Planning the build

 A mind, or maybe my mine specifically is a strange thing. Once i bought the RD350B and parked it in my garage. My mind is starting to spew out different "design" idea's and build directions. I have build bikes before, either for a (moped) endurance cross competition  or just to explore a trend. 

Building for competing an specific class is relative easy, as the rules for the competition give a clear direction in which the build is going. Also budget in building and maintaining was constraining it. The first real bike i modded was an KTM 620SC which i converted into a supermotard. Which started to come-up in the second half of the 90's. I am born in 1980 so got my motorcycle licence in 1999, This KTM build sort of happened in the 2002. I initially bought the bike to ride enduro with, and it was much to powerful for me. Which led to me just rocketing around on dirt roads or on the streets, converting it to 17" cast wheels (of GS500E) just suited my hooligan riding . It was a small build in which i explored a "set" Trent, by just matching the wheels to the bike an upgrading the front brake. And making the bike look nice. I really miss that one, as it brought me so many smiles. The Competition ready moped still lives on in my garage.

With is RD350 i'm in a different point in my life, i had to juggle building this bike between working and sharing time with my wife and doing some recreational enduro riding.  I decided to hack i up in major portions each with a focus point and keeping time to ride and enjoy it!

Steps:

  1. getting it to run right (e.g. not on the choke) and have in a more or less standard but fully function bike with great patina
  2. Upgrading the bike on weak spots , which (could) reveal it'self by driving allot
  3. Test (extensively) the durability of those upgrades
  4. Cosmetically finishing the build (make it look nice, polish and paint)
During these steps my mind would meander regarding build directions which led from:
  • Cafe-racer
  • Flatracker 
  • Street legal TZ replica 
  • Bosozoku
Then it clicked, the how (the way i bought it) and why (i needed the distraction) added up. I am building an: 

Period correct Cafe-racer RD350B. Which is built not bought.

Hopefully looking like a bike my dad could have build and driven in the 1970-somethings.  In a way honoring every thing i learned from him, showing my heritage, proving to myself that i'm able to live up to his standards. That translates making a lot of parts from scratch or adapting parts from the breakers.

It also matched something else i found out apparently, most classic bikes that get modified diminish in value. So i have retained the possibility to convert it back to "original" all modifications are "bolted on". 

A nice liking feature is this picture:

Which shows my Dad at Age 26, on a 1976 RD250. This picture is shown in 1976 issue 11 of the MOTO 73 magazine in the Netherlands.  I'm very proud to say that my dad did race a couple of years and the magazine did an article about him.  As a son of a former 50cc Gp-rider i had something to live up to.

But back to my RD and the quest to get it running straight an making it look right. I did a lot of internet browsing an found several helpful site's and a load of RD knowledge. 
If used right a FACEBOOK-group can be a great source of information, also there are several Yamaha RD - Air cooled club enthusiast sites which helped.

 I also added an extra step (0) to my plan, which helped me to get my focus back i made a mood-board.

Looking a the page i wrote down, it's a lot of reading an to little pictures. This will get better once we get in to the how to stuff. 

Next time i hope write about getting it to run straight en getting side tracked a bit.


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