DBSnappa wrote:
@cavey
My late sorely missed ex brother in law was a committed biker. I knew him from the age of 7 or 8.
Bikes I remember from that period and moving forward a few years, so late 70s to mid 80s.
Honda CBX. There was one, in silver, routinely parked outside the pub around the corner from my mum's.
Yamaha XJ650. Do you remember this mental beast; it was turbo charged.
The Yamaha RDs, both the 250 and 350 LC. Many of my brother's and brother in law's friends owned them.
My brother in law, being the contrary son of a birch he was, had a CB250N Superdream, as he always maintained he preferred the noise. He thrashed the arse out of it at Llandow trying to prove that it was better than the RD250, stripping the flywheel and shagging the cylinder head in the process.
Sorry to hear of your late, ex brother in law DBS; he sounds like he would've been my kind of guy also (especially if he was a contrary SOB who blew up his 'Dream in pursuit of glory as against the mighty RD250LC... respect).
Yes, we hark from the same era. Whereas I cut my teeth on a Honda CB125 "Superdream" 4-stroke twin only a few months old when I bought her (of mid-80s vintage), and as much as I loved that little bike, two things soon became evident: (1) 2-strokes were vastly quicker, more tunable and much more fun, despite the very nice handling of the 'Dream, and (2) Bigger bikes were much faster than learner 125s with stupid 12bhp power cap, which everyone apart from Honda treated with the contempt it deserved (yes, I hated safety regs - or indeed any regs - just as much then, as now. Old habits etc.).
Now, whereas with the 125 I'd loaned myself up to the hilt for 3 years (as you do, right?
), and managed to get myself made redundant within a month of taking out said loan, as well as smashing my bike up a few times at 60mph with on fire bits etc., which does rather affect resale values, when the time came to get my first "big" bikes after having blagged through my full bike licence test, there was no money. Which meant cheap ratters - which at the time meant 1970s era Jap bikes that all the cool kids had spurned for newer, shinier, much more reliable and safer stuff which had brakes which (sort of) worked.
It's hard to believe now, but stuff like (admittedly rough) Kwak KH400s, Suzook X7s and in my own case, Yamaha RD400s (pre LC, pre YPVS Power Valve) swapped hands for a few hundred quid (worth many, many thousands now). For that, you got 50bhp with Micron expansions, 15mpg and more wheelies than you could shake a stick at. I will never, ever forget the first time I "banded" an RD400; not much doing <4500RPM, then that tell tale sharpening of the exhaust note before wailing all the way to 8000RPM 2-stroke heaven, wheel pawing the air and me - quite literally - screaming with delight in my helmet. What. A. Feeling. Kids today have their iPads and electric cars, but we had *this*.
No wonder so many old crusties are chasing those last few, pristine examples in the vain hope of reliving their youth, but I say never go back, what's done is done and enjoy the memories.
Like I said, it was always old ratters for the cash-strapped in my case, I have to be honest; one of the first acts I ever did when I got together with Mrs C was to wheel my creaking, knackered old RD400 across her little lounge carpet (since it was mid terrace with no access to the yard except via the house), and of course the old girl dripped 2-stroke oil all over the (cream) carpet... man, she is a patient woman, luckily for me also a biker or I'd have been toast. But I do well remember those bikes that you mention - the Honda CBX was an awesome sight with its transverse six motor (I always remember the Beneli also, as well as the old Z1300 also of course, but the Honda had the class and the build IMO).
I can't remember much about the Yammy XJ650 Turbo if I'm honest, but I do recall the Honda CX500 Turbo... batshit insane complexity and not much more go than a 350 YPVS of the same era, let alone an RG500... but like I said, I am a 2-stroke fiend. Much as I adore Harleys and always have (I love extremes), bikes like the RD250, RD250LC, "club light" RD350LC YPVS... these are the stuff of legends, I love them all. Hot summer Essex nights, the evocative whiff of exotic 2-stroke oil hanging heavy in the air and filling the nostrils; the testosterone of youth pumping through the veins and the best mates you'll ever have dicing with you out on the open road, pissing ourselves with laughter over a beer afterward. No, if I'm really honest, I love the antisocial side to motorcycling, now almost as much then; I do still enjoy the ripple of tension parking The Black Beast deliberately, thunderously and very visibly right next to some genteel bar or restaurant terrace or other, with all the attendant tutting, looking at the floor, the incredulity at our getting served. Its all extremely childish, I know.
My Spain Road Trip of a couple of years back with one of my best mates count among the best days of my life (I shared a few photos on the forum I think).
Anyway, here are some lovely pictures to look at; a lovely old Yammy RD350LC, and an RD350LC YPVS.
Feast your eyes. Happy times.
...All that power came at the expense of civilized riding. The mufflers were really racing expansion chambers, muffled just enough to meet the loose decibel requirements of the 1960s. The H1 [Kawasaki KH500/KH750] would pop wheelies at the slightest provocation, sometimes in the middle of turns. Vibration was annoying, and the seat was uncomfortable, but the kids who bought H1s didn’t care, and the H1 became immensely popular with the young men who formed the bulk of early Seventies riders — if not with their parents and the highway patrol. ... yeh baby!!!