As a 16/17 year old in 76/77 I always remember the RD 250 and the GT 250 (Ram Air) were just kick start but as a fizzy owner at the time was blown away by the fact the RD200 and GT 185 both had a new fangled electric start!!!
I had a 250 and it was my first bike. It cost me £250 brand new it was The YDS7 model with the twin leading shoe front brake I had a lot of fun with it for 5 years. The DS7s I think only had a production run of 2 years before the RDs came out. They never seemed to get the recognition they deserved. lovely bike and I had so much fun on it.
Air-cooled RD only basically an update of the DS7/R5.. same crankcases, gearbox (6. added to it), carbs, frame, suspension, rear wheel, some cycle parts. Eventually basically R5 crankcases from 1970 used for TZs till 80, and RZs and Banshees into the late 90s.
I had a 1972 “L” reg YDS7 Yamaha 250 twin, very similar to the one at Steel City Motorcycles. Mine was yellow & black. It looked like a wasp! And it felt very fast in its power band. I managed to crash it into the front of a small car, luckily flying right over the top. Though I broke a wrist, I otherwise got off lightly. I’d have that bike back if anyone knows if it’s survived.
Hearing people chat about their DS7s brought back a few memory’s. I had three friends at the time, I had the Yamaha, one had the Kawasaki triple 250 very quick, one had the 250 Suzuki, not bad. And the last lad had the 250 Honda 4 stroke. We all agreed that the Kawasaki was number1 followed by my Yamaha number 2; then a close 3rd was the Suzuki followed by the Honda, the slowest. We all rode each other’s bikes at various times. The Kawasaki was the scariest, the Yamaha was the best of the four followed closely by the Suzuki and the Honda the least liked but over weight, slow but the most comfortable for a long ride. We all had fun and we all moved eventually moved onto bigger bikes. I moved onto an 850 Norton Interstate. But that’s another story.
Oh how I wish I could own a coffin tank again. Had 2 when I was 17 … I hope I get to ride one again before I die. Such fantastic times on one of those bikes as a young lad.
I had a ypvs350 race bike that my friend sold me, so I made it street legal, it was ultra quick and I had a lot of fun on it, but one day the power valve got stuck wide open and it threw me down the road head first into a Ford Fiesta coming towards me, I suffered road rash all down my right side, broken ribs, dislocated collar bone and a slightly damaged neck vertebrae, I recovered,but I couldn’t use my right arm for 6 months, now I am 71 and I suffer with very bad back pain, but it was fun at the time, I still ride, but now it’s custom choppers, I’ve built 19 to date and building one now.I wish I still had that Yamaha.
I passed my test on April 13th 1982.. The next day i bought an RD250B identical to the Bronze coloured one you have there.. I still have it too.!! It had morphed into many things, even having an RD400 bottom end with LC barrels built by Stan Stevens at one point.. Then it was left in boxes under the bench in a damp shed since 1988.... I dug it out last year and its slowly coming back to life again.. (Im slowly making a video about it too!!).. Its not very "Standard" anymore though... There's lots of Billet, Carbon fibre and Titanium on it now.. It might be finnished by next summer..(I hope! lol!) Thats an amazing collection of Classics you have there Mate.. Thanks for the video...
Still love seeing the yamaha 2 strokes. I owned a yds6 in 1973, a cherry red 350rd in 1974, and a brand new silver rd350 identical to the one in the video in 1976. Then went on to own an lc250 and 350. Also had a suzuki gt750 before moving on to 4 strokes. Still enjoying my bikes, currently a tiger 900 gt pro.
RD400 With coffin tank was my dream bike, now I own an XJ6 Diversion, I've always loved Yamaha bikes and I too owned an RD200 Orange in colour with a coffin tank and wow that was a very fast bike! 👍
Back in 1978 our local Yamaha shop had a huge overstock of 76 and 77 RD 400s . They were blowing them out for 800.00 dollars . My friend and I bought 1 each . To this day I miss that crazy little bike .
The Yamaha 7 inch TLS drum and the first disc were about the same in braking power and squeeze required, but the disc was much better against brake fade - street or racing. The drum was better in the wet. The first disc pads absorbed water and took several rotation with minimal braking before they cleared and dried, and then bite with unwanted power. The trick was to apply early pressure before full braking or to ride in traffic with one finger applying a little pressure. Other than that hydraulics require less and easier maintenance and 'no adjustment or set up required'.
Just came across your channel by accident. Very interesting. Still an avid rider at 61. Been riding since leaving school at 16 y/o in 1977. I’ve got a soft spot for all Japanese bikes from the 70’s and early 80’s. Currently own a 2019 Kawasaki Z900rs and absolutely love her. I do quite fancy a nice little KH250 triple in white with light green and dark green tank stripes amongst others. Love the new premises btw.
