Deus TZ Racer

Latest Deus project:

Fresh from Woolie’s Workshop is a Tang-Tang’n 2-stroke with capabilities of extremely high engine revolutions per minute and enough squeeze-pop to make your head spin. This 250cc Yamaha 2-Cycle racer looks fast standing still and is a unique personal project of Venice Motorcycle Design Director Michael Woolaway, who built it to be competitive in the 250 race class. Yamaha TZs are the stuff of legends in the race world, winning international Grand Prix races throughout the 70′s. Like all the builds out of Woolie’s Workshop, it has that ‘final 5%” which is always the most assiduously earned and separates the great bikes from the good ones. This race-spec steed is feather-weight and fed by twin Mikunis to produce 50bhp @ 10,500 RPM’s. Tuck in, hold on, and safety-wire your bum to the seat cuz this little two-smoker is a real zinger!

More here.

The R5 has SOLD

And so, it is with a heavy heart, that I finally sold the R5 today. The gentleman who purchased her had one of his own, same year and color, as his very first vehicle back when he was 16. I am glad she has gone to a good new home. The above is a parting shot as she was loaded up and headed to her new stomping grounds in upstate New York.

R5 STILL FOR SALE

Guys - The R5 is still for sale. Thought it would be a good time to repost now that spring fever will be hitting everyone. The bike has been parked indoors in Philadelphia for two seasons. I am located in New York City. Here are the details:

1972 Yamaha R5C 350 Street

- 4,480 original miles
- weighs only 340 lbs wet
- found parked in a garage for 25 years
- purchased locally through eBay
- serviced by licensed HD-approved motorcycle mechanics
- color is metallic Mandarin Orange over gloss black
- no exterior rust, no dry rot, no cut wires, very little surface pitting in chrome
- matching frame/engine numbers
- original exhaust
- original keys
- all lights/signals/dials work
- about $1000 put into restoration

What's been modified since I've owned it:
- Clubman handlebars replace stock bars
- ProGrip gel grips replace stock grips
- Raask drilled aluminum rearsets added
- reshaped kickstart lever (to clear rearsets)
- passenger pegs removed (to clear rearsets)
- sissybar removed
- NOS dental mirrors added to both sides
- passenger seat strap removed

Issues:
- small dent on the gas tank which happened at some point in storage
- original tank badges are crazed but intact
- bike is in storage
- current battery is dead

Included with sale:
- all original parts that have been removed (handlebars, passenger pegs, driver pegs, seat strap, etc)
- many extra parts (Napoleon bar-end mirrors, period sissybar and pads, extra oil tank, extra sidecovers, etc)
- complete original toolkit in original case
- original R5 owner's manual
- period Yamaha factory shop manual
- Mikuni carb tuning guide
- several period performance tuning guides
- generic outdoor motorcycle cover
- binder full of paperwork and receipts, including eBay auction

Asking $3000 or best offer.

Two Stroke Smoke Candle

Now that the long winter is upon us, you can bring the experience of being surrounded with the sweet aroma of spent fuel from your two-stroke with the Two Stroke Smoke Candle from Flying Tiger Motorcycles. It's made with real Blendzall Racing Castor two stroke oil, pretty much guaranteeing to turn any room into smelling like your garage or local motorcycle shop. $20. Purchase here.

Sweet RD in Deus' Boundless Enthusiasm Bike Build Off

Really nice 1972 Yamaha RD200 entrant by American Eric Christie in Deus Ex Machina's Boundless Enthusiasm Bike Build Off. Took 14th place - should have been higher, IMHO. Here's the writeup:

My bike in words; This little smile factory started out as an impulse craigslist score (I'm sure none of you can relate to that statement ;) sometime around July. The very first day I had it I took all the junk off of it and took about 5 inches out of the rear loop. At that point I sat back and conjured up a plan for a cool little bike, something fun and simple that looked pretty stock but not. A mild custom if you will. My style is to build things that are clean and flowing. I feel that a great custom is something that leaves you wondering just what was modified. After a quick day dream I decided screw it I'm just going to part it out. It was then that I got a call from my brother and he said hell no that little baby is mine and I want you to build it how you see it. "Cool!" The meager budget was set and then I hurt my back. Full of enthusiasm and no ability to stand and walk I dreamed some more. Fast forward to early September and the bike was still Sitting doing nothing I stumbled upon an Instagram post while amongst the throne of all good thoughts and a light bulb kinda sizzled a bit. Could I really pull this off. After a few hell yeahs and what are you waiting for's from my Wife, brother, Dad and friends and it was on registration had happened and there was no turning back. Since this bike will be built for my brother as his daily ride up in S.F. A short trip north of here in Santa Cruz, and armed with a pocket full of "let's do this" I was off to build a clean little street ripper capable of tearing the sidewalk off the San Francisco streets and looking dapper at the same time. I started by taking off anything that wasn't a cool yamaha rd200 and added back only what was completely necessary yet with a vision of cleanliness and style. The vintage bates headlight was sucked in and dropped down by a custom handmade set of ears with just the right proportions. A tail section handmade from flat steel the frame was smoothed out semi moulded and cleaned up for a handsome look. The stock gas tank was removed of years of abuse and gave it a nice skin tightening before being blocked out and straightened to an acceptable state. A vintage electrovoice microphone volunteered as a perfectly proportionate taillight. A lot of time cleaning polishing reconditioning painting and elbow grease using and we were getting close. A new set of spokes went well with the cleaned and polished original wheels and hubs. The paint? Well it had to be gold and white. Just had to be. So I read and studied every thing I could about painting and with the help of a great pal we came up with my first real paint job and although I learned a lot the hard way I am pretty happy with it. During the whirlwind of coating this bike in a candy like finish my great pal with slight help from me attempted his first tuck and roll job. Came out pretty good and it topped off that tail section just right. Down to the mad dash of a finish and my Dad stopped over to lend a hand with the wiring and clean it up to his liking. It was Friday afternoon before the event, a push of the starter button and it lit off and screamed like every good two stroke should. I quickly loaded up the trailer and set off for a weekend I won't soon forget. I want to thank first of all my family, friends and amazing Wife for keeping my head up for this whole build. I really couldn't have done it without them. Second the team at Deus and all the great people we met at this event. I feel like part of the family and made new friends I hope to stay in touch with. So here is my 1972 Yamaha rd200. Enjoy!

