David Barker’s 1970 Yamaha YAS1

Greetings from Dublin! I’m delighted to attach a couple of photos of a project myself and my very good mate, Kieran Purcell, have been engaged in for the past couple of years. It’s a little Yamaha YAS1 from 1970 that I bought about 10 years ago from a guy who had brought it in from the UK. As you can see from the first pic, it was in a dire mess. However, undaunted, we started work in a 6ft x 7ft shed. It really was a labour of love since we both remembered hankering after the YAS1 when we were teenagers. However, there were many times when we despaired of ever finishing the job because anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. But, with the great help of the Dublin motorcycle community, ebay, our long suffering wives and good friends we eventually got her back on the road. We have a bit to go yet, as you can see the front mudguard is off an AS3, but heads are turning as we whizz around. We are happy enough to leave it as a good example of a 47-year-old bike. I often use it to commute to work. Now, where’s that little 1967 YL1 we’ve just bought?