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Yamaha RD 350 YPVS printing

sound & smoke

Shrill whining accompanies every burst of gas, pale blue plumes escape from the tailpipes. Yamaha’s RD 350 YPVS, the motorcycle made of sound and smoke: every traffic light start a furious staging, every country road a playground. One of the last attempts to save the two-stroke engine over time. Those who drive them make a rolling commitment to street sports, always keep a seat free on the pillion for ((Yamaha Grand Prix Heroes). Those who do not drive them better make room.

Nothing for common strolls to the next biker meeting, also nothing for the cult tour to Italy. More like a lonely ride through the country road area. Powerful, spontaneous. Let’s go to the Black Forest. In the Westerwald. Palatinate Forest also fits, even fits perfectly. Only slowed down by sleepy beetles whose residents are still waiting for the church bells. Sneak through quietly, and then wrestle, grind, grind. Streets like on the go-cart track, tricky, demanding. Dive into the early misty Moselle valley and – whoosh – up again on the northern bank. Management: Sudeifel.

Two tank fillings flared in one go and nothing pinches, pinches or tightens. Actually a pretty comfortable chair, the RD 350. With nicely curved tubular handlebars, narrow tank, cozy saddle and knobbed paneling. Nowadays something like that goes by the name of "Sport Tourer". Only the booze doesn’t fit into this category: nothing goes under seven liters of country road. Piano of course. If you let it burn, you get ten. Still: a great road bike.

Because here the elephant boy’s leather straps can still be tied without twisting them? Well, also, everyone has their preferences, right? No, because the two-stroke is actually a reliable buddy. No matter if cold or ice cold, kicked three times and eat well. Always runs. And if not, it can also be straightened with the on-board tools. Or is really gone. So with piston clamps or shredded connecting rod bearings.

Such wild visions don’t itch at the moment. The Yamaha runs like clockwork. Especially now, early in the morning. It fits her in well when the cool air provides a lot of oxygen and the engine is running nice and lean. Then the two-stroke burns down its dry, vulgar roar. So dry that as a precaution you have at least two fingers on the clutch ready for use. You never know when it’s stuck.

Shortly before Muhlebach, fuel is bunkered again, a can of TTS oil is poured with a chuckle, and then nothing like up to the Nordschleife.
Everything as usual. The guys in colorful leather crouch on the plank like trellis fruit, chatting about camshafts and rubber compounds and secretly pressing the chronometer on those who look as if they can. Just goal after eight minutes, bored, plug the ticker into the station because: Not worth it, everything from 8.15 minutes is snoring pace.

When the rattling RD 350 bends onto the ring, nobody cranks their necks, the watches stay in the sack. Also nice, then the old lady can fly elegantly and uninhibitedly. Up at the top of the airfield, where weightlessness lurks, the love-hate relationship to the green hell is waiting again. A cursory glance over the shoulder to the old Nurburg, then the engine turned off until it comes sweet, the gears pushed through in rough cross manner at full throttle and with a slight disengagement. Above all: never lose your momentum. Always the usable speed range in sight. Change gears, change gears.

The RD has not forgotten anything. Again teaches you how to turn. Do everything. Cheats progress. The lively seating only requires caution when approaching top speed. Bumps and waves like to get you off track at speeds above 160 km / h. For sensitive cyclists the purest horror trip, veteran RD riders force the beast to rest by shifting weight forward, grab the handlebars firmly, but not cramped. A tricky diva. But it’s pretty fun. Because it turns around the corner with almost no resistance on its hand-width hoop. A little bit eirig at times, but tight enough to spark fun with the exhaust bags.

But the greatest pleasure is wriggling on the gas cable. As if on command, the 350 Twin screeches out of the corners, and occasionally the 61 hp even lift the bike off the ground. Up to the carousel, for example, with a slight jerk on the handlebars – Wheeeeeelie. Seconds later, the suspension in the raised concrete slabs presses through to the stop, clicks a few meters further like a rubber ball out of the boiler. There it is again, damn progress. But no matter: gas and up the mountain. Simply top class, such a two-stroke. How it pushes and pushes, gear by gear, no pause. And nothing to me, nothing to you, you find yourself lying for a long time behind the small windshield. The bourgeois resolution of the casual tour must have given way to the prepubescent "whoever brakes is cowardly" somewhere between the Aremberg curve and Adenauer Forst.

