more bike porn

[canthai55]

Turn 16, get a real motorcycle license, and one of these

 

[canthai55]

Until these came out

 

[Rhys]

Just now, canthai55 said:

Until these came out

 

  KZ 750?

[canthai55]

Started drag racing the 750s. Expansion chambers, slick, wheelie bars. Had 2 to race and two spares.

Went to see Led Zeppelin in Vancouver, the next door neighbor came home drunk, burned down his house ... and mine too

All that was left was the steel frames, rims, and puddles of aluminum

[canthai55]

1 minute ago, Rhys said:

  KZ 750?

H2 750

[canthai55]

Next had one of these - but black

[DILLIGAD]

Ditto, left school summer of 76, 16th birthday a bit later in the year, so bicycles it was during that famous glorious summer....

I escaped in ‘74 and had that summer on a GT185 which I got £20 discount off, because my uncle worked with some bloke who wasn’t a cleaning product but still called Mr. Sheen!!!


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[Neilly]

4 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

By the time my brain got into gear and I pulled the clutch in, I'd left a 150m skid mark on the carriageway and had a hell of a flat spot on the tyre. 

To this day I still ride with one finger resting on the clutch lever...I was forever seizing/nipping up/holing pistons on the RD. I was continually messing with that engine, ported barrels, cut down skirts on the pistons, you name it I tried it. On more than one occasion I swapped out a holed piston on the side of the road. The worse part being to get all the flecks of melted ali out from under the crank...oh happy days.

[thaiguzzi]

2 hours ago, canthai55 said:

Started drag racing the 750s. Expansion chambers, slick, wheelie bars. Had 2 to race and two spares.

Went to see Led Zeppelin in Vancouver, the next door neighbor came home drunk, burned down his house ... and mine too

All that was left was the steel frames, rims, and puddles of aluminum

If he survived the fire, what did you do to the neighbor?

[thaiguzzi]

12 hours ago, mogandave said:

Back in the ‘70s my girlfriends dad had a nice Bonneville. I tried to buy it a few times, but he never wanted to sell. He rode it a couple times a month and it still looked like new last time I saw it about 16 years ago. Shortly after that he traded it for a 665 Sporty...f’n moron.

Whats a 665 Sporty?

Or did you mean an 883 Sportster?

11 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

I got into Bike mag the Original one .. early 70's

Great magazine. I have a few 70's issues here, nothing else like it at the time.

PM me if you want to borrow a couple.

11 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

used to buy MCN ( I know I know I've seen the light since )

Still do when back in Blighty. It's crap but it's a read for an hour or so. Nice to read the classifieds (shock) and catch up with the latest and greatest.

11 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Them guards I think were metal as I'm sure I've seen CD's rusted out a bit on the rear one .. 

Thinking about it, i think you are right.

7 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

And misfires I used to put HMP grease or Petroleum jelly on the H T leads out of the coils and some around the seal of the plug cap where it grips the plug isolator before silicon spray become pop

Very crappy OEM quality plug caps fitted to pretty much every bike back then. The metal caps in particular were awful.

7 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

The 70's bikes were all individually recognisable You knew a Yam , as soon as you saw one , you knew a Honda without seeing the badge .. But as bikes progressed thru' the 80's a lot were getting bodywork and though retaining an element of individuality they have morphed now into looking almost identical .. Unless you see the badge or maker on the tank a Kawa can look like a Yam or Honda or whatever now .. The 70's a golden age for bikes and a glorious swansong for some .. 

+1.

7 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

If bikes are cars then GT750 is a big old Jag ..

+2.

A GT - a grand tourer, a 2 stroke that you could tour countries on.

[thaiguzzi]

44 minutes ago, Neilly said:

To this day I still ride with one finger resting on the clutch lever...I was forever seizing/nipping up/holing pistons on the RD. I was continually messing with that engine, ported barrels, cut down skirts on the pistons, you name it I tried it. On more than one occasion I swapped out a holed piston on the side of the road. The worse part being to get all the flecks of melted ali out from under the crank...oh happy days.

MY RD400 gave me problems, to such an extent i had to trade it in at a vast loss aged 17/18 (only had it about 2 months), over a weekend so i could get to work on a Monday morning. Traded it in for my first big heavy 4 stroke, my much loved Yamaha XS 650.

 Prior to that my RD350 it replaced (mistake) took me 30 miles to work & back each day, plus weekend hooning, and in approx 12 months ish of ownership i did nothing but put oil & petrol in it, and adjust the chain. Never let me down, ever.

[mogandave]

+2.
A GT - a grand tourer, a 2 stroke that you could tour countries on.

Yeah, the 883, must have been thinking of my old Sabre 665 stroker

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, thaiguzzi said:

Prior to that my RD350 it replaced (mistake) took me 30 miles to work & back each day, plus weekend hooning, and in approx 12 months ish of ownership i did nothing but put oil & petrol in it, and adjust the chain. Never let me down, ever.

