Beautiful Cafe RDs at Vanguard Cycles

While doing some research on exhausts, I stumbled across Vanguard Cycles. They have some nice RDs that they've given the cafe treatment. See here for more images of the bikes.

DG Performance Heads

A few posts ago I talked about a custom RD350 cafe racer called "Project Goldhead" due to the rare (and ultra-slick) gold DG cylinder heads. Very sharp.

Then a gentleman named Domenic wrote in to ask some questions, since he was listing an engine with these heads on Ebay and thought I would have some information on them.

I must admit I didn't know a whole lot about these heads other than that they are very trick, very rare, haven't been made since the 1970's, and when they come up for auction they command a pretty good price. From what I could gather online, the heads are domed, which raises the baseline compression ratio, which in turn yields greater overall power and throttle response. Plus their oversized radial cooling fins and gold tone are pretty slick-looking.



If you take a look at the hot rod scene, any sort of original and period-correct non-reproduction speed parts are desirable, and the rarer the better. So naturally it makes sense that the same scenario would exist for period performance parts for the R5s and RDs.

You can contact DG Performance in Anaheim, California at (866) 653-1647 or (714) 577-7499 for more information. Unfortunately, their website (http://www.dgperf.com) seems to be geared more towards modern dirtbike and ATV stuff these days - nothing vintage.

Here are a couple of current Ebay auctions for these heads:
- RD 350 YAMAHA ENGINE Complete 1971 R5 B (Domenic's listing)
- DG 4 PERFORMANCE HEADS YAMAHA RD400? GOLD RACING HEADS

Would love to snatch up Domenic's spare engine with the heads, especially at that price. Unfortunately I don't have the extra scratch, so I'm passing both of these opportunities on to you guys!

Silence Television Prints

Sweet vintage racer artwork from Gianmarco Magnani of Silence Television.

Motorcycle Hall of Fame - Arte House

Arte House is offering art prints as large scale murals, prints on canvas, as well as note cards, magnets and special signed editions from the image archive of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

The murals are particularly interesting, in that they can go up to 44"x60" in size!

Not too much Yamaha stuff, but a whole bunch of interesting vintage posters and racing photographs. Pictured above is Roberts Yamaha at the Laguna Seca GP, while below, Rob Morrison and Kenny Roberts battle it out.

LUCKY BRAND Yamaha Zip Track Jacket

Check out this incredible LUCKY BRAND Yamaha Zip Track Jacket. Finally a place for all my vintage Yamaha patches!

There's also a killer Kawasaki motocross version as well as a more generic Motor City version. Very cool...

UPDATE - I picked up the Yamaha jacket, and my business partner Brian picked up the Kawasaki version (BTW he's the one who alerted me to these finds, having a Bonneville he picks up Triumph-branded stuff at Lucky all the time). These are officially licensed products too. The jackets are extremely well-made, and surprisingly heavy. Worn it a few times now and love it!

In-Lock Security Device

UK designer John Wrightson has designed this brilliant security device for your bicycle or motorcycle:

In-Lock is a locking point for any Mountain Bike or Motorbike while at an outdoor event or camping. In-Lock's main aim is to deter any opportunist thief.

In-Lock works by having the pin screw into soft ground and it then cannot be pulled out. The hole in the main body of In-Lock allows a lock or chain of any shape or design to be used to secure a Mountain Bike or Motorbike of any make or model.

In lock is essentially a NI-CR-MO pin which runs right through an impact modified Polypropylene main body. The NI-CR-MO pin is the same material used on locks and chains currently used within many security products currently on the market. The polypropylene body alerts people that the Mountain bike or Motorbike is secured by the use of bright colour and provides extra protection to the pin.

Although this is just a design thesis, the idea is great, especially for use with lighter motorcycles like the R5 or RD, or dirtbikes. Sometimes there's just nothing to secure the bike, or you don't have a chain long enough to go around that pole or tree. This little device is ingenious and I hope to see it make it to production.

Via Coolhunter.

