The member photo gallery is now integrated and live!!  All user albums and pictures have been ported from old gallery.


To register send an e-mail to admin@bmwr65.org and provide your location and desired user name.

Author Topic: 1976 RD400  (Read 1497 times)

Offline kayakr65

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 14
  • I Love YaBB 2!
1976 RD400
« on: May 13, 2016, 02:09:26 PM »
It's alive!  Can top the ton and is a blast to ride.  I've got the carbs, brakes and wiring all sorted out.  Only oil leak is RH side case gasket.  New OEM part on the way. Once installed it should be leak free.

Offline nhmaf

  • Global Moderator
  • Mt. Olympus Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 5154
  • Free at last, Free at last!
Re: 1976 RD400
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2016, 03:48:35 PM »
I was jonesin' for this very bike back in the 70s - I was a teenager and wanted it bad - almost bought a Kawi 500 triple that probably would have been my untimely end.   Very nice!  

I've a friend who loves these old 2 strokes from our youth - he has a C6, an RD200, RD350, as well as Suzuki Hustler, GT185, GT380, and a GT550 all in his garage - I call it the 2-stroke museum!
Airhead #12178 ? BMWMOA #123173 ?BMWRA #33525 ?GSBMWR #563 ?1982 BMW R65LS ?1978 BMW R100/7 1998 Kawasaki Concours

Offline Tony Smith

  • Mt. Olympus Resident
  • ****
  • Posts: 2307
  • Graduate, Wallace and Gromit School of Engineering
Re: 1976 RD400
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2016, 01:28:47 AM »
Quote
It's alive!  Can top the ton and is a blast to ride.  I've got the carbs, brakes and wiring all sorted out.  Only oil leak is RH side case gasket.  New OEM part on the way. Once installed it should be leak free.

Love it.

Are you going to get an original seat/ducktail for it?  Not that there is anything wrong with what you have, but i looked at it for several minutes before the penny dropped. A disc off one of these did several years service on the rear of my R100, I had to turn up a carrier for it to mount it the correct distance from the wheel and then used an indexing chuck to accurately re-drill it. Still have that disc around here somewhere.
1978 R100RS| 1981 R100RS (JPS) | 1984 R65 | 1992 KLE500 | 2002 R1150GSA |

Offline kayakr65

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 14
  • I Love YaBB 2!
Re: 1976 RD400
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2016, 11:11:23 AM »
Quote
Quote
It's alive!  Can top the ton and is a blast to ride.  I've got the carbs, brakes and wiring all sorted out.  Only oil leak is RH side case gasket.  New OEM part on the way. Once installed it should be leak free.

Love it.

Are you going to get an original seat/ducktail for it?  Not that there is anything wrong with what you have, but i looked at it for several minutes before the penny dropped. A disc off one of these did several years service on the rear of my R100, I had to turn up a carrier for it to mount it the correct distance from the wheel and then used an indexing chuck to accurately re-drill it. Still have that disc around here somewhere.

This is the original seat pan and trim... albeit with a repro seat cover.   There was no seat cowl on the 76.  I believe first year to have cowl was 78 (400E).  This is however, the first bike ever to offer mag wheels as std. equipt.  Recently put it on the scale.  356lbs. soaking wet.  If I was really chasing performance I think one could easily get it down into low 300s.

Offline Tony Smith

  • Mt. Olympus Resident
  • ****
  • Posts: 2307
  • Graduate, Wallace and Gromit School of Engineering
Re: 1976 RD400
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2016, 04:52:11 PM »
Quote

This is the original seat pan and trim... albeit with a repro seat cover.   There was no seat cowl on the 76.  I believe first year to have cowl was 78 (400E).  This is however, the first bike ever to offer mag wheels as std. equipt.  Recently put it on the scale.  356lbs. soaking wet.  If I was really chasing performance I think one could easily get it down into low 300s.

Hmm, the cowl must have depended on market destination, I was actually working part time at a Yamaha shop whilst going to Uni when the RD400 was released and I'm pretty sure that they had cowls here form day 1.

The main reason I am so sure was the abrupt styling change that Yamaha underwent in 1976 from previously building bikes that looked like British bikes to building (in my opinion anyway) much better looking bikes that unashamedly took their styling cues form the ducati/Moto Guzzi/Laverda/Morini/Benelli bikes of the time.

Yamaha released a "family" in 1976, the RD 200 and 400 and the XS400/500/750 which shared common styling cues as above.

Courtesy (I think) of Wikipedia, many RD400 owners believe that their model was the first production bike to wear cast alloy wheels, this is incorrect.

The first model XS750 in fact beat the RD400/200 and the XS500 to market in 1976 (albeit that it was promptly withdrawn due to spinning middle big end bearings (never fully solved) and blowing middle drive gear boxes (which was solved).

Don't sweat it though, there is a collector in England who has been looking for a "C" model XS750 for decades and cannot find one. Yamaha themselves do have one, but it was used as a test mule for the D and 2D update testing and the engine specifically is not a "C" model.

Whoops sorry for the digression.

Not to detract in any way form the fact that the RD400s were exciting bikes and very well spec'd for their time.



1978 R100RS| 1981 R100RS (JPS) | 1984 R65 | 1992 KLE500 | 2002 R1150GSA |