And no other - large or small - has been continuously imported as long. The AG 100 is still very much alive and still respected for its light weight, simplicity, strength and low cost. The one pictured, belonging to Yamaha Motor New Zealand, even has a name. "Old Mate" is a 1988 'Old Mate' has done a genuine 195,000km.
AG 100 which has done a genuine 194,500km. The late Bob Gyton racked up this enormous mileage. In the quieter times of the farming year, Bob would take off on motorbike jaunts from his property, north of Wellington, to the deep reaches of the South Island.
Today the machine gets used for display purposes only, and the Yamaha people barely let it out of their sight.
The day the music died
The year was 1973. Armed with brand new motorcycle licences, three Spotswood College fifth formers rode their two-strokes down to the New Plymouth waterfront.
David Cooper had a 50cc FS1 Yamaha, I had my old Suzuki A 100cc and Raymond Leong rode a new Suzuki T 90, actually a twin-cylinder 90cc. This bike came with a handbook with a photo of the Hamamatsu plant, and a foreword thanking Ray for his choice.
We were impressed. And, in what must rate as one of the happiest afternoons of my life, we raced and scrambled till it was time to go home for tea. Ah, those were the days.
Two-stroke road and trail bikes may be largely extinct, but they're affectionately remembered.
They provided the wheels for first dates, first jobs, first everything ... my generation grew up with those cheap, instant-power-delivering, low-maintenance two-cycle engines
that ran on the smell of an oily rag.
Today, aside from a couple of farm bikes and a few motocross models, the Japanese
manufacturers have abandoned them.
Vespa, once famous for its two-stroke engines, now produces only one such engine. The PX 150, fitted with a catalytic converter enabling it to meet European emission standards, is still made, but how much longer is anyone's guess.
KTM and some other companies make two-stroke off-roaders and Taiwan makes two-stroke scooters for export (Taiwan bans their use in its own country). Boutique models persist, of course, and Peugeot a four-stroke scooter manufacturer sensibly retains powerful two-stroke 50cc scooters.
It's nothing compared to the days when two-strokes from 50cc to 750cc ruled road and race track.
Once any kid with an after-school job could easily afford a two-stroke. They blew a little blue smoke, went ''ding, ding, ding'' when you throttled off and lacked any significant engine braking. But with only three moving parts inside the engine (crankshaft, connecting rod and piston), there was little to go wrong.
If they wanted to, the boffins could deliver us a new-age version of, say, the old RD 350 LC, a bike still matching the performance of almost anything else on the road and yet with vastly fewer engine components to make outperforming the rest for sustainability. But with electric and hybrid technologies just around the corner, manufacturers seem to
have bigger fish to fry.
To celebrate 40 years of service to Kiwi farmers Yamaha NZ has three Yamaha NXA01 speakers (above), valued at $150, to give away. To be in the draw to win one of them, email the name of the Prime Minister in office when the AG 100 was first imported to New Zealand. Email your entry, including your name, address and contact number to driven@apn.co.nz by December 14.
