It lived fast and died young. But the legend of the Yamaha RD350 is still alive and kicking in India
Walking slowly along the footpath, your mind is wandering through the crammed mess of the daily routine. Suddenly, for reasons unknown, you snap out of it. It could be the unfamiliar sound of a performance two-stroker. Or the glimpse of additional helpings of chrome. Whatever it is, it's not a ubiquitous sensation.
Your aroused ears catch the unmistakable sound of two cylinders breathing hard in tandem. The powerful song grows louder, and as you whip around, you see a blur, the bike closing rapidly towards you.
Looks familiar and very, very fast. The rider flashes his lights as the sound surrounds you. In a thunderclap, it disappears into the distance, leaving behind a small cloud of blue smoke and fresh memories of speed.
The senses are unwilling to let go of the sensation. The sound, the sight and the smell mingle with your blood. Goose pimples dot your skin as an adrenaline overdose raises your heartbeat. For this one moment, you stand face to face with intense jealousy, yours...
Avant GaRD
Almost a year back, Business Standard Motoring started a club for this very motorcycle; a motorcycle that was ahead of its time. The BSM RD350 Club was born to enable enthusiasts who own the greatest of all Indian motorcycles so far to come together and share their passion.
The Yamaha RD350, we know now, is not ready to be consigned into the Indian motorcycle history book yet. Today, years after it stopped rolling out of the Escorts factory, it still possesses a great many motorcycle enthusiast and speed freaks in the country.
What makes this motorcycle so special? Okay, let's see. It has two cylinders, one pot more than any other Indian motorcycle, save perhaps for the Jawa 350.
A six-speed close-ratio gearbox meshes with the mill, allowing ecstatic clutchless upshifts during hard acceleration. Neat innovations abound, for instance, a seventh port sprays cool air-fuel mixture onto the piston to cool it. Reed valves, standard procedure on all two-strokers today, started life as a part of this package.
When introduced in 1972 abroad, the concept of petrol and oil premix was pretty much matter of course. The RD came with a separate oil tank and a Yamaha AutoLube system was entrusted with feeding the engine with carefully metered amounts of oil.
The original US spec bikes also came with a solid disc up front, which got the axe in its transit to India and was replaced with an 180 mm drum, handily picked off the bike's rear wheel, but altered to take twin-reciprocating brake cams.
The Indian version, though de-tuned, still showed a clean 150 kph, putting all the 30 horses that rear up at 6750 rpm to good use, relying on the whopping 3.3 kgm of torque on tap along the way. The RD also had a tachometer to help the rider stay firmly in the power band, shift on time and immerse himself in its character, charm and inimitable feel.
In the early eighties, when the bike arrived on our shores, none of these features were available on Indian production motorcycles. In fact, even today, most Indian bikes still boast around 1 kgm, and at max, 15 bhp numbers.
While the RD's six-speeder is still very much in the realm of exotica, five-speeders are beginning to make an appearance. Tachometers are still luxury items, and no one uses 180 mm drums even today, though some motorcycles do get disc brakes now. But then no one makes as much power or goes as quick as the RD.
And of course, none have the charisma of an RD. Yes, this was the kind of motorcycle that Escorts started producing in the early 80s, it was India's introduction to performance motorcycling.
Highly RDculate
Whenever you start up the RD and head out, you regularly take sharp curves at three digit speeds with the confidence that she will take it in her stride. She always surprises you with her capabilities.
You find that the curve you classified as a 60 kph turn eventually becomes a 100 kph one. You find yourself replacing foot peg rubbers in ever shortening intervals. You begin to feel insanely happy on finding scrub marks on the outside of your shoes.
The addiction remains. It still gets your hair standing on end. It gets you breathless. It leaves your knees shaking when you get off. And it's got character. The RD is not a docile motorcycle you putter about town on.
You can do that, but the RD will complain with a stumbling engine note and even some overheating. She comes into her own on the right side of a 100 kph. On a nice empty road, on her own will, she'll raise the front wheel and salute your riding. And in your ears will ring her trademark sound. A well rounded scream of pure ecstasy, with the rushing wind for garnish.
Race Derived
The RD series of Yamaha twin-cylinder motorcycles were special. They had great two-stroke engines as well as stiff, unflexing chassis. The ability of the relatively small two-strokers to out-handle and out-accelerate much bigger four-strokers ensured an enduring fan following the world over.
What began with the RD350 in 1972 soon spawned 400 CC and 500 CC models soon. The original RD was rated at about 39 bhp. Later versions went on to touch stellar heights with models getting up to 63 bhp in stock tune.
But the RD wasn't perfect. It had peaky powerbands, and was ferocious only in that particular rev range. It also suffered from heat exhaustion. All of which somehow seemed to endear it even more to people.
Yamaha always emphasised that the engine was 'mildly stressed,' and that did wonders for every neighbourhood tuner's imagination. Soon RDs were sporting all kinds of boost-output parts, and the stock 39 bhp was suddenly puny.
Even today, classic racing series in the US and UK see heavy RD350 participation. Highly tuned RD350s also turn up at classic drag racing events with engines that make a whopping 80 plus bhp! The bike is invariably well represented in motorcycling literature, whether the theme is history, or superbikes of the past.
It was this kind of a legend-in-the-making that Escorts India was flirting around with. Not content to let a good thing be, they decided to de-tune the original engine in order to extract a few extra kilometres off each litre of fuel.
The Indian RDs boasted 30.5 bhp, which was reduced further to 27 bhp a few years on. That figure, though small by worldwide standards, was still light years ahead of the production bikes in the early 80s here. Sadly, that is true today, too.
The RD boys
The RD can be found in every nook and cranny of the country, but is increasingly becoming a rare sight. Yes, there are hindrances. The contact breaker ignition requires timing adjustments every 1,000 kilometres. Spares are available with much difficulty and at atrocious prices.
The RD isn't exactly miserly on fuel consumption, while fuel prices continue to rise...But then, it does a 150 kph from a standing start in all of 15 seconds.
Two decades on, there is still a brand of motorcycle enthusiast who lives in the RD dream in our country. This person knows that riding a parsimonious four-stroke 100 CC bike will never come even close; the RD is on another plane.
Around 80 of these people are part of the BSM RD350 Club already, with more joining the ride with each passing day. The Club has four active chapters: Mumbai Pistons, Delhi Sparks, Chennai Jets and Thiruvananthapuram Forks. Members at Coimbatore and Bangalore are going to be officially initiated in a short time.
Club meets are happy affairs with a hard ride followed by a cuppa tea with animated discussions on the bikes, new parts being tried out as well as personal exploits.
The Club also has an email discussion list for members across the country to help each other out in the quest for information, experiences and spares over email. Together, the 80-odd members of the Club soak in the glory of the Indian motorcycle God, the Yamaha RD350.
To join, write in to BSM RD350 Club, H3 Paragon Condominium, Opp Century Mills, P B Road, Worli, Mumbai 400013 with details of your RD350. To join the list, point your browser to http://www.bsmotoring.com/bsmrd350club
