Rising Sun Tank

Chris Scholey from Ontario sent these pics in to keep us up to date on his project. Great paint scheme, no?



Can't wait to see the finished bike...

Shinohara RD/TZ

I have always been into the whole Yamaha streetbike-to-GP-racer conversions. I've even come across official Yamaha R5-TZ conversion instructions as well as some aftermarket conversions, but these were always for making the road bike race-ready. What I was looking for was a hybrid - all the look and grunt of a GP bike but without the full-faired body, and with all the lights necessary for a street-legal bike.

Well, take a look at the above. This guy solves the problem of a legally-lighted TZ by hiding small headlamps in the forks and tucking a small taillight in the bumpstop. At first glance it looks like a TZ with the front fairing removed. Bad ass... Click here for more images...

I have attempted rough machine translation on the page, and it says:

Comment of [yusuke]
Is concerning DX but…
It is no [chi] [ya] [tsu] [te] TD3, (laughing)
Still, as for the place where the hand is inserted there is Sawayama, but
Slowly spending time, we would like to keep finishing.

Engine
　The core of the crank it puts out.
Around front
　For SR. It is heavy, being long, there is no [iitoko] is.
Chamber
　○ [ni] make.
　The front owner attached with being defeated, but
　You do not understand whether according to rumor, with with setting [ru] whether it has not come out.
　The extension above is bad, is.
Original back step
　The step position of TD3 was made in reference, but this position is a certain meaning training, (laughing)
Meter
　The electric rammer of the manufacturer, pivot.
　With the stepping motor, being accurate, it does the movement where the response is good.
Electric apparatus
　In addition to there is no light/write case, because you have supplied the battery in the seat cowl
　It recreated the harness entirely.

Via DOUBLEULTRA.

Carpy

I had written a long time ago about Steve Carpenter and his awesome Honda cafe conversions... well, he's back with an updated site, chock full of video and imagery of all manner of interesting bikes. Check it out.

BTW, I've updated my links to correct his link.

Alex Fry's RD Site

Alex wrote in last week to let me know about his RD blog called DOUBLEULTRA. Great looking site with some interesting stuff. Looks like he already has a winner of an RD, with some big plans for it.

Alex also wanted to give a shout out for his local shop Deus Ex Machina. Even more great stuff and a great site. Check 'em out.

1972 YR5 Renovation Project

Paul Watts wrote in to let me know about Stephan Morris' just-started teardown and restoration of his R5 in the UK. The level of detail in this article is excellent, going step-by-step and photographing everything.

I for one am going to be paying very close attention to this restoration as it progresses, so that I might pick up a thing or two - for the rest of you I'm sure this information will be invaluable as well. Thanks for sharing, Paul!

Enjoy!

Attention Canadians!

PROJECT ALERT! I spied this 1970 Yamaha 350 R5 on Vancouver Craigslist. Don't ask how I wound up looking there. Anyways, the first $250 gets it!

Concept Renderings

Brian forwarded me this great portfolio of vehicle designer Heikki Naulapää. I've seen his work before in the very interesting Aprilia Magnet 3-wheeler. I also found this great Aprilia RAM concept concept pictured above.

Dig the reverse grips and levers, front swingarm, seamlessly blended multiple exhaust, and aggressive helmet-forward riding position. I'm gonna have to keep an eye on this guy...

RD Compilation

Compilation of various Yamaha advertising for their RD models over the years. Gotta love the "soundtrack"!

More RD350 Videos

Chris has been posting a lot of videos of his RD (from a few posts back) up on YouTube. You know how the kids love the YouTube these days! I really got to get some video of my bucket of bolts up on there... Anyways, here is a great video walkaround of the bike:



And here it is making that sweet two-stroke music:



And, finally, the moment you have all been waiting for - the burnout:

Velorex?

My friend Russ just sent over an interesting vehicle offered up for sale on eBay - a 1968 Velorex 16/350. This crazy Czechoslovakian wonder is powered by (you guessed it) a two-stroke 350cc motorcycle engine. Check out those body panels... made of vinyl! And check out the crazy tubular chassis (and motorcycle gas tank) with the vinyl removed: