AS far as most people are concerned, the two-stroke is dead. Nobody seems to be buying any, manufacturers are ignoring them completely and even in racing the stink wheels are getting their butts whupped by that Rossi bloke on a four-stroke. But we still love the simplicity of ports to camshafts and valves, the wail of a shrieking stink wheel at the top of its power band to the gurgle and sanitised power delivery of a four-stroke. Call us unfashionable or old, or resistant to change, if you must.

However it seems even Yamaha have written the obituary for their flagship two-stroke. Where all the other bikes were bog-standard to the best bog-standard specs, the Yamaha didn't even go through a PDI for all its worth. The gearshift on the bike was so bad and resistant shift that we had to revert to Bullet-spec gear change techniques, leaving Aspi screaming with a sore big toe. And the tyres, oh Lord. Over to you Aspi: "The tyres are pathetic. It's like having no tyre at all. The tyre has ruined what is still a very nice bike. A couple of times the rear simply stepped out of line and I am too old to relish broken bones. And oh my toe!"

For the record the Yam was shod with spindly 2.75x18 TVS ATT125 tyres that frankly aren't the best in any respect. The last time I sampled these tyres was on the Samurai and I had blasted it out of the water.

Same case here.Two-strokes have always been like well-endowed barmaids, all jiggly and fun at the top end but lacking substance lower down. The Yam was a perfect reflection of it, going like stink when its head was revved off but lacking any mid-range substance. I thought the chassis was quite good but we couldn't test it to the limit as the rear was just sliding away merrily.

"Couldn't test the chassis to the limit, suspension was well sussed out though," added racer-type Aspi. "The motor is still very good in spite of being restricted for emission compliance, and the mid-range is not bad (bad being a relative term, mind). Better tyres would have allowed me to carry at least 10-15kmph into the straight resulting in a significantly better top speed." Glancing at the GPS, it was flashing a top speed of 105kmph. Were it not for the tyres, the RXZ would have clocked in the highest top speed in this test! Now how frustrating is that?