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?

Transmission Fluid?

Sorry it's been a while since my last post - things have gotten busy around here...

Joe Hill wrote in with some excellent questions about the R5 transmission fluids:

The question I have is the transmission. Where should the fluid level be? Is there a way to drain the fluid and replace it? And what type of fluid does it take? I checked the trans fluid today, (the plastic cap and dipstick on the right side of the bike sitting on it) and it looked very low. I could see a gear. The guy I bought it off said that it was reciently changed, but other things he told me were done to the bike turned out to be false. I think it needs fluid but I don't know how much it holds or what type. I also need to know if there is an easy way to drain out what is in it to make sure the correct amount gets put in.

Well, Joe, I checked my trusty manual, but found nothing in the transmission sections, nor in the specs section listing capacities. I found it under the "Removing the Engine" section, of all places:



As you can (sorta) see in the photo, there is a single bolt in the underside casing of the transmission, just in front of the arm holding the driver footpegs around the exhaust pipes. This is the drain plug. Take it out to drain the tranny fluid.

The manual goes on to say:

- Warming up the engine will quicken draining the oil.
- The amount of oil is 1500cc (1.6 qts). Motor oil SAE 10W/30 should be used.

Seems pretty simple. At first I thought the perhaps the Autolube system was responsible for oiling the transmission as well, but since the specified oils are different, this cannot be the case. It must just be a self-contained oil bath, and it's probably a good idea to drain and replace anyway. After seeing this, I'll probably wind up doing this myself!

Hope that helps!

Rearsets! Rearsets!

For my Big-Three-Oh-Birthday-Bashtacular, my super-cool friends decided it would be best to mark my three centuries of non-stop-rocking this planet with some cool vintage rearsets for the R5! How freaking cool is that?

They haven't arrived yet, probably because there's not much demand for obscure early 70's Yamaha model rearsets at the moment... but I was awarded the instruction manual so I can drool over those puppies until they actually get here. Photos of said sets, installation and all their shiny, rear-set-y glory will be posted as it all goes down. Stay tuned...

Uber-special thanks to Brian, Michelle, Jim, Angela, Russ, Jessica, Lee and Jenna!

World's Fastest Indian T-shirt!

Paul Crowe from The Kneeslider just wrote to inform me that I'd won one of the shirts from their World's Fastest Indian-t-shirt giveaway... pretty swank! The shirt also has "I'm fast" emblazoned on the back. Excellent!

Thanks Paul! Keep up the good work over at The Kneeslider!

Yamaha R5 Owners Map!

http://www.frappr.com/yamahar5owners

I've set up a Frappr! Map to help locate all the R5 owners out there... follow the link above and get yourself on there!

From now on, there will be a mini-map located just before these blog entries, so that you can browse around and not have to leave this site...

This stuff is pretty neat!

Metallic Orange Paint Solution

I've gotten a bunch of email from others looking for the orange metallic paint that's used on the R5... as far as I could discover, it was officially called "Mandarin Orange" and was used on the 71 and 72 R5s... see these documents:

1971 R5B (656k PDF) - Mandarin Orange over white
1972 R5C (756k PDF) - Mandarin Orange over black

You'll need the free Adobe Reader to view and print these files. Thanks again to Don Q for this info.

Well, after rooting around a little on the r5yamaha Yahoo! Group, I found a response posted by the always-helpful Ed:

There are no codes! House of Color has paint that will get you there. here is a link:

http://www.hokpaint.com

I have restored many early Yamahas and the orange you need is a candy shot over a silver base (fine grain) black is black as long as all the black body parts are the same black . I.ve gotten a dead on match to this color on my 71 R5 and I've matched the candy red on my 65 YDS3 and the candy blue on my 66 YM1 using these paints. the color varies depending on how soft or heavy you spray it on.Thats how candies work,all the metalics are in the base coat and the color coat is translucent so more = darker. I hope this helps. Ed

So there it is... no quick and easy bottle touch-up for me. O well - hopefully this info can get in the hands of some more people who need it by posting it here.

Looking for the Orange Metallic Paint

Mike wrote in to inquire about the metallic Mandarin paint on his (and my) bike:

Saw your site and your great old bike. I have an old U7A scooter with the orange paint. I would like to do some cosmetic painting and I wonder if you could tell me where you got your paint; if you did.

Unfortunately, I haven't had any luck finding any official paint... so I thought I'd turn the question loose on you guys... anyone tracked some down?

Message from France

Xavier wrote in from France:

Hello,
Thanks,
Your website is great.
Go on this way.
Here's a pic of one of my RDs.
I love those bikes.

And here is Xavier's beautiful example:

YSR Jet Bike

Um, yeah, that's not a typo - a jet-powered Yamaha YSR pocketbike.

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!