Fitzotis' R5

Reader Fitzotis sent in these pics of his R5. Thanks for sharing!

Ring A Ding Ding at Deus

This weekend marked a special gathering of 2-strokes of all sorts at Deus Ex Machina in Venice, California:

The parking lot at The Emporium of Postmodern Activities is, for the most part, a civilized place; an evolved tarmac where mannerly citizens maneuver their EPA compliant vehicles in an orderly, adult fashion. It’s a peaceful strip of asphalt. Sometimes, though, shit gets out of hand. Well, sort of. Not really. What we’re talking about here is Ring A Ding Ding, the two stroke love-in we threw last weekend that transformed our otherwise genteel back lot into an oil and gas breathing attack on the senses. Over fifty motorcycles were on display, each displaying their unique bits of personality when their owners started them up. The resulting choir of smoke and sound that filled the air was all too fitting for the Fourth of July weekend. Firing up a two-stroke motorcycle is like lighting fireworks. The crackle of the engine sounds like fireworks, the smoke pouring out of the exhaust looks like fireworks. The whole thing just feels like you’re breaking a bunch of rules, like it can blow up in your face at any moment. It’s that uneasiness you feel when you’re not quite sure if your neighbors are going to call the cops. It’s awesome.

More photos from the event here.

Kevin writes in

Kevin wrote in to share some interesting information about bikes from his collection:

Hello Lawrence, I am just getting into these bikes, the first ones were the 2 68 AS1s, one is very rare, because it is factory white, which I found was a rare option. I was told by the guy I bought my first 68 YR2C that there were about 150,000 AS1s made, most were blue or red, and less than 1000 were white. The first YR2C I got turns out to be a rare dealer bike, and has parts chromed on it that my other YR2C does not, and the VIN are only 260 off. The dealer bike came from Arkansas, and the other one I got in Michigan, but it came from Utah, still had the dealer sticker on it. The dealer bike was being turned into a café racer, so I bought the other bike so I could restore the dealer bike, and make the other one into a café racer. They are both very low numbered bikes. Now, after getting my first 68 YR2C, it was in the back of my truck, and a guy that I grew up next to stopped by to see if I was selling the bike, I told him no, and he asked if I wanted an old 250 Yamaha for $250. I told him yes, and he just dropped it off. That is when I found out it was an R5, and after telling him it was, he swore it was a 250. Then I found the second YR2C around Christmas, and he was close to my cousins, so they picked the bike up for me. The, in Feb, I found the 72 R5, which was turned into a GP bike, but not finished, so I have gotten RD cylinders. This bike, and the non dealer YR2C are the only bikes that will not be stock. Here are the pictures of the 2 YR2Cs, with my customers Ferrari. Thanks, Kevin

Minimally Custom 72 R5

Love the look of this pared down R5. Everything unnecessary has been removed, and what's left is a beautifully minimal machine. Kudos.

Via Pipeburn.

Side stand mount dimensions?

Mike writes in with this request for help:

The side stand mount on my bike was broken of at the welds when i bought it. I got a stand from a fellow parting his bike out. Unfortunately I still have nowhere to mount it. I have plenty of steel stock laying around and access to enough welding and machining tools to make it happen, but I could really use the dimensions of the side stand mount. If anyone took the time, I'd be very grateful! (enough to lend a hand and fab one up for anyone else needing one!)

If anyone can help out, comment below. Thanks.

6 Over Teaser Trailer

Beautifully shot teaser trailer for 6 Over from Wild Honey Productions. Enjoy.

