I remember here in the US I saw more of the Yamaha 400's than any of the others. The Suzuki's sold good on their looks but the Yamaha was the one that had the handling and performance rep.
at 15 i had a 'suki T250 hustler...pair of larger mikunis..port job and a pair of bassani silenced pipes ...it surprised quite a few 650/750 bikes with a 130 lb rider on it
I also had a hustler and you're right, they were bloody fast. I've commented before about it but all my mates had much newer 250s, RDs, suzuki GTs or X7s, but none of them could get anywhere near my old hustler!
@@sambrooks7862 fast r felt fast The power delivery makes a big difference to how a bike feels, the power figures don’t tell how a bike feels but would indicate the genuine top speed
@@bikerdood1100 morning mate, you may have seen my comments on here about my hustler before? It wasn't just "a bit faster" than anything my mates rode, it absolutely p1ssed over them. A while back someone suggested that it could've had a 350 top end but that's unlikely because the guy I bought it from was the first owner and he only used it to get to work at a local pet food factory because it was cheaper than a second car. He had to sell it because the law was about to change to restrict learners to a 125 and he hadn't passed his test, he really had no interest in bikes but it was a dog, he really hadn't looked after it, the sprockets looked like sharks teeth, 3 of the foot rests were missing, the front brake didn't work, the bars were bent and the seat was held on with a bungee cord. I spent days cleaning it up and putting it right and for the first few times I rode it it ran like a bag of sh1t because it had only ever done 3 mile journeys across town but once I'd opened it up a few times it bloody flew and every time we went anywhere none of my mates could keep with me, one guy had a 400/4 and although it wasn't as fast in a straight line as my hustler because the guy that owned it was tiny and I was 6ft and about 12 stone he could get the better of me on a long run, especially if it was head wind (i won't name that bloke but he went on to become a TT sidecar legend). I've often thought about getting another one but sometimes it's better to just keep the memory in the past. Besides, I weigh nearly 20 stone now so it would feel like the poor little thing was 2 up!
@@bikerdood1100 OH yes, and I had some friends on T500 and 750 Kettle (Dunstall kit fitted) and they were run on Castrol R, when I ever smell that smell, I become 17\18 again
Can you do a video on the 1972 Suzuki TS 90.j us import as I have the same bike and trail bikes could do with a video on them also a video on my last bike now sold a 1966 honda s90 and my old honda CB 160 from 1966
There are still good bikes, and some are still affordable, but they aren't like the bikes in this video. I rode my girlfriend/wife's Kawasaki S2 350 triple in the 1970s, and I ride a Honda 300 Rebel now - both good, affordable bikes, but BELIEVE ME, I can tell the difference ... 😆
Another great, well researched video. I'm a Yamaha man, my only 2 stroke is my DT3 250 Enduro, but I have a notion for a Suzuki GT250. I would prefer an air cooled RD, but they are too expensive.
My first real motorcycle was a 1970 Yamaha CS3C 200 Street Scrambler that was bought used. I tried to trail ride the poor machine with a larger rear sprocket that my father machined to fit, in his old flat belt driven Westbend lathe. The bike was poorly suited for washed out logging roads, with it's DLS front brake, poor suspension and wide engine. Neatly equipped with an electric starter/dyno though. It is more memorable to me as the vehicle I used on my first solo trip out of my hometown to another city, 50 miles away, at the time, now 80km -after national metrification later in the '70s.
Street scrambler to look off road not go off road. That's why they bought out the JT1,HT1,AT1,CT1,DT1 & RT1 trail bikes with subsequent models and revisions.
Hoping to see my very 1st new motorcycle, but not to be, Learner at the time, but passed test 6 weeks later, Yamaha YDS7, smoke that came out the rear was a little embarrassing to say the least as my mate on his new 250 Hustler as you called it, didnt smoke half as bad, very occasionly I see a minter in standard trim............Oh back to those halcyon sunny days thrashing 30 miles to the sea side...........
