An Audience With The Yamaha RD250 - Memory Lane
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ต.ค. 2024
- With winter starting to settle in and the weather becoming unpredictable, using a GoPro can be a bit of an issue. As a result I thought I would run a series of these short memory lane videos. If they prove to be unpopular things might change but I wanted to do them to get peoples memories and thoughts on these old but not ‘Classic’ bikes which I grew up with in one form or another. This time the bike that ruled the 70’s, the Yamaha RD250, at least until the X7 appeared.
Thank you to Colchester Kawasaki for letting me in to fondle their collectibles on their closed day.
WWW.COLCHESTERKAWASAKI.CO.UK
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Photos and memories to:
Email: allyearmotorcyclist@gmail.com
The All Year Motorcyclist Web Page
www.haywards.c...
#yamahamotorcycles
#yamaha
#2stroke
@yamahamotoreu
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I had one in that blue in the 70s, lovely bike
Thanks M 😁 yes, so expensive to buy now 😁
My first proper motorcycle after my moped years was a RD250E, it was a great bike and the 400 was even better when I graduated on to one of them. I still love my RD’s and have been lucky enough to assemble a collection of them in recent years, so that I can continue to enjoy that seminal experience of the 70’s and 80’s.
You are obviously a very very lucky boy as well as a naughty boy, no presents for you under the tree 😂😂😂😂
Loving these Memory Lane videos. What a lovely bike. I agree about the two stroke smell, brings back lots of memories. Splendiferous 👍
Even now when the odd little 2 stroke moped or 125 goes down the road and you get that magical wiff 😊 love it 😊
I owned a ‘75 RD250. Commuted on it, went exploring back roads, it was a great bike that would surprise some larger bikes.
Brilliant, I certainly surprised some larger bikes on mine😂😂😂
Same! My first bike :)
Started my motorcycling journey in 1975 on a rd250b, £475 brand new from speedwells in Radcliffe, wish I had it now 😢
I bet 😁 lots of memories too 😁
At the same time Yamaha had a 4 stroke twin bike the XS250 which looked exactly like that. It was my first bike and although it wouldn’t have had the 2 strokes performance I loved it and wish I had one now, 40 years later.
Haywards had a xs400 in red in immaculate condition for sale in the summer, went for about £3,000 which i thought was far too cheap 😊
I would love one but fo some bizarre reason my wife thinks I have enough already in the garage; two road bikes, two scooters and three trials bikes.
@@garethjones6672 what’s wrong with the woman 😂😂😂😂
Really enjoying this” An Audience with …” series, nice bite size looks at some splendiferous old bikes, keep em coming! 😄
Thank BW 😊
Hi TAYM I'm surprised that no one so far has mentioned the Yr5 350 otherwise fantastic review, cheers from Alan in Sheffield 👍👍👍🤗🤗🤗
Someone mentioned the yds7 and a yds5, were they similar? 😊
Yds7 was the 250cc . R5 was the 350cc, but identical bikes to look at.
Marvellous video! Marvellous bike! Marvellous memories!!
Thank you 😊
Excellent ! What a fantastic place, showing stars from the '70s and more...we can feel how much you love it ! Many thanks !
Thank you. It’s like being a kid in a sweet shop😊😂😂
Just stumbled across this and what an amazing bike that I missed out on. Started on the FS1E then various bikes including dt175 ending with suzuki gt750 which I very much regret selling _have you seen how much they are fetching!!!! Great work
Thanks Tony 😁 incredible aren’t they £4K to £10k 😁
As much as I like motorcycle museums, it is a shame not to see them on the road being ridden and enjoyed.
That’s what bikes are for, absolutely agree. This is a shop and some of the Classic bikes are for sale and suspect that for the right price any of them could be bought. 😊
I had a 1980 RD250E in the 80's, I sold it in 1986 and it's still on the road, another feature of that model is that it had self cancelling indicators, the X7 was quicker but the RD handled better.
