YAMAHA RD350LC SPECIAL
Brian Thomson’s beautiful IRN-BRU LC.
his story starts almost 25 years ago, with a legendary motorcycle built by Nick Daniels. In the hallowed pages of September 1993’s Performance Bikes (perhaps the 1990s’ finest motorcycle magazine) Nick’s 7Up-painted Yamaha RD350LC became an iconic example of the two-stroke special and it hit a switch in Brian Thomson’s head. It’s taken a further 23 years to come to fruition, but Brian has finally finished his homage to that most special of specials. Ladies and gentlemen, check out the IRN-BRU Yamaha RD350LC Powervalve… Now, let’s start with the theme of this RD350LC. Coming from Dollar, in Scotland, there really was only going to be one choice of colour scheme. Right, Bri? “Well, yes I’m Scottish so my thought was to use IRN-BRU as I love the stuff too. I wanted to make a homage to the 7Up bike of Nick’s so figured that was a good way to go – although I did also think of using Vimto for a while!” Introduced way back in 1901, IRN-BRU, known as ‘Scotland’s other national drink’ is an institution and also just happens to come in a very colourful can. Perfect for a paint job, but first a suitable donor bike needed to be found.
“For me the 7Up RD350LC special just flicked a switch in my head and I really wanted to make my own homage to it.”
Brian says: “Nick’s 7Up bike was the most stunning LC I’d ever seen. We all have bikes that affect us and this was one that affected me. This bike really floated my boat. I’d been thinking about it for 20 years or more, but then I joined the two-stroke forum in 2010 or 2011 and thought ‘let’s do it’. I finally saw a bike for sale: an LC with a YPVS motor (which was what I wanted). I looked at it and bought it for £870 but as a ‘non-runner’. Those two words would haunt me and become a pain in the backside. One thing I’ve learned with a two-stroke – especially one that’s sat for 16 years – is get it running first.” Brian is 54 and his family always had bikes, even if he wasn’t that bothered with them at first. He says: “I’d go on the back of bikes but wasn’t bothered until my cousin bought one when he was 14! That fired up the old jealousy so I wanted one! “I’ve basically had bikes continually since then: dad got me a cheap 50cc Step-thru and since then I’ve had the likes of a GSX250, RD400, Kawasaki GPZ1100B1, Z1000J, a Katana 1000 – that was beautiful! I had a bad crash on that. When I remember my old bikes I was always changing the paint to what I wanted. I was always making the bikes individual to me.” It’s fair to say here and now that Brian isn’t the biggest fettler/builder in the world. In his own words he says: “This bike was always going to be a reality of what a special really does cost for someone who doesn’t have the ability to do it all by themselves and I’m comfortable with that. In many areas I didn’t have a ‘Scooby Doo’, but I learned as I went. “I also knew what I wanted: something in-period that looked right. This is why I went with right-wayup forks and modern wheels rather than spoked.” The decision on the chassis was one which was made with the help of Nigel Kimber from NK Racing. Bri explains: “We were chatting and I was asking what works and he mentioned the CBR400RR front and rear-end but that he’d never done the front before so it was the first one he did. From there it was a long process getting the bike to how it should look.” A long process and an expensive one, right Brian? “It was a case of ‘no expense spared’ when I could afford it! I had £600 of OE Yamaha parts from Webbs of Lincoln alone. I stripped it all down and got the engine sorted first to be fair: that was three or four years before the rest of the bike as I thought that was the most important thing, then the frame and swingarm.” The motor proved to be the hardest thing to get right, despite Brian hiring the biggest names in the business to help. He explains: “Barry Moore did the engine and the wiring for it. Barry’s philosophy is funny, he said ‘I will do it no problem, but if I give you list of parts then you get them, no quibbles!’ So, if Barry wants 20 particular parts from Yamaha, then you do it his way. The guy is so meticulous and his work was faultless and Barry got this non-runner running, but then we had to get it running right, which meant time on a rolling road.” Enter stage left Mick Abbey and Two Stroke Forum member Dave Whattam – known to many as ‘Mutt’s Nutts’ on the various forums! Brian explains: “These two got the bike sorted. Both are gods on two-strokes and worked their magic. They worked on the bike for 10 hours straight one day to get the thing sorted.” Eventually after many hours on a rolling-road dyno the YPVS motor showed 59bhp, which Brian was well chuffed with: “It’s all completely standard to be honest, apart from the beautiful Blue Haze/barry Dawson expansion chambers. I really just wanted a reliable bike and from that 59bhp I can always tune it if I want to, but to be honest I didn’t want to keep taking the motor to bits if it was over-tuned and
therefore not reliable. And how many times do you wring the neck of a tuned bike? And unlike many two-stroke RD specials, mine still works off the oil pump: not premix.” Finally happy with the motor, Brian admits to sinking around £1500 into that part of the build alone. Other parts of the build came together as and when. He says: “I got the indicators I wanted, the tail piece: Blue Haze did the brilliant under-tray. The Koso clocks weren’t quite what I wanted as I wanted two, round analogue clocks, but instead I went for the LCD look. People ask about the headlights too. I think – like the paint scheme – it’s a bit ‘Marmitey’. Some love the twin-headlights and some don’t. I may well change them for a single lamp at some point. But that’s the case with specials, isn’t it? They’re never finished!” Let’s talk about that paint scheme Bri. It doesn’t seem to marry-up with the drink can does it mate? “Okay, okay, let’s talk about the elephant in the room,” says the man himself. “The colour of my bike: it’s MY interpretation of the IRN-BRU colours. Now, I’ve seen lots of bikes in these sorts of colours but never liked the orange so I wanted my take on it. I designed the paint scheme too. One thing I wanted was that I see a lot of bikes where the tank has a bigger stripe compared to the tailpiece or mudguard. “I wanted the stripe to be the same width the whole of the way down the bike. Andy’s Bike Paints did the work and they said doing the decal of the man on the tank was one of the hardest things they’ve done as there’s so much depth to it, it’s almost 3D. I was impressed by the results. The colour itself is the 2012 or 13 ‘Tangerine Scream’ used on the Ford Focus ST. If I was re-doing it as close to IRN-BRU actual colour I would use ‘Electric Orange’, which was a colour used before on the earlier Ford Focus ST.” We don’t care Bri, we love it. It’s loud, just like the bike itself. Brian says: “You can’t ride down the street without people looking and stuff. You don’t ride it to be inconspicuous! My nephew took pics of the bike and sent them to Barrs, who make IRN-BRU and they were going to send some promotional stuff to me, but then didn’t. Oh well.” By the time the bike had come together, he’d found some good things and some bad. Good was that A M Philpot sorted the forks, DK Spares (Delkevic) make a front wheel identical to the CBR400RR’S, discs front and rear for the CBR400RR brakes from China work, while the Chinese brake master cylinder weeps and the Chinese rear-sets need changing too: “And the suspension is way too hard at the moment, so I need to get that sorted.” As he says, it’s now fine tuning of a machine, which cost £6000-£7000 to build; but it’s been a labour of love. He adds: “Over the years of the build not one person or company did a bad job for me – which says a lot. But – better still – a few special people went far and above what was required. That’s what makes the hobby we love so very special I think.” Yup, we agree Brian. And your bike is a testament to you mate.