Messages

KDI makes nice stuff, I have used a few other rubber parts from them in the past.

Small world indeed!  I am friends with Kevin, he just retired this year.  I don't recognize the name Roger, but I will ask around. 

You have a 2V0 kicker.   The 76-78 arm is straight, while the '79 is more angled and provides a little more clearance for pegs (and rearsets).

That is great news, one less rare part to track down.

Did your dad buy the bike in East Wenatchee? I can't remember the old name of the Yamaha shop there, but it might have been Johnson's.

Yep, Johnson's Yamaha on Main Street.

Not much progress so far.  I put some missing pins in the seat pan last night, and ordered a handful of items to get the bike up and running again.

Thanks for the kind words from all of you.  I'm very excited, and so is Dad!  He will be 80 next year, and I'm hoping he will be interested in riding it next spring.

2Steve, I've heard stories about the 2VO cranks, so we'll see what it looks like when I press it apart.

Dgorms, there is nothing at all wrong with this setup, other than sitting unused for more than 15 years.  The DG stuff is eventually going back to my friend the previous owner for his blue '77 RD, but first I'll get the bike functional and ride it a bit.  Stock 400F/G parts do seem to command healthy prices, but I'll track them all down eventually.

SoCal250, I don't know the difference between a 76-78 kicker and the 79-80, so I assumed this kicker was the 1A1 version?

Mnein, I plan to enjoy this one for a very long time!

RDnuTZ, yes, it has C/D/E fenders on it now.  They fit fine but of course don't look right.  I'll be watching eBay and likely will post a want ad here.

If you're still reading, I'm in the right place.  After spending the last few weeks reading everything I can on this great club, I know a bit more about RD400Fs, and what is unique to them.  But there are some real pros here that can spot everything out of place.

I'll need some help tracking down the right pieces.  The DG kit parts are going back to the previous owner for his 1977 RD400.  Which is just fine with me.  Right now there's a 1A1 engine installed, but I have the original engine in pieces, including cylinders, carbs, and head.

The plan is to return the bike to mostly stock, and rebuild the 2VO engine with some mild updates.  I am missing both front and rear fenders, tail light mount, kick starter, rear brake pedal, centerstand, and handlebars.  Which ends up being most of the F model specific items.     I would love to track down a nice set of 1A1 or 2V0 exhausts, but I won't hold my breath for those.  The fork tubes appear to have been shortened, and I suspect the internals might be upgraded.  We'll see what is inside the tubes this winter.

Thanks for reading my ramblings, and don't forget to enjoy your own projects!

I grew up in a small town in Washington, and motorcycles have always been part of my life.  Riding around with Dad when I was little, watching (and hearing) early sport bikes gratuitously speeding on the road in front of the house, and finally buying my own motorcycle when I turned 16.  Since then I've owned at least 60 more bikes.

Back in 1979, a couple years before I was born, my Dad bought a Daytona Special brand new from Johnson's Yamaha.  He also managed to talk the salesman into throwing in the dealer poster hanging on the wall.  "No poster, no deal!", and Dad came home with both a new bike and a poster. The Daytona was later traded in to the local Honda shop in 1982 when Dad bought a new V45 Sabre. 





I was too small to have any memory of the Daytona, but the poster hung in Dad's shop for most of my childhood.  The Sabre is still in his shop, but the poster eventually got rolled up and stashed in a cupboard.  In my early 20's I ran across the poster again, had it framed, and since then it has hung somewhere in my house or shop.



Almost 20 years ago, my good friend Jeremy bought a few RD400's in various stages of disrepair.  One of them happened to be a 1979 Daytona Special.  After getting that one back on the road, Jeremy meets a previous owner of the Daytona while at a bike show.  "That's my old bike!", says former owner Jim, and soon the old stories start to flow.  Turns out he bought it from the local Honda shop in 1982.  "I saw it in the showroom window, and had to have it."  Soon after he added the DG Performance kit, and that's how he recognized the bike as his right away.  Jim road raced the bike at both Seattle and Portland International Raceways, and drag raced at Renegade Raceways in Yakima. Right up until a broken rod at the end of a long road course straightaway ended that fun.

You can probably figure out the rest of the story now.  There was only one other owner between Jim and Jeremy.  That owner and I ended up working together for about 7 years.  Jeremy knows the salesman Bill who sold the bike to Dad when it was new.  "You know, we only got one Daytona delivered at Johnson's, and I still remember selling it."  Bill points at me and says, "I sold it to a blonde guy who looked just like you!"  All the timelines and stories line up.  And today I bought this bike from Jeremy.  While I have no definitive proof like a registration or insurance card, this is the same bike Dad bought 46 years ago.

So to me, that's what makes a Daytona Special.