Post by JonW on Oct 18, 2010 5:09:24 GMT 1
EDITED TO ADD: This thread is pretty old, and also pretty long now, and some of the pics have been killed off by the hosting sites for no good reason, but there ya go... So if you want all the pics, a shorter read (less banter) then click the following link to go to the story as I wrote it up on my 2smoked.com website:
2smoked.com/Yamaha_RD350_LC_421cc_Athena_Home.html
--------------------------------
Yep, I know what youre thinking... 'He's started yet another project? No... Surely not?!', er... Yeah... To be honest, I can get with that I have 4 (or is it 5?) on the go already... But this one is a bit more middle ground than the straight resto of the RZ250R (here: www.rzrd500.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4650 ) and the long in the tooth looney KTMaha project (here: www.rzrd500.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5131 ), this one is planned to be 'my perfect retro bike'... If such a thing exists... It wont stay the same for very long and will be improved as parts and budget allow, at least that's the plan...
So what's the perfect RD/RZ? Well yes it is different for each of us I guess... It's a mixture of styling and performance blended lightly with our misty eyed memories, but... Hold on... We all know these bikes are not actually perfect, sure they can be very good on occasion but rarely, 'perfect' perhaps... Even with all our hard work, bracing of frames, modern suspension, bigger brakes, clever ignitions, huge barrels and trick 'spannies...
Yeah sacrilege to say it I know, but we have to concede that there really are better handling, faster bikes out there that would blow the old RDs and RZs into the weeds, but do they remind us of when these bikes were the top of the crop? Do they look as horny? Er... Ok... Yeah... Some do... A nice clean modern'ish 916 or even some of the new crop of retro bikes look good and go/handle well of course, and they will be classics in their own right in 20 years. LOL! Yet that's missing the point, of course, and rather than digress, as you didn't start reading this to hear me bleat on about better bikes than the ones we love... I know I didn't!
So.... What I was thinking was what if I could get the base bike that I really wanted and then make it as close to perfect for me (not perfect as in 'clean and attractive' perhaps, just more 'what I wanted from the bike'...). My reasoning being that if I did get one that was already in bits, what would I do to lightly improve it and have it how Id really want, a quite small budget allowing...
So, back to the story... As a few of you know I've long been a fan of the RD/RZ line up of bikes in all their forms, and as we all know the 350 got better with development right up to the FII, but I still hankered after an old LC. ....it's the shape I reckon... It just looks 'right' to my eyes...
(Ok, prepare those misty eyed goggles! You need the sort that produce a late 70's cheapo photo finish with faded browns, oranges and reds and have that slightly wrong tracking/timing that cine super 8 film always has... Ok, ready? ...Here we go... Welcome to the late 1970's/early '80s...)
(For the Aussies who read this, the next bit might sound like an into on a Shannons tv ad, and I apologise for that, big time!)
To be honest I even know were I saw my first one... It was a white with red decals 250LC and was parked on Whitedown Lane (probably outside number 23 or something like that) in Alton, Hants, UK, back in the days when you could park on the road there, i.e. Back in a time when my dad used to take me and my sister swimming on a Saturday morning, yeah it was a long time ago... the bike was new and had a huge 'L' pate on the back... Love those old UK learner laws!
Sadly I should have sorted out this particular itch years ago when I was in the UK, as these days any LC is now becoming silly money here in Aus and parts seem to be getting harder to find and prices have really gone up. Of course we can buy stuff from Europe and UK but the post is killer on larger parts, so in order to scratch the itch a little last year as many of you know I bought an RZ250R with a blown motor off ebay and set about sorting it out to be a nice 350 bike like the ones I rode in the 80s and 90s... That restoration is progressing slowly at the mo as Im waiting for some parts and need to get the frame stripped and coated, but it will be a very nice looking and running 350 YPVS when its done... I will enjoy it but in the back of my mind, it's an LC I really wanted... Hmm...
