Although it hasn't gone though restoration yet, this is the RD I always wanted. Overall, it's in pretty decent shape to start with but still will need quite a bit before its complete.
A 1974 RD350A...the purple one<LOL>! It's kind of a convoluted story how I ended up with this bike. I had bought an old V65 Sabre from a couple who was selling it for a friend that evidently, had gone to prison. The title had been signed and they wanted it out of their shed. I got the feeling when I went over there that they may have needed the cash as well. They were only asking 300 dollars and the bike needed some work. The brakes were all seized, the carb slides barely moved and the tins all needed replacement. Hey, for 300, what do you expect? I was told that the engine and transmission were fine so we loaded it up and into my garage it went. A few weeks later I went out and spent a day cleaning and tinkering…my fiancé calls it “puttering”…anyway…a few hours and a few tricks to those impossible-to-work-on carbs later…I brought that big V4 back to life. The next day it burned out one of its igniters. Around this same time I met a guy from PA online who wanted to trade his 74 RD….we talked for a few days and we made the deal. His ’74 RD that ran but needed to be restored for my V65 Sabre that almost ran, but needed work….total outlay for me….300 dollars. I'd like to think that we both got what we wanted. He got a big, fast more modern bike and I got...well, I got a RD350! One of my friends blasted me for trading the Sabre until I put it in perspective….I bought a running ’74 RD350a for $300….sounds a little different now, doesn’t it?
Now I’m not exactly sure what was going on in the PO’s mind but the red spray-painted carbs and “custom” floor boards will have to go. Actually, it will look completely different when it finally comes out of the basement shop later this year.
I’ll post some more pics once I start working on it. It was originally purple but the PO had repainted it a deep metallic blue but I’ve already bought a set of used Purple tins (tank and side covers) from a guy on flea-bay so I’ll be able to bring it back to stock if I decide to go that way. I haven’t decided if I want to café it or have it appear stock. I’m planning on tearing the engine down and measuring and rebuilding the crank if necessary and working my way up from there. I’ll give the top end the full Monty but I’d like to retain some reliability so it might not end up quite as strong as it could be if I wasn’t worried about it staying together.