Proving the point that a little more weight helps handling I think 😁 thanks CMG 😁
Marvellous series - very 70’s looking
Thanks Tom, they smell of the 70’s too😊😂😂
Bloody good nick those old bikes .. marvellous 😊
They are not bad are they😊
Like the old school showroom with retro advertising
Thanks AL 😁 yes, brilliant isn’t it 😁
I had an RD250E, recall it was the E because it had single footrests the D’s were one piece joined underneath, recall that because someone pinched one of mine and the back brake pedal while I was at work. It had been all race tuned so had different carbs, J&R power exhausts and some piston work dropped bars etc. It was fast and I did have the 400 after it and it made me wonder if someone had actually stuck a 400 motor in the 250. Loved them anyway rode everyday to work and out at weekends.
Marvellous. 😊 2 strokes were so easy to tinker with weren’t they, and pretty easy to fix. Makes me wonder why they cant produce something now.😊 great memories, thank you 😊
I think you'll find that they were called the 250E because they had electronic ignition, I had a 1980 RD250E
Magical machine, a time machine.
😊 certainly is 😊
I had one of these in the same colour, then later on I had one in silver just before the LC version came out and as you know the LC was lighter and slimmer.
Throwing the leg over the RD you felt like you had a bigger bike than it only being a 250cc. I did try the LC as my friend bought one and I couldn't wait to get on my RD again, and this was 40 years ago now, sighhhh! 😟
I recall similar feelings at the time. But then my X7s were much smaller too 😊 great memories thank you
Good video. My middle brother had a Suzuki 90 back in the early 1970s. It had a dual range transmission with one range for trail riding and the other for street riding.
Brilliant, what a great little bike😊
Mr TAYM. Great video and you are 2 for 2 re bikes I have had.
A blue RD 250 was the bike I passed my bike test on 30th Dec 1980. Great bike that took me on my commute in Scotland through all weather including snow and snow drifts and to get to hospital,through the rain, for the birth of my first son.
Great memories
Cheers
Al
That’s got to be the best memory so far, marvellous, love it 😊
@@TAYM very apt timing as it's his birthday today. 41 . 🤓
@@albarclay4882 many happy returns 😊
@@TAYM I shall pass that on
A nice show and tell! Thanks for that. I missed the 2 stroke phase altogether. After considering an RZ350 in 1982, I bought a Kawasaki GPz 550, which was the last year that they were air cooled. It was a wonderful bike and I didn't regret buying it.
Yes, a marvellous bike. The 550 was a hotly contested range after the 250’s, a short of natural progression for kids. 😊
Thanks for the memories,I used to own a Suzuki gt250b the same as your previous video in this series,my mate used to own the RD250, happy days.
Very happy days indeed 😊
Loving your channel,keep up the good work .
@@jamesbailey252 thank you 😊
Another stunner, another bike I dreamt of as a child 👍
Marvellous 😊 we all did and in fact I still do on occasions 😂😂
@@TAYM 😂 same here looking at that, very tempting.
@@chrisnightingale6417 very tempting indeed 😊
What a beautiful bike, would still pick this over the BSA, this must have been one of the last air cooled RDs before the LC, plenty quick enough too....
Even more appropriate for today’s traffic too, I think 😊
My cousins lived on a farm and they had a TC 90. It has a 2 speed range case giving you a nice low range of gears for tight trail riding.
Marvellous, sounds like a real fun little bike. I could just imagine coming home for supper covered in mud 😊😂😂
Lovely. I had the white and red speed block. I think I’ll have to try and get one. As for the size, they’re from the era when all 250’s had to be the size of a Bonneville.
😂😂😂absolutely 😊 thanks HS😊
Great bike very nostalgic, I had the RD125 then moved up to an X7 🏍👍.
