I have recently come upon one of these Lil Two strokers in unbelievably great shape. I was wondering what anyone could share with me about them? Are they Vintage racing material? If so are they popular? What do they go for? As always thank you for any information.
I don't know much about the Yammy 2-strokes but is it really an RZ400? I thought Yamaha only made the RZ350 and RZ500 watercooled bikes. Hopefully it's the RD400 air-cooled because they can be run in a lot of vintage classes. If you have any questions concerning 2-strokes, contact Lyn Garland. I don't have his e-mail handy but I'm sure someone will chime in who does.
Sure it isn't an RD-400? I think RZs were 350s. If it is liquid cooled, a Yamaha two-stroke, looks like a TZ-250 and is a 350 from 1977, please email me the name and telephone of the seller and I will find out more about it for you. LOL Fred
Just found it: Vintage Specialties 770-775-3249 [email protected] <b>Fred,</b> Wasn't there also the RZ500... a V4 2-stroke? Two pipes exiting from under the seat and two on the sides? I thought I saw the back of one on the track during practice once.
Yes, there was an RZ-500 as you describe, but it was very rare in the US. Doubt that I wouldn't have been contacted that one was for sale with all the vintage 2-stroke mailing lists I'm on. At Road Atlanta Mark Morrow won the Formula 2-stroke and the Vintage 4 or 5 class with his RZ-350 beating a Triumph 750 triple if I recall. Ciao, Fred
I think Steve Foote (?) ran one with WERA a couple of years back. I saw him once at RA and I think one other time at Talladega during the '99 season. Other than that I saw either that or a grey import RGV500(?) Suzuki on the street at the Gwinnett Mall as a flash going by me with the front wheel pawing at the sky. The 2-stroke howl and the "V4" emblazoned on the body work is all I remember.
You have an RD400. RD400's were sold from 1976 through 1979. Both Lyn Garland and I have them as well, and race in Formula RD, as well as Formula 500 classes. Lyn's son Paul also races one, as well as our friend Bob Macaulay. If the bike is in good shape, I would suggest selling it and buying a "race prepped" RD. You will come out much better in the long run. Go to the WERA Vintage want ad page at http://www.weravintage.com/guestbook/guestbook.html and look for an RD there. Or contact Lyn at the address above to see if he knows of any available. If you need any sort of engine work or RD-specific accessory, check with Lyn. He set up my race bike's engine for me, and it is a ROCKET. And I mean FAST. At TGPR earlier this year, at my first weekend on the track in over THREE YEARS (and my first ever on the RD), my bike was leading five-time National Vintage champion (including a Formula RD title) Mark Morrow for almost half of the F500 race. Trust me, it was the bike, not my limited riding skills! I'll post more info under your thread in the "General" section. Gotta educate those folks about classic bikes such as yours. Feel free to query me with any questions you may have. My e mail address is [email protected]. BTW, yes, Steve Foote raced an RZ500 V4 two stroke a few years ago. He is now retired. The RZ500 was not a US bike, and was available via Canadian dealers only. Mark Morrow is the current V5 and Vintage Formula 2 Stroke National Champion. He won both classes on an RZ350, a water-cooled two stroke twin sold in the US in 1984 and 1985. He also won the Formula RD class in 1999, on an air-cooled RD350. He is using that same bike to win Formula RD races this year, and no doubt will be in the running for yet another Formula RD National Championship later this year.
I posted some (possibly) interesting photos on the thread under the "General" section ... http://www.wera.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/003171.html
The rd's are very competitive in wera vintage. They can run in formula rd, formula 500 and v3,however, wera vintage has a silly rule limiting you to only 2 classes per bike. Listen to yamaharick. It is cheaper to buy a bike that is already set up for the track, but don't let that stop you from setting up your "dream bike". Lyn Garland and Stanly Lipert build the fastest bikes that I have to race against. If you are a novice, don't fall for the fools quest for hp! A "stock" bike is much easier to ride , cheaper to maintain, jet and are far more reliable. In '99 I raced two different rd's, one with pipe and airbox mods only, the other was ported very aggressivley. Though the second bike was much faster in a straight line , it was much harder to ride, jet and gear. Ultimatly, I won every single race that I entered on the "stock" bike and had a 50% win/dnf record on the "fast" bike. Have fun!!!
rzracer39, what kind of squid are ya? Folks, we should be honored to have join us no one other than Mark Morrow, current Vintage 2 Stroke and V5 National Champion. And holder of about three or four other National Championships. A really nice guy. And one guy I've never been able to beat on the track. :-(
I actually beat him at Summit Point, his bike broke down in F-500 and though he chased me trying to push his bike on the front straight he couldn't match my 110 MPH on foot pushing his bike, he was clocked at 90. Mark is one of the few SE guys that comes to Summit, we know him well, a real gentleman. Nice seeing you at RA, that was a great race you had with the Triumph 750?, I think the fellow's name was JoyceA?, he is a very good rider too. Fred
Actually it was Frank Shockley. What a race!!!! Maybe he'll come up to vir and we'll put on another great show.
Right, don't know why I continue to confuse two completely different names. Alzaheiemers? See you at VIR. Ciao, FRed
