RD700LC Write up

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Ronnie
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RD700LC Write up

#1 Post by Ronnie » Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:31 pm

December issue of Practical Sportsbikes has a feature on the twin engine RD350LC. Think I'll be having a read. :grin:

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#2 Post by Vin » Tue Nov 19, 2013 6:28 pm

Not a bad write up!

Next month .... 30 years of the Yamaha RD500LC :smt023

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#3 Post by jackson.40 » Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:05 am

Vin wrote
Next month .... 30 years of the Yamaha RD500LC
Let us see how much info they take from this site to pass off as their own work! :smt011

I am no fan of bike journalists :smt071

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#4 Post by jackson.40 » Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:05 pm

:cool:

http://www.rzrd500.com/500phpBB3/viewto ... =17&t=8354" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#5 Post by Ronnie » Wed Nov 27, 2013 8:10 pm

Haha! I had forgotten i put that on! ;-)

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#6 Post by SimonH » Thu Nov 28, 2013 8:46 pm

Heh heh heh... it's called 'research' Steve! I'm the one writing the RD history, so obviously I came here to see what I could 'pass off'!

Seriously though, I've got a fair old chunk of material, way too much for the magazine to use. I've aggregated some of it from the magazines of the day (have you spotted the irony in your post, btw: 'info they take from this site' - when some of your posting is, in fact, info scanned from magazines? :-) Is there a difference? I'm not sure - but hey! All friends! I'm not trolling, or whatever it's called).

But I've also had a few interesting phone calls and unearthed some new material, I think. I'm still a bit cloudy on a few things though – like, the bike was first unveiled at the Tokyo Show in 1983 – on the 28th October, I believe, a Friday; did you know 1.2 million people went to that show? – but what was the date of the Paris show that year? I'm told it was AFTER Tokyo, but I thought the Paris show was in September?

I just realised, have I just hi-jacked your thread? :-) Actually, no, seeing as this is for Practical Sportsbikes! Anyway, can anyone shed any light?

Also, can I check this: I rode an RZV500 once, and I remember if you pushed the starter while the engine was running, the temp gauge doubled as a fuel gauge. Was that right? And did the UK bikes do the same thing?

Small point, keeps me awake at night.

Aye. Keep on!

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#7 Post by jackson.40 » Fri Nov 29, 2013 7:11 am

A UK motorcycle magazine is doing a piece on the RD500LC. Surprise surprise, Google brings them to us :razz:

This time the man coming to "research" us is...............

Simon Hargreaves :smt006

Welcome to the group Simon, fill your boots! (but i doubt your posts will reach double figures)

Before i get started a recent quote from you :grin:
Posted: 13 August 2013
by Simon Hargreaves

If you say something often enough, even if it’s bollocks, eventually the world will come round to your point of view. TV presenters, politicians and bike journalists have been using this fact for years.


Maybe your ok after all :smt008

Pull up a chair Simon,schools in :shock:
have you spotted the irony in your post, btw: 'info they take from this site' - when some of your posting is, in fact, info scanned from magazines? Is there a difference?
After many years of bike journalists that have come before you robbing my work from this site, it just makes me feel a little better.The difference is i don`t pass it off as my own work.
I'm still a bit cloudy on a few things though – like, the bike was first unveiled at the Tokyo Show in 1983 – on the 28th October, I believe, a Friday; did you know 1.2 million people went to that show? – but what was the date of the Paris show that year? I'm told it was AFTER Tokyo, but I thought the Paris show was in September?
Google is not a great help here is it :grin: But if you spend a bit more time "researching"
you will find the answer as i did.
Also, can I check this: I rode an RZV500 once, and I remember if you pushed the starter while the engine was running, the temp gauge doubled as a fuel gauge. Was that right? And did the UK bikes do the same thing?

Small point, keeps me awake at night.
Yes i remember is article as well,i think there is a photo of you eating a sandwich? (i will scan and post it up :grin: )
The RZV500R was not fitted with a starter button :shock: but it did have a function button so the temp gauge doubled as a fuel gauge,only fitted to the RZV500R.


But seriously though,if i can help with any other qustions you have please ask.

Regards

Steve

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#8 Post by SimonH » Fri Nov 29, 2013 9:06 am

Hi Steve - yes, sadly, you're probably right on the posting front... especially when you see the prices of RDs! I won't be buying one anytime soon. You know life is full of 'what ifs' when you realise the tatty old RZV you rode 20 years ago (and oh the shame when I read that tripe now... and how we treated it! I'd like to punch me in the face) would've been a good investment. Still, I'm not sure about this investment thing with bikes... I was talking to Bonham's Chief Barn-find-finder (and what a cool job he's got!) and he, of all people, said he doesn't hold with buying something like a bike as an investment; they're dynamic machines and are built to be ridden. Good on him, I thought, as my VFR750 quietly rusts outside.

