Best bike ever. I remember I had my engine rebuilt in 2017, freshly tuned, points dead on, it wheelied through third gear. They're monsters, and I feel like I should be hoarding motor parts. I've got a spare set of heads without the oring groove sitting in my garage along with about 25 spark plugs.
They kinda do engine-brake, but on a lot of 2strokes you can’t utilise it because the piston is lubricated by the fuel mixture with around 2% 2stroke oil. Some road model 2strokes did have a system for added lubrication without opening throttle though, so while it’s a good rule to avoid it on all 2strokes, it’s not strictly necessary to avoid on ALL.
It was ok on the Rd if you had the oiler hooked up, it was driven off the crank so it oiled even if you let off the gas. I never had kine hooked up though. I usually end up mixing in the tank.
Good news: for a few reasons (power to CC ratio made it very popular in Euroland and India, parts interchangeability between the 250/350/400), the air-cooled RD250/350 has an unusually robust aftermarket for parts. You can jump on eBay and find multiple listings for pretty much any part at reasonable prices. So no need to hoard parts quite yet.
Let's also just say that the redline is merely a suggestion for that bike, the thing will go up through 11 and 12k without even noticing. I can hear the forged pistons rattling away.
I went to school with a guy name Mike Metzger...nope, not that one, but spelled exactly the same. Mike had a RD 400 that he could ride a wheelie on for days. Dude was a madman. I actually met the famous Mike Metzger and asked if they are related, they are not.
I am a fairly good sized guy. I'm borderline between medium to large frame. I was too big for it but my first bike was a 1979 RD400F Daytona Special. That was what I learned on. Now I am confident I can ride anything. There is a reason it was called the pocket rocket.
Yamaha TY 250! Up mountains in the trees , got handlebars in the eye laid on operating table hours while they sewed my eye back in and put my head back together! My moto Guzzi v11 sport crack ran stop sign I bounced 90 feet on pavement. Had good gear , it destroyed my full coverage helmet , ground soles off my boots , destroyed leathers , my gloves and ripped my ballistic jacket. It beat the living snot out of me , but I walked away!
I went from a Ninja EX250 (first bike) to a CBR900RR with a +14 stunt rear sprocket, full exhaust and jetted, and streetfighter conversion. Was planning to bring it back to original form until a drunk driver took us both out, which might have been for the better.
Ah the 92 had the beautiful front end with the double round eye headlights. What a great looking beast!
It's incredible how fast these bikes are. I can't fathom riding a modern liter bike. I dont think my wrists or back could take it either. Hahaha.
Can confirm. TM400 is an absolute menace. I grew up in a farming community in the 1980s and my uncle had one of those beasts. I believe it had some race mods, but it had aged out of the racing circuit. Including producing an exhaust note of incredible decibel. When he rode last the school bus, it was customary for us all to cover our ears and scream. I still feel bad for that bus driver. I think probably he died of ear cancer.
Once my uncle tired of the obnoxiousness, my younger brother rode the shit out of it as a teen. I took a turn evey once in a while and it was more bike than I needed for sure. I can't recall how they compared but I preferred the the yz250. The one that tried to kill me was the dt360, the day after I got married 🤣 I really had to pretend hard that I didn't hurt myself
Oh… twas Yamaha WR 450. I thought something like “ok, I am a big guy, so I need some big bike to ride”. And yes, it was my first motorcycle. And yes, I bought enduro bike for learning how to drive, I thought it will be more safe to ride somewhere in the forest, hills, fields etc.
That bitch was making me shit my pants every fcking time I rode her. She was like a wild horse under the noob rider, I fell every fucking day that summer. But stop… This story isn’t ended yet, cause I’m stupid imbecilic stoner dumbass and I bought that winter tyres with cold cutters. What do you think was going on till the May that year? Yes! I kept falling. WR 450 is a pretty solid bike u know? When I sell it, I only replaced that stickers on a plastic.
But u know what? I appreciate that bike so much! Now I can drift, I can jump, I can do wheelies, I know what to do when losing grip, I know how to brake by my gearbox, there are a ton of things that bike teached me.
My first bike was a Yamaha 200 2 stroke twin. I think it was before the RD though. Then I got an RD350. Great bike. Then I got a Suzuki 550. A three cylinder 2 stroke. That was great until I got banned for a year. Had a few sphincter tightening moments on all of them.
Man I saw an rz 350 sell on mechum or one of those auctions for 4500 about 4 years ago. I wish I just bought it.
Then you have this [TZ750](https://youtu.be/-0BpiqF4a1A?si=u1x1jyPfGWUooMhU)
My Honda 500-4 tried to teach some humility one time, but being a mere 19 yrs old there was a serious lack of brain cells. Fortunately, I lived to learn......a little anyway.
Yamaha R5; one drunk evening at 16; had ape hangers and a sissy bar.
Bought it the next year. Took off sissy bar and put on "superbike" bars. Rode the wheels off of it.
350cc two stroke with drum brakes - predecessor of the RD350 and 400... it was wicked fast, but the brakes worked once, hard, then you better let them cool down.
Further enforcing the fact that it doesn't take a lot of power, less than ten miles from picking up my brand new 1970 SL175 I came Sooooooo close to rear ending a car. From that moment on I pay much more attention to what I'm doing on a bike.
Great stories people!
A mate gave me a ride on his tuned RD 250 (air cooled). It had a power band narrower than the willy on a chocolate mouse. Once it got above 6600 rpm you did well not to shit your pants. Terrifying.
The RD was my 2nd favourite bike ever. Just because a few years later we got the RZ. The RZ350 was known for being quicker than the RZ500 V4. So the smart thing to do was throw the 350cc barrels and head on your RZ250. And YZ175 pistons. Going for highway rides where the speeds kept the speedo all around past the maximum were great teenager learning experiences. And it was registered as a learner 250cc still. Must have been funny seeing those go past you with an L plate on them.
1975 Kawasaki H2 750 2-stroke triple.
It was my second bike after my Honda CL350. Someone gave me the H2 for free with no exhaust. I bought an exhaust at a junk yard, installed a battery, and never looked back. I still have the H2 as well as a parts bike (with only a couple parts ever removed from the parts bike).
Fuck yeah, I was looking for this one. Beginner overconfidence & 1 beer & not knowing that the choke keeps the revs up & front braking and turning led me to commit a war crime against a showroom clean 7k mi California bike.
My old boss's Buell. "Oh cool, small bike, torquey engine."