Quite a collection; love the V4 500 in the background, I've only seen one of those before (wasn't sold in the US, local dealer had one, I think they picked it up in Canada). My brother has several RD 350's and 400's, even an R5, and last time I visited he'd just picked up a '73 250. Then there are the Kawasaki KZ's and LTD's, and the two ZRX's. I've only three bikes myself, a '97 T595 Daytona and a 2002 T100 Bonneville, along with my 1973 Yamaha TX500, of which I am the original and sole owner; pretty extensively modified over the years, both to improve performance and fix the original design flaws (like the two-piece horizontally-split head the leaked oil until the '76 model when they made it one piece and gave it deeper cooling fins; I put one on when I discovered the original had cracked by one of the valve guides, I later heard they were prone to that sort of thing). Just couldn't afford a new bike for years so I fiddled with what I had, I've put 124,000 miles on it, rode it from DC-LA and back in 1975.
I had a rd125ex with all-speeds that was my 1st bike, now I have a sexy wee tdr250 that I was left to me from a pal .. Love your showroom n I will come down to visit you soon Thanks for great video All the best from West Central Scotland 🏍️🛵
Just the ticket for a Sunday morning,,my mate at 17 had an rd250e , took me on the back,,bye bye brand new vespa 100 ,, hello IT175 h ,, nowadays I've a K6GSXR 1000 and a 1200s bandit,,, even a GS 1000s dearer than the k6 👍👍👍👍
I took my test in 1974 on a red and white one in East Ham .passed ( the test was so easy then ) then went to Eddie Grimsteads down the road and got a new 400cc in the same colour. I’ve had to stop riding now due to health reasons , but I was a biker for over 50 years and still think of them as the best times owning the RDs
At the risk of sounding pedantic it is the DS7 and YR5 air cooled models that have the closest DNA match to the TZ as the crankcases are interchangeable this includes the RD250 and RD350 these crankcases ceased to be used by 1981 as the TZ350 stopped production and the TZ250 was redesigned, the only common feature between the LC and TZ is the fact they were both liquid cooled.
Bang on! RD as "race developed" (from TZs) just a marketing gimmick. TZs (till 80) and DS7, and all RD, PV, Banshee motors all developed from 1970 R5 road bike crankcases.
Just found my heaven…….wow….I had an identical RD250LC back in 1981….utterly bonkers….used to race a guy on the Lightwater bypass , me on the LC , him on the X7….close run thing…bit silly I know racing, but well I was 19…….then late 1981 a drunk driver almost ended me….destroyed my bike and that was it…….now some 41 years later I am due to get a Honda NC750XDCT….yeah those days of madness now in my memory….what a collection of bikes we all loved.
Very nice collection! What a treasure! The DS7 was my first bike in 1980. The most nasty thing: the lever for footrest went underneath the pipe. Lead to two accidents where I was levered out in the ditch because the metal hit the ground. Sold it and got a XS650. What a lot of sweet memories!
'73 RD250 (not the 'A'), 6 speed gearbox and TLS front drum brake, was an Oceania model. I suspect it may have been released before the European A model. Mine was bought by my elder brother, new, in Sydney, late '72. I am restoring mine (again) at the moment. Probably spent more on it that it will ever be worth. Why? 'cause I can.
Nice !!! I rode my YDS3 Catalina 1966 for a while in the late 90's great bike!! Just sold my restored 1966 YDS3C big bear scrambler, candy blue and white!! Had a YDS7 1967 and a YM2 305 scrambler!!! Bought a 73 RD350 brand new 😀😀😀🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🍺🍺🍺
I started riding in 1976 with a Honda SS50, then a Cb250g5. I stuck to 4 strokes, but now own a Yamaha DT3 Enduro and love it. I had a ride on a TZR250 and wish I could afford one now. I have a small collection of classic Japanese bikes, mostly Yamahas from the 70's to early 90's. Unfortunately two strokes are getting too expensive now, at least I have my DT3.
I bought an RD350A in 1974. Pretty certain the 73 model like the 250 there was just called RD. Great bike and then in 1976 i bought the RD400 new. Not so twitchy as the 350 and was a lot better on oil consumption! Both were great bikes and i did a lot of long distance touring in Australia on them. Cheers Ian
My buddy Jimmy R got the first RD I ever saw when he was 17 I was 15. 1979. All the kids said RD was short for "Road Death" because of the crazy power band.
I had a 1974 RD200 as my first bike. So wish I still had it but still have half of the front uk front number plate that those will remember on my bike shed door which is now home to a tiger 800xca 🤣
My first ever bike was an RD200 brought brand new (about £750 if memory serves), touched 90 2-up once! Later I had an RD400. However my all time favorite 2 stroke was the Suzuki GT500 (1977 model), so many wonderful memories of that bike.
