The only two notable manufacturers left with carburetor fueled two-strokes are Sherco and Rieju. Sure, TM have the option of injected or carb-feb but the carb options aren’t as readily available. I thought Sherco would announce that their MY24 two-stroke range would be injected but they have left them running a carburetor and that’s a really good thing. Not only does the carb in my Sherco 300 SE Factory sound better but I think it produces better power.

My long term 2023 Sherco 300 SE Factory is an absolute tractor. The carb lets it crawl so slow with so much torque, it’s almost hard to break traction at slow speeds. But, when you want to get on it, it just snaps into a mental beast. And not only when screaming down a fireroad.

Last month I was riding in an area where I have to hop a bunch of ledges and rather than play it cool I thought I’d get a little throttle happy to see how much kick the Sherco really does have. Of course, this is fraught with danger and incredibly energy-sapping but it was worth the experiment.

If I was cruising along and then needed to grab some clutch and throw some throttle at it, the Sherco almost jumped out of its seat. It was so responsive and so aggressive. I could easily roll into obstacles with building throttle and the clutch in and know that as soon as I hit the friction point then bike would just pounce out of the gate. Then, if I opened the throttle when already in the mid-part of the power it would just get traction and go. Its mid-range launch and then pull was incredible.

The power curve isn’t as linear as the injected, two-stroke options out there but that works in the tight, technical stuff. I like to have some punch to lunge up and over obstacles. If you’re using this thing for singletrail, just click a taller gear or let it ride in the rain mode. It’s so much more old school in its throttle delivery and I love it.

The downside is mixing fuel. It’s always the last thing I do when I go riding and I usually forget to full up until we’re about to leave. My mates then get the shits while I mix up fuel and get my ratios right. Plus, when we need to refuel halfway, I’ve got to carry oil which is annoying, and again, time-consuming. It would be awesome to see an injected two-stroke behave like the Sherco carb does but I’m not sure it exists.