Oh dear oh dear...fabulous, not a bad engine amongst them! A beserk RD 200 was my intro to 2 strokes....and it was a stonking little bike, and I'm built like a gorilla! Later a GT 250, GT380, GT 500, and loved them all. Then my Guzzi...........................thank you yet again, great stuff.
The RD400 was a gem. It is somehow forgotten now, partly because of the extraordinary Elsie that followed it. But pre-Elsie, the RD400 was simply a race waiting to happen, every time it was started. As with the early Lemons (different bike, different market segment) the visual impact of cast wheels in that era was significant. The RD400 was a very rapid, uncomplicated stinkwheel. Mot much show. Lots of go. As for the RD125 twin, I recall their popularity soaring after the learner regulations changed. Nobody really knew how powerful they were (pre-internet it was all based on "my mate had one..."). But the stories suggested that a good Yamaha 125 twin made a mockery of the 12bhp limit. With hindsight, the introduction of the 125 learner laws was 100% the right thing to do, but it did rather kill off a very interesting (if rather smelly and smoky) market sector. KH250, RD250, X7... I sometimes imagine I can smell them to this day, if I stand by a red light on Euston Road on a frosty morning. Aaah... Nostalgia.
Can you do a video on the 1972 Suzuki TS 90.j us import as I have the same bike and trail bikes could do with a video on them also a video on my last bike now sold a 1966 honda s90 and my old honda CB 160 from 1966
I drove most of the kawa triples older and newer models. The early 350 triple was nuts compared to the kh400. The 350 power curve was like a fish hook nothing then everything it was more violent than the 500 triple in that at least there was some low end on the 500. We once had a tuned 750 in - it was outrageous in power delivery - but that's another story. Thanks for the hazy memories or memories of the hazes that were left behind. Oh the fuel range ......... many stops.
Fuel economy sucked on a lot of cars, too. I remember how thrilled I was when we got a 28-mpg car in 1976 - the ones I grew up in probably averaged more like 18. And I remember 5- and 6-gallon aftermarket tanks for touring - that was roughly two numb butts per tank full. 😝
Sweet bikes, i 'only' had a RD 50 but with some tweaks it was an absolute screamer😊 Best looking bike in this video: The Transalp in classic colours in the background🤗
The 1st Kwaker 250 tripple was nuts. The knife edge power delivery caused a lot of learner riders to end up in the middle of the road with their bike 300 meters down the road.
I think all the Japanese manufacturers were overcome by "race it on Sunday, sell it on Monday". Honda was far enough ahead to also think of riders who weren't drag racing at stoplights. The others, not so much.
Largely a media myth. Not all riders were nuts. I had and still have one ridden properly at sensible speeds they don't throw the rider off and handle fine
I still have my Suzuki T250J, and I use it regularly in the summer months. It still goes like a scalded cat, and still lays down a blue smokescreen! Lovely!
My brother owns a few T500. Excellent bikes! Only problem is the lubrication of the 5th gear. So, to ride long distance, one should work on the gearbox (it seems, that sets are available). Anybody know a company in the US, who does that? My brother lives in Kansas. Greetings from the far north of Germany!
The RD200 was a good machine, but not very common in the UK. It didn't fit the "big bike" aspirations of 250/400 owners, or comply with learner laws at the time. This made it fairly niche, and was presumably aimed at other markets. Nevertheless it went like stink, aided by the light weight and handling. I regularly took mine on motorways where it wasn't embarrassed. Wish I still had it! (along with all the rest)
Had the same colour rd 125 & the same colour kh250 behind it which i passed my test on, but had a white rd400 and so many other 2strokes my all-time favourite was my mars bar black rd250lc although my white pro-am rd350lc was more powerful i preferred doing wheelies on the 250😅
I had rd 250 coffin tank the kh 250 triple and the gt 250 suzuki even had a 750 kettle loved my 2 strokes started off with a fizzy in those days it was either 4 stroke or 2 strokes they were always my favourite miss the smell and sound even today
You didn't mention the RD 250. I remember when they started the learner 250 laws in South Australia back in the late 70s,early 80s ( it now up to 650 cc for learners but the bike must be under a certain power for weight ratio) a lot of people bought these and found you could put the RD 350 /400 pistons and barrels straight onto the base and got around the law that way because even up to this day once you buy a vehicle in S.A if you don't get it defected it never has to get check again.