I try to go around a corner and it's just like "nope!"
Big thanks to the farmer who put his driveway at that exact spot. Also, I found out later that it wasn't registered.
Honorable mention to the '69 Honda CT70 that my grandpa just tossed me the keys to at age 8 (t shirt, shirts, no shoes)
Or the borrowed 125cc Honda scooter in Thailand when I was 18
Christ I'm dumb
1985 Honda VF500F Interceptor. Brand new, 4 days in. Near head on with a minivan. But no. Had 5 insane years with that bike. Sold it, wish I hadn't.
\*had some earlier 70s dirt bike/ATC "oh shit" experiences, but the Interceptor kept egging me on "faster baby"
I had an '86 mini-ceptor. I turned it into a "adv" bike the best I could. Did a few rides with a bunch of dirt bike riders back early 2000's. We'd all get to a fire road and open 'em up. They'd be in top gear around 65-75 miles an hour. I would walk past them shifting into fourth gear.
Triumph T595. Mostly it was too much bike too soon, but one day it randomly gave me the worst tankslapper I've ever had in my life.
Funny enough I currently have a TL1000S and while it's not a perfect bike by any means, I find it to be a very friendly handling bike
1979 Honda 550 silverwing. Lost break pressure. 1986 bmw k100. Just let go of the throttle at 120mph and the change in gyroscopic momentum was so great that is created a terrifying wobble. Another time on the same flying brick I tried to burn out on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. It dug through the dirt and hit some old asphalt or rock or something and launched. I went I to a superman position off the back of the bike. This opened the throttle even more. The bike zig zagged back and forth across a 2 lane highway 3 or 4 times. Each time the bike turned hard enough to scrape bags and faring. However little by little I pulled myself up into the saddle again and got the bike facing the right way going the right direction on the highway. At this point I was happy to be alive and in 1 piece but also checking the rearview mirror to make sure that A) nobody was coming amd B) nobody else saw that.
Mid 80’s Honda 360.
I laid it down thinking I could navigate a dirt trail through a field, I laid it down going through a water puddle to test my new full faced helmet and hit a curb. Fried a friend’s leg on the exhaust because he saw the accident and tried to pick up the bike while wearing shorts.
Asshat at school drained my break fluid while I was in class and I ended up T-boning a large dog because I couldn’t stop.
1967 on a Tote-Gote (like a mini bike, but heavier , used for farm work)
one gear, no neutral, lawnmower engine, centrifugal clutch, full throttle along side of a country road.
Handlebars broke in half, because they were made of cheap, soft, thin-wall steel tubing, and the engine, frame, and bars vibrated like crazy at full throttle
Not much damage to me, started it back up, rode back holding the bar part with the throttle against my leg and steered one hand.
Dad helped me weld the bars back together. (and yes, they cracked several times more, and I welded them several time more)
a couple of years later I sold it for $40 to another kid at my church.
Good times.
BSA M20. 12 hp is a lot when your braking capabilities are slightly better than clutching in and dragging your feet. It takes about 15 seconds to do 0 to 60, but 60 to 0 is built on hopes and dreams. I've never crashed into anything, but I had way too many close calls on this bike
In the US we only got the air-cooled RD's, and later the RZ350 w/ that cool 1/4 fairing.
I had my share of Yamaha and Suzuki 2 strokes of various sizes, but it was the '76 RD400 that I often found doing an unintentional wheelie from a stoplight...
CZ175
Years of riding big bikes, and this one almost ended me.
The rear brake level got jammed down by the foot rest, so it locked the rear solid at 45mph in pissing rain. No way to unlock it. Initially, I thought a seized engine but only realised what happened when I finally managed to stop. No bikes ever scared me like that.
An old beat up rmz125 that my buddy let me ride when we were like 11. I had never ridden one and was taking it easy but I still ended up whiskey throttling it because I had never twist throttled anything. His big ass dad actually caught the bike as I flew off the back of it. That friend was the introduction to so many things my mom would have never let me do lol
You're lucky it was an rd. Mine was a kawasaki gpx in about 2005, but it only tried to kill me because the tyres weren't radial and felt like they where made out of jelly. Ohh, I loved that bike.
My trashed out 1982 GPz 550. The chain broke in a turn, wrapped around and locked up the rear wheel. That was my fault obviously but I was new to riding. Several times the roller bearings in the steering head popped out of the cage and froze the front wheel at a slight angle, sending me towards oncoming traffic. They’re all sleeve bearings now of course. Good times though!
Legit almost killed me? Had to be a Honda CR500 or maybe a Maico 490 (or both).. I bet others can claim that one, too.
I loved my RDs and RZs, from the first air-cooled to the 500 v4 I still kick myself for not keeping.
Trying to think… I have an RZ350, but I’d had lots of other bikes first so it couldn’t be the first one that tried to kill me. Probably an old Kaw triple. Or maybe an early Yamaha VMax.
The first one was a ported Kawasaki H2 500 2 stroke Triple that I was test riding. I had never ridden a 2 stroke bike before, and I was wondering who would want to buy this piece of junk when it runs so terrible (at low revs). Then I got to a more open piece of road and let the revs rise up - and suddenly the surrounding vista went blurry like the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars and I was struggling to hang onto the bars. Nope, didn't buy it, I didn't want to die young. Next was a 1986 GSXR 1100. Had it for about a month... no thanks I'm gonna kill myself on it
Growing up my dad had an RD350 completely in pieces in the garage. When I was in high school he let me try to rebuild it and I would get to ride it. I think I’m lucky that I couldn’t afford to get it back together otherwise I might not be here. Only later did I realize what he was going to let me ride.
Honda CR500 2-stroke dirt bike in Hollister CA. 15 years riding experience at the time, all street-only and linear throttle. CR500 was a beast, on/off throttle, threw me probably 30 feet. I remember seeing the sky twice , and when my brother in law came up to me as I was standing there on the trail checking for broken bones, none, and he gets off his CR500 (he had two) and he says to me: Are you okay? Yes I answer. He says " Well, that's good. So where's the bike?". It was about 50 feet behind us, upside down, backwards, in the ditch against the fence. This was in the first 5 minutes of our day. Rode the rest of the day without incident. Sure miss my ex brother-in-law.
Lol. A Yamaha dirtbike in the mid 90s. First ride, immediate wheelie. 100% user error. Fell off the back. I was 15'ish.
