For the ones who don´t know, the RD350 LC was a demon two stroker sports bikes from the 80s, featuring a two stroke twin cilinder 350 engine with some 70 hp (the engine the younger guys like me later found on the Banshee quad) and not much frame to keep up with the engine, as tradition called in the day. Former GP 500 racer Niall Mackenzie cut his teeth on racing in the RD350 cup in Britain, alongside other stars of the day like Rob MacElnea or Jean Phillipe Ruggia (there were even Euro finals). Here is his latest column in Visordown, dedicated to the machines. Filling a void with an RD350LC Niall Mackenzie takes an RD350LC to pieces. Then puts the kettle on. osted: 29 July 2013 by Niall Mackenzie Last winter I managed to fill a void in my life when I stumbled on a very reasonably priced Yamaha RD350LC. It was a tad scruffy, had the wrong exhausts but most importantly it was blue and white with all numbers matching. I had the usual euphoria when the deal was done but I underestimated how much pleasure this particular purchase would continue to deliver another eight months down the line. The difference with this old bike is, instead of just taking it for the occasional ride I was talked into doing a full nut and bolt restoration. Having never taking a bike apart completely before, initially it was quite daunting but I soon found the RD is easy to work on so it turned into a truly satisfying experience. I’ve had some help from LC enthusiasts with the rebuild, however, the stripping, sourcing and organising was a total labour of love. And call me sad but it has made me bond with this bike like no other which only adds to the feel good factor. The bike cost £1800 and I’ve spent around £1000 but I reckon my mint Elsie is now worth a fair bit more. I fancy rejuvenating a Fizzy next time but there’s lots of other cheap 70’s and 80’s winter projects out there so why not have a go yourself? On a completely different subject I’ve heard Triumph are working on a brand new small capacity model. I might just have been fed some completely false information so we’ll have to wait and see, I’m excited nonetheless! Read more: visordown/niall-mackenzies-blog/filling-a-void-with-an-rd350lc/23135.html#ixzz2bQ8UHhWB
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 22:56:02 +0000