Lovely. 😊😊😊 the X7 😊
i had an s reg rd250d £770 in that colour after a yellow fizzy before that p reg went all over the place even the races, the camaraderie was good when you used to see another bike you would flash your headlight then there were biker pubs great days it did about 95 downhill flat on the tank with the wind behind you lol
Yes, marvellous days 😁 thanks Brent 😁
Use to ride one of these back in the day in the white with red a truly great bike
Marvellous 😊
You didn't see many RDs in that colour back in the day, nice bike
No, nearly all yellow or white 😁 thanks SD 😁
@@TAYM was there a dark red,and a metallic green , rings a bell, I had a blue X7 , Microns , KnN air filters, 2/4 seat, happy days👍
@@stephendent3058 indeed they were happy days 😁 all my X7’s were red 😁 loved them until the RG came along 😁 then spent much of my youth taking the scalps of mates with much bigger bikes 😁😂😂😂
Now we’re talking, though I never had the 250, I did have it’s bigger brother, the 400. Mine was a 1980 RD400E, in white and red. An ex production racer, stepped seat, flat bars and lock wire everywhere 😂. Think the motor had been breathed on, as it went like wot not off a shovel. Handling wasn’t great, and it high sided me on a tight right hand bend, but that said, being late for work, I went into the bend at 80mph (in a 40mph limit), as I was barrel rolling down the tarmac, the RD went over me, before sliding to a halt. I hadn’t stopped rolling before I was back on my feet chasing after it 😎. That was on a Wednesday, by Friday, I had rebuilt it using Yamaha XS250 cycle parts, and off we went on a camping trip to Anglesey 😳. You couldn’t do that now, the bike would be written off. So the extra weight, made them a stronger bike, when the rider got it wrong. Happy days (again). As for the little Suzuki TC90, was this an American model, I don’t remember them on our roads. I had a Suzuki TS250 engine in my Hagon Grasstrack bike, which I raced on the sand, for the second half of the season, as the original Greeves 250 engine that came with it, kept failing. I will send you a photo for Fridays mutter. Thanks for sharing this video.
Brilliant comment and memories 😊 that was the thing then, fall off, get up fix and get back on, no worries. Mind you there was a fraction of the traffic we have now. They do feel stronger than modern bikes, least that’s what I thought handling these. 😊 thanks Ian 😊
@@TAYM agree regarding less traffic. Work was 8 miles away, about 3 miles through town, 5 miles along a fast A road. Due to start work at 8.30am, leave home at about 8.10am, but was running late that day. Traffic wasn’t the problem back then, my inability to get out of bed, was 😂. Funnily enough, the next vehicle that came along after I had picked my bike up, was my fellow workmate in his mini pickup (he was running late too). We lobbed the bike in the back and proceeded to work. Had a major bollocking off the boss for making us both late 😂, and despite having holes in my elbow’s and knee’s with blood seepage, had to do a day’s work. It wasn’t just the bikes that were built of sterner stuff back then 😉
@@ianhughesroyalenfield absolutely 😂😂😂 talking of which, did you watch the football 😂😂😂
@@TAYM I/we did. Bunch of pansies 🙄. I have to sit on the fence as far as England vs Wales matches, whether football or rugby. I was born in England to staunch Welsh parents, and Ann is a proud English woman. 😳😂
@@ianhughesroyalenfield 😂😂😂😂 hilarious
Fantastic.👌 What a beautiful machine m8. Loving these video's.👍
Thanks IT 😊
Fantastic memories! Wonder if machine is an import or E variant as more chrome than I remember? Had a banana yellow speed block 1979 F model which I would love to have in my garage again... maybe one day!
There might just be one of those coming up in a couple of weeks 😊 thank you 😊
Brings back lots of memories for me. I never had a RD250, but two strokes were what I grew up with. Must recount those memories in a Vlog. Those two strokes were ALL tiny compared with todays bikes, except perhaps for the Kwacker triples.
But so quick 😊
Marvelous memories of this bike and all its competitors, I never personally owned one but mates did as well as the RD400, Suzuki GT250 and Kawasaki Z250. Around this time I bought my first brand new bike the Yamaha XS250 Special. I loved that bike, comfortable to ride, great looking and it handled pretty well.