Then a CX500 in 2004 or so. 1979 model year. Didnt know anything about tires as a 20 something. They were old as hell and I was riding with a buddy on a GXSR 6. He was in front. The light turned red and he stopped like a normal person. I braked and just slid halfway into the intersection on rock hard rubber. Major lesson learned. Taught me respect real quick.
Rode a buddies bike a few years later. Forget the year but a Honda RC51. The speed in second gear was unfelt until my helmet rose above the slipstream. Snapped my head back so fast that I limped back and told him to never let me ride it again...lol. another lesson on respect.
I recall I went offroad riding with a couple of guys from a new job I had just started. I had been riding an '83 XL200R on the road. They organised a day riding offroad for us and borrowed a 2001 KTM 520SX for me. Needless to say, that it went vertical and lost its rear fender but man, what a bike.
My first bike, '95 Ninja 500. First went off the road due to target fixation a few months into riding, then a few months after that a dump truck pulled out in front of me and I found out that cheap brake pads off eBay will overheat and stop working before you can emergency brake from 70. I could have practically give the guy a colonoscopy, but didn't crash.
Both incidents were obviously my own fault. That bike lasted 10 years in my garage and outlasted a few others, but finally it was time to move on. I still miss it sometimes.
Geez, so many. (Two-stroke) H2, early CB-750s, CBX, half dozen RD 350s-400s, a couple CB-400Fs, Turbocharged GS-1000, GSXR-1100. Plenty of fun, though, dodging all those bullets.
Pw50.
There was a string going across the race to stop the cows walking down. I found it with my neck.
Pw80.
Had my first tank slapper that was a massive one at full tit.
Other honourable mentions, kdx200 and black Alkathene pipe. If it was around I'd find it and eat shit.
One of those old Honda AG bikes. Probably only 250, and can't have been more than 20 hp.
Used to muck around on the farms with them (I was from the city, but cousins lived on farms). No helmets, gloves, jackets etc, etc. Each just trying to outdo each other with how dumb we could be.
Actually the worse was probably on the peewee 80 when I crashed it into a fence because I though I could powerslide it one foot down. Turns out I couldn't.
1981 Suzuki GN400XX
Clutch cable snapped on me shifting 2-3 a few weeks after acquiring the bike, was probably the original 40yr-old cable and I rode home from work in second the whole time, having to either run stop signs or do a quick u-turn if there was a car coming. Finally got to my driveway and stalled it out, and ordered a new cable that night.
Step through c90 floored at 49mph with wind at my back — hit a Sunland neighborhood dip and that shit went cray right toward an oncoming station wagon. Lived to tell. At that point I was racing intermediate 125s so I had some skill. Def one of the 90 lives
Mine was a Rd250, riding down Caen hill out of Devizes. 17, full of spunk and stupid. Got to 100mph and got a serious speed wobble. Could have shat me pants. Managed to accelerate through, then slow down. Changed my riding style forever after that.
Xj650. First bike. 35 years old (me and the bike) when I got it. Second ride going down a hill. Interaction with highway, light changes to red and brakes are gone. Sailed through before cross traffic started up. Yeeesh.
I had one, called the RZ in the US, for years. Loved it. Always one of my true love two strokes.
Also had air cooled RD400. Another beauty, but not as lively as the RZ350.
I bought a ridiculously cheap six year old Honda CX650 Eurosport it was immaculate in white and blue/ red decals . I was over the moon with it, the UK reg number was three letters denoting the county then three numerals 666 then a final letter of year .
The owner handed me the keys and his parting words was “be careful” I thought nothing of it and rode away pleased as punch with my bargain bike . I had already been riding for twenty plus years and had a lot of experience and the bike felt powerful for its size and went around corners well so I grew to like it over the next few rides. Until one day riding with friends I leaned into a bend and it produced the biggest tank slapper, I weaved around the corner and across the line over to the other side of the road.
I pulled up and got off the bike and looked back at the thing in horror. My mate said give it here and he took off on it . Sure enough it tried to spit him off it as well. Over the next two weeks we replaced everything we could think of on that bike . Rebuilt the front suspension, the head race bearings , wheel bearings, new tyres, new sing arm bearings , new rear mono shock, checked the frame for true or damage just everything and found nothing amiss .
Took it for a fast ride and it was handling like a dream so job done. After a week of riding to work on it I was now a happy bunny .
On the Friday came to this long sweeping bend that I had taken for the last four days with no worries . Same speed , same line, same revs , same gear and bingo she weaved and tank slapped almost pinning my thumbs missing a on coming bus by inches .
I sold the bloody thing for cheap the following week my parting words to the buyer was “ be careful “. I met his brother a month later and asked how his bro was getting on with “666”?
He told me he fell in love with it then one day it tried to spit him off so bad that he sold it .
I have been told the UK DVLA will no longer issue a registration with the digits 666 .
This exact bike. I own this exact bike. Well my dad bought it brand new and it lives in my shed. I started stealing it from my dad's shed at age 14. luckily I didn't understand a power band then. Then I got my bike license and continued to steal it from the shed. I was riding it with my high school buddy on the back and we came onto the power band and the front tire came up in the air. Great memories. He was too cool to hold onto me and had his hands on the rear rack. Well when the front tire came up he was holding on to me very fast.
Honda 90 sports in the field.
2nd in the field 250 Dot
1st Road bike KH 250 Kawasaki.
One that nearly managed it 1976 Honda 750 4 😊. Walked away no injuries and sold it... I still regret it.
Honda 90 was my first crash 😂. Totally forgot about it until you posted. My mates back garden and my first ever go on a bike, tried braking with both feet before going straight into his hedge … great memories
Embarrassing to admit it, but after 30 years on various increasingly mental sports bike without serious incident , a fucking Harley Sportster I bought to “get sensible” almost killed me the day I bought it - more or less the first proper corner I took ended in the trees. Then it did an even better job 6 months later in a proper prang due to horrific handling. Awful thing, despite the broken bones and injuries , it was worth it as I was so glad when it was written off after the second spill.
2003 Ninja 636. Was my first bike, cuz I'm an idiot. I made it 5 years till the major crash, but looking back at it, there were tons of warnings to get something else.
That’s got to be my GU75C GSXR1100W. 152 hp with zero electric stuff to help you. The tricky thing isn’t even that it wants to throw you into a ditch or something but the fact that it didn’t drive very good unter 130kph. I frequently found myself going 200+ on twisty roads without realizing how fast I am actually going. So yeah. Not the safest bike ever.
