2001 Yamaha Road Star on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Filling a void with an RD350LC

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?

Andrea Dovizioso Signs with Tech 3 Yamaha for 2012

The Tech 3 MotoGP team has reached a one-year agreement with Andrea Dovizioso, signing the Repsol Honda factory rider to take Colin Edwards’ place on the Yamaha satellite team in the 2012 season. Dovizioso will join the Tech 3 Yamaha team after three years with the Repsol Honda team. Despite currently holding onto the third overall spot on the 2011 championship points standings with five podium appearances and 13 top-five finishes in 15 races, Dovizioso found himself the odd man out with Honda which will stick with a two-man factory team of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa with Marco Simoncelli riding a factory-supported Honda RC212V with the Gresini team.

Supe up the Super Ténéré

Remus are offering a slip-on exhaust for the 2010 Yamaha Super Ténéré. The new Super Ten exhaust from Remus comes in two options, the stainless steel hexacone retails at £370 and offers 1.6kg of weight saved on the stock OEM exhaust with a power increase of 7.5bhp. The second choice for the Yamaha's big adventure bike is the lighter titanium hexacone, the can offers the same increase in power but saves 1.81kg in weight.