[deep_bang]

Those days. You would just say RX, the rest would be implied. The sound of it's idling, and one twist of the throttle would produce a throaty roar, and which everyone in the street could hear.
The more badass bikers would change the rear tyres to the smaller but wider ones from yezdi. This would actually increase the weight but makes it look classier.
This also had a more complex locking system (a la Bajaj scooter) where it was not just a simple twist to lock or unlock.
Oh and red Yamahas - crazy. I used to go crazy seeing them. A close friend had it. Rather I became close to him because of the RX.

[dhanushs]

Didn’t think twice before voting for the RD350. Man, that bike did colour up the scene even better than the colour TV.

- Even though we have a Yezdi!

[Sebring]

Wow! is that just out of a showroom? LOL! Made my day. It's so impeccably maintained. Please accept my 'salaam'!

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Even though we have a Yezdi

[Maverick5490]

For me its hands down the legendary RD 350. Having owned one, the thrill it provides is surreal. This is what gave me my user name!

[Bismaya]

Even though I'ma a Shogun owner, I can say it with pride that RX 100 is the bike that made the 2-stroke market more mass accessible. The fact that you can still you use some today in practical, real world conditions without any issue & that the parts are still available is the best example of it. Here's a list of 2-stroke bikes that my family has had:

1. Bajaj Super
2. Suzuki Max 100
3. Rajdoot 175
4. Sunny
5. Vespa T5
6. Yamaha RXZ
7. Scooty ES

While all of the above bikes are fairly memories to me since I was a toddler when my extended family owned them, my cousin had the below ones till late and I've a fair knowledge of it before I crowned RX 100 as the most iconic bike:

1. Rajdoot 350 (Ergonomic modified to be as good as a RD 350)
2. Yamaha RXG (RXK & RX-125 Chimera)
3. KB 100 &
4. Suzuki Shogun (Yes, currently with me)

[R2D2]

The following are iconic 2 strokes launched in this country:

1. Yamaha RD 350 (this got my vote)
2. Yamaha RX 100
3. Ind-Suzuki AX 100 (launched in 1982/83)
4. Suzuki Shogun
5. Yezdi Roadking
6. Yezdi 250
7. LML Vespa XE 100 cc
8. Bajaj M50
9. Kinetic Luna

Owned them all, except the AX-100 and Yezdis, during different stages of my life starting from college to when I began working in 1987. The Shogun came much later in the late '90s. The AX-100 was the Toyota of bikes, just kept on going despite punishment. Back then we had to make do with one good 2T oil Castrol TT. Not spoilt for choices in lubes as we are today.

The Luna - well, my Dad bought one back in 1974 for short commutes and then another one in 1980.

One can still see some of these old bikes traversing the roads of Pune today. Sheer nostalgia.

PS - Except for the 1974 and 1980 Kinetic Lunas, all my bikes were mostly self maintained including the hard to tune RD 350 with its problematic contact breaker points and twin carbs.

[ram.iyer95]

My vote goes for the beastly Yamaha RD350. A great bike, but way ahead of it's time when launched in India, as a result of which it met it's fate. That 2-stroke motor with mad power delivery can still hold it's own against any modern superbike, even today.

[GTO]

The most special is the RD350 - oh god, that acceleration + exhaust roar!!! Still can't get over it & a high revving RD will turn heads even today.

But I have voted for the RX100 simply because it was more popular + cheaper + on sale for longer and thus, touched far more hearts. The RX100 was accessible to every enthusiast (I owned one too ). IIRC, had bought mine for 37 - 38k.

[wildsdi5530]

Does anyone remember the Enfield Fury? Sold low numbers but path breaking.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...-dx-175-a.html (Restoring my Enfield Fury DX 175)

[SS-Traveller]

Voted for the Yamaha RX-100.

Disclaimer: I've never owned any of the bikes listed in the poll. The only two 2-stroke 2-wheelers we've had were a 1986 Rajdoot 175 Super D and a 1985 Lohia Vespa 150 DZ (which is still with me - the company that made it was called Lohia Machines Limited, and was renamed LML Limited much later).

But I had the occasion to ride a friend's Yamaha RX-100, and this is a story I need to pen down for memory's sake. Just because, on this thread, the overwhelming majority of votes is going to the RX-100, I think this would be the place where the story would be best appreciated.

This was in December 1994. I had travelled to Chennai (to attend a conference), and thence to Thiruvananthapuram (to meet a friend), by train from Ahmedabad. A very important person from my childhood years had retired and moved back to his village in Kerala, some 12 years before that (in 1982), and I desperately pined to meet him - and this was a trip to catch up with my past.

My friend, who I was staying with in his hostel room, was a post-graduate student at the (then so called) Trivandrum Government Medical College (GMC), and he owned a Yamaha RX-100. The plan was that I would borrow his motorcycle, and visit this gentleman at his village. All I had to go by was his postal address, and a road map of Kerala (no GPS/GMaps then, remember?). The name of the village was Valliathottathil, post office Keezhvaipur, District Alleppey, and the PIN code 689587.