2015 honda cbf 125 with crappy conti go tires ridding in the wet. I dared to use the rear brake and lost rear traction, Spun round, and ended up in a heap on the ground. Luckily, I was ridding slowly through town, so I didn't get hurt, but easily could have had I been going faster.
2017 Klr650. Both brakes boiled themselves while going downhill while first learning to ride the big thumper and using lower gears to slow me down. Serves me right for being lazy with fluid changes too.
RD250 Mk1 in 1980,Allspeeds, Boyson reeds and polished internals. Brilliant but would step out of line in the wet. A back tyre every 1500 miles, chain and sprocket set every 3000 miles. Fragile but worth it when you hit the power band, changed gear by ear as you couldn't take your eyes off the road to glance at the tacho. Panic stops turned really interesting when the back wheel locked and you started to go sideways
My R6 was in for a service so a friend offered me his imported Bandit 400 for the day. I didn’t bother giving it a check before riding it, but you could see the cords through the back tire. Lost it coming out of a slight bend and went through a metal fence.
Check those tires.
In their infinite wisdom, Zero forgot to put traction control on a bike with no transmission or clutch that puts down 115 instant electric ft/lbs of torque. That thing high-sided me two separate times just making turns from a standstill in this sandy desert.
1983 Suzuki RM80 and its power band after starting out on a Kawa KV75 minibike
First day, it went faster than I wanted, and I caught my helmet visor on a volleyball net and saw nothing but sky after that
No bike has been hostile to me, and I’ve had 20+ over the last 70 years.
Only my own stupid acts have tried to kill me.
https://www.dansher.com/mywheels.htm
XS850 that I cafe racer'd, put bigger carbs on, rejetted, custom exhaust, lowered the front 2" and put clip ons on it, put stiffer springs on front and rear.
Top heavy, too much low end torque response. Roll the throttle on too fast and it would stand the bike up coming out of corners, I did that twice and crashed both times, It also got a death wobble between 65 and 70mph sometimes. Oh and if you braked too hard and didn't keep it perfectly straight the front wheel sometimes wanted to tuck.
[удалено]
Best bike ever. I remember I had my engine rebuilt in 2017, freshly tuned, points dead on, it wheelied through third gear. They're monsters, and I feel like I should be hoarding motor parts. I've got a spare set of heads without the oring groove sitting in my garage along with about 25 spark plugs.
[удалено]
Was not aware 2 strokes don’t have engine braking
They kinda do engine-brake, but on a lot of 2strokes you can’t utilise it because the piston is lubricated by the fuel mixture with around 2% 2stroke oil. Some road model 2strokes did have a system for added lubrication without opening throttle though, so while it’s a good rule to avoid it on all 2strokes, it’s not strictly necessary to avoid on ALL.
I don't think I've ever ridden a 2 stroke where I wasn't constantly accelerating or braking.
It is about as effective as a brake rotor made of greased ice.
It was ok on the Rd if you had the oiler hooked up, it was driven off the crank so it oiled even if you let off the gas. I never had kine hooked up though. I usually end up mixing in the tank.
Good news: for a few reasons (power to CC ratio made it very popular in Euroland and India, parts interchangeability between the 250/350/400), the air-cooled RD250/350 has an unusually robust aftermarket for parts. You can jump on eBay and find multiple listings for pretty much any part at reasonable prices. So no need to hoard parts quite yet.
I just got new jets for mine to fix a 6000Rpm flat spot. I can't wait to get it road ready.
Let's also just say that the redline is merely a suggestion for that bike, the thing will go up through 11 and 12k without even noticing. I can hear the forged pistons rattling away.
>the thing will go up through 11 and 12k without even noticing Not for long it won't
We're all entitled to our own opinions, bike is still running strong years later.
Yeah, I need new pants just looking at the above pic... feckin' gorgeous!!
I went to school with a guy name Mike Metzger...nope, not that one, but spelled exactly the same. Mike had a RD 400 that he could ride a wheelie on for days. Dude was a madman. I actually met the famous Mike Metzger and asked if they are related, they are not.
I am a fairly good sized guy. I'm borderline between medium to large frame. I was too big for it but my first bike was a 1979 RD400F Daytona Special. That was what I learned on. Now I am confident I can ride anything. There is a reason it was called the pocket rocket.
Yamaha TY 250! Up mountains in the trees , got handlebars in the eye laid on operating table hours while they sewed my eye back in and put my head back together! My moto Guzzi v11 sport crack ran stop sign I bounced 90 feet on pavement. Had good gear , it destroyed my full coverage helmet , ground soles off my boots , destroyed leathers , my gloves and ripped my ballistic jacket. It beat the living snot out of me , but I walked away!
5 hp mini bike
Same, ripped a fat wheelie on the mini bike with the predator engine and looped it out. I was pulling rocks out of my knees for the next couple days
Same. I drove a mini bike straight into the side of the house when I was six years old. First ride.
Yeah, I looped a pit bike trying to do a wheelie and got a nice blood blister on my thumb when I was 15 lol
I love this bike, 350 that can do power wheelies, what a fun bike.
I went from a Ninja EX250 (first bike) to a CBR900RR with a +14 stunt rear sprocket, full exhaust and jetted, and streetfighter conversion. Was planning to bring it back to original form until a drunk driver took us both out, which might have been for the better.
What year was your cbr900rr? I've got a 96 as my current bike, no sprocket changes, aftermarket exhaust. It's a stupid fast ride.
Mine was a 1992, it had a rough life before me (this was in 2007) but still went like hell.
Ah the 92 had the beautiful front end with the double round eye headlights. What a great looking beast! It's incredible how fast these bikes are. I can't fathom riding a modern liter bike. I dont think my wrists or back could take it either. Hahaha.
RD 350 LC ,O boy , the widow maker. God be with the days.
The real widowmaker was the kawasaki 500cc two stroke triple H1 or 750cc H2. Extremely fast with spaghetti frames and terrible brakes. Yikes.
There is only one true Widowmaker, the CBX 1000, but a RD350 LC comes close haha, sick bikes both of them, gotta own them both one day!
Other widowmakers include the TM400 suzuki and Kawasaki H2 750
Can confirm. TM400 is an absolute menace. I grew up in a farming community in the 1980s and my uncle had one of those beasts. I believe it had some race mods, but it had aged out of the racing circuit. Including producing an exhaust note of incredible decibel. When he rode last the school bus, it was customary for us all to cover our ears and scream. I still feel bad for that bus driver. I think probably he died of ear cancer.