Same across the border in Victoria, too. Bought a new RD250 in 1978; great little bike for flying around the Dandenong Ranges or up over the Black Spur. Happy days! 👍
The 350 cylinder only had one more fin than the 250. Noone would recognize. A friend of mine converted his 250 like that. Plus added larger carbs (A trick he learned from a guy, racing RD's.). He only had to use premixed fuel with those carbs. It was a beast! I remember how I was hardly able to shift gears fast enough, when starting off at a traffic light. Was it the aircooled RD's that had a six speed gearbox, that only 5 speeds used, but you could convert it? Or was that the LC's? My 1st bike was the Suzuki GT 125 (the hornet), then got me a BMW R75/5 (short wheelbase '72 model). Still have it. Actual bikes are RD125LC, both 10W and 1GU (the later never been sold in Germany. Mine is from Switzerland.) Excellent bikes! Both go 87mph= 140km/h with original transmission ratio.
Just bought a yds7 in gold and black, it cost me a fortune but is the exact same bike as i had as 16 year old i just had to have it , i did like the Suzuki Hustler super six with the sixth extra gear, which my yds7 only has five always seems like it wants another gear on the high speed roads.
@@AndyAndy-bg7mv well it should in theory although you are supposed to measure the squish are any the outer ended otherwise heat expansion will sit it contact the piston I did do it on a Yamaha 100 engine Don’t know if it actually did anything In my head it did 😂
In 1973 we bought a leftover 1972 RD200 for a bargain price. It just qualified to run on the freeways in California, which it did admirably. The bike was delightfully zippy and never gave any trouble in the 4 years before we moved to an R90/6. Fun video brings back sweet memories.
Thank you for all the fond memories. I do miss all of those old 2-stroke bikes. Friends called them "Rice Grinders". Whatever. I love motorcycles and their rude uneducated comments meant nothing to me. Ride safe guys and keep the rubber side down. Cheers
When the Kawasaki 350 twin with rotary valves was still a thing, they sold tshirts with a tire track across the back, that said "you've just been Kawasakied!". If you opened your bike up, you wouldn't have heard what anyone behind you was saying, because they'd be too far away. 😎
I reckon the light and middleweight two strokes are some of the best fun you can have with your clothes on!! I 🤣🇳🇿
Probably true
I don’t think the stroker works as well as the get bigger
The drink too much for a start
I remember here in the US I saw more of the Yamaha 400's than any of the others. The Suzuki's sold good on their looks but the Yamaha was the one that had the handling and performance rep.
That’s something I often hear
at 15 i had a 'suki T250 hustler...pair of larger mikunis..port job and a pair of bassani silenced pipes ...it surprised quite a few 650/750 bikes with a 130 lb rider on it
Hopefully ran ok low down and didn’t grenade itself
I also had a hustler and you're right, they were bloody fast. I've commented before about it but all my mates had much newer 250s, RDs, suzuki GTs or X7s, but none of them could get anywhere near my old hustler!
@@sambrooks7862 fast r felt fast
The power delivery makes a big difference to how a bike feels, the power figures don’t tell how a bike feels but would indicate the genuine top speed
@@bikerdood1100 morning mate, you may have seen my comments on here about my hustler before? It wasn't just "a bit faster" than anything my mates rode, it absolutely p1ssed over them. A while back someone suggested that it could've had a 350 top end but that's unlikely because the guy I bought it from was the first owner and he only used it to get to work at a local pet food factory because it was cheaper than a second car. He had to sell it because the law was about to change to restrict learners to a 125 and he hadn't passed his test, he really had no interest in bikes but it was a dog, he really hadn't looked after it, the sprockets looked like sharks teeth, 3 of the foot rests were missing, the front brake didn't work, the bars were bent and the seat was held on with a bungee cord. I spent days cleaning it up and putting it right and for the first few times I rode it it ran like a bag of sh1t because it had only ever done 3 mile journeys across town but once I'd opened it up a few times it bloody flew and every time we went anywhere none of my mates could keep with me, one guy had a 400/4 and although it wasn't as fast in a straight line as my hustler because the guy that owned it was tiny and I was 6ft and about 12 stone he could get the better of me on a long run, especially if it was head wind (i won't name that bloke but he went on to become a TT sidecar legend). I've often thought about getting another one but sometimes it's better to just keep the memory in the past. Besides, I weigh nearly 20 stone now so it would feel like the poor little thing was 2 up!
