RD Reborn

Article by Peter Sellen

MY STORY STARTS IN 1967..WHEN I PURCHASED A YAMAHA YDS 5E 250. I WAS IN THE NAVY AT THE TIME AND SPENT MANY RELIABLE MILES INCLUDING A TRIP OR TWO FROM MELBOURNE TO ADELAIDE.

Eventually I traded the bike for a car..much more practical for me at the time. After leaving the navy in 1973, I later applied for a job with the Bougainville copper mine in the Solomon islands. In 1975 and in need of transport, I bought an low k Yamaha RD 350 from a bloke who was returning to Australia, for the princely sum of $900.00. After a year on the island I shipped the bike home to Adelaide.After three months in transit it arrived and started with just one kick.Amazing! A growing family reluctantly saw the bike sold for four wheels in 1978 for what I had paid for it three years ago with just 22000 kilometres. After retiring a few years ago I thought it might be time to see if there were any 1974 RDs still around. I found one in need of restoration, and after 18 months it was meticulously made like new by Adelaide bike builder and racer Owen Mittel, right down to the hard to find rear carrier. At 69, I don’t ride it all that often, but I’m hoping one day it might be a good investment of sorts.