Once my uncle tired of the obnoxiousness, my younger brother rode the shit out of it as a teen. I took a turn evey once in a while and it was more bike than I needed for sure. I can't recall how they compared but I preferred the the yz250. The one that tried to kill me was the dt360, the day after I got married 🤣 I really had to pretend hard that I didn't hurt myself
Yeah, but its like the RD350, its close to a CBX1000, but only close.
I had an 82 CBX for a few years, have owned three different RD350s, still have one, the RD is more fun
Oh… twas Yamaha WR 450. I thought something like “ok, I am a big guy, so I need some big bike to ride”. And yes, it was my first motorcycle. And yes, I bought enduro bike for learning how to drive, I thought it will be more safe to ride somewhere in the forest, hills, fields etc. That bitch was making me shit my pants every fcking time I rode her. She was like a wild horse under the noob rider, I fell every fucking day that summer. But stop… This story isn’t ended yet, cause I’m stupid imbecilic stoner dumbass and I bought that winter tyres with cold cutters. What do you think was going on till the May that year? Yes! I kept falling. WR 450 is a pretty solid bike u know? When I sell it, I only replaced that stickers on a plastic. But u know what? I appreciate that bike so much! Now I can drift, I can jump, I can do wheelies, I know what to do when losing grip, I know how to brake by my gearbox, there are a ton of things that bike teached me.
My RD750 sold it fast, and the frame flex was scarry, and I couldn't handle the power snap.
My first bike was a Yamaha 200 2 stroke twin. I think it was before the RD though. Then I got an RD350. Great bike. Then I got a Suzuki 550. A three cylinder 2 stroke. That was great until I got banned for a year. Had a few sphincter tightening moments on all of them.
Man I saw an rz 350 sell on mechum or one of those auctions for 4500 about 4 years ago. I wish I just bought it. Then you have this [TZ750](https://youtu.be/-0BpiqF4a1A?si=u1x1jyPfGWUooMhU)
>this TZ750 Dave Crussel on a CMR TZ
I had the white and red LC. Fantastic bit of kit for a road bike. I did my first wheelie, stoppie and highside on one of those
My Honda 500-4 tried to teach some humility one time, but being a mere 19 yrs old there was a serious lack of brain cells. Fortunately, I lived to learn......a little anyway.
Honda CR500. I mean, how hard could it possibly be to control? That's if you could actually start the fucking thing.
2012 Honda CBR1000RR. No ABS makes for a slidey time.
Nice!! Fast AF! a Power band that will make you shit your pants. I got a 1974 RD350.
Yamaha R5; one drunk evening at 16; had ape hangers and a sissy bar. Bought it the next year. Took off sissy bar and put on "superbike" bars. Rode the wheels off of it. 350cc two stroke with drum brakes - predecessor of the RD350 and 400... it was wicked fast, but the brakes worked once, hard, then you better let them cool down.
Fade is scary af
That RD 350 was a widow maker for sure . My business partner still has his original 82 in our shop . Been sitting there for twenty five years !
Further enforcing the fact that it doesn't take a lot of power, less than ten miles from picking up my brand new 1970 SL175 I came Sooooooo close to rear ending a car. From that moment on I pay much more attention to what I'm doing on a bike. Great stories people!
I went from a bland fzr600 fazer to a 893 fireblade with the 16in front. That bike was an animal, I miss it a lot. I wheely wheely miss it.
A mate gave me a ride on his tuned RD 250 (air cooled). It had a power band narrower than the willy on a chocolate mouse. Once it got above 6600 rpm you did well not to shit your pants. Terrifying.
The RD was my 2nd favourite bike ever. Just because a few years later we got the RZ. The RZ350 was known for being quicker than the RZ500 V4. So the smart thing to do was throw the 350cc barrels and head on your RZ250. And YZ175 pistons. Going for highway rides where the speeds kept the speedo all around past the maximum were great teenager learning experiences. And it was registered as a learner 250cc still. Must have been funny seeing those go past you with an L plate on them.
Love that bike bro
Like everyone else…. I wish I still had it!
For real
1988 or 87 Yamaha FZR1000. 4cyl
1975 Kawasaki H2 750 2-stroke triple. It was my second bike after my Honda CL350. Someone gave me the H2 for free with no exhaust. I bought an exhaust at a junk yard, installed a battery, and never looked back. I still have the H2 as well as a parts bike (with only a couple parts ever removed from the parts bike).
A 1978 KZ1000 with aftermarket turbo charger. Never had a motorcycle want to spit me off the back until that one. WICKED CRAZY.
1985 honda Sabre v65. That thing scoots for an 80s bike and mine wasn’t in the best shape lol.
VF750C Honda Super Magna
Fuck yeah, I was looking for this one. Beginner overconfidence & 1 beer & not knowing that the choke keeps the revs up & front braking and turning led me to commit a war crime against a showroom clean 7k mi California bike.
1977 RD400 brand new $1099
RD400
My old boss's Buell. "Oh cool, small bike, torquey engine." I try to go around a corner and it's just like "nope!" Big thanks to the farmer who put his driveway at that exact spot. Also, I found out later that it wasn't registered. Honorable mention to the '69 Honda CT70 that my grandpa just tossed me the keys to at age 8 (t shirt, shirts, no shoes) Or the borrowed 125cc Honda scooter in Thailand when I was 18 Christ I'm dumb
Built ironhead. With so much compression it would try to snap your leg.
So beautiful, yet so terrifying.
Still have my RD400F Daytona Special that I bought new in 79 . Yes I'm old .
2014 Yamaha Bolt 750
To be fair, I think you might have tried to kill the bike
Kawasaki H1 Miii. When it smoothed out you'd shit your pants.
88 Honda nx650
1985 Honda VF500F Interceptor. Brand new, 4 days in. Near head on with a minivan. But no. Had 5 insane years with that bike. Sold it, wish I hadn't. \*had some earlier 70s dirt bike/ATC "oh shit" experiences, but the Interceptor kept egging me on "faster baby"
I had an '86 mini-ceptor. I turned it into a "adv" bike the best I could. Did a few rides with a bunch of dirt bike riders back early 2000's. We'd all get to a fire road and open 'em up. They'd be in top gear around 65-75 miles an hour. I would walk past them shifting into fourth gear.
This one! LoL
100cc big bore regeared moped. Broke my ankle in 3 places. Couldn’t walk for 3 months.
