The owner’s story: Martin James
“After my Fizzy (Gold SS) an RD 125B was purchased as my first ‘real bike’ in 1975. Apprentice wages of £12 a week and unsympathetic parents put a 250 out of reach. My friend Brian also had an RD125 and we travelled all over, usually racing everywhere. Fastforward many years and I was originally looking for a ‘round tank’ RD 125 just like my old bike. However, very few seem to have survived and the 200, more popular at the time, was more common in the small ads. I was assuming that the bikes (electric start excepted) were practically identical so a 200 found in the MCN classifieds in 2002 seemed to fit the bill.
“This is actually the second time that I have owned this bike. I completed a part restoration in 2003 but then with too many projects on the go, sold it to my good friend Shaun. He did some more work but unfortunately suffered the early onset of dementia and died a few years ago. He was a life-lon ng dedicated biker and had an n impressive collection of bikes, British and Japanese e, but as he aged he was looking to use smaller bike es for his regular riding. After r his death his widow sold off his bike collection, many of which had been partly disassembled for reasons unknown. The only bike within my price range was the RD200, and I decided to rebuild it in memory of my friend.
“The bike now has many NOS parts including mudguards and all painted bodywork, which explains the differing shades of gold; apparently evident to anyone who is not colour blind – unlike me! Frame brackets and swingarm were all powder-coated by Redditch Shotblasting... top job!
“The first learning point was that there are many differences between the RD125 and the RD200 of the same period. The second is that the ‘coffin tank’ later RD200 is also a very different animal aand most parts are not inter rchangeable.
“Unfor rtunately, many on-line suppliers s do not seem aware off this, and it’s always necessa ry to double-check when buuying. An original
parts book is essential, as is a genuine workshop manual, much better than the ‘one size fits all’ generic publications. The verticallysplit design of the engine makes it more difficult to strip and rebuild than the horizontally split 250/350/ 400 types, and the strip/ reassembly requires the use of a good crankcase puller set plus care to ensure that everything is correctly installed.
“The motor has just been rebuilt with a reconditioned crank so is still running in. Performance is brisk and the bike can hold its own in modern traffic; it’s a pleasure to use on the lanes and A-roads around the Midlands. A replacement seat base was sourced on ebay from the US and recovered using a kit purchased online.
“Most of the NOS parts were sourced at Stafford over the last 15 years. However, parts for Yamahas of this age now seem very scarce, and they’re generally expensive when they do turn up. The bike is not perfect, and won’t win any concourse prizes, but is, as Steve remarked, a ‘survivor’ in regular use rather than a museum piece!”