Was the special like a custom style ?
@@TAYM Yes, I thought I'd remembered it as the US Custom? Myself and my mate bought one each on the same day, his was Black so I chose a deep maroon. It had the cruiser style bars and king/queen seat, I also fitted crash bars so it looked more like it's 650 Big brother. The handlebars were rubber mounted, my younger brother borrowed it and rear ended a car leaving them squint. I wasn't at all happy but a pal told me about the rubber mount, placed the front wheel between his knees and twisted them back in line. Many a prospective spouse rode pillion. I've two scary tales to tell, think I'll save them for a video 🤔 one involved a poor service and oil over the rear wheel, the other involved a frozen throttle body riding with pillion on inches of snow in the dark. I over took my mate ( unintentionally) on his Kawasaki Z1300, he thought I was nuts but I couldn't shut the throttle and daren't brake 😵
@@greywolf9292 😂😂😂😂 marvellous, can’t wait for the film 😊😂😂
In the early aughts, a mint RD250 was my first bike.
PS the former Museum Docent in me wants to slap your hands.
Marvellous 😊 thanks LZ😊
😂😂😂😊 can’t help it 😊😂😂
I've never seen a TC90, but I did have a TC120 back in the mid 1970s. Down here in Australia they were often kitted out with a rear rack and used as Ag Bikes on farms. I was in my early teens at the time and I do remember giving it a hell of a beating. It had a strange gearbox with six gears in two ratios, with the lever for switching ratios mounted on the right side of the crankcase that you could use by knocking it with the heel of your boot. From memory the gear change was on the right and it was three gears down, none of this one down and four or five up like today.
Marvellous sounding bike, a bit like a tractor 😊😂😂😂
I remember them and the rd400 really well, usually passing me in a cloud of smoke while I wobbled along on my BMW....
😂😂😂😂
Morning Berties dad. I have very fond memories of the RD250. My first proper bike after the FS1E.
And boy what a bike 😊
With hindsight I'd have been a lot better off on the XS250. The RD seemed to love showing off at the traffic lights 😬 I had more close calls on that bike than everyone since
@@siharries2014 it was the fumes, they were intoxicating 😊😂😂😂
What lovely collection of bikes 👍
They have some crackers and Kwakas 😊😂😂
I had one of the first generations of the RD250, a fantastic bike.
I wonder how many they sold. I knew so many who had one at some point in their biking history 🤔 thank you
@@TAYM Mine was the same colour as the one in the video but it had the single swept stripe along the tank like the YDS7, it was my first two stroke after yrars of four's, so I had to get used to living with high revs. When you look at that 70's era of two strokes, we were spoilt for choice.
@@mcsporran7228 we certainly were, it is such a shame we don’t have the same choice today 😊
The swap bike must be brought to me and then pick up the ts 90 as its ride away condition
The RD250 is in amazing condition, must have been rebuilt. Little Suzuki looks fun, I am only 5’8 so ideal for me 😊
Must have been. 😊 5’8” is plenty 😊
I had one and the same colour SSR633S, I still miss that bike.
