A New RD Friend

A funny thing happened, while I was cruising the web, looking for parts.  I just did a general search for "RD400 parts craigslist" wondering what I might find across the U.S., hopefully within recent times, and I found a very intriguing posting from Cresent City, California, which is a ways up the coast from me, but nonetheless, still in California.

The posting had all sorts of assorted goodies listed, so I emailed the author to see if he had any chambers.  Dave emailed me back and responded that he did not, but he had some cool Goki air caps, which he sent me pictures of.  The emails went back and forth, as we shared our enthusiasm for RD's and 2-strokes in general.  We talked about the old staple RD400 stores, like Moto Carrera and Spec II, and where the industry has gone to.  He used to live here in the Bay Area, owning a motorcycle shop at Sears Point Raceway, back in the day, before they sold their name to Infineon.  He got to work with some of the first roadrace bikes, as Yamaha TZ's were coming and going through his shop with regularity.

One thing led to another and I bought a very sweet RD400 swingarm that has been powdercoated and refurbished, pressed with bronze bushings, fitted with a TZ350 spindle with some other custom work done for $110 shipped!  This thing is ready to bolt up and go into service immediately, which is going to save me money in buying all the parts separately, plus having to get the old swingarm blasted and painted.  It's something that I wasn't necessarily looking for, but after Dave read my blog, he felt that the swingarm would be a perfect match for my project.  In addition to the swingarm, he threw in a 2-stroke vintage tuning book, something that I'm sure went out of print long ago.  I know that he could've sold the piece for a whole lot more, so for that I am SO appreciative.

I find it interesting how my long journey in trying to get this bike restored/built has introduced me to a lot of nice people who share the love for these crazy 2-strokes.  I wonder what new surprises are in store for just around the corner....