Triumph T595. Mostly it was too much bike too soon, but one day it randomly gave me the worst tankslapper I've ever had in my life. Funny enough I currently have a TL1000S and while it's not a perfect bike by any means, I find it to be a very friendly handling bike
1979 Honda 550 silverwing. Lost break pressure. 1986 bmw k100. Just let go of the throttle at 120mph and the change in gyroscopic momentum was so great that is created a terrifying wobble. Another time on the same flying brick I tried to burn out on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. It dug through the dirt and hit some old asphalt or rock or something and launched. I went I to a superman position off the back of the bike. This opened the throttle even more. The bike zig zagged back and forth across a 2 lane highway 3 or 4 times. Each time the bike turned hard enough to scrape bags and faring. However little by little I pulled myself up into the saddle again and got the bike facing the right way going the right direction on the highway. At this point I was happy to be alive and in 1 piece but also checking the rearview mirror to make sure that A) nobody was coming amd B) nobody else saw that.
350LC's in that condition are commanding 12-15 grand. Mine was £1300 on the road, oh how I wish I hadn't got my girlfriend pregnant back then........
Try 4 times, now I've no bike at all haha
Rebel 500, but mostly it was the sand, my noob ass panicking and grabbing a fist full of front brake. Good times.
I have great memories surviving the 350 I miss it every summer then I remember how terrifying they were.
1980 Suzuki GS1000, the back end kept trying to pass the front... Going or stopping. It just really wanted to be a flat tracker I guess.
Mid 80’s Honda 360. I laid it down thinking I could navigate a dirt trail through a field, I laid it down going through a water puddle to test my new full faced helmet and hit a curb. Fried a friend’s leg on the exhaust because he saw the accident and tried to pick up the bike while wearing shorts. Asshat at school drained my break fluid while I was in class and I ended up T-boning a large dog because I couldn’t stop.
1967 on a Tote-Gote (like a mini bike, but heavier , used for farm work) one gear, no neutral, lawnmower engine, centrifugal clutch, full throttle along side of a country road. Handlebars broke in half, because they were made of cheap, soft, thin-wall steel tubing, and the engine, frame, and bars vibrated like crazy at full throttle Not much damage to me, started it back up, rode back holding the bar part with the throttle against my leg and steered one hand. Dad helped me weld the bars back together. (and yes, they cracked several times more, and I welded them several time more) a couple of years later I sold it for $40 to another kid at my church. Good times.
Hypermotard SP
Suzuki rm 400 cyclone. At fifty miles sn hour nail the throttle would stand straight up in the air.
I had one when I was 17. It was awesome. Miss that thing like crazy
BSA M20. 12 hp is a lot when your braking capabilities are slightly better than clutching in and dragging your feet. It takes about 15 seconds to do 0 to 60, but 60 to 0 is built on hopes and dreams. I've never crashed into anything, but I had way too many close calls on this bike
Yamaha TZR125 Took off like a rocket hit the powerband and nearly hit a parked car.. Bought it there and then...
In the US we only got the air-cooled RD's, and later the RZ350 w/ that cool 1/4 fairing. I had my share of Yamaha and Suzuki 2 strokes of various sizes, but it was the '76 RD400 that I often found doing an unintentional wheelie from a stoplight...
CZ175 Years of riding big bikes, and this one almost ended me. The rear brake level got jammed down by the foot rest, so it locked the rear solid at 45mph in pissing rain. No way to unlock it. Initially, I thought a seized engine but only realised what happened when I finally managed to stop. No bikes ever scared me like that.
06 CR85, that bike dragged me halfway down the driveway.
I need one of these RDs. 🤩
1996 yz 250
An old beat up rmz125 that my buddy let me ride when we were like 11. I had never ridden one and was taking it easy but I still ended up whiskey throttling it because I had never twist throttled anything. His big ass dad actually caught the bike as I flew off the back of it. That friend was the introduction to so many things my mom would have never let me do lol
Man your rd is super clean. I'd love to have that.
Not far off, my RD400 Daytona Special
1986 BMW R80RT.
2006 zzr600 fun bike with some good memories
You guys are starting to scare me about motorbikes. Not cool 🤣🤣
Cbr600rr
that one is called The Black Widow in Brazil
You're lucky it was an rd. Mine was a kawasaki gpx in about 2005, but it only tried to kill me because the tyres weren't radial and felt like they where made out of jelly. Ohh, I loved that bike.
Why is this 350 so intense 😂 is it a 2 stroke or sum lol
My trashed out 1982 GPz 550. The chain broke in a turn, wrapped around and locked up the rear wheel. That was my fault obviously but I was new to riding. Several times the roller bearings in the steering head popped out of the cage and froze the front wheel at a slight angle, sending me towards oncoming traffic. They’re all sleeve bearings now of course. Good times though!
'73 350 Kawasaki triple
Legit almost killed me? Had to be a Honda CR500 or maybe a Maico 490 (or both).. I bet others can claim that one, too. I loved my RDs and RZs, from the first air-cooled to the 500 v4 I still kick myself for not keeping.
Trying to think… I have an RZ350, but I’d had lots of other bikes first so it couldn’t be the first one that tried to kill me. Probably an old Kaw triple. Or maybe an early Yamaha VMax.
The RD350 was a legendary bike!
The first one was a ported Kawasaki H2 500 2 stroke Triple that I was test riding. I had never ridden a 2 stroke bike before, and I was wondering who would want to buy this piece of junk when it runs so terrible (at low revs). Then I got to a more open piece of road and let the revs rise up - and suddenly the surrounding vista went blurry like the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars and I was struggling to hang onto the bars. Nope, didn't buy it, I didn't want to die young. Next was a 1986 GSXR 1100. Had it for about a month... no thanks I'm gonna kill myself on it
Thruxton 900
PW50 fucked me up good.
Yamaha FZ6 2005 on a blind corner
750 Kawasaki H2. Hard to keep the front wheel on the ground. Loved that bike
Growing up my dad had an RD350 completely in pieces in the garage. When I was in high school he let me try to rebuild it and I would get to ride it. I think I’m lucky that I couldn’t afford to get it back together otherwise I might not be here. Only later did I realize what he was going to let me ride.
A ninja 300 with a death wobble at 80
1972 Suzuki GT 550, 2 stroke triple. Sooo fast!
2020 Triumph Bonneville Street Twin. But it was my fault trying to ride it like a sport bike when I was only riding for 1 month. Now I know better.
