Unicorns exist - My Yamaha RD 350 experience

I have to admit that writing about something is very hard after it has lingered in your dreams for years. You feel your emotions and your experience overpowering you. You have a lot to talk about but seldom know where to start. Things were like this for me the whole day as the bike in question was The Yamaha RD350 - the first Indian sportbike and undoubtedly a cult classic.
Getting up to speed on it, the Rajdoot RD350 stands as a licensed copy of The Yamaha RD350. It was modified for use in Indian roads by restricting the exhaust port, rejetting the carburettors and so on to improve fuel economy and by replacing the front discs with drum brakes from the RD250. These modifications were in the pursuit of cost cutting and fuel economy. This reduced the output from 39bhp to 30.5 bhp for the High Torque version produced between 1983-85 and 27 bhp for the Low Torque version produced between 1985-1989. The bike was too far ahead of its time when it was introduced and the general crowd in India being never exposed to such power didn’t adapt to it well. What I mean by saying they didn’t adapt to it well is that a lot of people being unable to control the power delivered by the bike were involved in accidents and some died. This often lead to the RD moniker which stood for ‘Race Developed’ often changed to ‘Rapid Death’. Yes, you read that right. This was because the RD’s direct competition was the Royal Enfield 350 Classic and people who were used to it found the RD’s acceleration to be much more brutal and life threatening. Let me put it this way, if Shah Rukh Khan used the RD350 instead of the Royal Enfield in ‘Jab Tak Hain Jaan’, the title sequence duration would’ve been a quarter if what it is now.

So all the things I’ve written above came to my knowledge a few years back and since then my heart’s been out searching for an RD. Race Developed or Rapid Death. Either way I’d welcome it with open arms. Cause I just respected the fact that Rajdoot had the guts to introduce it in India at a time when the people weren’t even prepared to handle it. The RD350’s brakes were one of it’s greatest strength and replacing them to drum brakes in front as part of cost cutting was very inefficient and extremely dangerous. It was like throwing a pair of big boy trousers and asking someone to man up when you know they’re just going to pee in it. But then deep down, don’t we all wish for a pair of big boy trousers? Well, that’s what the RD was for me. A pair of big boy trousers. So then I spent a while reading about the bike, watching people speak about it, small tales here and there, then knowing someone who knows an RD, and then a few days back, there I was, out on my first ride. On my way to an RD meet that too. So I was going to experience more than one example. 30 of them to be exact. Sweet.

Me and Mr. Afsal Mohammed started off on our bike early in the morning. The air was chilly and cold. I don’t know if it was that or the bike, but I sure had a lot of goosebumps in the morning. When we fuelled up we had to add oil with the fuel as well, a staple part of two stroke ownership. Got our hands messy but no one’s complaining here. We met the first batch of riders when we stopped for breakfast and all of us got acquainted soon and exchanged tales of the cars and bikes we’ve owned and inspected the builds of the bikes. It’s a different experience when you bond with someone over a shared passion. You walk up to their bike to see what they’ve done to it and listen to them talk about their preferences and needs and their stories. It was a pleasant sight in the morning for everyone who came to dine at the hotel. We met Mr. Kannan first who also happens to be in the same line of profession as I was aspiring to. Then there was Mr. Anjaneyan and Mr. Abhilash with their exceptional bikes. Mr. Satish George with his RD featuring a lot of US spec parts and Mr. Bimesh who happened to be an alumni of my university. Hydraulic clutches, Uni filters, flatbed carbs, Bybre brakes and what not. One point that was clear was that each and every bike was different. They reflected their owner’s taste and their ideas about their bikes. About 10 RDs starting up, assembling for a photo and hitting the road. That is a pretty loud way to say ‘Good morning’.

It was very hot when we were riding up to the venue, Poomala Dam. Members had joined the ride at various places and it was a huge convoy heading up to the venue. It was a sight to behold, as 20 odd RDs were riding up, their shiny chrome bits glistening in the sun and smoke pouring out of the exhaust, the sound filling the air and grabbing just about every bit of attention on those roads. Soon we reached the venue and a lot more riders joined. God’s Own Lords was home to riders from all over the state. Going over the bikes there which amounted to more than thirty I was surprised at the variety of builds that was possible on the same model. The effort by the president of the club Mr. Arun, the secretary Mr. Renjith and Mr. Kiran to organize the meet were commendable. Few of them had flown down from abroad for the meet while Mr. Nithin rode from Banglore on his RX135 because his RD was undergoing repairs. We had a bit of a chat and walked around and saw all of the bikes. Some riders consulting others to help assist their builds and so on. Some riders had immense experience and RDs just occurred naturally to them. Mr. Anjaneyan utilizes a lot of his time on the bikes, Mr. Renjith is the official test driver for Team Carbon racing and these men know these bikes like the back of their hand.

