Yamaha RD350 Two Smoke

jaydee75

jaydee75

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I bought this RD350 last Saturday and hope to bring it back to life. It was shut down and parked some 20 years ago, was running when shut down but now is in bad shape. Mostly Dot3 damage to brake system and paint, also a good bit of rust. Gas tank is almost rusted through, very heavy rust.
My question is: Do any of you guys know a discussion forum for Jap 2 strokes, etc that I can rely on? Access Norton is unusually great, and I hope to find a similar group for the RD.
Any pointers? I need a lot of help getting this thing going again.
Thanks
Jaydee
Pic:

Yamaha RD350 Two Smokescreen capture

Yamaha RD350 Two Smoke
 
Hey Jaycee
Try the VJMC vintage Japanese motorcycle club,there you'll find what your after.I had the same bike....73 by the color right ?
 
There's a good RD forum, can't remember the name right now but it will come to me...
 
You poor bugger, hope you got good life insureance, over here in their times so many got killed on them, more so than any other bikes in their times, but they were quick in a straight line and even then they were dangerous.

Ashley
 
Forget quick in a straight line, they ARE quick in the TWISTY bits! They can shame OHC fours 3x their size.
 
swooshdave said:
I just ran across a couple RD250s. Barn fresh. Are they worth anything?
Click to expand...
Probably worth $1500 to $2000 each(in good original shape) to the right person....
I have a 1971 R5 I ride on a fairly regular basis..It's a lot of fun
 
swooshdave said:
I just ran across a couple RD250s. Barn fresh. Are they worth anything?
Click to expand...

I am not sure of the rulebook anymore but they were once desirable in some AHRMA classes. I raced one for a season with AHRMA.

I raced a bunch of 350s back when they were the thing to have in the modern classes... Jim
 
When I was racing my 500cc Triton, RD350s were hard to beat even when I was using methanol fuel. Later on they all disappeared. They are actually not a bad thing, however if you find an old one, it would be worth starting by replacing the crank seals.
 
I worked with a couple of guys - one had an RD350 Yamaha, the other a KH500 Kawasaki. They used to race each other on the way home from work each evening, through the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Between the two of them there was nothing in it. The RD was as quick as the KH.
 
Triton Thrasher said:
That exhaust is probably bad for performance.

Hope there aren't amateur tuning mods to the engine.
Click to expand...

"Hope there aren't amateur tuning mods to the engine"... Indeed!

I had an RD250 when I were a lad.

It had been 'tuned'. It made a helluva racket and the power came in with a real bang at a certain rpm, so it MUST have been fast (to a teenage brain). Right?

I lived 14 miles from the local Sunday biker hang out, Matlock Bath. And was horrified to run out of fuel half way home after filling up prior to leaving. So I had drained a 4+ gallon tank in 20 odd miles!

So it REALLY must be fast... Obviously... Right?

Then dark one day I came up against a stock RD250, even had stock pipes (must have been a girl, I thought).

I was devastated when it left me for dead!

I sold it and stuck to 4 strokes ever since...
 
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