A Bicentenial restoration/rescue - '76 RD400

J

jonesn7

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In 1976, I bought a brand new Yamaha RD400. Loved it, but in '79 was mature enought to know that I was not mature enough to have it in the Kentucky/Tennessee mountains where I planned to move when I got out of the Navy that summer. So, I sold it to a shipmate. Life happened and it wasn't until '04 that I had another motorcycle. I've had mostly GoldWings since, but always longed for another RD. Things like this are hard to find when you are looking for them. Actually doing a search for a TW200, this bike poped up. Like the folks that would prefer a rescue dog over a breeder's choice pure bred, I prefer a project bike. And this is.

1976 Yamaha RD400 in Chappy Red (that will change to Geneva Green). Engine in frame and a roller, plus a bin full of parts. 360+ miles away. Road trip! Picked it up, spent the night with a cousin, and brought it home. Missing are: brake calipers, mufflers, one muffler boot, air cleaner cover (and element), plug leads, rear fender, rear hoop (called a stay in the parts list), tail light and bracket, all signals. Lots in need of repair, too. Seems to have been stored in the dry except the seat pan. Engine turns over, but didn't test compression.

This should keep me out of trouble for a while.
727331e4420e0ee7910dafc0a82f9b1b.jpg
 
My younger brother had a 1980 Daytona Special version. Bloody fast! He would go back and forth from Guelph to home on the superslab couple times a month. Just under a 2 hour ride. It would start to wake up at 4000 and lift the front wheel if one was in the gas at 6000. Super exciting to ride fast! He sold it later to vintage racer who’s only concern was the exhaust pipes and mufflers. They had to be original.
Pierre
 
Nice.

At 6'3" the RD's were a little small for me but my buddy had one. I had a Kawasaki H1 500cc triple, we rode all over the Santa Cruz mountains with those bikes breaking many, many traffic laws.

The Monday after seeing Kenny Roberts race at Laguna Seca I was riding to work and stopped at a light next to a Yamaha 750. We decided to have a go and when he let off I kept on it till redline in fifth gear. Then the right side crank seal failed and and I rode the rest of the way to work on the remaining two cylinders. Sold that bike for scrap and pretty much stopped riding on the street when I turned 16 later that year and got a car.

Good memories :grin:


John
 
Nice project!
When I was a young lad in the early eighties I read Cycle and Cycle World magazines incessantly. I lusted over the white RD400 Daytona Special and the Honda Hawk.
I’d have both in a heartbeat now.
Best get working on my NT650!


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DavidR8 said:
Nice project!
When I was a young lad in the early eighties I read Cycle and Cycle World magazines incessantly. I lusted over the white RD400 Daytona Special and the Honda Hawk.
I’d have both in a heartbeat now.
Best get working on my NT650!
Click to expand...
Would that be the Burgundy Red lovely you posted a pic of recently - needing stuff around it to be moved?
 
ooh, super cool! RD350s and Aprilia RS250s were the bikes to have when I was growing up and briefly riding a motorbike. Mine was a Suzuki TR125 (?) $h!theap that ended up blowing a rear tire when I was drafting a dump truck trying to get up to 70mph and spat me over the bars at ~55mph (wobble went away for a bit so my 17yr old brain thought "all good!" and cracked the throttle open again). Still have a nice lump where my collar bone didn't quite go back together right and a ride home from the hospital in a vibrating MGB and 45 minutes of my Dad saying "I told you so".

Haven't ridding a motorbike since, but I still like the look and the engineering behind them.
 
My original rd400 was Geneva green and I loved ths color. This one starts in Chappy red, but will be repainted Geneva green. So, I'll call her "Geneva". This name is also one of family historical importance. My paternal grandparents had a large farm and timber operation. Back then the "field hands" were traditionally fed at the owner's house for lunch. Grandma had a huge sun porch on the back of the house that would fill with the workers (and her eight children) to eat huge mounds of chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, and honey served in glass pitchers with combs floating in them. Grandma couldn't do all of that herself, of course. She hired a girl (probably started as a pre-teen) to help who became her main cook, and a family friend throughout her lifetime. Her name was Geneva.
 
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