I grew up around them too. We called them "ring-dings" because that's what they sounded like as they went down the road; rriiinnnngggggg-ding-ding-ding-ding. At least they had oil tanks so you didn't have to mix gas.
They were light, fast and cheap. Got horrible milage and stunk bad. Oil dripped from the pipes. People got them when they were too broke to afford a real bike. A Thiumph, BSA, Norton or the magnificent Honda CB750.
Yep some people got them because they were some of the quickest bikes on the road...thats the crowd I was in, fun, fast and inexpensive, I know my dad used to love to bet fellas on the high powered Kawasakis and such that he could beat them for two or three city blocks on his Yamaha RD350, the ones that didnt know any better would bite on the deal and then leave with their tail between their legs shaking their heads trying to figure out how that little 2 stroke 350 just beat so bad for that short distance, of coarse we know the ending for many of those races would have been different in a 1/4 mile run but if a fella as a good rider those 2 stroke samll cc bikes would hump and get it for a short distance..... I always loved to smell the smoke and rev the heck out of them, even the slower ones sounded fast.....lol!
There were a couple other fellas around here in the 70's and early 80's tricking out the little RD 350's and RD 400's all stripped down and big ole expansion pipes, some crazy fast little bikes....
I'd love to have one of the little RD125 or RD200, I'd run the wheels off that sucker...!!!
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