Yamaha RD 350

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.

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...