[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by Ajaybiz

Nice find but the restoration work looked more like jugad work, sorry but it's not at all looking like RD cosmetically even the internals used from RX killed it mechanically.

I agree with you on jugad part, even my eyes popped out when I read each line above on what parts he used. To a purist, it’s nothing shorter than sacrilege but this was done one a budget. I have been in this very same situation when I went ahead and did my RX 100. Besides budget constraints I didn’t have the drive initially to do it up, so I did almost everything with my bike like he did with his.

I have now started phase 2 restoration; I am building it up myself. This time I would try to do justice. This so far is an honest thread, and that’s exactly what made me read it, let’s not make him feel guilty and change the tone of the thread. Humble request.

Pramod

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by mobius 1

The 200 is an absolute looker ! Very tastefully restored indeed.
Its a pity to see it in the present condition in the last couple of pictures

Hope its back on the road now !
Looking forward to read about the 125 as well.

I am glued to this thread.

Thank you. I know, seeing the bike in that state gave me sleepless nights, but I personally had no choice but to sit and wait for my bank balance to grow.

On the 125, I plan to cover more about it in Part 3. Stay tuned!

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Thats was an amazing restoration job you did. hats off to your courage and grit.
Saddened to see the RD dead again.

Eagerly waiting for your part3 of the story. Hope the RD lives... again!!

Thank you. It was indeed saddening, specially for all the effort that we took to build it from scratch, which took over a year and then we were back to square one after 3 months.

Working on Part 3, so please bear with me.

Originally Posted by bivin

Wow!! It looked great after restoration!!
This thread is more addictive than watching Game of Thrones!!
I cant wait to read your part 3.. Cheers!!

Glad you liked the end result. Thank you!

Originally Posted by procrj

Great find and restoration! The RD200 looks kickass and its sad to see its condition in the last few pics. A couple of years ago I spotted a RD200 in Bangalore on the airport road. The exhaust note was sweet symphony and the way the bike accelerated was a sight to watch!

Would be something to ride along another RD 200. Good to hear that there are still few seen on Indian roads. I second you on the exhaust note and
acceleration.

Originally Posted by latentpotential

SnS_12 you are in Mumbai, and if you have any spare time on Friday evening, drive down to Powai for our regular Mumbai members meet. Guests are also welcomed. Looking forward to your Part 3.

What time on Friday's and where in Powai? I work in Nariman Point and reach home by 8, so would be a challenge for me.

Originally Posted by Ajaybiz

Nice find but the restoration work looked more like jugad work, sorry but it's not at all looking like RD cosmetically even the internals used from RX killed it mechanically.

Bro, I agree on the jugad work, but that is the best I could for the bike back then. The only other option would have been to let it stand and rot for another few years. But even after the gearbox gave away, I never lost hope. There were times when I though of selling it as and where it is, but my heart never allowed me to do so. I was determined to bring her back to life and that is the reason why there is a part 3 to this thread

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

I agree with you on jugad part, even my eyes popped out when I read each line above on what parts he used. To a purist, it’s nothing shorter than sacrilege but this was done one a budget. I have been in this very same situation when I went ahead and did my RX 100. Besides budget constraints I didn’t have the drive initially to do it up, so I did almost everything with my bike like he did with his.

I have now started phase 2 restoration; I am building it up myself. This time I would try to do justice. This so far is an honest thread, and that’s exactly what made me read it, let’s not make him feel guilty and change the tone of the thread. Humble request.

Pramod

Thank you Pramod for your support and who better to understand the challenges and limited options you are left with in such situations.

All the best with your RX build

[latentpotential]

Originally Posted by SnS_12

What time on Friday's and where in Powai? I work in Nariman Point and reach home by 8, so would be a challenge for me.

No challenge. You just need to drive.

Follow the exploits of the home team at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-b...hpians-68.html

[balenopower]

Seen how much time effort and money has been poured into the bike personally. Now where is the orange bike? I absolutely lovedddddd the way it sounded and went. BTW guys SnS_12 also owns the best RX 135 i have ridden till date. An absolute looker and bloody fast and a Ninja 650R which he just sold. Looking fwd to more updates on the thread sachin.

[SnS_12]

Part 3


After the gearbox incident I was totally lost on the options I had to get the bike on the road. I tried looking for a spare RD 200 in Mumbai, which could donate me a gearbox. We also were toying with the idea of using the RD 125 gearbox or the complete engine on the 200. But the 125 was a more complete bike with all original fitments still on the bike and plus the hassles of having an engine of another bike with a different engine number was just not the option I wanted to opt for.


