What Are You Working On?

[Tankski]

Do you require a 5 1/4 inch bay for any of the cooling kit.

Nope! Nothing is in my drive bays apart from storage drives.

I also use Corsair SP/AP 120 Quiet Edition fans.

[Pauls]

Yamaha RZV500R special with photo-shopped colour scheme.......



As with my RW stuff I don't have much time to work on this project.

Cheers
Paul

Bloody hell Paul, Where did you get that beast, Pretty rare now too. Now thats a mans bike.
Ahh the smell of racing 2 stroke, Best smell in the world

Chris

Hi Chris,

I bought a standard RD500 along with a spare engine and loads of spares about 10 years ago. I then bought some YZR500 bodywork and a aluminium RZV500R frame. Rear end is R6 and front is 2002 R1 - I plan to complete it in the next lifetime !! - Fortunately I have a standard RD500 on the road that I'm able to ride at the moment. Sadly prices for these old bikes are going crazy now so it is getting harder to buy spares.

Cheers
Paul

[Chris Baker]

Very Nice Paul.

2 strokes have gone mental price wise now, a few years ago you could pick them up so cheap. Now the price for a nsr or tzr 250 is bonkers, they have become real collectors items.
You where lucky to pick this up when you did. It looks mint , ive always thought the 2 stroke yamys where some of the best looking race bikes ever built. They just look so right

Chris

[Pauls]

Very Nice Paul.

2 strokes have gone mental price wise now, a few years ago you could pick them up so cheap. Now the price for a nsr or tzr 250 is bonkers, they have become real collectors items.
You where lucky to pick this up when you did. It looks mint , ive always thought the 2 stroke yamys where some of the best looking race bikes ever built. They just look so right

Chris

We're obviously on the same wavelength ! I like all old bikes - but the Yamaha 2 strokes are special - I had a go on a 2012 Yamaha R1 and it was actually less fun than my RD500! - strangely it didn't feel like it was making any more power - even though it produced twice the HP - ie 180hp - which is probably why I've had my RD500 for almost 30 years - old bikes and old railways - just can't be bettered - oh yes - old aeroplanes as well I suppose ?

I was lucky in that 10 years ago when you could hardly gives these bikes away I bought a RD500, a spare engine and enough spares to build another bike for £1800 - that wouldn't even buy a broken spare engine now ! - the spares filled the floor of a Luton van ! - I just couldn't afford to buy that amount of spares at todays prices - in the laast 3 years my RD500 has tripled in value - anyway I wish these bikes weren't getting valuable because money just spoils the hobby and all the spares disappear into collections that only exist to make money rather than enjoy - anyway - that's life I suppose.

Here's my standard RD500 that I ride.......owned for almost 30 years and still going strong...........probably almost as fast as a family saloon car nowadays !



Cheers
Paul

[malkymackay]

Excuse me while I drool.
Never been that keen on 2-strokes, but I appreciate a classic when I see one. I was still a V4 fan though, having owned & cherished a UK spec Honda VFR400R NC30.

[Pauls]

Excuse me while I drool.
Never been that keen on 2-strokes, but I appreciate a classic when I see one. I was still a V4 fan though, having owned & cherished a UK spec Honda VFR400R NC30.

The NC30 is a lovely bike ! - two strokes are an acquired taste - and are also very addictive !

Cheers
Paul

[Nobkins]

Have to say I have almost as little knowledge of bikes as I do of railways but even I can see that looks special.

Nice pictures cheers.

[Pauls]

Have to say I have almost as little knowledge of bikes as I do of railways but even I can see that looks special.

Nice pictures cheers.

Thanks Jim.

[briyeo]

That is a great looking bike Paul, but I am of a generation that struggles to look on Japanese bikes as Classics. A classic 2 stroke for me would be an Ariel Golden Arrow.

[Rockdoc2174]

Those rattled like the devil, because the gudgeon pins had a tendency to seize in the little-end and wear the pistons. Nice looking bike, though I preferred the Leader. Did you know that Ariel were working on a Leader-style bike with a four-stroke, in-line engine of about 900cc? It had reached the road-test stage before parent-company BSA put their foot on it. Imagine a slightly stretched Leader with twin headlamps in the nacelle.

Keith