Terry Smith’s Yamaha Radian

My father (an ex-royal Marines Commando) rode bikes, which stirred the motorcycling interest in my elder brother and I. I had a Fantic GT, a Suzuki X7, a Kawasaki 440 LTD, a Yamaha XJ750 (gone but never forgotten after going all round Europe on it before spectacularly totalling it) and a Suzuki GSX750ESD, finally downsizing to a Yamaha RD350LC. As the decades rolled past I got back into motorcycling, and being a qualified engineer I rather fancied buying and restoring one or two of my old mounts, so I ended up with a Kawasaki 440 LTD and a Yamaha XJ750. It was great to be back in the saddle, but I wanted a mediumsized bike. I found out about the Yamaha Radian YX600 – a bike I had never heard of before, as it was never sold in the UK. I ended up buying (for £800) a slightly overpriced death trap with many things wrong with it: wrong seat, wrong tank, loose ape-hanger handle-bar extenders and headstock, forks smacking the tank, no air-filter, slightly modified frame, incorrectly routed cabling, leaking brake master cylinder, mullered fixings and various missing bits and pieces. However, it did run and had a pretty new pair of tyres, original exhausts, no electrical problems and, with just 25,000 miles on the clock, was not in urgent need of any major engine work. I managed to sort out all the problems with the bike myself. I could write a short book on some of the issues and how I managed to resolve them and on everything I’ve done to it (as could many of us I suspect), but I now have a bike that looks and rides like it should do, whilst retaining some characterful patina and which also burbles beautifully and goes like stink when opened up. It is a joy to ride and there’s nothing quite like riding it through twisting country lanes on a summer’s day, even though 1980s handling leaves a bit to be desired sometimes. But that’s the whole point really – re-living the joys of 1980s riding in the 21st century. I would love to be able to find my brother’s old Guzzi for him, or do up a nice green Honda CB350 in memory of my Dad. Many thanks to Larry Frost (a lovely guy) at Illusion Racepaint and to Leigh Pettifer (also a great guy) at Circuit 2 Circuit for everything.