Safe, thanks to TBN

[looch]

When I was 10 I had my little 1981 Yamaha MX80. What a piece of junk. It was oil injection and used to foul plugs like no tomorrow. A friend of mine let me try his KX80. I knew this thing was fast, bit I had never ridden it before. I also knew that it had tendancy rear up and toss the pilot. Here I was, all 80#'s of me sitting on the gas tank to try and keep the front end down. I had had enough by the time I hit 3rd gear. From then on it was enduros for me. Next bike was a very tame XR100, then in 1993 I bought an XR250. I had a friend with a CR125. He could keep the front end in the air through all 6 gears. Now no more dirt bikes - I have a BMW F650ST. It has the dirt bike stance which I am more comfortable with. It is also quite benign as far as street bikes go (48hp).

 

[MossRoad]

<font color=blue>Looking back, you had to be pretty much out of your mind to have a bike like that as a daily driver. </font color=blue>

You got that right! It was very uncomfortable after about 1/2 hour of riding due to all of the shifting, vibration, etc. I should have got the rear setback foot pegs, but then I couldn't take my wife for rides.

Got all my stuff from Specialist II in Burbank, CA. Forgot to mention that the reason it was bored out was because the oil injection pump quit and siezed the moter. Took it off and mixed gas and oil from then on. Ran 100 octane low lead from the airport where I used to work.

I remember blowing away the aforementioned camaro. Ran it up to somewhere over 100MPH and was in the process of shutting it down only to see flashing red lights coming at me in the on coming lanes. I slammed on the brakes and pulled into a factory parking lot. The cop pulled in behind me and asked if I knew what the speed limit was. Yes sir, 40 MPH. Do you know how fast you were going? No sir. Well, I clocked you at 60. I smiled and said thank you as he handed me the ticket. He looked at me like I was nuts.

 

[s1120]

Hay, anouther rd400 guy. I still have my 77 in the garage. I love it. Havent had it out in a few years, but its still on the road.

 

[Wal]

Paul,

Put a picture of your RD up. As I recall, starting in 76' the RD's went to kind of a "square" look as opposed to the more traditional "teardrop" shape. Right?

 

[MossRoad]

This isn't mine, but a picture of the same model from the factory.

 

[Jeff396]

I remember that now. Didn't they also make a yellow cafe bike version? I wanna say it was the Kenny Roberts edition.

Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

I think that they discontinued the RD series for a few years, then came out with the RZ350? in Yellow or Red in the mid '80s. That was the Kenny Roberts edition. It had variable exhaust valves. It was a nice little street fighter. Some kid brought one to the local drag strip. It didn't too to well against my 400. But, I think it was because it was geared for the street and he rode it 30 miles to the drag strip on a warm day. If he had geared it down and cooled it off, it was probably a 12 second bike.

I saw one guy had a 400 on the web that was turning 10's! And it was still streetable. Amazing bikes.

 

[Wal]

Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the time I had to use my FEL to get me out of a hole? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[s1120]

yup thats what mine looks like. But mine is blue

 

[MossRoad]

Don't remember, please tell.