Now then... whilst ive been hunting for RZ parts, buying books and reading up all over the net in the mass of forums for our bikes, I've still been lusting after an LC... I know a few guys locally who have them in the condition I want but no one is selling, and even the 'silly money' restored bikes on ebay that would require more effort and cost to ship down to Sydney, have now dried up... I really have missed the boat for my own LC, or so I thought...
But being me, I kept at it... Not actively, you understand, but that sort of slow burn we all do... Emails of saved ebay searches and watching the sales forums... And you know what, it paid off! A new mate of mine was selling some old LC and RZ parts which included an LC frame on another forum and we got chatting and he said he would dig round in his parts bins and lo n behold this frame and a load of old LC bits have appeared.... Ok, so its not perfect... Yep it's a 250 and yep of course, it's also got a hell of a long way to go to be my dream LC, but it is... A start! Wahooo!
So with the fact i've got a reasonably bare frame in front of me, Ive got a pretty blank canvas... and with the evolution of the LC breed in mind, I got to thinking... If I need forks, why wouldn't I use some of the easier available RZ forks instead? They are still Yamaha and were an iteration of the same forks the bike originally had... If I needed an engine why wouldn't I fit an RZ one. Its not like this bike will be an original matching numbers bike or that I can easily score any of the parts required to build it here anyway. This idea came about due to my issue with the fact I don't have any barrels or head for my LC motor and even if I did have the LC parts, would I want to make a bike with about 47bhp? Since that's what the 350LC puts out... Hell, even the RZ250R puts out something like 48 and even tho we had lots of them hardly anyone down under bothers to use the smaller 250's these days and they all ditch the 250 parts and move to 350... LOL.
So the same mate supplied me a set of 31k forks and looking in my spare parts for my 57V, I do have another YPVS motor in bits that could be built to go in it... I even have a set of barrels and pistons and would just need a crank... Or if didn't want the YPVS logo on the head, I could get the same look as the old LC motor if I fitted the YPVS bottom end and the Athena top end... Interesting... Along that line I guess I could even make it a 421 by using a +4mm crank since I need a new crank anyway... Hmm... Ok, perhaps that's all conjecture as I don't have a lot of cash to throw at my projects right now and this one could take a while... All good thoughts though...
Whilst thinking back to how I want this as my 'dream LC' (term used loosely at this point) ive been looking at colours and for an LC the obvious choice for me was white with red to hark back to the first one I saw, but I also love the white with blue... Sadly, for me the darker colours don't really work on these bikes and tend to look a bit 'dull' meaning I don't want either a metallic blue or the mars bar... Of course, for those that know me, you will have guessed where I am going with this... Yes, I've missed one colour out... Of course this bike would also be my chance to finally get try out the 'yellow experience' and go for the Kenny Roberts colours! I did try to do that with the RZ250R resto but as no one has made a set of decals for the 57V bodywork it wasn't easy, so this bike will finally be my very own 'Yellow Peril'... eeek?!
So in the meantime, I have been gathering some other parts... And even more amusingly than my mate having a set of 31k forks to sell me, and me having an almost complete YPVS engine in my garage, as if to tell me that 'it was meant to be' I did pick up a set of stunning KR LC bodywork from a good bloke in the UK the very next day after the deal was done on the frame and other parts. Who knows, Maybe this one wouldn't be so hard to build using the other bits I have already.... I could maybe even use some original boat anchor pipes from my 250RZ (they are 31Ks actually) to keep it looking standard... Hell if I don't like it later I can always mess with it a bit more... Now that idea is quite tempting... I can see this project being one that is never truly finished!
What's also good is that ive picked up yet another set of RZ cases so my KTMaha supermoto project is still on going even I decided to use the 250 engine originally earmarked for that project in this bike... So this gets better n better...
Ok, So as a project it's not exactly a 'bike' as such right now as its far from complete, but with the thought process above and some decisions made I can sort of see some daylight way down the end of the tunnel... Ok its a long way away, but I'd still need a locate a set of clocks, headlight, assorted brackets and plastics etc etc...