Puma Motorcycle Footwear

Puma, makers of all things hip for feet, have some pretty cool options for riders with their Brutale RR and 750 motorcycle boots:

Brutale RR (pictured above left) - With its motobike story PUMA sets a new benchmark in the world of motorsport footwear. Being a direct visual takedown of a specialist boot the Brutale RR reveals its heritage right away. Although a lifestyle product the boot offers enough soft protection to make you the coolest looking biker in town. $150.

750 (pictured above right) - Moto 1000 takes the next step with a '75 vintage racing collection. The 750 is a visual eye catcher. Full grain leather fingers on the medial forefoot are stylish and functional elements to highlight its motobike relation and to provide soft protection. Also available in Cactus Green. $150.

License Plate "Trunk"

While perusing the pages of Ebay, I struck upon this little gem. It's an auction for a nifty little polypropylene "trunk" that mounts between your license plate bracket and plate itself, and gives you a little lockable storage compartment for things like your wallet, insurance information, tire gauge, etc. Very clever. A great addition for us early Yamaha riders, as there's not a lot of space to store stuff on this bike. It looks generic enough to bolt to our license plate hangers, but I'm not sure.

Here's a link to the auction. I wasn't able to find a site selling them.

Note that it will NOT fit MD, OH, WI motorcycle license plates. Sorry guys!

Sweet NOS R5 Pin

It's not too often you see promotional stuff for a 34-year-old bike... so I thought it was kinda cool when I came across this Yamaha R5 lapel pin. Nifty, eh?

RD Innovations Seat Frames

Came across this cool little frame for mounting aftermarket cafe seats to the stock seat hinges on RDs (and I am assuming R5s), allowing you to bolt it to the stock location and maintain the flip-open functionality. This way you can still get to your oil filler and battery should you go with a lower-profile seat. I'm definitely interested. I don't know anything about these guys, the quality of their work or what not, but the pics look good. I'll be contacting them in the near future.

In the meantime, here is their product description from an eBay auction:

Now there is a simple solution for mounting your custom fiberglass or carbon fiber cafe seat or street tracker seat. Our all alluminum frames are specifically desiged to allow you to bolt the seat hinges and seat latch off of a stock DS7 or RD 250/350. You maintain normal seat operation. No battery modification. Best of all no ugly gap between the seat and the gas tank. Pre-drilled for installation of your latch and hinges. We supply stainless steel bolts, nylon washers, nuts and lock washers. All you need to do is align your seat and drill the holes to match using the pre drilled holes in the seat frame for the hinges and latch. Rounded stainless steel Allen bolts are easily covered by seat padding.

Will be listing models for XS650 and Triumph in the near future. Other models to come.

These are designed for flat bottomed fiberglass and carbon fiber seat pans. Curved models like the XR750 pans may require some modification.

More info and pics can be found at RD Innovations site.

BTW they make super-trick CF flyscreens too, to complete the cafe look. Very sharp.

UPDATE: Jerry Jensen from RD Innovations sent in some more info on his products:

Really happy to see your piece on our products in your blog. Just to let you know our seat frames are made out of aircraft aluminum. We are currently supplying seat frames to Moto Carrera and HVC. My business is new and little promotions like this are a real shot in the arm. Thanks for helping us out!

No problem Jerry - keep up the good work!

Grips and Mirrors

JD wrote in to ask a good question about the bar and grip setup on my R5:

I noticed that you have bar end mirrors, do you also have stock grips? If so how did you install the mirror on the throttle grip - just cut a hole?

Here's the deal. I replaced the stock bars for lower, somewhat uncomfortable, but much better looking cafe bars. In order to get the clutch lever off the stock bar, I had to cut the stock grip. I tried not to, but the sucker wouldn't budge. Once the one was cut, well, I went ahead and replaced them both with open-ended ProGrip 698XL Superbike grips.

Well, sorta.

The 698XLs I ordered wound up being closed-ended, despite the description on the site I bought them from, and they didn't carry the open-ended ones. That's OK, though, as I discovered that I really wanted the 699 Superbike grips... same company, same material, just a cooler grip pattern. And supposedly open-ended. So I exchanged for those.

And, of course, they arrive close-ended. So at this point I simply took an Xacto to them and trimmed myself a hole. Both grips, as I had mirrors on both sides.

