshaft The timing chain and all their bearings That's a lot more things spinning and moving around compared to the two strokes and also creating more resistance Because of that two strokes will feel a lot more nimble at low speeds But since they don't have so much rotational inertia at high speeds will suffer from greater instability And now the second misconception the power a lot of people say that the two strokes are more powerful than the four strokes But and sorry if this will be disappointing that isn't necessarily true What a two stroke engine has is a higher power output compared to the four strokes But is way less efficient The four stroke as the name implies has four different strokes in order to complete a full power cycle intake compression explosion and exhaust The two stroke takes half the strokes to do the same because it has two of them working at the same time intake and exhaust and Explosion and compression The four stroke engine can dedicate one entire stroke to each step Meaning that the compression can be higher which leads to a better and more powerful combustion The four stroke engines are also more efficient They don't need so much fuel since the two strokes use the fuel mixture to lubricate the engine while the four stroke doesn't leading to lower fuel consumptions and lower emissions While the four stroke is doing one full power cycle the two stroke is doing two And that's why it feels more powerful But if you would just take the power stroke from each engine you would see that actually the four stroke is more powerful The four stroke engine can simply squeeze out more energy from the same amount of fuel when compared to the two stroke engine But if you want a big smile, there's nothing like riding a two stroke on a pipe that will definitely do the trick That's why in rallies cross countries or beach races the four strokes are more suited for its high speed stability and fuel consumptions But in hard enduro and trials you need fast bursts of power and acceleration and there are sudden changes in direction and position So therefore two strokes are king. I hope you learned a bit more about the machines We love to ride and stay tuned because a lot more is coming Don't forget subscribe to discover more about the engineering behind our beloved sport