Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

by Art Friedman ' Photos by Wendy Blanton, Shady Groves, Hector Aguilera and Fri edman A t a tim e when m ost manufacturers are t o ning down their larger stree t b ik es to make th em more d o cile , it was refreshing to e ncounter Yamaha's RD -35 0 twin. The RD -350 hasn ' t been to ned d own from p revious years' Yamaha R-5 ' s fro m which it is deri ved. On the co ntra ry it h a s been give n even mor e horsep ower an d mad e to p er form b et ter than anythi ng in its class. Wh at makes this addition nic e is tha t it is still pl easan t and comfortable. It sti ll handles excellently an d stops be tter th an ever. An d it is inexpensive to b uy an d own. With in its own class, the R D-350 is a superb ike. There is n o 350 tha t will stay with it. Even Kaw asaki ' s o ld rotary valve A-7 twin isn ' t a ma tch fo r the po we r of ' t he RD- 350. "It's a firecracke r! " said one staffe r after his firs t rid e on it. For sure. T he 35 0 class is a very popula r one for str ee t bikes . A three-fift y h as power enough t o go cross-coun try , yet doesn't have a lo t of unnecessary or ra rely useab le power as d o man y lar ger machines. Another advantage of 350 class machin es is t heir re la tive ly lo w mass wh ich reduce s gas consump tion; cu ts d own wear on par ts like tires, ch ains, e tc; makes handlin g eas ier; an d allows smaller riders to fed at home o n the machine. Ho wever, the advantages of size arc" :;; ::;: ~ w Z w -' U >- U It is small, slim. and light . Handling and braking are excellent and confidence inspiring. The only thing you have to be wary of is the R 0-350's tendency to wheelie. Weight is best kept forward . . reeds do is allow the engine to run cle anly at low RPM. The end result is that while the RD-350 is all kinds of powerful over about 5500 RPM on up to its 8500 RPM redline, it also has enough power to respond st ron gly and adequately below that, The pipiness is n ot as extreme as it was on th e RD·250 th at we tested recently . In fac t, th e RD -350's engine was alm os t entirely lacking in the faults that w e di scovered in th e 250. It Was easy to st art (two or three kicks when cold, one when hot), didn't foul spark plugs, and h ad much less sudden power surges . ~ . T he RD-250 and RD -350 ar e almost exactly th e same in eve rything except th e engi n e. In fa ct, eve n the engin e is th e same ex ce p t for the top end. Both have the same neat, slick, smooth, etc. gearb o x. It is excell ent an d the si x ch oices provide you with a rati o fo r any sit ua ti o n. . The only ch an ge to the rest of th e bi ke is a dis c brake o n th e 35 0 and a sligh t1y w ider tire with a different tread p attern. Other than thi s th e mach in es are id entical as far as we can tel l. T h e seat, tank, and o ther st yle d piece s are th e same ex cept fo r co lo r. The seat has ample space for two, but the passenger's sector is too hard to be com fo rt able for long hauls. T h is is th e only real limitation to th e m achin e as a two-up tourer, It has more than enough p ow er t o d o th e d eed. You ean break th e sp eeding law in alm ost any st ate in fo urth o r fifth gear. It will d isappearing o n man y asphalt-going 350's th ese days. T he current trend is to mult is and mo st of th e bikes in this class have sproute d th ree and four cy lin ders. T h is has inereased size an d weight an d red uce d a lot o f th e advantages of owning a 35 0. Not so th e Yamaha. Although th e m achin e has changed its designation, it is basicall y th e same . I t's st ill a twin with the same bore and stroke. T he layout of the mach in e is j ust about id en tical and t he size an d weight are the same as it s R-5 prede cessors. Despite being the le adi n g advertised feature o f th e RD -350 , the new reed valves aren't exactly wh at give th e mach ine its extra go, and it doe sn 't have more low end. T he RD ·35 0 is peaki er th an last year's R -5. Alt h ough the reed valves ("Torque Ind uction", if you read ad vertise ments) a re s u pposed to give Yamaha's two-stroke street bi kes more lo w-end to rque this year , they actually h ave less . This is due to wild er porting. Wha t the top 100 wi th ease and you can pass at f ree w ay sp e ed, eve n carrying a passenger, more quickly t han most of De troit's offerings. The power will d o other things too, like wheelies. You can get the front en d up in th e firs t three gears. T h is ma kes it ra th er tric ky t o get o ff th e lin e with th e rear tire sp in ning. T he bike would prefer to lif t the fron t end than sp in th e rear . Besides o ffe ring lots of p ow er, th e RD- 350 o ffers the tourer a comfortab le vib ra ti on level and a pl easant position fo r high sp eed riding. The gas tank holds 3.2 gallo ns and will take y ou ab out 90 mil es before y ou have t o turn the tap to reserve . Mileage is about 3 5 t o 4 0 MPG so you have a goodly margin of safety while o n res erve. The gas tan k cap un locks with th e ign ition key . T he con tro ls we re eas y to use and re me m ber. The clutch was ligh t an d progressive. Light, horn, and blinkie swi tches are all con ve nien t wi th or witho u t gloves, al th o ugh one tester comp l a ine d th at h e had tro ubl e re tu rning the blinkie swi t ch to th e neu tral position . T he instrum en t cluster includes a 120 MPH spe edo and a 10,0 0 0 RPM ta ch , both well-li t and easy to read. Also in the in strumen t area are yo-yo ligh ts th at in fo rm y ou about th e st at us of your hi gh-beam, blinkie, neu tral light, and st op light. The latter is a red light on the dash th at ligh ts up wh en th e brake light is activa te d. It will inform y ou if y o u are in danger of b ein g flattened b y' some d rowsy m oto ris ts because y o ur brake ligh t filament has evap o ra ted. Around town, the RD ·350 was nimble and narrow enough to make y o u feel like an icebreaker in .traffic. There is en o ugh low end power and a pl enty low en o ugh first gear to make stop-and-go driving painless. The outstanding attraction of th e Yamaha RD·350 is its performance on windy roads. On twisty stuff, it is more pure pleasure to ride than any machine that we have sampled except the Norton 750 Commando which some staffers felt was equal or better. They were about matched by the contingent th at voted for the Yamaba. The rear suspension is not spot-on. It is a little stiff for most riders without quite enough rebound dampening. But the RD-3 50 is living proof that, if you do the important things right, you don't have to sweat the small stuff. It handles excelle n t1y, even over bumpy st uff. On on e freeway ramp traveled fre quen tly by our staffers we weren't able to ge t a wiggle out of it in the section guaranteed to wiggle it if it would. At ab o u t 30 MPH above posted MPH numbers we gave up trying. On another section of slick pavement littered with ripples that border on

• Cover