Why yes, I do get a little misty eyed at the sight of the little Japanese street bikes of that time. I had one of those in the picture, shoulda kept it...
Would those be the 1972 models? I worked a Yamaha dealer's parts counter at around that time but, being a jerk, paid little attention to the cool small-displacement bikes. Would sure have liked one of the pretty solid-color* RD350s from, uh, was it '72 or '73?, though.
* Maroon or (?) green, I think. Subdued, and all the cooler for it, esp. with matte black Bassani chambers.
Yamaha had a lot of cool helmets. when rats described Bassani chambers in matte black on a Maroon solid color RD350 I felt like I was 7 years old again inside a Yamaha shop looking at all the colors and stripe colors of all the different models. then dad bought me that beautiful 1973 gray with blue stripes Yamaha MX80. my relatives seemed to have every single model of Yamaha dirt and motocross bikes riding them in their yards wearing church shoes. you know one of those ladies is going to try to ride that SC500 in the front yard after he shows her how the let the clutch out.
I still miss my little YL1 Twin Jet.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I wish I still had it.
Would those be the 1972 models? I worked a Yamaha dealer's parts counter at around that time but, being a jerk, paid little attention to the cool small-displacement bikes. Would sure have liked one of the pretty solid-color* RD350s from, uh, was it '72 or '73?, though.
ReplyDelete* Maroon or (?) green, I think. Subdued, and all the cooler for it, esp. with matte black Bassani chambers.
Yamaha had a lot of cool helmets.
ReplyDeletewhen rats described Bassani chambers in matte black on a Maroon solid color RD350 I felt like I was 7 years old again inside a Yamaha shop looking at all the colors and stripe colors of all the different models. then dad bought me that beautiful 1973 gray with blue stripes Yamaha MX80. my relatives seemed to have every single model of Yamaha dirt and motocross bikes riding them in their yards wearing church shoes. you know one of those ladies is going to try to ride that SC500 in the front yard after he shows her how the let the clutch out.