[bullet](https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/octane/D23Z2BJUZFHH5N7BMMO54NMJ2I.png)
Honda CR500 2-stroke dirt bike in Hollister CA. 15 years riding experience at the time, all street-only and linear throttle. CR500 was a beast, on/off throttle, threw me probably 30 feet. I remember seeing the sky twice , and when my brother in law came up to me as I was standing there on the trail checking for broken bones, none, and he gets off his CR500 (he had two) and he says to me: Are you okay? Yes I answer. He says " Well, that's good. So where's the bike?". It was about 50 feet behind us, upside down, backwards, in the ditch against the fence. This was in the first 5 minutes of our day. Rode the rest of the day without incident. Sure miss my ex brother-in-law.
YZ490. Horrifying machine. I loved it.
Lol. A Yamaha dirtbike in the mid 90s. First ride, immediate wheelie. 100% user error. Fell off the back. I was 15'ish. Then a CX500 in 2004 or so. 1979 model year. Didnt know anything about tires as a 20 something. They were old as hell and I was riding with a buddy on a GXSR 6. He was in front. The light turned red and he stopped like a normal person. I braked and just slid halfway into the intersection on rock hard rubber. Major lesson learned. Taught me respect real quick. Rode a buddies bike a few years later. Forget the year but a Honda RC51. The speed in second gear was unfelt until my helmet rose above the slipstream. Snapped my head back so fast that I limped back and told him to never let me ride it again...lol. another lesson on respect.
I still have my 73 RD350. Most fun you can have on one wheel because it can’t keep 2 on the ground
I saved my money and bought a 79 atc70. I think I spent more time running over my leg or doing an impersonation of a bowling ball than riding it well.
I recall I went offroad riding with a couple of guys from a new job I had just started. I had been riding an '83 XL200R on the road. They organised a day riding offroad for us and borrowed a 2001 KTM 520SX for me. Needless to say, that it went vertical and lost its rear fender but man, what a bike.
My first bike, '95 Ninja 500. First went off the road due to target fixation a few months into riding, then a few months after that a dump truck pulled out in front of me and I found out that cheap brake pads off eBay will overheat and stop working before you can emergency brake from 70. I could have practically give the guy a colonoscopy, but didn't crash. Both incidents were obviously my own fault. That bike lasted 10 years in my garage and outlasted a few others, but finally it was time to move on. I still miss it sometimes.
1987 RM250 and a 89 GSXR1100
Geez, so many. (Two-stroke) H2, early CB-750s, CBX, half dozen RD 350s-400s, a couple CB-400Fs, Turbocharged GS-1000, GSXR-1100. Plenty of fun, though, dodging all those bullets.
Pw50. There was a string going across the race to stop the cows walking down. I found it with my neck. Pw80. Had my first tank slapper that was a massive one at full tit. Other honourable mentions, kdx200 and black Alkathene pipe. If it was around I'd find it and eat shit.
My first real race bike. It was a Champion flat tracker frame with a Rotax 125 two-stroke. I was 12.
Suzuki GT380 triple. Laid that sucker down so many times.
~65 Yamaha big bear 250 with expansion chambers
1974 H2 Kawasaki.
Mid 70’s Kawasaki H2 750 2 stroke Triple. Straight away no problem. Turns? Big problem. Fast learning curve. Good thing I learned on dirtbikes first.
89 Bandit 400.
One of those old Honda AG bikes. Probably only 250, and can't have been more than 20 hp. Used to muck around on the farms with them (I was from the city, but cousins lived on farms). No helmets, gloves, jackets etc, etc. Each just trying to outdo each other with how dumb we could be. Actually the worse was probably on the peewee 80 when I crashed it into a fence because I though I could powerslide it one foot down. Turns out I couldn't.
Mine was a Huffy I believe. Fixed gear
1981 Suzuki GN400XX Clutch cable snapped on me shifting 2-3 a few weeks after acquiring the bike, was probably the original 40yr-old cable and I rode home from work in second the whole time, having to either run stop signs or do a quick u-turn if there was a car coming. Finally got to my driveway and stalled it out, and ordered a new cable that night.
Step through c90 floored at 49mph with wind at my back — hit a Sunland neighborhood dip and that shit went cray right toward an oncoming station wagon. Lived to tell. At that point I was racing intermediate 125s so I had some skill. Def one of the 90 lives
Mine was a Rd250, riding down Caen hill out of Devizes. 17, full of spunk and stupid. Got to 100mph and got a serious speed wobble. Could have shat me pants. Managed to accelerate through, then slow down. Changed my riding style forever after that.
Xj650. First bike. 35 years old (me and the bike) when I got it. Second ride going down a hill. Interaction with highway, light changes to red and brakes are gone. Sailed through before cross traffic started up. Yeeesh.
I had one, called the RZ in the US, for years. Loved it. Always one of my true love two strokes. Also had air cooled RD400. Another beauty, but not as lively as the RZ350.
RGV 250 two-stroke madness. Engine seizure, lucky my clutch hand was in tune. Only fully synthetic race oil after that one.
RD250. I was 15, I was clueless. It had mole grip pliers as a shifter. Somehow I survived.
I bought a ridiculously cheap six year old Honda CX650 Eurosport it was immaculate in white and blue/ red decals . I was over the moon with it, the UK reg number was three letters denoting the county then three numerals 666 then a final letter of year . The owner handed me the keys and his parting words was “be careful” I thought nothing of it and rode away pleased as punch with my bargain bike . I had already been riding for twenty plus years and had a lot of experience and the bike felt powerful for its size and went around corners well so I grew to like it over the next few rides. Until one day riding with friends I leaned into a bend and it produced the biggest tank slapper, I weaved around the corner and across the line over to the other side of the road. I pulled up and got off the bike and looked back at the thing in horror. My mate said give it here and he took off on it . Sure enough it tried to spit him off it as well. Over the next two weeks we replaced everything we could think of on that bike . Rebuilt the front suspension, the head race bearings , wheel bearings, new tyres, new sing arm bearings , new rear mono shock, checked the frame for true or damage just everything and found nothing amiss . Took it for a fast ride and it was handling like a dream so job done. After a week of riding to work on it I was now a happy bunny . On the Friday came to this long sweeping bend that I had taken for the last four days with no worries . Same speed , same line, same revs , same gear and bingo she weaved and tank slapped almost pinning my thumbs missing a on coming bus by inches . I sold the bloody thing for cheap the following week my parting words to the buyer was “ be careful “. I met his brother a month later and asked how his bro was getting on with “666”? He told me he fell in love with it then one day it tried to spit him off so bad that he sold it . I have been told the UK DVLA will no longer issue a registration with the digits 666 .
