i havent had any reliability problems with my 2strokes so far. the 125 has kind of a weak factory carbeuretor which is annoying but barely an issue. the 250 runs like new all the time. i run a heavy mix of cam2 and honda racing synthetic by the way. id go with a 2stroke over a 4stroke anyday unless you plan on doing nothing but enduro racing. the 2strokes are just a lot funner and are more 'moto-x' type bikes than the 4s. heh youre not getting the bike unless your wife gets something nice out of it so buy her a necklace right before you go to pick up your bike.