1976 Yamaha RD 400C

This must be one of the best RD400 bikes in the UK!

Near-concourse UK bike, matching numbers and most importantly, 1 original Yamaha key fits all. There's even two spare keys as well.
Historic road tax & MOT exempt.

Owned for 5 years and painstakingly restored by the previous owner (thanks mate!), I've continued to care for it and enjoyed many rallies, including two trouble-free visits to the MC Piston Club rallies in Northern Spain, covering over 2, 000 miles without any issues.

CHASSIS
Complete nut & bolt rebuild in 2019 by the previous owner.
Marine Blue paintwork done by Aircooled RD Club painter, Med.
Powder coated with appropriate Gloss, Satin or Matt finishes on all Black parts, including brake master cylinders, callipers, switch gear, clutch perch, seat base, brake disc centres.
Heads, barrels, clock bezels, inner rear mudguard and front fork shroud have been painted Satin Black with Holts bumper paint on the plastic parts.
New Genuine Yamaha fork yoke bearing races & bearings fitted, new front fork stanchions that came with bike. These were assembled to fork bodies with new seals, dust covers & fork oil.
All brass connectors cleaned or replaced with correct Brass Japanese connectors.
New seat cover fitted over original foam.
Yamaha tool kit included as shown in the under seat picture.

CHROME WORK
ACF Howells of Walsall, West Midlands chromed all parts: Rear mudguard, rear subframe, headlight rim, kickstart, petrol cap, chain adjusters, wheel & swing arm spindles, gear change, front brake pipe support bracket, upper headlamp ear dampers, indicator bodies along with their teardrop washers (New genuine Yamaha indicator lenses fitted) and all nuts & bolts as required.
New genuine Yamaha Front mudguard fitted in 2019.
New weighted handle bars & new rear shock absorbers, courtesy of RDLC Crazy.
Wire wheels stripped down, hubs vapour blasted by SBL of Wolverhampton. Rims chromed by ACF Howells, using the original spokes and nipples. The spokes had new Zinc plating. The Nipples had a new coating of Yellow passivate all courtesy of RDBitz.
New Koyo(OEM) wheel bearings fitted.
Wheels rebuilt by SFX Wheels of Wolverhampton. New Avon Roadrider Mk2 tyres fitted last year, transforming the handling.
NOS genuine Yamaha rear sprocket obtained from the USA. New front sprocket from Yambits along with speedo, tacho, throttle and clutch cables.

NEWLY PLATED COMPONENTS
All other nuts & bolts, rear brake pivot, front brake pipe have had new Zinc coating courtesy of Parkfield Plating of Wolverhampton.
Where appropriate all Olive Drab & Yellow passivate coating has been done by RDBitz, these include engine case screws, bottom headlamp ear dampers, brake pipe springs, brake pipe banjos, brake pipe banjo bolts, clutch lever bolt, front brake adjuster nut & bolt, front master cylinder cover screws, jubilee clips on carbs & airbox rubbers, reed valve mounting allen bolts, etc.

BRAKE COMPONENTS
NOS genuine Yamaha Front Master Cylinder rebuild kit fitted. Rear Master Cylinder components were in good condition so were reassembled. New pistons & seal kits fitted to callipers. New brake pad shims (Yambits) and brake pads fitted. Along with all new copper banjo washers. New Yambits Red rubber rear reservoir to Master Cylinder pipe fitted along with new stainless steel jubilee clips.

ENGINE & CARBS
Engine stripped down & rebuilt by previous owner, an RD Club officiando.
Crank shaft rebuilt by PJME of Wolverhampton. Bores honed within tolerances. New rings, little ends, gudgeon pins & circlips supplied by PJME.
Righthand cylinder is 1. 0mm oversize & Lefthand cylinder is 1. 25mm oversize.
All new genuine Yamaha seals used on engine rebuild. Athena gasket kit used for the rest.
Clutch friction & metal plates all within tolerance so refitted.
2 stroke pump rebuilt by Aircooled RD club guru, Arrow (Gary) - previous owner said "It's too good to use, but I had to. It’s a work of art!!!."
New oil pipes fitted from tank to pump & pump to carbs.
NOS genuine Yamaha neutral indicator plate fitted.
Motul transoil 10/ 40 used in gearbox, Gulf Syntrac fully synthetic 2 stroke oil in 2T tank.
Carbs vapour blasted by SBL. As recommended on the Aircooled Rd club forum, the brass balls were removed by previous owner, to clean the air corrector jets, then fitted with 5 X 0. 8 mm brass grub screws sealed with thread lock, then put in an ultrasonic cleaner. The internals are genuine Mikuni components including the needles (5L3) and needle jets. Throttle slides (2. 5) are in very good condition. Float heights set at 23mm as per factory manual.

EXHAUSTS & DOWNPIPES
Downpipes are in very good condition, possibly original chrome. The exhausts are Yamaha original or NOS in the last few years, all rust free. There are a couple of little marks and a little scrape underneath, but they’re original chrome.

SPARES
Also have another set of exhausts plus a few other spares available to buy separately. The previous owner restored it to the current high standard and I bought this bike because it was exactly as I remember seeing my first RD400 when I had a FS1-E back in 1976. I searched everywhere for the right bike, it had to be Marine Blue, not tatty and not a US-import, so this bike was perfect. Although it wouldn't have mattered to me, this is a genuine matching numbers machine, as supplied by Yamaha originally.

I found that lots of these classic RD400s are the wrong colour, or have expansion chambers, or have generally been messed about and are a long way off standard, and not in a good way. But if you are looking for a genuine Yamaha RD400C, I doubt there is anything, anywhere that is this good. I can't take the credit for the skilled restoration, that was the chap I bought the bike from, but you can benefit from the fact its been done well, been properly looked after and should be trouble-free for many more miles.

So, what about any negatives? Honestly, there is very little to mention, it doesn't currently have a steering lock, I intended to source one and modify it to take the same key, but that's a bit of work and the simpler solution would be to just fit a secondhand lock, there are lots that come up on auction sites and classifieds. I like the fact that the one key fits the ignition lock, the seat lock and the petrol cap, so many don't nowadays. And occasionally, the kick start can get stuck behind the footrest, it could do with a small mod to the footrest mount to prevent it. Not a big issue but I haven't had time to rectify it.

I bought the bike to use and enjoy on sunny Sunday rides and rallies. Since I bought it I've done 3, 270 miles, mostly in Spain on the MC Piston rallies and a few local ride-outs. Bikes like this need to be used and showed and it's time for a new owner to enjoy - it always gets lots of attention whenever I am out and about!

Priced realistically in the current market at £8, 750 or near offer - its bound to increase in value when the market for classic bikes improves.

Contact me for a video to hear the bike start (first kick!) and running.