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+--- Thread: 74 RD 350 (/showthread.php?tid=6499)
RE: 74 RD 350 - Tev62 - 10-20-2021
(10-18-2021, 09:49 AM)PowerDubs_imp Wrote:(10-17-2021, 11:49 PM)misterprofessionality_imp Wrote: *sigh*. i've always wanted to own one of these obnoxious noisy smelly beautiful machines but I've just never had the mechanical chops. every time I think about getting one I remember how much skill and time and tools it takes to keep it working well and I back down. I'm glad somebody is keeping them on the road.
2-stroke are much much easier than a 4-stroke, and an air cooled 2-stroke is about as easy as it gets.
No camshafts, no valves, no coolant....easy peasy. And basic hand tools is all you need for whatever.
Worst thing about that bike (maint wise) is just the carbs...but carbs on any bike are a PITA eventually.
No coolant...you are forgetting the odd-ball Suzuki GT750. A bike I always lusted after but never owned.
RE: 74 RD 350 - Bheezy27403_imp - 10-21-2021
(10-20-2021, 04:44 PM)Tev62_imp Wrote:(10-18-2021, 09:49 AM)PowerDubs_imp Wrote:(10-17-2021, 11:49 PM)misterprofessionality_imp Wrote: *sigh*. i've always wanted to own one of these obnoxious noisy smelly beautiful machines but I've just never had the mechanical chops. every time I think about getting one I remember how much skill and time and tools it takes to keep it working well and I back down. I'm glad somebody is keeping them on the road.
2-stroke are much much easier than a 4-stroke, and an air cooled 2-stroke is about as easy as it gets.
No camshafts, no valves, no coolant....easy peasy. And basic hand tools is all you need for whatever.
Worst thing about that bike (maint wise) is just the carbs...but carbs on any bike are a PITA eventually.
No coolant...you are forgetting the odd-ball Suzuki GT750. A bike I always lusted after but never owned.
No coolant...you are forgetting the odd-ball Suzuki GT750. A bike I always lusted after but never owned.
Ah the ole Buffalo. Definitely an outlier. Had one for sale near me and I passed. I like the idea of a light 2T and I don't think that qualifies!
RE: 74 RD 350 - Django - 10-21-2021
As already said, the RD was my first bike when I was 18, had it 5 years and about 93 tkm. Disassembled it once to every single screw and put it together again. It had the 3rd overbore and the 3rd crankshaft. Carbs were no problem, but you had to keep them clean, hole in piston otherwise.
Really liked it, but fuel consumption was really bad, and then the oil...
RE: 74 RD 350 - PowerDubs_imp - 10-21-2021
(10-20-2021, 04:44 PM)Tev62_imp Wrote:(10-18-2021, 09:49 AM)PowerDubs_imp Wrote:(10-17-2021, 11:49 PM)misterprofessionality_imp Wrote: *sigh*. i've always wanted to own one of these obnoxious noisy smelly beautiful machines but I've just never had the mechanical chops. every time I think about getting one I remember how much skill and time and tools it takes to keep it working well and I back down. I'm glad somebody is keeping them on the road.
2-stroke are much much easier than a 4-stroke, and an air cooled 2-stroke is about as easy as it gets.
No camshafts, no valves, no coolant....easy peasy. And basic hand tools is all you need for whatever.
Worst thing about that bike (maint wise) is just the carbs...but carbs on any bike are a PITA eventually.
No coolant...you are forgetting the odd-ball Suzuki GT750. A bike I always lusted after but never owned.
Oh there were plenty of liquid cooled 2-stroke, but that's not what we were talking about here.
Even the RD begat the RZ350 (and Banshee) which had radiators.
Countless others later YZ, RM, KX, KDX, DRZ, LTZ, etc...
RE: 74 RD 350 - Tev62 - 10-21-2021
(10-21-2021, 05:36 AM)Django_imp Wrote: As already said, the RD was my first bike when I was 18, had it 5 years and about 93 tkm. Disassembled it once to every single screw and put it together again. It had the 3rd overbore and the 3rd crankshaft. Carbs were no problem, but you had to keep them clean, hole in piston otherwise.
Really liked it, but fuel consumption was really bad, and then the oil...
Hole in piston - yep, had that on my 250X7 and my T500. You would think it would be catastrophic wouldn't you but just split the cases and remove the molten pieces, new piston and away you go again. I never knew what caused it on the X7, on the T500 I had a rubber air inlet leak making the mixture a little weak, one hot day took me over the threshold and I came to a halt on the side of the road.
It was by a farmers field. My parents house was the other side of it so I made a beeline for it, I got six feet before I stepped on a plank of wood with nails in it. I managed to get a nail, it went through my boot, my foot and out of the top of my boot. A big mad rusty bugger, it was a very long walk over that field!
RE: 74 RD 350 - Cormanus - 10-21-2021
A holed piston and tetanus in one day. A good outing, Tev!
RE: 74 RD 350 - peterbaron - 10-21-2021
If there is no mechanical interference, a hole in piston is usually caused by heat...lean air fuel mixture, high compression....we had that sometimes with 2-stroke/air cooled racing engines when experimenting, prior final set up.
RE: 74 RD 350 - GoldOxide_imp - 10-21-2021
One cylinder in my '76 RD400 had a Suzuki piston with a broken connecting rod.
The headlamp was from an Oldsmobile.
(I had my work cut out)
RE: 74 RD 350 - Labrador12_imp - 10-24-2021
I bought a water Buffalo in Edmonton in Oct of 1975. Rode it to Syracuse NY and back a couple of times. Strong motor. Used to ride with a buddy with a Z. Frame flexed a lot when you cornered her hard and fast. Almost fifty years ago!!!