The grips are excellent. They really dampen the vibration of the motor. However, the bar-end mirrors, while looking rather trick, no matter how much tightening and adjusting, they just never stayed put. The one thing I could count on was a good view of the ground behind me or my armpit - not good when you actually need to check your background for a quick lane change.

So, I decided to remove the bar-ends, replace the original black plastic caps that came with the cafe bars in their stead, and mount the original dental mirror. While it's only on one side, I really like the look of it. Plus, due to the lower speeds of the bike while cruising, I'm usually in the right hand lane anyways. I may keep an eye out for a NOS mirror for the other side too... might not look bad with both on there...

For more info, see posts titled Mirror Swap (5/31/04) and Hmmmm... (7/13/04), below.

Getting close!

Stopped by the shop yesterday to check up on the bike... all the parts are here - front tire and float needles. Mike and Mike (the Japanese bike specialist) worked on the thing last night and today... it’s inspected and ready to go! As an aside, Mike (aforementioned Jap bike guy) told me to hold on to this bike, as it will be worth something. Agreed.

However, as the bike sat with a full tank, everything got flooded up with fuel again, making it hard to start. Mike disassembled everything again and cleaned out the exhaust baffles. He wants it to sit overnight to be sure it will start and everything works well prior to my picking it up.

Got a chance to look up close at the paint on the bike when I was there last night. Most notable is the bubbling on the cover on the oil tank. Right now there’s a prime example of a whole tank, cover, emblem good paint and all, on eBay, so hopefully I can get that replaced.

Got the 699 Superbike grips... and, of course, despite UPPER CASE EMPHASIS on the order form, still received closed-ended grips. Not that it's hard to cut out the end of gummy rubber grips, but how hard is it just to get what the heck you order?

The Hiway show was rained out last weekend, and is postponed to this weekend. I can’t attend, however, as Kendra and I will be at a PDA track day up at Pocono Raceway. Kendra got a helmet this past weekend, for the dual purpose of attending the track day and riding passenger on the Yammy. Perhaps (and this is her suggestion) she can move to getting a bike of her own...

Hmmmm...

Hiway is having a motorcycle show this Sunday. Wonder if my bike will be done by then? Still waiting on the front tire, and inspection...

The 698XL Superbike grips I ordered wound up being closed-ended, despite the description on the site, and they didn't carry the open-ended ones. That's OK, though, as I really wanted to get the 699 Superbike grips... same stuff, just look cooler. They're on their way...

FINALLY!

Got the call from Langel that my title had finally been posted this past Friday. Got the plate and registration today! Heading over to Hiway now to drop it off and check the status of the Yammy.

Also ordered an M2R MR-25 replacement shield (scratched the original up pretty bad), Progrip 698XL Superbike(!) grips for the clubmans (open-ended to accept the bar-end mirrors), and a Kryptonite New York Chain (so you can’t take her, thank you very much). All from motorcyclesuperstore.com.

Parts are here

Received my shifter yesterday, and dropped it off at the shop. The shift rubber arrived today. Mike assured me he’ll be taking the bike out for test runs this weekend.

Also, wound up buying a jacket as well. Knowing the way I sweat even on cold days, I opted for mesh one. I have read a lot of good things about them as well, being just as good as leathers. Originally thought I wanted a Joe Rocket Reactor or Rio, but after trying them on at the Philadelphia Cycle Center, I was disappointed at how high they rode up in the back, even when not in a riding position. I did however try on a Fieldsheer Titanium.Air jacket, and loved the way it fit and looked. After reading this review, I felt confident enough to snag my own.

Interesting Seat

Trying to figure out what seat this is... it's exactly what I'm looking for... saw it on a bike being auctioned here, but unfortunately too late. The seller did get back to me when I asked him what brand the seat was, and this is his repsonse:

I'm sorry but i dont know anything about the seat. As far as i know its stock? I looked at the seat and theres a sicker on the bottom that says 7012.

It looks like someone took a stock seat and had it reworked and recovered. The stainless trim on the bottom appeares to be stock and the way it fits the tank tells me it was made out of a stock pan and custom covered. I'm hoping it’s a readymade product that I can scrounge up from somewhere. Anyone know otherwise?

UPDATE - Could it be a Norman Hyde seat?