HOLY SMOKE!
It’s been almost two full decades since the much-loved road-legal ring-ding race replicas epitomised by the Suzuki RGV250 and Aprilia RS250 two-stroke twins disappeared from dealer showrooms in 2004, victims of ever-tightening emissions and noise environmental edicts. But now, thanks to a somewhat improbable tie-up between a group of current and former Ferrari engineers in Italy, and the British designer who invented the hard-nosed hooliganbikes now sold so successfully by England’s historic off-road brand, CCM, the wait for the strokers’ resurgence is finally over. And it’s thanks to new British manufacturer Langen Motorcycles.
Breaking cover in September 2020 and simply called the Two Stroke, Langen’s limited-edition twin-cylinder 250cc debut model defied convention by reviving the performance two-stroke engine for street use. It’s the brainchild of Langen founder and CEO Christofer Ratcliffe, formerly Chief Design Engineer at CCM Motorcycles. There, he established his credentials for thinking outside the box in design terms by creating the mental Spitfire and Stealth 600cc single-cylinder four-stroke hotrods headlining today’s CCM range, as well as the sold-out uber-lightweight GP450 adventure bike.
“My dream has always been to create small but hopefully noteworthy pieces of British motorcycling history,” says Chris Ratcliffe, “Our aim at Langen is to push boundaries and create interesting bikes that are out of the ordinary, and which we hope will please people interested in something completely different, that’s heaps of fun to ride. This is the first of several nowadays unusual but exciting such models we plan to create in coming years.”
Langen’s debut model is powered by a 90° V-twin 249cc crankcase reed-valve two-stroke engine with twin contra-rotating cranks, produced by Langen’s Italian engine supplier Vins Motors. Located in Maranello, just a stone’s throw from the Ferrari factory, Vins was founded in 2017 by a group of five Ferrari R&D engineers past and present, headed by Vins