And of course if anyone did have a set of 250 or 350 LC barrels and head I wouldn't say no as I could build it standard then as I do have the LC cases as well! It's good to have options... Hey, it might even be a fun bike when its built... As usual I cant say when that will be tho... LOL!
more soon.... (and some pics )
2smoked.com/Yamaha_RD350_LC_421cc_Athena_Home.html
--------------------------------
Yep, I know what youre thinking... 'He's started yet another project? No... Surely not?!', er... Yeah... To be honest, I can get with that I have 4 (or is it 5?) on the go already... But this one is a bit more middle ground than the straight resto of the RZ250R (here: www.rzrd500.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4650 ) and the long in the tooth looney KTMaha project (here: www.rzrd500.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5131 ), this one is planned to be 'my perfect retro bike'... If such a thing exists... It wont stay the same for very long and will be improved as parts and budget allow, at least that's the plan...
So what's the perfect RD/RZ? Well yes it is different for each of us I guess... It's a mixture of styling and performance blended lightly with our misty eyed memories, but... Hold on... We all know these bikes are not actually perfect, sure they can be very good on occasion but rarely, 'perfect' perhaps... Even with all our hard work, bracing of frames, modern suspension, bigger brakes, clever ignitions, huge barrels and trick 'spannies...
Yeah sacrilege to say it I know, but we have to concede that there really are better handling, faster bikes out there that would blow the old RDs and RZs into the weeds, but do they remind us of when these bikes were the top of the crop? Do they look as horny? Er... Ok... Yeah... Some do... A nice clean modern'ish 916 or even some of the new crop of retro bikes look good and go/handle well of course, and they will be classics in their own right in 20 years. LOL! Yet that's missing the point, of course, and rather than digress, as you didn't start reading this to hear me bleat on about better bikes than the ones we love... I know I didn't!
So.... What I was thinking was what if I could get the base bike that I really wanted and then make it as close to perfect for me (not perfect as in 'clean and attractive' perhaps, just more 'what I wanted from the bike'...). My reasoning being that if I did get one that was already in bits, what would I do to lightly improve it and have it how Id really want, a quite small budget allowing...
So, back to the story... As a few of you know I've long been a fan of the RD/RZ line up of bikes in all their forms, and as we all know the 350 got better with development right up to the FII, but I still hankered after an old LC. ....it's the shape I reckon... It just looks 'right' to my eyes...
(Ok, prepare those misty eyed goggles! You need the sort that produce a late 70's cheapo photo finish with faded browns, oranges and reds and have that slightly wrong tracking/timing that cine super 8 film always has... Ok, ready? ...Here we go... Welcome to the late 1970's/early '80s...)
(For the Aussies who read this, the next bit might sound like an into on a Shannons tv ad, and I apologise for that, big time!)
To be honest I even know were I saw my first one... It was a white with red decals 250LC and was parked on Whitedown Lane (probably outside number 23 or something like that) in Alton, Hants, UK, back in the days when you could park on the road there, i.e. Back in a time when my dad used to take me and my sister swimming on a Saturday morning, yeah it was a long time ago... the bike was new and had a huge 'L' pate on the back... Love those old UK learner laws!
Sadly I should have sorted out this particular itch years ago when I was in the UK, as these days any LC is now becoming silly money here in Aus and parts seem to be getting harder to find and prices have really gone up. Of course we can buy stuff from Europe and UK but the post is killer on larger parts, so in order to scratch the itch a little last year as many of you know I bought an RZ250R with a blown motor off ebay and set about sorting it out to be a nice 350 bike like the ones I rode in the 80s and 90s... That restoration is progressing slowly at the mo as Im waiting for some parts and need to get the frame stripped and coated, but it will be a very nice looking and running 350 YPVS when its done... I will enjoy it but in the back of my mind, it's an LC I really wanted... Hmm...
Now then... whilst ive been hunting for RZ parts, buying books and reading up all over the net in the mass of forums for our bikes, I've still been lusting after an LC... I know a few guys locally who have them in the condition I want but no one is selling, and even the 'silly money' restored bikes on ebay that would require more effort and cost to ship down to Sydney, have now dried up... I really have missed the boat for my own LC, or so I thought...
