Yamaha RD 350

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If you're of a certain age you'll remember the RD350, the Suzuki Water Buffalo and Titan, Kawasaki 500 and 750. All two strokes, some were lethally fast and very poor handling, with even worse brakes.

Had a friend with an RD 350. He loved it right up to the moment of the accident that left him with a broken leg. I rode it once and it was a real screamer.

I had an uncle in PEI with an early 70's Kawasaki 750 triple, blue I think, and an old Honda Dream 305. He let me ride the 305 and not go near the 750. He just laughed and said my parents wouldn't be too happy if he let me ride it. He probably saved my life.

 
Had a RD great bike, went like hell, handled pretty good (by early 70s standards) and decent brakes, loved it. Had a friend who owned a H2, died on it, single vehicle accident, so no love for them. But I also knew guys who died on first generation CB750s, and even CB350s so maybe it wasn’t the bikes.
 
When I was a kid in Scarborough in 1974 there was an older guy in my neighborhood that raced an RD350. One Sunday my buddies and I are sitting on some swings in a parkette just outside of the Eglinton Go station parking lot where this guy is doing wheelies on his RD in the empty parking lot in his full race leathers.He goes to leave full throttle, the exit is a nice big sweeping curve onto a public road. Well this guy made one of the most poorly executed entries into a corner that I’ve ever seen, I was only 12 and could see that,he lays the bike down and slides about a hundred feet on his nice new leathers.Fast forward 42 years and I’m doing a job at the Air Canada Pilot Training Center near the airport. I start talking bikes with the building maintenance guy, lo and behold he’s the guy in my neighborhood that use to race RD’s. I said “Hey Mark” (his real name) “do you remember the time at the Go Station when you…?”. He looked at me and said “No, I don’t remember that” . Yeah, I wouldn’t either. Any way it was a beautiful new burgundy RD350 that got completely trashed right before my eyes, I remember that like it was yesterday.
 
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Had a shiny new 81 RD350LC in white with blue graphics as my first street bike.
Those were the days the insurance premium was a whopping $199 for the year.
I did a heck of a job wearing the new off the poor thing.
Got a first year Katana 1100 for my second year it was a slight step up...
 
There was a guy in my neighborhood known as “Nick The Bike Man”. He was a prolific motorcycle thief that honed his skills in Scarborough. He worked briefly at Toronto Motorbike behind the parts counter. He had determined that there were only about 10 different keys that Yamaha used on their ‘81-‘82 RD350LC. Well, he had a key ring with about 7 or 8 of them, he could walk up to any RD350LC in a mall or parking lot and had a better than 50% chance of starting that bike up and riding away. Those bikes were very common and in huge demand by racers at Shannonville, they just chewed those things up and Nick was more than happy to keep them supplied with fresh bikes.There was a bit of a joke back then about guys racing bikes from “Nick’s Cycle”.
 
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Dirty Frank said:
Had a shiny new 81 RD350LC in white with blue graphics as my first street bike.
Those were the days the insurance premium was a whopping $199 for the year.
I did a heck of a job wearing the new off the poor thing.
Got a first year Katana 1100 for my second year it was a slight step up...
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Did your RD ever get stolen?
 
Most motorcyclists view bike thieves like 1860`s horse thieves. They belong at the wrong end of a rope. I`ve never has a bike stolen but had a few stripped of parts, instruments mainly but exhausts and other aftermarket brake calipers and lines. Not a good feeling. Had a `83 RZ350 btw. Rode a `73( beautiful ) and `75 RD. And got rides on 250, 400 and 500 Kawi triples, almost forgot the `75 GT750 and Kawi 250 and 350 twins, Avenger and Samurai. Nostalgia is a helluva` drug. 🙃
 
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In the early 70s I had an orange/gold RD350, I think it was a 72, that I used to commute from Pickering downtown to College and University daily. It was very light in the front end especially with a passenger. I remember pulling away and dropping my wife on the pavement once. It will be our 57th wedding anniversary this year and she still tells everyone the reason she doesn't ride with me is that I dropped her off the back once.
 
Your right about bike thieves being like horse thieves. I had a bike stolen so I know what it’s like. Karma caught up to Nick. He stole bikes to support his worsening cocaine habit, he dropped dead at the age of 24 of heart failure. The only silver lining in this story is that Nick’s program allowed a lot of guys to race competitively that otherwise couldn’t have and I’m not talking about just a few guys, there were many.I don’t condone of Nick’s activities, I think that anyone who buys a stolen bike is just as guilty as the guy who stole it, unless it’s for racing of course, just kidding.
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