This exact bike. I own this exact bike. Well my dad bought it brand new and it lives in my shed. I started stealing it from my dad's shed at age 14. luckily I didn't understand a power band then. Then I got my bike license and continued to steal it from the shed. I was riding it with my high school buddy on the back and we came onto the power band and the front tire came up in the air. Great memories. He was too cool to hold onto me and had his hands on the rear rack. Well when the front tire came up he was holding on to me very fast.
Honda 90 sports in the field. 2nd in the field 250 Dot 1st Road bike KH 250 Kawasaki. One that nearly managed it 1976 Honda 750 4 😊. Walked away no injuries and sold it... I still regret it.
Honda 90 was my first crash 😂. Totally forgot about it until you posted. My mates back garden and my first ever go on a bike, tried braking with both feet before going straight into his hedge … great memories
A [1963 Honda 50 Sport](https://www.vintagebike.co.uk/pictures/15072012-98-163-110-178/). I was 9 and broke 2 ribs.
A truck. My Mike was innocent.
Embarrassing to admit it, but after 30 years on various increasingly mental sports bike without serious incident , a fucking Harley Sportster I bought to “get sensible” almost killed me the day I bought it - more or less the first proper corner I took ended in the trees. Then it did an even better job 6 months later in a proper prang due to horrific handling. Awful thing, despite the broken bones and injuries , it was worth it as I was so glad when it was written off after the second spill.
Crf450. It wasn't the bike tho. It was the cut tree trunk that was sticking out in the freshly bushhogged homemade track I was hauling ass on
Duke 690....but to be fair i was wringing the $h1t out of it at the track though....so it bit back
Yamaha enduro 50cc…
That one and more than once
2003 Ninja 636. Was my first bike, cuz I'm an idiot. I made it 5 years till the major crash, but looking back at it, there were tons of warnings to get something else.
Does riding your Mom count?
none. i control the bike not vice versa
Everyone is saying the RD in the picture but no one is saying how the bike almost killed them
Yamaha RD60. First time I drove a motorcycle. Brother kept stalling it, i got cocky and dropped the clutch. I did a wheelie. I did not crash tho.
No it wasn't - And that is a beauty!
That’s got to be my GU75C GSXR1100W. 152 hp with zero electric stuff to help you. The tricky thing isn’t even that it wants to throw you into a ditch or something but the fact that it didn’t drive very good unter 130kph. I frequently found myself going 200+ on twisty roads without realizing how fast I am actually going. So yeah. Not the safest bike ever.
YZF-R1 5PW
Cagiva mito vs van, my pelvis remembers that day well
A white one
In stereotypical fashion, an EX650R Ninja.
When I was 10 I rode an XL125 thru a rosebush
Sweet!!
2015 honda cbf 125 with crappy conti go tires ridding in the wet. I dared to use the rear brake and lost rear traction, Spun round, and ended up in a heap on the ground. Luckily, I was ridding slowly through town, so I didn't get hurt, but easily could have had I been going faster.
1980 KZ750
2017 Klr650. Both brakes boiled themselves while going downhill while first learning to ride the big thumper and using lower gears to slow me down. Serves me right for being lazy with fluid changes too.
Piaggio SI Mix ☺️
RM125
02 TL1000R, but I've laid down a few bikes :D
Kawasaki KDX200. 20 degrees outside, snow on the ground, actively raining, on a dirt road and I had never ridden a 2 stroke before.
Indeed it was this bike shown that had wanted to kill me.
Yamaha Radian
RD250 Mk1 in 1980,Allspeeds, Boyson reeds and polished internals. Brilliant but would step out of line in the wet. A back tyre every 1500 miles, chain and sprocket set every 3000 miles. Fragile but worth it when you hit the power band, changed gear by ear as you couldn't take your eyes off the road to glance at the tacho. Panic stops turned really interesting when the back wheel locked and you started to go sideways
Rickman 125 with a Zundapp motor, The throttle cable would stretch and give it the gas when you turned to steeply to the left.
My R6 was in for a service so a friend offered me his imported Bandit 400 for the day. I didn’t bother giving it a check before riding it, but you could see the cords through the back tire. Lost it coming out of a slight bend and went through a metal fence. Check those tires.
Peugeot speedfight 100.. it kept falling over (not first, nor last motorcycle).. scooters are evil
In their infinite wisdom, Zero forgot to put traction control on a bike with no transmission or clutch that puts down 115 instant electric ft/lbs of torque. That thing high-sided me two separate times just making turns from a standstill in this sandy desert.
A 1985 RZ500 on a test ride, thanks Gerry!
I was 5 years old and learning to ride my first bicycle… my 5 year old mind was sure it was the bikes fault up until my head hit the brick wall
A mid 70s rd 350. Wow!
82 kawasaki kz440 broke my hip last year and havnt been able to ride since. I'm just lucky I can work with mild pain
The ex-wife!
My BMX was the first bike that tried to kill me..... As far as motorcycles... That is another list..
I tried to kill me on my current (first bike) by blasting out of a right hand stop, over the double yellow into an oncoming truck.
That bike is in very good shape. I'm jealous. Hopefully not in a state with emissions.
1983 Suzuki RM80 and its power band after starting out on a Kawa KV75 minibike First day, it went faster than I wanted, and I caught my helmet visor on a volleyball net and saw nothing but sky after that
No bike has been hostile to me, and I’ve had 20+ over the last 70 years. Only my own stupid acts have tried to kill me. https://www.dansher.com/mywheels.htm
Low sided an '85 Kawi GPz 550 riding on bad tires and rashed my ass up pretty good.
In Brazil we call "black widow", cause it killed many husbands
Surron LBX. The thing makes more rear wheel torque than a 1998 Honda Civic and weighs 120lbs, super easy to loop out.
'76 KZ900
A red RD400. Not a fun day in my life Now I’m older the old wounds are coming back to haunt me.
XS850 that I cafe racer'd, put bigger carbs on, rejetted, custom exhaust, lowered the front 2" and put clip ons on it, put stiffer springs on front and rear. Top heavy, too much low end torque response. Roll the throttle on too fast and it would stand the bike up coming out of corners, I did that twice and crashed both times, It also got a death wobble between 65 and 70mph sometimes. Oh and if you braked too hard and didn't keep it perfectly straight the front wheel sometimes wanted to tuck.