Early doors 350 and younger bro' 250 both in classic early 70's colour schemes .. Last of 350's and more highly strung 400 .. A few have mentioned they weren't quite as reliable as the 350 I never had issues with mine but only had it for maybe a year so maybe problems were to come later .. 

[thaiguzzi]

14 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Early doors 350 and younger bro' 250 both in classic early 70's colour schemes .. Last of 350's and more highly strung 400 .. A few have mentioned they weren't quite as reliable as the 350 I never had issues with mine but only had it for maybe a year so maybe problems were to come later .. 

The blue 350 with the front disc brake - that was my bike !!!

I seem to remember gold pinstriping around the black panelling on the blue pain tho.........

I also seem to remember the pre RD's (drum front brakes) being called YDS7's or summat.

And i now (memory jog) remember how popular and rife those pre coffin tank 250's were.

Those teardrop tanks were a thing of beauty.

Prolly fit one of those on anything today and it would look right. Look good.

[Neilly]

2 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Prior to that my RD350 it replaced (mistake) took me 30 miles to work & back each day, plus weekend hooning, and in approx 12 months ish of ownership i did nothing but put oil & petrol in it, and adjust the chain. Never let me down, ever.

Mine was fine for at least a couple of years...then I started 'tinkering' with it...that's when the problems started LOL. I put it all back to standard before I traded it in against the 350LC, and I did see it around quite often afterwards, so I didn't completely wreck it.

[Neilly]

2 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Early doors 350 and younger bro' 250 both in classic early 70's colour schemes

Seeing those just reminded me of something...on my way thru Bath everyday sometimes I'd get in the mix with a Ruby Red RD250...we had some damn fine races on a few occasions and I could never work out why I couldn't leave him for dead the same as my mates who were still on 250's. One Saturday we were going down to Bath and I spotted him on the side of the road outside his house so stopped for a chat...he hadn't passed his test, so his '250' was actually a 350 with different side panels!

 

 

[Neilly]

1 hour ago, thaiguzzi said:

I also seem to remember the pre RD's (drum front brakes) being called YDS7's or summat.

The 250 was YDS7 and the 350 was YR5...loads of conflicting info regarding when the went from those designations to RD250 and RD350

[KhaoYai]

1 hour ago, Neilly said:

The 250 was YDS7 and the 350 was YR5...loads of conflicting info regarding when the went from those designations to RD250 and RD350

Yep and the bottom ends were essentially the same. I 'upgraded' my mates YDS7 with a YR5 top end as he was too lazy to pass his test - in those days you could only go up to 250 on L plates.

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, Neilly said:

Seeing those just reminded me of something...on my way thru Bath everyday sometimes I'd get in the mix with a Ruby Red RD250...we had some damn fine races on a few occasions and I could never work out why I couldn't leave him for dead the same as my mates who were still on 250's. One Saturday we were going down to Bath and I spotted him on the side of the road outside his house so stopped for a chat...he hadn't passed his test, so his '250' was actually a 350 with different side panels!

 

 

Yes gorgeous colour that Neilly .. Haha yea that was the great thing about 'em they looked so sim' so putting a 250 panel on a 350 would need an expert to know the difference .. 

[KhaoYai]

4 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Yes gorgeous colour that Neilly .. Haha yea that was the great thing about 'em they looked so sim' so putting a 250 panel on a 350 would need an expert to know the difference .. 

More or less but if you bent down, either 249cc or 348cc was cast into the barrels below the fins. Strangely, the one I 'upgraded' for my mate had no numbers ????

[Justgrazing]

5 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

More or less but if you bent down, either 249cc or 348cc was cast into the barrels below the fins. Strangely, the one I 'upgraded' for my mate had no numbers ????

Oh for sure but at a glance you could carry it off .. It would need an inquisitive plod asking questions for us to have to try and bluff it out a bit then and hope for the best .. 

The early Kawa's were the same a S2 350 could pass off as a 250 but if you checked the engine numbers you could get rumbled .. The S3/KH 400 had physically different barrels and heads that you could tell the difference of quite easily from just looking at it so wasn't able to pass off as a 250 .. But love 'em , love 'em all from that era great bikes and great times .. 

[Justgrazing]

2 hours ago, Neilly said:

The 250 was YDS7 and the 350 was YR5...loads of conflicting info regarding when the went from those designations to RD250 and RD350

Hahaha yea the Japanese do love slight model adjustments that require another designation .. A mate of mine who's nuts about Z1's tells me stuff like Z1B has got a slightly different font to the speedo and revcounter numerals to Z1A and the 4 warning lights are arranged in a different order on one from the other and the correct colour schemes for UK bikes and other stuff that'll require a different model number .. Mad as they come is Dean .. 

[Justgrazing]

54 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Oh for sure but at a glance you could carry it off .. It would need an inquisitive plod asking questions for us to have to try and bluff it out a bit then and hope for the best .. 