It is moving forward, this motorcycle leaves no time for philosophizing. Boldly plunged into the full gas corners on the Hohe Acht, hold your breath, knock down. Works great, almost like it did back then when the Nordschleife and RD 350 became the sole purpose of life. Zack, and it happens. In the Brunnchen, how could it be otherwise, caught a wet spot, caught the front wheel again and threaded it in a long arc. Funny, the RD 350 still combines pleasure and exuberance like no other. That’s why it has become rare, the good one, so this one shouldn’t be crumpled. But much, much worse than a crumpled RD 350: A rubber cow-cowboy has pushed his way around inside, scuffles white stripes on the ideal line with polished valve covers, quickly tensions the gas cord and simply lets the old Yamaha stand uphill to the XXXXX crest. It really is, progress: Boxer fails RD, that wasn’t before.

Now is good, right? Turn off insulted, play the completely surprised Nordschleife snail with a slightly irritated shake of the head. Motto: Touri with oldies on a tour, or better: oldies with tourists….. .

Vespers. Schnitzel with french fries and mayo, followed by a coffee from the paper cup. In stand. The knee sliders can also be found at the snack bar at the bridge in Adenau. And over there, on the guardrail, there is actually another RD 350 YPVS leaning against it. Leans for lack of a side stand. Headlights brand flashlight, fairing from the TZ racing machine, just like the exhaust. The wheels from PVM, and generally: an RD 350 as if from real life. No TÜV, no silencers, nothing at all. The main thing is to be fast, loud and light. Hardly any of these things were spared from the hairdressing skills of their trainer. All night long, the cylinder was tinkered with with files and milling cutters, thick 34 mm carburettors and very large flat membrane were installed, and slim exhaust pipes with an acoustic range from the ring to Cologne were attached. The uniform, heroic and completely legitimate goal of all the fiddling: power, revs, speed.

Because at the bottom of its heart the RD 350 YPVS was nothing but a racing machine in disguise. Should actually have been a Yamaha TZ with light and TÜV. “The thing from the ring”, that’s how Yamaha advertised the hit in 1983. And everyone who didn’t have a TZ, but wanted one but couldn’t afford one, flattened their noses on the Yamaha shop windows.

The Ottmar, for example, a racing mechanic in the second division, in the OMK class. He screwed TZ 350 every weekend, cleaned and polished it and let it warm up with dedication: waaaang, waaang, waaang. Then nothing and no one held the Ottmar, and for just XXXX marks he put the white and red two-stroke ratchet in the courtyard. During the first dedicated ride, however, he then had to realize that the RD is light years away from the real TZ 350 racing machine. But he didn’t care because it was beautiful anyway, and the engine had more technical finesse than the TZ 350 should ever have. Ottmar didn’t want to become world champion anyway and when it shook really badly, he just turned off the gas.

GBut the RD was cleaned and polished like a TZ. With all devotion. He preferred to warm up the lively two-stroke engine with short, barking bursts of gas, waaaang, waaaang …… And he still does that today. That’s why he gets his good piece back crease-free. A liter of Castrol A 747 racing oil as a thank you. So that Ottmar can smell what he’s driving.

Technical data – Yamaha RD 350 LC YPVS

Engine: two-stroke in-line twin cylinder, 347 cm3, bore x stroke 64 x 54 mm, membrane inlet and power valve outlet controls, two Mikuni carburettors, O 26 mm, 43 kW (58 hp) at 9200 rpm. Chassis: double-loop tubular steel frame, air-assisted telescopic fork, O 35 mm, central spring strut with lever system, adjustable spring base, double disc brakes at the front, disc brakes at the rear, cast light-alloy wheels, tires 40/90 H 18 at the front and 130/80 H 18 at the rear, weight with a full tank 170 kg. Performance: Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h solo 4.9 s, top speed: solo 189 km / h. Price 1983: 5838 Marks. Possibly indicate construction time from to

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