And something else... when I rode the RZV, it was as far removed from my present then as a GSX-R1000 K5 would be now. And I still think that's pretty current! The perspective of time is a funny thing. It's warped, is what it is. Still recall the riding experience though. I'd wanted an RD for so long. When I was younger, I cut out the cover of Bike ('Take A Good Look') and framed it, hung it on the bedroom wall. That and the pic of Roland Brown riding through Glen Coe on an NS400 – two great, great pics. It was taken by a photographer called Jim Forrest, and his NS pic inspired a man called David Goldman to pick up a camera and shoot bikes – David became, and still is, an astonishing Grand Prix photographer, producing dazzling images. Anyway he in turn inspired a man called Kenny P, who in turn coached me through the early years of my career and without whose help I would not be who I am now. Or even alive, probably. In fact Kenny took those pics of the RZV in France. Everything is connected, it seems.

Thanks for the offer of assistance. I really do appreciate it. The one thing has become clear to me over the years is how much effort/time/love/money owners – from casual to fanatic – put into doing what they do. I so respect that; I love all bikes, however old or new they are, or even how good or bad they are. I have an opinion, and sometimes I'm paid to have one, but in my heart of hearts the thing that keeps me ticking is I love bikes and I love the people who love bikes - Rupert Paul once said there's a shared understanding between bikers – you can walk into a room of strangers and you will pretty quickly know who rides a bike among them.

Anyway, enough waffle. The feature has been sent, at 3.30am this morning. I hope I found out some stuff you didn't know - doing that was in my mind as I wrote it. The trouble is with writing about stuff is there's always so much to say. It's like peeling back the layers of an onion, or a fractal pattern - there's always more and more detail and it just gets more and more interesting. Occasionally you get to join up some dots no-one has joined up before, and that's really exciting.

Buggered if I can find the date of the Paris show in 1983 tho. The event was covered by the mags in their December issues, which would suggest it was October, possibly November. I tried to ask Stan, who went, but he hasn't called back (can't blame him!). I also asked John Nutting and a couple of other journos, but they're hopeless at dates. Half of them don't even get the year right. Too many bangs to the head.

Here's a paragraph I had to cut from the piece – they might use it as a caption. I think it sums up how I felt about the RD at the time: 'For hard-up bike punters in Thatcher’s Britain, burdened by unemployment, recession, threats of nuclear war and rioting, the RD500LC was a thrilling, vivid splash of colour in grey days; an aspiration out of reach, but a reason to keep riding, saving, hoping and dreaming.'

In the end, it didn't matter I never bought an RD500LC. What mattered, to me, was that it existed. That is enough to alter the course of a life – that's why it's important stuff exists we can't afford... which is pretty much where the RD is right now, for me, come to think of it! Ah, full circle. I like it when that happens.

Take care, let me know what's going on and if anything crops up you think might make a good story worth the telling, let me know! I'm at writestuffmedia@gmail.com

All the best, Simon H

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#9 Post by jackson.40 » Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:22 pm

Your OK Simon,i do like your work :cool:

I hope you found the site helpful and i look forward to reading your article.

I was right about the sandwich (i do like my food :grin: )

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But now to answer you question,the Paris show was from 1-9 October 1983

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#10 Post by Ronnie » Fri Nov 29, 2013 5:07 pm

Brilliant! :grin:

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#11 Post by two-stroke-brit » Mon Dec 02, 2013 3:06 pm

is that Nicolas cage ridding pillion
She might not be pretty but always a fun ride !!

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#12 Post by jackson.40 » Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:09 pm

No,it`s Richard Kiel :grin:


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Re: RD700LC Write up

#13 Post by jackson.40 » Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:27 pm

The Guy sitting on the back with KR is HÃ¥kan Carlqvist .He was a Swedish motocross racer who in 1983 claimed the 500cc world championship on a Yamaha :cool:

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#14 Post by SimonH » Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:39 am

Er... did anyone read the thing in Practical Sportsbikes, in the end?

Simon H

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Re: RD700LC Write up

#15 Post by silverstrom » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:49 pm

SimonH wrote:Er... did anyone read the thing in Practical Sportsbikes, in the end?

Simon H
My copy arrived last week and I've read the piece several times. Very informative and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Will go back and read it a few more times before I get to the end of the mag.

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