More on Martin's Gorgeous R5

A few posts ago I presented Martin's beautifully restored R5 road racer (see Martin's Gorgeous R5 April 13, 2007). I asked Martin to elaborate a little more on the bike, to tell me the specs, the restoration, the original history, etc... Well, he responded - check out the before and after above!

Here is a little of its' known history:

I purchased the bike in 2006 and it was in the condition shown [in top photo]. It was in running condition although all of the fibreglass was crazed.

The bike was originally sold by Granby Yamaha in 1970 and set up with the full sports fairing from new... The bike has only had 2 previous owners the first for 2 years and the 2nd from 1972 to 1980 when I an told he unfortunately died of cancer, the bike was then looked after by a friend who started it regularly and rode very occasionally.

On the day I collected the bike it started with no problems and I took it into my van to my local dealers where it passed its MOT test . So I arrived home with a fully working motorcycle after it had been mostly out of use for 20 years!

The 2nd time out the oil pipe came loose and it seized on one side. After some fantastic help from Governors Bridge Motorcycles in Atherstone UK (01827 712906) who had a brand new pair of 1st oversize Dykes type pistons in stock I decided to completely restore the bike.

The forks where slightly pitted so I sent them for rechroming and machining to Philpot's in Luton who did a great and speedy job, the barrels where rebored by Paul Jones at PJ Motorcycle engineers in Wolverhampton UK. I have used Paul for years and he is without doubt the UK's best 2-stroke specialist.

Finally I repaired all of the tank, seat & fairing myself. The fibreglass was completely rubbed back through the gel coat, then had several lays of finish re-applied to deal with the crazing. Mark Burgess at Jawell paints in Wolverhampton who I use regularly helped with advice, and the final finish was 1 coat etch primer, 1 coat high built acrylic primer, 2 coats of 2 pack white gloss which was hand matched by Mark to a sample of the original fibreglass colour, and the stripe is in 2 pack Rosso Corsa. The paint scheme has been based on Phils Read's 1969 factory bike.

Thanks for sharing, Martin!

Custom R5B For Sale

About a year ago, Jim from Salt Lake City wrote in to tell me about an R5 he had come across... Numbers-matching 1971 R5B that has had a fair amount of custom work done. Painted frame, engine, tank, headlamp and trim ring, sidecovers, as well as a custom seat. Also mounted are low bars, fuel filter, exhaust chambers, foam intake filters and rare matching left/right mirrors. Very cool - someone put some wrench time in on this one back in the day. Unfortunately the bike has not run in some time, but is not frozen up or rusted - just needs some time and TLC to get her going again. Looking for a good home.

Interested? Get in touch with Jim here.

R5 from Denmark

Flemming Juel from Frederikshavn, Denmark, writes in to share pics of his beautiful 1971 R5B. He notes that they "they speaks for themselves"... and boy, do they. Gorgeous!

Main Switch Diagram

A reader of the blog recently wrote in asking about the positions on the main switch, particularly the rightmost position. Here's a scan from the 1972 R5 Owners' Manual which sums it up nicely.

RD 350 in Plymouth Meeting PA

My friend Brian forwarded me this Craigslist listing for a 1971 (?) Yamaha RD 350, tricked out with chambers, clip-ons, and aftermarket tank and seat:

i have for sale a 1971 yamaha rd 350 is is an unfinished project but all the parts are included with the sale of the bike. it has after market exhaust system and clip on's.The engine runs very sweet it has a clean title.

Might be worth it for the parts alone!

AMD World Championships

I'm not much for Harleys and the whole billet-chrome-crazed chopper scene, but I must say there's been some interesting stuff happening in the custom world lately, as things get less OCC and more creative. Check out the AMD World Championships of Custom Bike Building, especially the latest Euro Finalists. Some good stuff here, like the hot-rod Rock 'N Bike from Art of Racer in France. Not a vintage asian two-stroke, but sweet nonetheless.

Lee's Barn Find

Lee writes in to tell us about his find - this 1972 R5:

I thought you might like these pics of my "barn find", a 72 r5c. My buddy and I bought this, 2 GT185 Suzukis and a Honda CB450 for only $400. They were all mostly complete and extra dirty, but otherwise in decent shape. I only have about $200 and some blood sweat and tears into it so far and it runs great after some carb cleaning/tuning, custom baffles, new ignition switch, bars, grips, levers and some straightening of some tweaked bits. Check out the tank emblems I made on the CNC at work out of stainless steel (about 8hrs. of cut time), I couldn't bring myself to pay what they want for reproductions. Thanks for the website, it's very informative.

Nice job on those emblems! They look great! And great job on finding 4 bikes for $400 - not bad!

Keep up the good work, and let us know how you progress on those other bikes!

Martin's Gorgeous R5

You all know how much I love road-going racers (see posts here and here).

So you can imagine my joy when I received an email from Martin in the UK. Pictured above is his beautiful 1970 R5 sold by Granby Motorcycles of Ilkeston, England. I don't have much info yet, as the email was brief. All that is known is that, much like my bike, this one has been fully restored after spending 20 years in a garage.

Love the work done here - all the style of a racer (fairing, fenders, tank, seat, chambers) with the necessities of a road bike (lights, etc). I love the way the original sidecovers and oil tank were incorporated... everything looks in place!

I've asked Martin to elaborate a little more on the bike, to tell me the specs, the
restoration, the original history, where the parts came from (fairing, seat, any custom fabrication he's done), etc... I'd love to write up an article about this great bike. Hopefully he has more pics, particularly any in-progress or pre-restoration - that would be great!

I'll post more info when I get it.

Thanks Martin!

Two Wheel Tuesday!

It's that time again! Time to meet up at The Abbaye in NoLibs for Two Wheel Tuesdays!

Great turnout tonight, lots of good stuff... Jim brought out his new 749s, Skip brought his beautiful Triumph cafe racer, and later in the night a Ural with sidecar pulled up - and there were plenty of Ducs, Beemers, Aprilias and other Triumphs as well. Despite a valiant effort (and lots of pushing by Jim), we were unable to get the R5 to start...

Below are a few shots taken while we were there. Enjoy, and hope to see you next week!

R5, Super Cheap

Fellow vintage motorcyclist Brian sends me local bikes for sale from time to time. Today he spotted this '71 R5 in the Philly suburbs:

1971 Yamaha R5B 350cc 2 stroke twin, needs work - $500