The members had lunch and went for a short ride too. The dam was filled with smoke and sound of these machines when we arrived. We had indeed disturbed the peace on the countryside. The hills were alive with the sound of two stroke royalty. There was a small photo session after which we dispered off to Pathazhakundu Dam. Had another small photo session and the riders were having a small chat. Few of us had a good time doing wheelies and sorts and riders had their photos taken with the machines they took care of with so much pride. What makes these machines special is the amount of respect they command on the roads. When the convoy was sighted people stop their cars, children watch in awe and enthusiasts beam with pride. I was sure I would’ve done the same if I was watching. But surely the experience was better from the other side - when you’re the one riding.

But the best part of the day would surely be the ride back. None of the riders intended to go slow. So it was the constant sight of these 30 year old machines teaching the new kids on the block that sometimes the old ways are best, one overtake at a time. Good ol’ twin carburetors and parallel twin two stroke engines still ripping the roads. I was especially amazed at the pace Mr. Nithin was keeping up with his RX135 and I surely knew he would’ve set the trail ablaze if he was on his RD. Then we hit the highway and things radically changed.

By radically changed, what I meant was we were able to keep a higher average speed and for the first time in my life I felt traffic signals were a good thing. At every signal, we all would go and stay in the front and launch the bikes together. I’m sure we totally made the day for a lot of people and maybe even set the path straight for few kids who’d probably grow up to be petrolheads after seeing this. I had heard stories of the RD giving whiplash to riders in the 80s and I figured how it might be true after all. This bike just launched off the line and pulled straight in every gear up to a claimed top speed of 170kmph which we were about to test soon. On one drag race, Mr. Renjith blazed past the rest of the field and said he was sure he crossed 150kmph. The US spec RDs with their 39bhp configuration surely had an advantage and pulled away brilliantly. But the one man who was unstoppable was Mr. Nithin on his RX 135. I said this to myself and a while later I found him parked on the side of the road with a broken throttle cable. This never stopped him though cause he tied it in a loop and started to manually pull it up and was back on track again ripping the road. Soon enough though I got a taste of the machine I was yearning for all these years. And it would be an understatement if I didn’t write about it in detail. So read on.

A lot had come down to the moment I finally got hold of an RD. It was like that one dream that came true and I couldn’t have thanked Dr. Afsal any better. Stepping on from the pillion seat to the driver’s I was slightly doubting my ability as a driver as well. For one thing I was sure I wouldn’t handle it if I twisted the throttle like I would on a normal bike. This was a beast after all. But then you know what they say - You should never meet your childhood heroes. Cause you might just end up disappointed if you find out they weren’t as great as you expected them to be. But then the RD was definitely no slouch. The moment I let go of the clutch I was feeling this bike ready to pounce and I was sure I wouldn’t be disappointed in any way. But the real fun of an RD is when you rev it up hard and you feel your heart pulsating two strokes a time as well, you feel the vibration from the bike settling into your veins, the sound echoing in your ears, when every move you make reflects on the behaviour of the machine, that is when you feel truly connected to the road. The holy union between man and machine. I could feel that in the RD. Perhaps more than anything else before it. And I doubt if anything else after it would make me feel the same. That said, the bike was pretty fast and I was cruising at 100+ kmph and the bike just felt at home. You can just say after a ride that this was built to higher engineering standards than most of what you see today. Thank you, Yamaha!

But let me pick that one moment that will stay with me forever, the one that replays in my mind. Riding down the highway, with the setting sun hitting my face, when the wind and the sound filled my senses, feeling each gear change, every twist of the throttle, surrounded by a group of brothers riding around, and from nowhere ‘Highway to Hell’ starts playing in my head, then pausing for a second and smelling the sweet smell freedom for once. I knew I was hooked to this for life now. I knew I just couldn’t settle for any less. I needed this adrenaline now.

As Kenny Roberts, erstwhile Yamaha racing driver was once quoted, “We’d just like to invite everybody to come out and get a taste of what it used to be like”. Well, that pretty much summed up today’s meet. Thank you to Mr. Renjith for making me read up on Kenny Roberts after seeing the signature on your fuel tank. I reckon it’s a metaphor for having his spirit fuel you. This is something I felt after seeing you win all those drag races putting down everything your bike’s got. That’s what trust is about. Knowing each other to the very limits.