Brilliant 😁 even remember the number plate 😁 thanks Dave 😁
Just bought a yds7 in mint condition in gold and black, it was my first proper road bike as a 16 year old, cost me a fortune but i just had to have it, 68 now it just takes me back to 16 again, although i dont thrash it like i used too 😂
That was my brothers first bike too 😁 Marvellous, I was so jealous of him and now I am jealous of you 😁😂😂😂
@@TAYM. Cheers 👍😄
Brings back memories TAYM never had an RD though I had the Suzuki GT ram air and to start with the Honda 250 K4 and both those bikes were the goldie orange colour too . I managed to fall off both too and the Honda only 4 days after I got it I was devastated my first big bike and I dropped it in a rainstorm at night with a friend on the back .Ahh it all come flooding back 😉 Cheers 👌👍
Great bikes that managed to pry us youths away from the leaking, unreliable Brit bikes. Marvellous that so many of us survived those days with only our pride and pockets hurt 😊😂😂
next door son had a new silver one, lovely bike, one week later written off and he was on crutches
A common outcome I am afraid. 😕
Morning Mr taym,Uk had the ts100 that's why you don't remember the 90. I had a brand new Rd250e bought in 1981 from Padgett motorcycles in Preston. It was one of their old stock motorcycles prob from 77/78 silver with black Stripes and spoked wheels instead of alloy's. Got indicated 100mph 2 up coming back from a bike shop trip in Manchester on the M61! Good job I didn't have to stop at that speed 😅. I also had a Rd400 like you did. Mine was a yellow one and it was very hard trying to accelerate two up without it pulling an involuntary wheelie!! Anyway is Mrs taym struggling to wrap paddington up 🤣
Marvellous memories, isn’t funny how light the front wheel was on all these little bikes, such good fun. I reckon if manufacturers could build them like that now youngsters would be more inclined to go the motorcycle route 😊 thank you 😊
Ps, re Mrs TAYM, I hope so 😊😂😂😂
I find it most annoying that the big 4 manufacturers, with such an amazing array of brilliant models from the past, cannot replicate Royal Enfields philosophy. I'm sure they would sell loads of restomodded RDs CBs GTs KHs etc etc. Thanks for the film TAYM.👍
@@simonhall5086 I agree, it would be Splendiferous and get more people, particularly youngsters, into motorcycles. 😊
Burnt 2stroke and Castrol R Mmmm Classic smells from yesteryear.
Absolutely 😊😂😂😂
Had a lovely silver RD350E which I used to commute daily from Surrey to central London. Absolutely immaculate but got stolen from my front garden. Police recovered it a couple of months later wearing false plates. It had been wrecked, multiple crashes from the look of it, pipes/silencer hacked about, seat torn, tank dented, bastards. Replaced with a CX500/
That’s sad, but a CX as a replacement, very different. I had a CX outfit for a while. Grew to really like the bike. Still see a few of them about. For the life of me I can’t remember the 350 apart from the LC 😊 🤔 weird 😂😂
Wonderful video!
Thank you 😊
TS90s were pretty popular here in Aus. TC90s were available but more aimed at the farming type chaps because they had the dual range gearbox, The TS was popular amongst younger before they bought a TM or CR or KX etc and went racing, you could get a race kit for the TS but ... they were still a 90 LOL.
Thank you 😊 I remember the TS’s pretty good racing I recall. 😊
Self Cancelling Indicators, I still miss having them.
😂😂😂 yes, crazy isn’t it😂😂 thanks M😁
Battery is in middle between oil tank and the electrics cover
Thanks George 😁
The earlier RD series had the better brake calipers similar to the TZ racers & later ones started using sliding calipers.
Thank you 😊
Even I don't remember the TS90 (and I'm quite old), But I do remember my racing my TS100 (and losing badly) to my brothers TS 125 on the crooked mile from Waltham Abbey to Harlow, those extra few hp really mattered in the early 80s! 🤣🤣🤣
Yep, No Rocket 3 ‘s about then😊😂😂😂😂 marvellous, and I bet you had nobbies on 😊
@@TAYM Yeah and they was probably a mis-matched pair of Cross-ply Deathriders or if it was close to payday whatever Avon or Dunlop they had knocking about in the retread section!!! 🤣🤣
@@richiedewen9289 😂😂😂😂😂
I had an earlier RD250 than this one. It had a peardrop tank and spoke wheels. It was an N reg and I believe it was faster than the coffin tank shaped models. I had two 400's after I owned the RD 250 and the longer stroke of the 400 made them a lovely bike to drive with an amazing amount of low down power. He is right the earlier 250's were called YDS7 and I think the 350's were YR5's.