Brought back great memories of traffic light GP starts with clouds of two stroke 😅
Nice
And the smell of course
@@bikerdood1100 OH yes, and I had some friends on T500 and 750 Kettle (Dunstall kit fitted) and they were run on Castrol R, when I ever smell that smell, I become 17\18 again
Can you do a video on the 1972 Suzuki TS 90.j us import as I have the same bike and trail bikes could do with a video on them also a video on my last bike now sold a 1966 honda s90 and my old honda CB 160 from 1966
In 1971 I bought a new YDS7 (Yamaha 250), and toured Scotland on it with my wife.
Nice
So many good bikes, life so short…
True indeed
Millions of girls who worth it, always the same who owns your mind...@@bikerdood1100
There are still good bikes, and some are still affordable, but they aren't like the bikes in this video. I rode my girlfriend/wife's Kawasaki S2 350 triple in the 1970s, and I ride a Honda 300 Rebel now - both good, affordable bikes, but BELIEVE ME, I can tell the difference ... 😆
Another great, well researched video. I'm a Yamaha man, my only 2 stroke is my DT3 250 Enduro, but I have a notion for a Suzuki GT250. I would prefer an air cooled RD, but they are too expensive.
It is a little crazy the prices the go for now
My first real motorcycle was a 1970 Yamaha CS3C 200 Street Scrambler that was bought used. I tried to trail ride the poor machine with a larger rear sprocket that my father machined to fit, in his old flat belt driven Westbend lathe. The bike was poorly suited for washed out logging roads, with it's DLS front brake, poor suspension and wide engine. Neatly equipped with an electric starter/dyno though. It is more memorable to me as the vehicle I used on my first solo trip out of my hometown to another city, 50 miles away, at the time, now 80km -after national metrification later in the '70s.
A lot of early street scramblers were definitely more street
Street scrambler to look off road not go off road. That's why they bought out the JT1,HT1,AT1,CT1,DT1 & RT1 trail bikes with subsequent models and revisions.
The RDs were far better and less problematic when they started fitting electronic ignition as i remember👍
Tue on most bikes but two stokes in particular
All great bikes in their own right. I had 3 RD 400s in the 70s, I just loved 'em, I was a 2 stroke nut back then.
I
Never really had a preference
2 or 4 stroke
2 strokes we’re definitely the way to go at 250 or below
Hoping to see my very 1st new motorcycle, but not to be, Learner at the time, but passed test 6 weeks later, Yamaha YDS7, smoke that came out the rear was a little embarrassing to say the least as my mate on his new 250 Hustler as you called it, didnt smoke half as bad, very occasionly I see a minter in standard trim............Oh back to those halcyon sunny days thrashing 30 miles to the sea side...........
Oh they all smoke when cold
Still have. My Suzuki GT 750.. 1974
Nice 👍
Oh dear oh dear...fabulous, not a bad engine amongst them! A beserk RD 200 was my intro to 2 strokes....and it was a stonking little bike, and I'm built like a gorilla! Later a GT 250, GT380, GT 500, and loved them all. Then my Guzzi...........................thank you yet again, great stuff.
Glad you enjoyed them
and then some!@@bikerdood1100
The RD400 was a gem. It is somehow forgotten now, partly because of the extraordinary Elsie that followed it. But pre-Elsie, the RD400 was simply a race waiting to happen, every time it was started. As with the early Lemons (different bike, different market segment) the visual impact of cast wheels in that era was significant. The RD400 was a very rapid, uncomplicated stinkwheel. Mot much show. Lots of go.
