Two Stroke RD350

Here is a pic of my brothers Yamaha RD350 two stroke.


Here is a some background on the little screamer.
I picked up the project from a friend of a friend. The previous owner went to prison for 10 years on a roadrage/ involuntary manslaughter charge. Anyways the convict had the swingarm stretched to keep the front wheel on the ground as these bikes ride on the rear wheel with just a twist of the throttle. He had Kawasaki mag wheels adapted that did not line up to the Yamaha calipers and was totally unsafe to push around the garage much less ride. March 08 my brother had some medical problems and was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. So like a good brother I loaded up MY RD350 and drove the 450 miles to go visit him in the hospital. When I visited him I whispered in his ear that I had a project that would be good rehab for him, since he could not work for at least six months when he was released from the hospital. I hid the bike around the back of the house so family visiting from out of town would'nt think I was trying to kill him with a motorcycle (remember he was still in the hospital at this time). Well after a year of rehab (on the bike that is) he has the bike looking pretty good. He still has to get his motorcycle endorsement to ride it legal. I know this is a Kaw forum but the bike has a rear Kaw rim, Kawasaki KH500 seat and tail fin so I will post it here. I must be a good brother because this was my next project at the time, and must admit, I miss my little screamer. After having the 79 Daytona Special and countless Suzuki 3 cylinder two strokes in my youth I want another two stroke

i rode my Elsie for years i love em,
wish i still had it shame i let it go

i had a rd350lc with rd400 con rods, dt175mx pistons,heart reeds,allspeed exhaust.

very nice...guys will freak when you pull up to bike week on that next year....we get some cool two strokes that come outta the woodwork each motogp here....rz500.gamma 400/500... two matching nsr 250s,way cafed 350 400 and 250 rd/rz...and a couple of bone stock restored triples are what i remember from last year...i'll get some pics this year and add em on this thread....cool brother...my brother is my closest male freind and i am always talking bikes with him...nice lines on your guys bike too...there are a lot of rd250 and 400s around the san fran area popping up this year on c-list...eventualy that will stop being the case i bet.....

Very cool bike Kawickrice. I'm actually waiting on parts for a RZ350 engine I'm putting together for a guy at work. He bought a 4mm stroker crank from Vito's and is having it bored 0.5mm over. He also picked up complete front and rear ends from a '89 FZR600 that he's coing to graft on it. The RD and RZ350's are fun little bikes.

Later, Doug

StreetfighterKz wrote:

Very cool bike Kawickrice. I'm actually waiting on parts for a RZ350 engine I'm putting together for a guy at work. He bought a 4mm stroker crank from Vito's and is having it bored 0.5mm over. He also picked up complete front and rear ends from a '89 FZR600 that he's coing to graft on it. The RD and RZ350's are fun little bikes.

Later, Doug

Thanks for the nice words. Rearsets are the next thing he is going to add if he comes up with the money anytime soon. Being out of work for so long kinda makes it hard sometimes.

Many years ago in one of the bike magazines (Cycle World?) they used car coils strapped to the down tubes(one for each cylinder) with quite an increase in combustion.

those bikes are very cool, and he did a great job.

the first 7 motor cycles i owned where rd 250,350 and rd 400 i had 2 daytona specials i credit those bikes with the fact i'm alive now. i crashed my 250 probably 10-15 times and survived if i had been riding one of today's current crop of 600's i would died after my first crash i'm sure. when i'm on a bike i have 2 throttle postions fully closed or fully open so it was good to have a bike that was only capable of about 80 miles an hour. in fact i like them so much i'm looking at buying a 78 rd400 that has only 1800 miles on it.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

I love the RD's, what an awesome bike.... It's amazing how fast those little rockets are....

Last Issue of Cycle Worlds Retro Mag... These where the cover bike....

Love it!

MFolks wrote:

Many years ago in one of the bike magazines (Cycle World?) they used car coils strapped to the down tubes(one for each cylinder) with quite an increase in combustion.

As a mater of fact he has car coils on it. Volkswagon I think is what he is running but not positive.

I just got back from visiting my brother in Pensacola, Florida. This is a clip of his first shakedown run on the RD I gave him.






[youtube][/youtube]

I like that