R5 for sale in Colorado

Coleman sent in his R5, which is currently for sale in Colorado:

For sale is a 1970 Yamaha R5 350. This bike runs awesome! It starts on the first kick. The whole bike has been went through, the motor and transmission were rebuilt by the previous owner. I have recently done timing and synched the carbs. The seat was redone using the original pan, and I installed a new (old style) tail light. It has DG pipes and a K&N air filter (no air box). I've put on new (stock) gauges (the milage on them isn't accurate) with working lights and bright background color. Recently changed the oil (Redline) and installed new tires. This bike isn't a show bike, but it runs really good. It is a dream to carve up a canyon and really nice to blow some steam off cruising to work and back... $2500, local pickup only. more pictures available upon request...

Contact info: MeVsRobots (at) gmail (dot) com
Location: Ft. Collins, Co.

Followup: Edson's R5

Following up on the A Question of Time post from a few weeks back, here are some images of Edson's R5. Enjoy!

Reader Electrical Gremlins

Mike writes in with an electrical question:

I recently purchased a not-quite-running Yamaha R5B, and first off I'd like to thank you for compounding all the information you have! your site has been a major help while I'm working on the bike, and for just learning all I can about it since it is my first motorcycle. I have two questions for you, the first is that the bike didn't come with front turn signals installed, but luckily I was able to get ahold of the correct pair from my uncle. Unfortunately my wiring knowledge is limited to replacing wires where the old ones were, but with your site's help I was able to hook up the brown and green wire clusters to their respective bulbs, but I am not sure where/how to ground them. Both have the eye terminal wires coming off of the bolts on the signals, but I am unsure of where exactly to plug them into. The second is that the bike has a short somewhere and keeps blowing the main fuse off the positive battery terminal. All lights/signals/horn work as they should it seems (except the ones I haven't grounded/hooked up). The bike starts, will run for a minute or so before either dying of a spent battery or the main fuse going. I started checking for continuity, and sure enough there was continuity between the positive and negative battery hook-ups with the key on, started following it back and it lead me to the red wire entering the rectifier. I'm not sure where to go/what to do from there, or even if there is supposed to be continuity through there! Do you have any insight/ideas for tracing the fault? Thanks again for the site, and any thoughts you may have!

Any feedback or suggestions greatly appreciated.

Gearing Questions

Geoff writes in with a few questions on gearing:

I recently purchased my first 1972 Yamaha R5C from a coworker for $100!! (The bike has 11,000 miles on it) When searching for restoration info I came across your amazing site. I am anxious to start riding this beauty ASAP and was looking for a little advice. I am finding that most people start with handling and engine issues. The engine appears to be running well, but I feel I need to replace a few key components (sprockets, chain, brake shoes, etc.) I am having trouble finding concise info on how to gear the bike. Do you have any suggestions on what size front and rear sprockets to use and what type of chain? This is my first street 2 stroke and I will be using it mostly for occasional pleasure riding. Any help or referrals to info would be greatly appreciated!

Neil writes in

Neil wrote in to share:

Just picked up my R5 yesterday. 4418 miles. Shined her up today & took a short test drive. All good. Might change the handle bars in the near future. Your site has a wealth of info... Thanks. Neil

R5 Rat Bike

Check out this thread about a sweet hardtail R5 rat bike project.

Insane custom R5 chop

Came across this insanely beautiful and meticulously hand-crafted R5 chop on Motorhugger. Interestingly, there's a small inset pic of my very own R5 in the writeup as an example of what "regular" R5s look like. Thanks! I'm grateful to have my bike shown alongside work like this!

A Question of Time

Edson writes in with a question:

Hello Lawrence,

First, thank you for putting together this website. It is very helpful.

I recently (yesterday) bought a R5 350 with a small history - the father used it in college back in the 70's then gave it to his son when he was 10, the bike was stored for 35 years, the son took it to college, a bunch of friends told him they "knew" how to work on bikes and put the whole thing apart and were never able to bring it back to life. Now, the son is finishing college in 2 weeks and needed to get rid of it (in boxes) The bike is in outstanding condition with 3100 miles on it BUT completely apart. I plan on restoring it S-L-O-W-L-Y. I know the engine 'turned' but did not run.

My question to you is, how much do you think (estimate) to have the engine done over? And how long do you think it will take to assemble this bike? I could not pass it on since I always wanted this bike since back home.

I appreciate your advice.

Cheers,
Edson

Edson - I bought my bike off eBay, with no prior knowledge of two-strokes (or motorcycles in general for that matter). I took it to a licensed H-D mechanic, who had recently hired a Japanese bike specialist. It took about $500 worth of sorting, cleaning and replacement of worn parts to get her going again. This price did include things like lightbulbs, tires, etc, so depending on the state of the engine assembly, this figure could be less.

Hope that helps. Keep us posted on your progress!

Racer Change of Ownership

Ricky writes in with an update to the Slick R5 Racer post a few weeks back:

Hello, I bought this bike from Michel who posted pics on your site. I have changed it up a little and had my first two races on it. Headed to California to race it at Willow Springs AHRMA April 22-24. Cheers Ricky