Ebay description

[Seeker]

Ebay descriptions. Do you ever find something on ebay which declares what it is and you think: "oh no it isn't!"

Like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363836269...IAAOSwiDNifOfl

It's not an RD350 it is a Yamaha YR5 and it's an import because the tail light is wrong (UK Yams always had the pear shaped light) and it wasn't sold in this colour (the YCS5e 200cc was this colour). In the UK they came in orange/white for the first 2 years with seamed exhausts and a darker orange/black with seamless exhausts for the last 2 years. If you look closely (I have a lot of spare time) it doesn't have reed valves between the carbs and barrels. It says it's a 1971 but the RD350 wasn't introduced until 1973.

I had one of the early YR5 - great bike, slower than the RD though.

[Bibio]

has the world gone mad... who in their right mind would pay 6 1/4 grand for a POS two stroke from the 70's... bonkers

[Sir Trev]

"Matching numbers" sounds a very American term to me as well.

Nice looking bike but I really don't have patience for a classic vehicle. I prefer brakes that work and modern suspension too much.

[GeorgeRYoung]

not eBay but a local for-sale board in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Posting says it's a 2004:



https://www.kijiji.ca/v-street-cruis...v-s/1612406644


Seems like a 2003, and I have one, but I pointed this out to the seller and got no response.

[Craig380]

Bikes of the late 80s and early 90s are the 'cheap classics' now.

I loved my GT380, had it for 17 years, the feeling when the exhaust note hardened from a drone into a scream at 5,000rpm and it picked up its skirts was unique, and the handling on modern tyres was actually fine (we'll gloss over the crap brakes). But it only cost me £850 after it had had a light cosmetic restoration by the previous owner.

When I holed a piston in 2015, it would have needed a complete engine strip & rebuild (melted aluminium in the big end and a blown seal), which would have been at least £1000 for a crank rebuild, rebores and piston kits. Then while the cases were apart it would have been wise to renew the gearbox bearings & seals. Then the frame really needed repainting. Then the tank paint was looking tired ....

It's easy to spend £3K or £4K in restoring even a supposedly 'simple' stroker, and in a lot of cases the parts are getting more and more scarce, it all pushes up the prices.