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11th December 2017, 14:41 | #91 |
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| re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? There are lot of better bikes available in the market today and most of them will be technically much more superior, reliable and will handle much better than the RD 350. But if you are someone who wants to compare an RD 350 with these new age bikes, then RD 350 is probably not the bike for you. The RD is for some one - who has the patience & money to give it the attention it requires - and not worry about how much fuel its drinking If you are someone like that, then the RD will reward you back with an experience, which you won't get with any of these new age bikes. There are very few well maintained RD 350's which are currently on the roads and you will hardly find any of these on sale. The owners of these bikes would have mostly had it with them for a long time, spent considerable amount of time maintaining it, developed an emotional connect with it & they won't part with it easily. If you find one of these RD 350's on sale, you are extremely lucky. However you will also find a few of them, with dealer's who would be quoting an exorbitant price for a bike which has been done up cosmetically, its better to stay away from these. RD 350 LT or HT, if the cylinders are sleeved / if the exhausts are damaged, you will never get that vintage experience which made it a legend. You can source pistons, lot of other spares & expansion chambers from abroad, but you will hardly find the original cylinders & exhaust. In my opinion, it is not about how fast you reach 100 kmph or what kind of top speed the bike will touch, its about how it takes you there. A well maintained stock RD 350 HT can easily cross 150 kmph, but the way it takes you there is very special & a completely different experience. It's one of those bikes, which can easily bring a smile to your face. |
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30th August 2018, 21:48 | #92 |
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| re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? For me RD 350s have always been an elusive dream. As a school kid in the early 80s used to envy the neighborhood stud who used to ride the RD to college every day, and it was mouth watering sight indeed. In the late 90s just entering college, I was offered a mint '83 RD 350 in its factory paint ( KEF **00) for 18k but my family situation did not permit that luxury. In 2002 while I had saved up enough cash (18k) from pocket money I had another mint example again from cochin in original blue paint (TCK 4242) but the owner did not budge from thee 40k asking price. Had to return disappointed. (Reluctantly Bought a 89 bullet for the money: an investment that reaped huge returns in 2011 when I sold it). Now with the onset of mid life crisis again I have spared some cash and have decided to go on the hunt for a mint RD. But, unfortunately after 2 years of multiple failed attempts, I have come to the conclusion, the good RDs are not there anymore, only garage queens. All show no go. I still do remember how silky smooth and clatter free the KEF bike used to run. The rare ones that run well are not for sale. Its just like your childhood crush, when you grow up you realise time has moved on, she was never the right one for you anyways. I am currently on the hunt for a Ninja 650 / Er6N, because for the same kind of money as a RD you get much more practicality. |
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31st August 2018, 11:19 | #93 |
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now?
Back in early 2009, when I was I was going to book a blue R15 from Orion Motors in Bangalore, my mechanic had suggested that I instead buy a good second hand RD350 which was going for the same price (~ Rs 1.15 L). I was never really fascinated by the monstrous RD350 in my earlier years and was more of a sports bike person. So I bought the R15 and thoroughly enjoyed the bike for several years and sold it for half the amount to a dear friend. Had I bought the RD350 instead, my bank balance would have been a lot healthier in 2018 |
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31st August 2018, 12:21 | #94 | |
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now?