That’s amazing, I never knew that or if I did it is long forgotten, yds5 interesting (possibly a better looking bike) 😊
What and where is this place
Colchester Kawasaki 😁
Lovely bike, my first proper bike although mine was the liquid cooled curvier model from 1981, more plastic from what I remember, certainly no chrome :) Bonkers 2 stroke that could embarrass much bigger bikes in the bends :)
Absolutely. The reason I went back to them after my big multi cylinder faze 😊😂😂😂
Definitely is a marvellous bike very good condition shame about the 2stroke bikes all gone now little pocket rockets they were 👍🙏
Totally marvellous 😊
I had the same bike, back in 78 (S Reg). Mine was white and red
Marvellous times 😊
They were. Happy days, when life was simple
@@SBKPete yep, definitely 😊
How old are you?.
As old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth 😁
Ich hatte eine 1974 in braunmetallik..warum habe ich die bloß verkauft..wenn ich an die blaue Fahne und den Geruch denke
Thanks S😁 that sounds like a reason to keep 😁😂😂
I had the 250c new in 1976. I've also had a 250d and two 400f. Still got a 250d in the shed. The one here looks like a 250f that's been restored. The stock paint was never that shiny. Looks like it's had a clear coat. Nice bike but the brakes on that model were rubbish compared to the previous twin piston ones. If you ride one today you will really notice how poor the brakes are compared to modern stuff. Problem these days is too many people just buying as an investment so they rarely get ridden.
It is a shame, it pushes the prices up too. Bikes are built to be ridden and should be. I seem to recall they were pretty rubbish brakes even at the time 😂😂😂
Some say, that Mike Hailwood was his mother, and that he changes gear with his anatomy. We only know that he’s called, The Taym Stig.
😂😂😂😂
@@TAYM 😳😳😳
My comments keep disappearing from your vids.. Maybe I have been a bad boy?
That’s strange 🤔 I shall investigate 😊
The X7 was never half the bike of the RD. Even guys that had one knew that.
Well I had several of both including production racing and I found the x7 to be better, until the LC came along and then we had to wait for the gamma 😁 but that’s what motorcycles are all about, we each have our own feelings 😁 thanks WP 😁
I still have a 1972 suzuki ts 90 trail bike usa import and ride it regually and it has not e er let me down and is extemley reliable its 99 per ent original in its sunset orange paint which is from 1972 and its distinctive chrome upswept exuast is impressive as is its speed for such a small cc bike I may sell or swap it for the larger suzuki ts 125 duster with its 21 inch front wheel the 90 only has a 19 inch tyre and wheels I would like to swap for a decent original honda SL 125 or honda XL 125 trail bike must be road legal with uk paperwork as mine has the swap bike ect must be rough to me you can then pick up the Ts 90 if interested email be and I will get back to you thanks
I had a 200, i hadnt passed my test and the police stopped me a few times but they just thought it was a 125.
I forgot about the 200 🙄 now you have reminded me about the X5 marvellous 😊
كم موديلها
Not sure now, it was quite a while ago🤔 sorry
V is 79
Yes, V was August 79 to July 80 😁 thanks G 😁
These "Audiences" are becoming traumatic to some of a certain age..........
😂😂😂 they were traumatic times 😂😂😂
@@TAYM few speed limits, fewer brain cells and all bikes, especially my RD 200 would do 100mph!!!!! Great days....And doesn't that RD250, just look soooo good
@@lauriebloggs8391 we even used to get our Suzuki ap50 doing 70 😂😂😂 square tyres, brakes that generated less friction than a tarts you know what and rozzers that only had panda cars to chase us 😂😂😂 I have another video of an RD in classic colours with special pipes on which will be out over Christmas I reckon😊
@@TAYM 🤣🤣🤣My Mobylette (couldn't afford posh thing like the AP50) would nearly do that!!!!🤪
@@lauriebloggs8391 😂😂😂
Had have been nice to hear the fcuking thing.
Wouldn’t it just 😁