So I decided to do up my first bike the RX 135, which was showing its age. It already had a front disc setup of the first pulsar model. So I decided to use the front and rear suspension setup of the 200 (which was a pulsar unit) on the RX 135. Anyway i had no idea as too when I would be able to get back the 200 running again, so instead of wasting these new parts It was a better idea to transfer them on the RX.


So we started with that project and decided to fit the RD 125 tank on the RX as well as we had no idea about the future of the 125 and I really liked the design of the tank.


This is how the RX turned up. The 125 tank had rusted badly and required a lot of tin work. Also the whole bottom end of the tank had to be redone to fit the RX, which led to the tank volume to be reduced to about 9 ltrs.


Pictures of the bike, before and after:

My first ride on the RX



Showing its age after a lakh plus kilometers





After fitting the RD 125 tank and other RD 200 parts.



Then after the bike was ready, we did a trip to Goa and back. During one of the refueling stops, some petrol spilled on the tank and it formed a yellow stain on the paint, which just refused to go. Showed it to the painter on our return and he agreed to repaint it. After the repaint the same incident happened again while refueling. Now, the painter did not entertain me any further and I decided to use the bike with that crap paint job. Just to things make worst, the paint started bubbling up and during a pressure was routine some paint just peeled off. I was really having a tough time in those years with all my bikes, nothing was going right. So I decided to get a stock new tank and till the time I was using a spare tank lying in Tony’s workshop.

With the spare tank


New OE tank on the bike



The RX 125 logo which i got from Malaysia





Vapor digital meter







Final product



Now, fast forward to 2011 and I was toying with the idea of starting work on the 200. So I and Tony sat down one fine day working out the plan and preparing the list of parts that would be required. That is when I decided that we will get the RD 125 running as well as now I had the Vitamin “M” to get these two beauties back on the road in their full glory.


So, started off by reading articles on various forums and the ones which were generally available over the internet on these two bikes. In particular the Yamaha AIRCOOLED RD CLUB was a great source of information for almost everything you need to know to rebuild any RD’s. Also, managed to get a service manual, from which I learned that my RD 200 is actually an RD 200B model.


Post the above exercise I started identifying the sites from where I could source all the parts required for both bikes, which included sites like www.wemoto.com and ebay. The first part on my list was to source a complete gearbox for the RD 200. So armed with my credit card I started to go through all the options available online and finally located a used gearbox set in the US through ebay.


Now the next step was to get pistons and connecting rods and the other small tit bits required to up the engine. In the end after identifying all the parts available and needed this is the list of parts I landed up with:
a) Piston set for both the RD 200 and RD 125
b) Connecting rods for both the bikes
c) Crank bearing set for both bikes
d) Clutch springs for both the bikes
e) Clutch plate and pressure plate set for both the bikes
f) Gasket set for both the bikes
g) Oil seal set for both the bikes
h) Rear suspension set for both the bikes
i) Original signal light set for both the bikes
j) Accelerator and Clutch cables
k) Stock Air filter for the RD 125
l) Side panel and tank logo for my RX 135 (it was a special RX 125 logo to match up with the paint scheme of the RX, which you can see in the pictures. Sadly I did not get that colour in RX 135 so had to settle with the RX 125)
m) Speedo and RPM meter set for both the bikes (this was by far the most expensive part as each set of meter and RPM unit was for 20k)



I even looked at shipping down a tank for the 125, but the costing just did not make any sense. Also, I almost picked up a set of brand new silencers for the 125 hadn’t I lost out on the bidding on ebay. BTW the bid closed at 50k and after adding shipping and custom duty I would have landed up with a pair of silencers for which I could have brought a good working condition RD or a used four wheeler for that fact.



So by end of 2011 almost all the parts had arrived at home directly except for the suspension and cables and clutch plates, which I had sourced from wemoto. They had sent it in two rectangular boxes, which were quite heavy due to the suspension weight mainly and that in particular had caught the customs eye. SO I got a letter from the airport customs in Santacruz asking me to get the original invoice to claim my stuff. Ended up spending the whole day at the customs and paid up a bribe of 6K to get my stuff, which was not even handed over to me at the spot but sent by post the following day.
Now, while I was sourcing all the engine parts from abroad, we had also started getting the other parts cosmetically ready for the build. This started with the parts to be painted for the RD 200 and RD 125 and also the mag wheels for the RX 135 and RD 125. The painting was done at my friend’s workshop MKRAFT in Mulund. They normally only work on cars and my bikes were done as a special request.



