Buying Guide

Yamaha RD250 Yamaha launched its first 247cc two-stroke twin, the YD1, in 1957. Following a series of piston port YDS models, the RD250 (for ‘race developed’) was launched in December 1972. The Yamaha RD250A was the first production road bike to use reed valves to control the incoming charge, giving rise to the ‘torque induction’…

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Yamaha RD350B With light weight and decent torque allied to a race developed (hence RD) chassis the bike was pretty much an instant success. In the post learner/middleweight market the RD350 was every inch a street sleeper just waiting for a bike more than twice its capacity to pounce on and figuratively shred to pieces.…

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Lemon? No one who wanted a Super Dream was ever lining up an RD, GT, KH etc in their sights and given the other four-stroke offerings on hand (Yamaha’s XS250 or Kawasaki’s Z250) perhaps there was a modicum of logic in their choice. The sad thing was that the 250N was just as tedious as…

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Yamaha YR2C Yamaha's YR2 with it’s new five-port engine was another step in the development of fast, reliable two-stroke lightweight roadsters and its stablemate – the YR2C – joined the Stateside fashion for street scrambler models. In reality, the differences between the 'road' YR2 and the 'street scrambler' YR2C (also known as the Grand Prix…

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Yamaha RD350 YPVS Yes you did read that right: one hundred and fifty six thousand. Owner Peter Spicer takes us through the ups and downs of the long-term ownership of an icon. “In the time I’ve owned the bike it’s had a fresh set of barrels at 60,000; these motors will run past this figure…

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Ducati 900SS FE It’s 1991 and the Bologna SuperSport machines feature a white frame which sets off the blood-red colour scheme perfectly, I thought it couldn’t get any better, but fast-forward seven years and my ultimate incarnation of 900SS is born – the FE or ‘Final Edition’. The FE was built to celebrate the last…

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Suzuki GT550 – often overlooked Suzuki wasn’t the first on the market with modern two-stroke triples but for many their arrival four years after Kawasaki’s H1 represented time well spent within the R&D Dept. Rather than compete head on with the banzai nature of the competition, the Hamamatsu boys produced three well considered machines under…

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Suzuki 250 was popular In 1968 Yamaha launched their ground breaking DT-1. A Japanese company had finally invested in developing a reliable, well mannered and economical off-road machine. Until that point the only competition had mostly been big and heavy British bikes. The only alternatives came from Greeves, Montesa and Husqvarna, but they were all…

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Yamaha RD350LC Pricey, but still worth the money because these bikes will continue to go up in value. In 50 years of Japanese motorcycles few machines have genuinely made classic status. These are the elite. In some cases it comes with racing pedigree, others simply changed our world. Honda’s RC30 is already a classic because it was based heavily…

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Honda 650 Bros A narrow engine lying in the natural V of a frame with a loping power delivery; the set up became iconic in the formative years of motorcycling. The 650cc category was once at the very edge of big bike territory but with the advent of late 70s Superbikes it effectively fell into…

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