Page 1 of 2
RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:03 am
by Stankflapper
I have a few stock standard bikes , but I bought this sad little RD400 back in NOVEMBER and thought I would build a bike the way I wanted it to look.
I stripped it down to find it very tired in the engine, the brakes had seized and all the other stuff that comes along with a bike of this age.

seized brakes.

forks were leaking and damaged.

Mastercylinder needed a total overhaul and paint.

Reconditioned the switchgear with new decals.

Barrels rebored with new expansion chambers, I will polish thes stainess chambers up as see how they look.
I modified some SR500 Yammy rearsets to suti the old rear peg mounts/exhaust hangars. These are only chinese ebay pegs but they are quite well made and are foldable.

I got the forks back together and front caliper on. I had a braided line made to replace the old rubber one.

Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:05 am
by Stankflapper
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:05 am
by Stankflapper
Ready for a street Blast!
Items modified from Standard, which I can put back if I wish are:
Single seat fitted. Yamaha SR500 Rearsets.
Cut a second rear guard( purchased off ebay) and fitted lucas style tail lamp along with smaller alloy indicators.
fitted frt painted guard.
removed centre stand and fitted JL Chambers.
slightly lower bars, and mod mirrors.
braided frt brake line.

Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:17 am
by DuncanB
Another beautiful bike rolls off your production line...
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:22 am
by DuncanB
You always seem to use Lomas pipes... is it a quality, performance or price?
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:09 am
by Greasemeup
You must have a huge fleet of bikes!
Post us a group photo?
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:17 am
by OzzyElsie
There are many different approaches you can take when mucking with/restoring old bikes - the emended OEM is one approach - and I love it
And this is a good example. You should have a great bike and a great ride there, something to be proud of and something to enjoy riding. I don't know the characteristics of the JL but I hope the mods give you a big fat juicy mid range. A big fat juicy mid range give good accessible power and impressive performance on the street.
Enjoy

Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:41 am
by Richie_rich
That is bloody beautiful! Nice work. Can I swing by and drop off a few of my bikes for you to lavish some attention on?
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 12:22 pm
by Stankflapper
Thanks Guys, The Jim Lomas pipes fit extremely well and are quality made. Strangely enough the JL`s I fitted to the RZV500 gave the bike a mid to top end massive rush, where as these ones fitted to the 400 seem to have more top end. The price is reasonable, but they are not the cheapest sets around, but you do get a great set of pipes. I have not rung its neck yet as you can see the cylinders have been re-bored and do need a bit of running in. Overall I am happy with the bike and like all 2strokes they are fun to ride.
Agian thanks for the postitive feeback.
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 12:31 pm
by Stankflapper
Greasemeup wrote:You must have a huge fleet of bikes!
Post us a group photo?
I am lucky enough to have 15bikes, not all in the same spot so getting them all together would be a bit of a task.NOT to mention, this would then give my misses a chance to see reality of the bikes I have and whinge even more, so I am working on the "spread them out theory" ...I do actually sell some of my bikes, but usually only to make way for another.
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 2:21 pm
by Greasemeup
We welcome your excentricities and offer only encouragement.
Ex`cen´tric
a. 1. One-sided; having the normally central portion not in the true center.
Perhaps 2 photo's

Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:12 pm
by ken007
looks very nice stanks, cant wait to see it, if you need more space i have room at my place, if that helps, ken
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:41 pm
by BRG1200
what Greasy said ;-)
Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 8:36 pm
by juskh125
That bike looks awesome. I love the red. Best colour on the 400's
Man I gotta know, I got the exact same pipes on my R5. How did you polish em up like that.? Was it on a wheel ? Ive polished alloy engine cases before on a wheel is it done in the same way. They look fricken awesome

Re: RD400 with a twist
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:19 am
by Stankflapper