That's the proverbial unicorn! Everyone has a story of this 'really good RD available for a reasonable price'. Either the bike will be nowhere near in 'good' shape or the price will be nowhere near reasonable. From personal experience, it's usually both! Not to cast doubts on your particular mech, but there's a reason why mechs recommend RDs- they get a customer for life! Quote:
Hope I'm not being too cynical, all this is from personal experience- years ago, fresh from college where we had a range of RDs available for us to ride, I too was bitten by the RD bug and as soon as I got my first job, went looking for one all over. Thankfully I didn't! Just putting out the fair warning to those who may be starry-eyed like like I was. I'll say it again, it was a FABULOUS bike. But it's time has passed. Get a Duke/R3/Z900/Triumph/some modern bike! Last edited by am1m : 31st August 2018 at 12:22. | |
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31st August 2018, 13:41 | #95 | |
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Quote:
So, just curious, what are people asking for an RD in 2018? (Mods - sorry about the back-to-back posts, please merge. Thanks.) PS: Got a call from an old buddy of mine last week. We used to call him 'Captain RD' because he was obsessed with the bike. He inherited a lot of money and a big house from his grandparents, so didn't need to work. He'd fill the garage with a couple of good RDs and a lot of junk ones and use the parts from the junked ones to maintain his good RDs. Hadn't heard from him in a while, then he calls and offers me one of his RDs as he's not able to run it enough. How times have changed, I reacted in horror and outright refused! Now I know what a 'white elephant' means! Told him to put it up on the TBhp classifieds and offer it to some TBhpian for a fair price. Last edited by am1m : 31st August 2018 at 14:00. | |
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31st August 2018, 14:04 | #96 | ||
Senior - BHPian | Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Quote:
The major problem here is people being penny wise, everyone either wants an unrestored project bike or a steal deal, its these steal deals that kills the enthusiast in everyone. They are always much more than what someone has bargained for. Some Mechs are good friends and give you a very valuable advise, most of the mechs are people who are in the market for making money, so you really can't make them forget the primary reason they are there, you can always soften the blow by befriending them. Quote:
I always hated vintage stuff, especially cars. It never made sense to me why would anyone ever buy an old banger and restore it to glory, then when I restored a few bikes on my own, I understood the kick one gets from driving a mint example and the pure satisfaction of restoring one is prices less. All you need to get one of these bikes above is a good CIBIL score and a means for the down payment, you can still buy them from the showroom, can you do that with an RD or let say an RX? Buying an RD or an RX is the most sensible option today. Instead of keeping the money in the bank you have it in your garage, it will keep you entertained while you grow your investment, is there anything else in the market that gives you this kind of benefit? Pramod Last edited by pramodkumar : 31st August 2018 at 14:07. | ||
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31st August 2018, 14:12 | #97 | |
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now?
Sure, if you have that level of knowledge that you seem to have, then it makes sense to go for one. But for most of us, we'd rather be on the bike riding it than fixing it. I understand that for a lot of enthusiasts the whole restoring, maintaining is a big part of the charm, but not for most of us. Quote:
Depends on one's definition of entertainment I've done my share of befriending mechs, hanging around mech shops, JC road, meeting fellow enthusiasts and tinkering, discussing specs, mods, etc. Now I just want a bike that I can ride fast when I want to and then get on with the rest of my life. Of course, to each his own. | |
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31st August 2018, 17:15 | #98 | |||
Senior - BHPian | Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Quote:
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Pramod Last edited by pramodkumar : 31st August 2018 at 17:17. | |||
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31st August 2018, 17:36 | #99 |
Senior - BHPian | Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? In my 15 years of owning an RD350, my first twin and an Yamaha..its pure emotional attachment, as one member pointed out correctly. You need to have lots of deep pockets and a good mechanic to take care of it. We had an adage notion few years back, that RD 350s spend more time with the mechanics than with the owners Typical problems are CB points going out of tune after 100-150kms of run, electrical problems, Battery drain out and front disk brake is a death trap. The used rate card of RD 350s has also sky rocketed immensely. My Scarlett Friend Ode to 2 Stroke Engines Headturner always I may never part with my RD 350 as long as I live. |
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31st August 2018, 17:36 | #100 | ||
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Quote:
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We'll have to disagree on this one. (Btw, I have a Bull too.) I don't think a good part of the ownership experience of ANY vehicle should be spending a lot of time with mechanics! It should be a lot of time using that vehicle! 'Biking' is different things to different people. There's no 'better' or 'purer' definition. Different strokes (literally) for different folks! | ||
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2nd September 2018, 08:03 | #101 |
