The two-stroke is back in a gold-plated, 112kg 250cc cafe racer

The two-stroke is back in this smart British-built and very lighteweight Langen cafe racer!

Langen two-stroke cafe racer

The sound, the feel, the smell… two-strokes hold a special place in a motorcyclist’s heart for the sheer emotion these raw machines produced back in the day.

However, save for the odd trip down memory lane, two-strokes have largely been consigned to yesteryear due to emissions regulations that all-but-eliminated them long before today’s even tougher laws.

Nonetheless, there have been murmurings in the tech world recently that the two-stroke technology can actually be adapted for a modern age and this is one of the first example of a new breed of classic concepts getting a new lease of life.

Clasp your eyes on this smart cafe racer from Langen Motorcycles, a British company that has produced its own 250cc motorcycle using a two-stroke engine. Ultra light-weight at 113kg, very decadent looking and boasting a party piece under the skin, we’re intrigued to say the least.

Truth is the underpinnings are actually fairly familiar as the 250cc two-stroke from the Italian Vins Duecinquanta that we’ve featured on Visordown before, which uses a unit that apes the old Aprilia RS250GP engine and looks a little like a Moto3 bike.

That 90-degree V-twin unit with a counter rotating crankshaft has now found its way into a new home on the Langen 250cc, which then wraps carbon fibre panels around an aluminium frame.

The design is part sportsbike, part café racer – arguably better looking than its Vins counterpart – but Langen have recognised the exclusivity of its creation and have thus gone full throttle with the detailing, such as real 24-carat gold details and naked carbon fibre on display.

As such, it won’t be cheap with prices tipped at around £30,000… but for that you will be getting a truly unique motorcycle.