Had the Rd125lc in South Africa. 1986 cost R1600.00(rand) brand new.Super fast..minor carb and exhaust mods 100mph.Sadly sold it after 2yrs..new owner siezed it after a month..no 2 stroke oil even with red warning light on..MISS THAT BIKE.
my favorite was the R5 , being plain piston port it didn't take long to find that it responded very well to blueprinting + a bit without being caught by the scrutineers . A few mods to the air cleaner box and intakes plus some inventive exhaust mods , gave the R5 a very strong top end and way more power than the RD . The drum brake was as good as the disc when you fitted green linings and I actually preferred it . officially
I had the RD350B model, and the disc brake was a good stopper in the dry, but performed as if it was missing in the wet. So I would keep two fingers gently against the lever to keep the disc warm, which seemed to decrease the stopping distance, but I don't know for sure
It did help, I used to lightly apply the brake till I felt it start to bite Lethal in the wet, I don't know how they got away with it really, still, it was a long time ago lol
@@bsimpson6204 Drum brakes that faded after one stop, or disc brakes that don't work in the rain? People used to say at the time that the stainless steel discs were the problem, and that cast iron Brembo discs were better. First time I got caught in a downpour on a Ducati, I applied gentle pressure on the front brake, and the damn bike, sat up in the corner. I almost had a head-on.
I had 2x LC's as a nipper... happy days, all binned eventually (not by me) :-) You are just missing the 350YPVS. Someone has more than their fair share of CBX's ;-)
I Had a 74 RD 250 -350 TOP END!!!!! With RD 400 Needle Jets And ported Pistons And SKIMMED Heads !!!And Cliped Reed Valves And Clipped Baffles And Bigger Main Jets And A YR5 AIR BOX !!!and Skimmed HEADS and POLISHED Ports And FLAT BARS and IT Was a GIANT Killer !!!😌g
I'd love to hear what you are saying but the poor mic and the background noise made it impossible for me. Looks like a great channel, I'll check back hopefully you can get the audio sorted.
Oh I remember these well, Just my era :) remember seeing a brand new CBX in Redhill Motors Maidstone, oddly never appearing to get sold. Like the RE5 I. Westtree motors Maidstone that was brand new unsold till the day the shop went kaput…..
Yammas I've owned: RD200, RD350LC, a tuned RD400E that was mental. The last stroker was a TZR250 that I owned for 15 years but let it go a couple of years ago for £600 - FAR too cheap. You live and learn....
I bought a brand new RD250A on my 17th birthday December 1974 I'd had a new FS1E on my 16th that i did 13'000 miles on in 12 months , Woodford Motor Scooters both bikes
We did it the other way. Put 350 pots on a 250. Registration purposes. A 250 was about half the cost to register than a 350, plus we had a licence scheme, where new riders were limited to 250cc.
i have never owned a motorbike , i have never ridden one but i love old motorbikes . at school i always read 'motorcycle mechanics ' so i can recognise a lot of bikes but still can't ride one .I just love to look
Any 1970's Yamaha 250, 350 or 400 articles intrigue me. I had two 1972 YDS7s, one I put over 14,000 miles on it, the other one over 5,000 miles. Loved them. After having a four year break in riding, back in 1981, I was looking for a RD350 or RD400 and I couldn't find one, so I settled for a 1978 Yamaha XS400. I put about 14.5K miles on that, before going to a Honda 650 Nighthawk. But, I'm still in love with any of the Yamaha 1970 - 1979 250, 350 & 400 two stroke twins! Thanks for the video. One thing, in the states, the RD250/RD350s didn't come with a front disk until 1975. Your 1973 RD250 shown has a front disk. Stock?
@@keithdawson4804 Very interesting, I looked at my articles and Yamaha fliers from 1971 thru 1975 (I've got a scrapbook), starting with in 1973, the RD350s, in the States, did have the disk in front. The 1973 & 1974 250s had the drum. Yamaha added the disk in 1975 for the 250s. I still love the looks of those bikes, although at 200lbs, I don't think I would fit on one very well. I'll have to stick with my ST1300s! ;)
Great bikes back in the day. Shame they’ve become ‘showroom and shows only’ investment pieces. They need to be out on the road putting a smile on your face.
I’ve got a 1976 rd 250 with front and rear discs and spoked wheels,which I believe was only in production for 6 months ?? Then alloys were introduced. So, I’m open to offers 🤔
i had a 350 black gold anodized rims faring and seat built pipes ahead of time i painted my cr 125 red next year Honda painted there bikes red i made a chain tensionor for my Yamaha 250 at saddle back park the Japanese took pictures and there were chain tensioners
In the 70’s i had a GT380 Suzuki triple. It was faster than i was, but it had dozens of electrical shorts. I always thought the Yamaha 2 strokes were more popular. Can anyone tell me the differences? Which were better?