The early Kawa's were the same a S2 350 could pass off as a 250 but if you checked the engine numbers you could get rumbled .. The S3/KH 400 had physically different barrels and heads that you could tell the difference of quite easily from just looking at it so wasn't able to pass off as a 250 .. But love 'em , love 'em all from that era great bikes and great times .. 

400's bigger barrels n' heads n' different fin pattern made it much more difficult to pass off as a 250 though no doubt some tried .. 

[DILLIGAD]

That was like my second bike, KH250. It was sort of, metallic mauve and I fitted a matching bikini fairing to it. Lovely bike!


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[KhaoYai]

2 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

But love 'em , love 'em all from that era great bikes and great times ..

For me, they were great times at the time but now?  I love just pushing a button and knowing my bike's going to start.  I don't have to carry any spanners or clean the plugs every time they foul..........2 strokes, loved 'em then but I wouldn't want one now.????

[Justgrazing]

30 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

For me, they were great times at the time but now?  I love just pushing a button and knowing my bike's going to start.  I don't have to carry any spanners or clean the plugs every time they foul..........2 strokes, loved 'em then but I wouldn't want one now.????

Oh for sure they were high maintenance that there was a set of spare plugs under the seat told you to expect a bit of maintenance .. Not to mention cleaning the oil film and spots off after you been out for a thrash with the boys all on similar 2 strokes 

[mogandave]

Years ago I saw a graph of motorcycle sales in Thailand that showed Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki with similar (+-10) market shares.

Honda introduced a four-stroke and in a few years their market share jumped to over 60%....

[Neilly]

3 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

More or less but if you bent down, either 249cc or 348cc was cast into the barrels below the fins. Strangely, the one I 'upgraded' for my mate had no numbers ????

I did look...yep, no numbers  ????

 

3 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Hahaha yea the Japanese do love slight model adjustments that require another designation .. A mate of mine who's nuts about Z1's tells me stuff like Z1B has got a slightly different font to the speedo and revcounter numerals to Z1A and the 4 warning lights are arranged in a different order on one from the other and the correct colour schemes for UK bikes and other stuff that'll require a different model number .. Mad as they come is Dean .. 

I did a quick read up on the Yam models this morning to re-flash my fading memory...yerp, confusing as it ever was...things like 'were all YDS7's front drum brake'...nope, the 1st RD250's had drum brakes while they were still working out the details of fitting discs...stuff like that 

 

 

1 hour ago, KhaoYai said:

For me, they were great times at the time but now?  I love just pushing a button and knowing my bike's going to start.  I don't have to carry any spanners or clean the plugs every time they foul..........2 strokes, loved 'em then but I wouldn't want one now.????

Hmmm...good question, if I could find a RD350B I'd have to have it...no matter what condition it was in. Not so sure about the 350LC...I doubt there's one left that hasn't been mullered to within an inch of it's life

[Justgrazing]

400/4 H .. Weren't sure about these when they came out as they had flat solid colours , no candy or metallic two tone jobs or striping like we'd been used to from the Japanese but it turned out to be a good bike though you had to rev it to oblivion to go anywhere .. Bloke one year up in school from me did the Fizzie then RD200 to lose the Ell plates before buying a 400/4 in 1976 but he rode it like he'd stole it everywhere and unfortunately one afternoon that glorious summer in the lanes he took it too far and came 2nd in a head on with a Land Rover .. 

500/4 was always overshadowed by its bigger bro' but then went downhill with the 550 .. My older sister's first proper boyfriend had a 500/4 when I was about 13 an' I'd try and impress him with facts and figures out of my books and mags on bikes not realising he had other things in his mind than answering some annoying kid's questions about his bike .. 

[KhaoYai]

6 hours ago, Neilly said:

I did look...yep, no numbers  ????

 

I did a quick read up on the Yam models this morning to re-flash my fading memory...yerp, confusing as it ever was...things like 'were all YDS7's front drum brake'...nope, the 1st RD250's had drum brakes while they were still working out the details of fitting discs...stuff like that 

 

 

Hmmm...good question, if I could find a RD350B I'd have to have it...no matter what condition it was in. Not so sure about the 350LC...I doubt there's one left that hasn't been mullered to within an inch of it's life

I was never a fan of the LC.  I wasn't even that keen on the RD's but I loved the YDS7 & YR5 - you could always tell one coming with the whistling sound it made along with the usual 2 stroke gnarl.  Have to say though that my fave ever Yam was my XS650B. I'd have another tomorrow if I could find one in Thailand that hadn't been chopped.  Quite happy with the ER6N though, for me its the perfect allrounder for Thailand.  I've just got to stop it spinning up the back wheel when I'm thrashing it from a standstill.  I couldn't believe it at first and could have sworn the clutch was slipping.  It's got plenty of grunt but not that much, I guess its the weight of the back end that's the main problem. My ZX9 would have almost snapped the chain before the back would spin up - a much heavier back end. I feel some suspension adjustments coming on.