But being me, I kept at it... Not actively, you understand, but that sort of slow burn we all do... Emails of saved ebay searches and watching the sales forums... And you know what, it paid off! A new mate of mine was selling some old LC and RZ parts which included an LC frame on another forum and we got chatting and he said he would dig round in his parts bins and lo n behold this frame and a load of old LC bits have appeared.... Ok, so its not perfect... Yep it's a 250 and yep of course, it's also got a hell of a long way to go to be my dream LC, but it is... A start! Wahooo!
So with the fact i've got a reasonably bare frame in front of me, Ive got a pretty blank canvas... and with the evolution of the LC breed in mind, I got to thinking... If I need forks, why wouldn't I use some of the easier available RZ forks instead? They are still Yamaha and were an iteration of the same forks the bike originally had... If I needed an engine why wouldn't I fit an RZ one. Its not like this bike will be an original matching numbers bike or that I can easily score any of the parts required to build it here anyway. This idea came about due to my issue with the fact I don't have any barrels or head for my LC motor and even if I did have the LC parts, would I want to make a bike with about 47bhp? Since that's what the 350LC puts out... Hell, even the RZ250R puts out something like 48 and even tho we had lots of them hardly anyone down under bothers to use the smaller 250's these days and they all ditch the 250 parts and move to 350... LOL.
So the same mate supplied me a set of 31k forks and looking in my spare parts for my 57V, I do have another YPVS motor in bits that could be built to go in it... I even have a set of barrels and pistons and would just need a crank... Or if didn't want the YPVS logo on the head, I could get the same look as the old LC motor if I fitted the YPVS bottom end and the Athena top end... Interesting... Along that line I guess I could even make it a 421 by using a +4mm crank since I need a new crank anyway... Hmm... Ok, perhaps that's all conjecture as I don't have a lot of cash to throw at my projects right now and this one could take a while... All good thoughts though...
Whilst thinking back to how I want this as my 'dream LC' (term used loosely at this point) ive been looking at colours and for an LC the obvious choice for me was white with red to hark back to the first one I saw, but I also love the white with blue... Sadly, for me the darker colours don't really work on these bikes and tend to look a bit 'dull' meaning I don't want either a metallic blue or the mars bar... Of course, for those that know me, you will have guessed where I am going with this... Yes, I've missed one colour out... Of course this bike would also be my chance to finally get try out the 'yellow experience' and go for the Kenny Roberts colours! I did try to do that with the RZ250R resto but as no one has made a set of decals for the 57V bodywork it wasn't easy, so this bike will finally be my very own 'Yellow Peril'... eeek?!
So in the meantime, I have been gathering some other parts... And even more amusingly than my mate having a set of 31k forks to sell me, and me having an almost complete YPVS engine in my garage, as if to tell me that 'it was meant to be' I did pick up a set of stunning KR LC bodywork from a good bloke in the UK the very next day after the deal was done on the frame and other parts. Who knows, Maybe this one wouldn't be so hard to build using the other bits I have already.... I could maybe even use some original boat anchor pipes from my 250RZ (they are 31Ks actually) to keep it looking standard... Hell if I don't like it later I can always mess with it a bit more... Now that idea is quite tempting... I can see this project being one that is never truly finished!
What's also good is that ive picked up yet another set of RZ cases so my KTMaha supermoto project is still on going even I decided to use the 250 engine originally earmarked for that project in this bike... So this gets better n better...
Ok, So as a project it's not exactly a 'bike' as such right now as its far from complete, but with the thought process above and some decisions made I can sort of see some daylight way down the end of the tunnel... Ok its a long way away, but I'd still need a locate a set of clocks, headlight, assorted brackets and plastics etc etc...
And of course if anyone did have a set of 250 or 350 LC barrels and head I wouldn't say no as I could build it standard then as I do have the LC cases as well! It's good to have options... Hey, it might even be a fun bike when its built... As usual I cant say when that will be tho... LOL!
more soon.... (and some pics )