Remembering the ride
I had to notice the advert in the local paper because of the line: “....racing Yamaha twin, probably early 1960s”. But when I got there what greeted me wasn’t a converted old YDS3 from 1964 as I was expecting but a genuine YDS1R with its large fuel tank, made-under-licence Japanese Amals and huge magneto; albeit all in a pile of pieces. Putting it back together was straightforward and I converted it to Amal Mk 1 Concentric carburettors and methanol fuel.
At the time I was competing in classic racing with such machinery as a 250 Greeves two stroke, so the switch to an early Yamaha twin seemed a reasonable move. Or so I thought. You see, half way through the rebuild the respected classic Yamaha tuner Les Gates warned me that these early racers easily broke their cranks and parts were virtually unobtainable. While that should have been the end and the bike should have been confined as a static exhibit only, I decided to run it at a medium rate, keep the revs down and add some colour to the classic fields. On the track with a sensible revs limit it went okay but nothing startling and I certainly wanted to keep the engine in one piece. The bike was used in competition around Amaroo and Winton. It would easily hold pace with other 250cc bikes but staying with 350s meant screaming the engine and that was not being permitted. The brakes and handling were okay but the gearshift was a bit vague. The only way it attracted regular attention was the easy way it started: up on the rear stand, put it in first gear, get someone to hold the throttle slightly open and I’d reach down to pull around the rear wheel very quickly. Because of the high exhaust ports in the competition barrels there was very little effective compression at low revs so the engine would easily burst into life. And it was certainly the only two stroke twin in the classic paddock during those years so the sound was very different. After a few events, I decided not to risk such a rare bike (or its crank) and the thing was confined to the garage only to come out from under the covers when mates were visiting.