HIGH TIMES

“YOU’LL HAVE TO LIFT THE ARM REST UP BECAUSE I CAN’T FIT ON ONE SEAT.” AND WITH THAT SHE SAT ON MY LEFT LEG AND OCCUPIED HALF MY SEAT. THIS WAS THE NEXT 14 HOURS.

In 1995, Honda built a 400cc fuel-injected two-stroke called the EXP-2. The bike used a system Honda dubbed Activated Radical Combustion and it was raced fairly successfully in the Dakar, Baja 1000 and Nevada Rally. From 1996, the company also briefly offered the CRM250AR and for a while it seemed as though the fuel-injected two-stroke was something in development and part of the future. And then it disappeared. Not only the EFI, but the Japanese eventually put the sword to the two-stroke and to many the story of the CRM is completely unknown.

But here I stand, 1100 metres above sea level at a ski resort in the Rocky Mountains, Canada, and before me rest 30 Husqvarna two-strokes, an even number