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Oh!! the old debate, good old vs aspiring new. No matter how much you love fighting over it, they both are from completely different world, its like a comparison between an bollywood heartthrob from 70s vs now. Old people will always love the 70's version while the real deal is the new one. It's not about maintenance, it has never been.Its just a fallacy propagated by the hoarders so that the bike could be sold out and his investment could be quadrupled. If the bike had been so good it would sold like hot cakes from the factory and subsequesnt versions(RD400 and later 350 LC) would have made to the Indian biking scene, the way it happened with D 390, which is a great bike and value for money in every aspect. Just see it this way, there's a whole business revolving around tuning, spare parts and performance enhancement,( in short, robbing you of your hard earned money)some times I think, were the escorts and yamaha engineers this stupid to not have already incorporated all these in their production models!not really, it's just a bloated series of lies shovelled down your throat to con you for your money. The bike had a complete movie (Hero1983) dedicated to it, which BTW was a blockbuster shooting Minaxi S. and jaggu dada to fame but the intended beneficiary got detuned just a year later owing to low sales.As many say that time people weren't having money or had to queue up to get a bike or a scooter, may that's partially true but not entirely. The bike which continuously failed straight from factory, came with the brakes from the yamaha's smaller bikes(upfront) and almost always had wiring and carb issues. Now where all this craze grew? Well somewhere in the first decade of this century, MSD and John Abraham, got their bikes and passionately restored them, and since both succeeded in their carrier, so did mechanics who had been hoarding the RDs in their shady garage(Escorts might have wished it to happen in 1983). I personally never had an uncle or tau or padosi who owned an RD and they were not poor,( they had tata sierra when cars were a novelity) so I don't really share the "child hood dream" story, but somewhere in my college days, I came to know about RDs from a wannabe thug who some how came to know of it and to attain credibility among my college's biking enthusiasts, would keep nerrating stories from various blogs and sites.It was then that I started searching for more info, and if possible a bike( which I finally bought). It's not a bike you would love repairing, as no matter how good you are at DIY, the cost of parts, which has been artifiacially made to sky rocket is going to put you down.You can learn to repair your D390 instead, smaller things like tightening it's chain, changing oil, replacing spare on D390 is way more rewarding than doing the same on RD 350, and yes you don't have to be bothered by the jargons like "properly tuned" etc. to run it like a dream. The spare of D390 comes really cheap, and the best part, you can buy it off the shelf. So at last, is it really worth buying it? I would say "Big No" if you are and enthusiast, and "Yes" if you are tired of ill performing share, mutual funds and returns on FDs etc. you can invest your money, and some victim of pied piper of Yam-elin would difinitely die to get it from you, then in that case too, your days are counted as the RTO legislations are getting stricter and filth from north can't really be sold at quadrupled rates in southern states, simply because your 70's hearthrob is older than 15 years and hence destined for grave instead of ramp. |
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2nd September 2018, 12:48 | #102 | |
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Quote:
Still makes me smile. Of course it’s a lot different (better, more manic) from what it was back then - mechanically- but is cosmetically in the same condition. Amen! | |
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3rd September 2018, 09:57 | #103 | ||||||||||||
Senior - BHPian | Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Quote:
1. Yamaha RD 350 is a cult classic across the world, not just in India, but the world. 2. A good number of 30-45 year old bikes are still on road and are challenging something which has gone down the line of selective evolution, selective because 2 Strokes, especially motorcycle engines were never allowed to evolve due to stringent emissions. Since you came this far, I would tell you one more thing, The sheer acceleration and torque can't be compared with a D390. This is not fanboy talk, Like I said I own one and has been really privileged to ride one of the best tuned machines in India which were also daily riders. Quote:
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This has been answered so many times that I will not spent a second on answering it again. Isn't performance tuning like that everywhere? Till few years back only a few could think of modifying their rides, now almost everyone does. Quote:
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On a side note, "Bikes" in general is not for everyone. It has different meaning for each one of us, for some its an A to B commute, for some its a stepping stone to get a car at a later stage and there is a third breed, who love to swing their leg around a bike and go where ever the bike takes them. The thrill a bike can provide, even a super car can't, that's the reason you have so many even if its the single most automobile that has most number of fatalities. I love pampering my bikes and here is a video for those who love to keep them shiny every weekend. Pramod Last edited by GTO : 3rd September 2018 at 17:50. Reason: Unnecessary personal comments are best avoided. | ||||||||||||
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3rd September 2018, 10:50 | #104 | ||||
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Quote:
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It's like most of the RD enthusiasts say, "There are many bikes one can buy and then there is The Yamaha RD350." Last edited by navin_v8 : 3rd September 2018 at 10:53. | ||||
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3rd September 2018, 11:54 | #105 |
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| Re: Is it worth buying a Yamaha RD350 now? Haha! Ok guys, thank you for taking me back to my college days when bikes and your 'trusted/favourite' mechanic were meant to be loved and defended at all costs! So basically I think we're all in agreement here: If you love DIY and have the time/patience/skills to learn everything about the bike, go for an RD. If you'd rather just have a fast bike that's easier to maintain, go for something new. Last edited by GTO : 3rd September 2018 at 17:47. Reason: Personal remark removed from the original post :) |
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