As for the RD125 twin, I recall their popularity soaring after the learner regulations changed. Nobody really knew how powerful they were (pre-internet it was all based on "my mate had one..."). But the stories suggested that a good Yamaha 125 twin made a mockery of the 12bhp limit.
With hindsight, the introduction of the 125 learner laws was 100% the right thing to do, but it did rather kill off a very interesting (if rather smelly and smoky) market sector.
KH250, RD250, X7... I sometimes imagine I can smell them to this day, if I stand by a red light on Euston Road on a frosty morning. Aaah... Nostalgia.
We’ll post 125 regs they were limited to 12 but pre around 17 hp
@@bikerdood1100 It was the pre-12bhp machines that people wanted! 🙂🙂🙂
Can you do a video on the 1972 Suzuki TS 90.j us import as I have the same bike and trail bikes could do with a video on them also a video on my last bike now sold a 1966 honda s90 and my old honda CB 160 from 1966
Great bikes..I had kh250 for years went camping on it in a blue haze. Good times
Cool
I drove most of the kawa triples older and newer models. The early 350 triple was nuts compared to the kh400. The 350 power curve was like a fish hook nothing then everything it was more violent than the 500 triple in that at least there was some low end on the 500. We once had a tuned 750 in - it was outrageous in power delivery - but that's another story. Thanks for the hazy memories or memories of the hazes that were left behind.
Oh the fuel range ......... many stops.
Not too much point tuning too high as that poor chasis would be overwhelmed
Fuel economy sucked on a lot of cars, too. I remember how thrilled I was when we got a 28-mpg car in 1976 - the ones I grew up in probably averaged more like 18. And I remember 5- and 6-gallon aftermarket tanks for touring - that was roughly two numb butts per tank full. 😝
@@bikerdood1100the early ones actually mirrored the hinge in the middle frames and felt very squirrely especially under full throttle.
Sweet bikes, i 'only' had a RD 50 but with some tweaks it was an absolute screamer😊
Best looking bike in this video: The Transalp in classic colours in the background🤗
Transalp ?
Definitely not 😂
The 1st Kwaker 250 tripple was nuts. The knife edge power delivery caused a lot of learner riders to end up in the middle of the road with their bike 300 meters down the road.
Was pretty silly, not hard to see why they started to calm the thing down a bit
@@bikerdood1100 I had one of them it was a screamer
I think all the Japanese manufacturers were overcome by "race it on Sunday, sell it on Monday". Honda was far enough ahead to also think of riders who weren't drag racing at stoplights. The others, not so much.
Largely a media myth. Not all riders were nuts. I had and still have one ridden properly at sensible speeds they don't throw the rider off and handle fine
I still have my Suzuki T250J, and I use it regularly in the summer months. It still goes like a scalded cat, and still lays down a blue smokescreen! Lovely!
Nice 👍
My brother owns a few T500. Excellent bikes! Only problem is the lubrication of the 5th gear. So, to ride long distance, one should work on the gearbox (it seems, that sets are available). Anybody know a company in the US, who does that? My brother lives in Kansas.
Greetings from the far north of Germany!
Blimey we have gone global
The RD200 was a good machine, but not very common in the UK. It didn't fit the "big bike" aspirations of 250/400 owners, or comply with learner laws at the time. This made it fairly niche, and was presumably aimed at other markets. Nevertheless it went like stink, aided by the light weight and handling. I regularly took mine on motorways where it wasn't embarrassed. Wish I still had it! (along with all the rest)
Oddly enough my next door neighbour had one in the 80s
Had the same colour rd 125 & the same colour kh250 behind it which i passed my test on, but had a white rd400 and so many other 2strokes my all-time favourite was my mars bar black rd250lc although my white pro-am rd350lc was more powerful i preferred doing wheelies on the 250😅
Naughty naughty 😂
GT 125, drops and a Micron, went like the wind😁😁😁😁😁😁
Ah. Cute
I had rd 250 coffin tank the kh 250 triple and the gt 250 suzuki even had a 750 kettle loved my 2 strokes started off with a fizzy in those days it was either 4 stroke or 2 strokes they were always my favourite miss the smell and sound even today
I’ve always sat on the fence
I life either with a slight preference towards 4 strokes but have owned a few strokers over the years
When i had my Hustler we used to say the ticking in engine after switching off were the Japanese workmen clocking out after working overtime!
