Time machine

LET'S TORQUE

It's really good fun to own a piece of history. Your great grandfather's pocket watch or your grandfather's arm chair or, better still, your long-lost uncle's motorcycle that he willed to you.

Unfortunately, most of us aren't that lucky. I have my father's Royal Enfield, but it wasn't enough. I decided that I wanted to experience something different, something special, something that would let me understand why the racers of the 1980s were called men rather than lads.

And my only hope was owning Yamaha's then infamous, now famous two-stroke twin, the RD350. I managed to lay my hands on one after a kid in my neighbourhood couldn't afford fuel money to run the thing.

My goal of owning it was complete, but by now the focus had changed to get it to work. Two years later, with the help of the internet and various internet friends, the motorcycle is still coming to life.

No, I'm not complaining about it because right from collecting spare parts to polishing each and every port on the motorcycle, the experience has been awesome.

But to every one of you who's looking at buying any of these dwindling manic mongers or any other piece of two-stroke exotica, you'd better visit your shrink before you do that.

Most of these race-prepped strokers have been lying under some leaky shed or out by a sea-side garage, giving flaky a whole new meaning. And the few that are on the road, well, they've been wimped into sedate machines that are being out-run by little 100cc commuters.

So for anyone who asks me if it's worth owning one of these machines, my standard reply is 'only if you have the time and the money' "" time being proportional to the money you have.

As for me, I've just bought myself a junked 50 bhp Yamaha TZR 250.

joshua@business-standard.com