Once all the painted parts and engine parts were in place, we proceeded forward with assembling the RD 200. This time we went ahead with the stock swing arm and that one of the reason why I sourced a new set of rear suspension for the bike. The reason for this was that post the first build we noticed the silencers would not fit in a straight line and would project outwards due to the pulsar swing arm and also I wanted to retain the original look of the bike as far as possible. The wheels were again pulsar set along with the front suspension set; all new parts as the previous set were donated and transferred on the RX. Further, we had noticed the seat plate was showing signs of rusting even after applying red oxide thoroughly during the first build. So we covered the whole seat plate on the top side with fiberglass to give it added strength and to prevent it from rusting any further. I did this as I have seen that the seat plate on all RD’s rust and become brittle over the years and I personally wanted a permanent solution so we just went a little overboard with the fiberglass.



So finally after a lot of ups and downs over the years the bike started taking shape once again and it was back on its feet by April 2012.
And now it’s time to let the pictures do the talking of the final results.








































P.S – You would need to wait for a few more months for the 125 update, as we are still in the process of getting the bike assembled. Hopefully should be done by October.

[SnS_12]

Pics continued



























A very special grab bar, which was gifted by one on the members of the AIRCOOLEDRD Club as he noticed the bike didn't have one. He was really impressed with the build and specially sent me this all the way from England






My garage line up with my dad on the Ninja, which I sold off a few days back :(

[bivin]

wow!! looks a whole lot better that the first paintjob to be honest!! I like the orange black combo.. were you inspired by the Harley 48??

P.S: why sell the ninja?? (if its a personal reason please dont bother replying to this)

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by bivin

wow!! looks a whole lot better that the first paintjob to be honest!! I like the orange black combo.. were you inspired by the Harley 48??

P.S: why sell the ninja?? (if its a personal reason please dont bother replying to this)

Spot on, Harley 48 was the inspiration for this paint scheme and its definately a better choice of colours

On the Ninja, the 650 had to make way for the bigger Ninja (14R mostly), which I plan to buy in the later part of the year.

[vulcanize]

Nice work.
Thanks for sharing.
Loved the picture of your line up with your dad on the Ninja.

[The Pain]

Great Read. Congrats on getting the bike up and running again. How does it run now and how much did the rebuild finally cost you.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by The Pain

Great Read. Congrats on getting the bike up and running again. How does it run now and how much did the rebuild finally cost you.

The bike is running perfectly fine now, but sadly I don't get much time to ride all my bikes.

On the cost front I never actually noted down the expenditure, but the bike went through two full rebuilds, with the second one being the most expensive. All in all I must have easily spent over 1.5 lacs plus on the 200.

[mh09ad5578]

Amazing story!! you are crazy-do you know that?take it as a compliment. I would love to do what you did to the bike/s any-day. Hats-off great job both you and to Tony. The time and effort and above all the timeline shows the love you share for the two wheels. Would love to hear more
p.s- -even i have never heard of a RD125/200 for that matter, had ridden a RD350 when i was in tenth std and was shocked and terrified of the acceleration!

[batterylow]

The picture of the orange bike through the metal grill is a sight for sore eyes.

That view is enough to induce one to drop everything at hand and go for a ride!

Drive safe and wishing you many more miles of nirvana.

[hillram]

Amazing collection of Yamaha bikes which I haven't heard ever. This makes a differentiator. Never part with these bikes. Happy Riding.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by mh09ad5578

Amazing story!! you are crazy-do you know that?take it as a compliment. I would love to do what you did to the bike/s any-day. Hats-off great job both you and to Tony. The time and effort and above all the timeline shows the love you share for the two wheels. Would love to hear more
p.s- -even i have never heard of a RD125/200 for that matter, had ridden a RD350 when i was in tenth std and was shocked and terrified of the acceleration!

Hahaha. Everyone who knows me personally thinks I am crazy, including my family. But my dad had a change of mind when I showed him the grab bar which I received from England. Post that day he had a different perspective towards my passion for bikes.

Originally Posted by batterylow

The picture of the orange bike through the metal grill is a sight for sore eyes.

That view is enough to induce one to drop everything at hand and go for a ride!

Drive safe and wishing you many more miles of nirvana.

That picture also happens to be one of my favorite pics of the 200, which I had clicked from my previous flat. I used to always keep it in my sight as I generally don't like anyone messing around my bikes and specially not the 200.

Originally Posted by hillram

Amazing collection of Yamaha bikes which I haven't heard ever. This makes a differentiator. Never part with these bikes. Happy Riding.

Thank you Sir! You can be rest assured that I am never going to part ways from any of my Yamaha's