Er ok
😂😂
Great video love the expansion chambers on the black RD400 does anyone know what make they are please
I believe patterns are out their on the internet
You didn't mention the RD 250. I remember when they started the learner 250 laws in South Australia back in the late 70s,early 80s ( it now up to 650 cc for learners but the bike must be under a certain power for weight ratio) a lot of people bought these and found you could put the RD 350 /400 pistons and barrels straight onto the base and got around the law that way because even up to this day once you buy a vehicle in S.A if you don't get it defected it never has to get check again.
I had a RD250 once and it was so much fun. I also had a 185cc two stroker it was my first bike when I got my license.
Covered in my video on 250s of the 70s so it was time to cover something else I feel
Same across the border in Victoria, too. Bought a new RD250 in 1978; great little bike for flying around the Dandenong Ranges or up over the Black Spur. Happy days! 👍
The 350 cylinder only had one more fin than the 250. Noone would recognize. A friend of mine converted his 250 like that. Plus added larger carbs (A trick he learned from a guy, racing RD's.). He only had to use premixed fuel with those carbs. It was a beast! I remember how I was hardly able to shift gears fast enough, when starting off at a traffic light. Was it the aircooled RD's that had a six speed gearbox, that only 5 speeds used, but you could convert it? Or was that the LC's? My 1st bike was the Suzuki GT 125 (the hornet), then got me a BMW R75/5 (short wheelbase '72 model). Still have it. Actual bikes are RD125LC, both 10W and 1GU (the later never been sold in Germany. Mine is from Switzerland.) Excellent bikes! Both go 87mph= 140km/h with original transmission ratio.
I've owned 3 out of the 5 listed here and the T-500 was my all time favorite bike, bar none. I know that makes no sense.
To some
I owned that blue Suzuki 250. It had terrible handling, lousy brakes, terrible headlight, was noisy and power was below average.
That’s average for a 250 then
@@bikerdood1100 I didn’t appreciate that average level 🥳🤣
Just bought a yds7 in gold and black, it cost me a fortune but is the exact same bike as i had as 16 year old i just had to have it , i did like the Suzuki Hustler super six with the sixth extra gear, which my yds7 only has five always seems like it wants another gear on the high speed roads.
Not too many bikes with 6 gears in those days
Yes I too Rembert the DS7 in those colours great riding bike as well as the styling
remember spending hours rubbing cylinder heads of my rd 200 on a sheet of glass with grinding paste to up the comp
Ah but did it work ?
@@bikerdood1100 don't know read it in a tuning book
@@AndyAndy-bg7mv well it should in theory although you are supposed to measure the squish are any the outer ended otherwise heat expansion will sit it contact the piston
I did do it on a Yamaha 100 engine
Don’t know if it actually did anything
In my head it did 😂
RD 350, GT 550, R5 350 Titan 500
🤔
In 1973 we bought a leftover 1972 RD200 for a bargain price. It just qualified to run on the freeways in California, which it did admirably. The bike was delightfully zippy and never gave any trouble in the 4 years before we moved to an R90/6. Fun video brings back sweet memories.
Just qualified?
Clearly something I don’t know about California laws
Not surprisingly
@@bikerdood1100 At that time, anything with 20 hp or less was classed as a "motor driven cycle" like a moped. The RD200 had 22, so it made the cut.
Thank you for all the fond memories. I do miss all of those old 2-stroke bikes. Friends called them "Rice Grinders". Whatever. I love motorcycles and their rude uneducated comments meant nothing to me. Ride safe guys and keep the rubber side down. Cheers
😂
When the Kawasaki 350 twin with rotary valves was still a thing, they sold tshirts with a tire track across the back, that said "you've just been Kawasakied!". If you opened your bike up, you wouldn't have heard what anyone behind you was saying, because they'd be too far away. 😎