So how do we find this place? I started off by visiting the local post office next to the GMC. I learnt that the particular PIN code was now part of a new district called Pathanamthitta, and the Head Post Office is at Adoor - which I could spot on the map. So off I went early the next morning to Adoor, to the Head Post Office, astride the Yamaha RX-100, with a full face helmet to hide my thoughts within (the helmet attracted much attention, since no one riding a 2-wheeler in Kerala wore a helmet anyway in those days).

At the Adoor HPO, I got directions to the Keezhvaipur PO in great detail by none less than the Postmaster, in impeccable English. I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to understand much (since I could barely speak 10 words of Malayalam), that it was a great relief when the Postmaster, and later, a bakery owner, communicated directions in English!

So, after almost 4 hours of riding, asking, taking wrong turns, retracing my path, and thoroughly enjoying the green scenery and palm trees all around, I finally arrived at Valliathottathil. Finding the residence was not easy either, but someone knew where Chalunkal House was, and finally I was reunited with the man who was a crucial part of my formative years.

Rode back to Trivandrum to reach the GDC at almost 9 pm. The RX-100 and its staccato exhaust note was such a reliable and assuring companion, except for the headlight which made the night ride quite scary. The 300-km journey was all it took for me to respect this motorcycle, and I'd often thought about owning one - but never did. Yet, the memory of that motorcycle, the ride, the sights along the road and the sound of the exhaust, the vibrations of the machine, have been etched in my memory even after 25 years.

I've taken my Vespa 150DZ on roadtrips from Kolkata to Digha, to Puri, to Siliguri, to Bokaro Steel City, to Durgapur, to Delhi - and then from Delhi to Ahmedabad, and innumerable round trips almost every weekend from Ahmedabad to Vadodara (then Baroda). I am so attached to that scooter that it is still with me after 34 years. Yet, the RX-100 impressed me more, and my vote goes to that machine - the Vespa 150DZ gets my vote as the first runner-up, but unfortunately it isn't listed above.

[roy_libran]

If the thread had been about -
The first Jap - I'd vote AX100
Popular - I'd vote RX100
The challenger - I'd vote Shogun (I owned one)

But it's about Iconic - and that can only be the RD350 twins. Nothing at that time, and even until quite recently could come close to the performance this offered, and this bike went on to become a cult icon. So, voted RD350!

[varunanb]

Without doubt have to be the RD series. Not just the 350. The rare RD125 was great and the rarer RD200 was even better. Even the 175D with 3 gears in the raj doot avatar was fun.

For all the love of 2 strokes and having owned 3 of the above 4 regret selling them so early in their lifecycle. Never knew they would become legends so soon, like you never realise the value until you part with them.

[anjan_c2007]

The older two stroke Yamahas are leading and obviously so. Yamaha has not been able to give any equally iconic two wheeler after these two race horses were launched in the 1980's and both became history due to mixed reasons.

Also the fact is before us all that Yamaha had a less than 50% equity participation in Escorts Ltd, when these two iconic bikes were launched in the 1980's. Both these models came here much after their hey days were passe in the other markets. Thereafter, Escorts exited the JV and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, Japan (YMC) invested 100 % equity on its own, as the laws permitted them to do so by then, forming Yamaha Motor India Private Limited (IYM) in 2001. Though they are marginally improving their share in the competitive market, we are yet to get any best seller from them.

Back to the topic, I hope this poll had listed the Jawa 250 Model 353 and its successor the Yezdi 250 variants, rather than only the Roadking 250. The Roadking had limited sales. The other variants of the Jawa/ Yezdi 250 coming nearest to the Yamahas could only be the only ones ( two stroke) that have an evergrowing fan club from and following by all age groups.

[gururajrv]

RD350 all the way - ‘G’olden days superbike (yes not only it sounded like one, but it did ride like one)

I haven’t ridden it in person but my all time fav is red HT’s. Hope to own one in future, if and only if time, money & most importantly latest regulations around renewing FC allows.

Secondly, RX100/135/RX-Z’s stole my heart back in my college days. Unfortunately, when I enter PU, RX’s plugs were taken off. I had to settle down for my favorite pulsar series back then. But, my friend had a maniac ported 135 which rode like mental! It always gave me that pure adrenaline feeling

These lads will always be anyone’s favorite if they’ve seen one in person / ridden them.

[hema4saran]

In my school days, RX100 was the rage. So in my view, RX100 is the undisputed king and it still rules the pre-owned market. So difficult to find a clean example and if you find one, then the asking price huge!! Such is the cult for this bike.

If at all Yamaha build one for Indian market and mimic the sound, then it will be a definite winner. From my view, Yamaha products are very much reliable.