1986 Yamaha RD500 YPVS *Sold £22,000*

Description

• Over £30k spent
• Professionally restored
• Probably the best example currently available
• Groundbreaking design
• Rides perfectly
• Iconic collectable example

In a world of Superbike racing, we’ve all become used to the idea of running a road bike that’s based heavily on the racers we watch on TV. In the last 35 years we’ve seen a handful of ultra-expensive road legal Moto GP replicas from Ducati and Honda, but back in the early 1980s Yamaha stunned motorcycling by announcing what looked very much like a road legal version of their then-new V4 GP racer, for a price that pretty much any 25-year-old rider with a full-time job could afford.

Yamaha already had the lightweight two-stroke market sewn up with their LC range. The introduction of the second generation YPVS models in 1983 had cemented their dominance.

Launching the V4-engined Yamaha RD500 just six months after Kenny Roberts and Eddie Lawson debuted the race bike was a master stroke for the company. Demand for the new bike was massive with all stock sold well in advance and some customers re-selling their place in the queue at well above RRP before they’d even arrived.

Our vendor, who has owned this bike for over ten years, was one of the many that always wanted that “bedroom wall” bike but never quite managed to fulfil that ambition until later in life. Eventually achieving that ambition and thoroughly enjoying its ownership, he now finds that he has scratched that itch so to speak.

Now completely restored and with only 100 miles travelled since the last MOT in August, a lucky bidder is going to have the pleasure of owning what is essentially “a virtually new” 37-year-old motorcycle.

Not just any 37-year-old motorcycle, the iconic RD500 YPVS! Although it will be supplied with very little paperwork, it will come with invoices totalling over £17k, a current MOT, a handful of previous ones, the V5 in our vendors name and both keys.

The Bike

The RD500 YPVS comes with a restoration story to envy any professional restoration that has gone before. Yep, you read that correctly. This is not an enthusiast in his garage polishing and cleaning to an acceptable standard, no! This has been professionally restored by not just one but two professional Motorcycle restoration companies. Although the journey really is enviable, when it comes to the quality of the bike there are some sad elements of one company going into administration and our vendor paying twice totalling £30k, but do read on for the full picture.

Once our vendor decided to achieve his dream of owning the iconic RD500 he set about searching for one that would fit the bill. As you will know that is no easy challenge, but he eventually found one at the right price but not quite in the condition he wanted. That wasn’t a problem as he knew he would improve it as he went along.

Purchased from a guy in Stockton who had owned the bike for 6 years and had originally purchased it from his friend, it had effectively been in long previous ownership. This was a good start, so he purchased the bike.

He then enjoyed it for a year or so before work and life took over. The bike then sat for a while which prompted him to get the bike refreshed.  He researched for a specific motorcycle restorer and was recommended and settled on The Motorcycle Restoration Company in Saffron Walden.  They were commissioned to restore the bike to a very high standard. Over the next seven or so years, our vendor was back and forth to Saffron Walden with a bag of cash and some new old stock parts for them to fit as they went along. In total he had spent circa £13k with them and the parts sourcing.

As with so many projects like this, it dragged on far longer than our vendor expected. He did admit it was partly his fault as he was just so busy at work that he did not push them.

Then out of the blue his phone rang, and he was told by the landlord that the business had gone bust. They traced the RD500 back to him and asked if he could he come and collect it. He thought the worst and quickly arranged to get to Saffron Walden to collect the bike. On arrival he was amazed to find the bike painted and in one piece with all the parts he had sourced, as far as he could tell, installed. He didn’t hang about and got the bike out as soon as he could. This unfortunately meant that he has no paperwork for that seven-year resto.

At this point, and although the bike looked great aesthetically, our vendor had no idea what state the engine, gearbox and running gear were in so he decided to take the plunge and put it into another restorer to have it checked over.

This time his research and recommendation came in the name of 70s & 80s Restorations in Heathfield, Eastbourne. Our vendor asked Simon there to look over the bike and see what had been done and what he recommended.  After a good look over the big question from Simon was “Do you want to ride it or just keep it in your collection?” Our vendor wanted to ride it so they stripped it back down and started again.

£17k later, this time with an invoice, the bike was ready. Fully stripped, the engine and gearbox were completely rebuilt, the forks were rebuilt, the original rear shock being no longer available was refurbished, the wheels were powder coated and fitted with brand new tyres, all the bushes, bearings, and moving parts have been refurbished. He even went as far as having all the brake lines rebuilt, such was his want to not fit aftermarket braided cables.

If that doesn’t give you an idea of the attention to detail of the bike nothing will. This literally is a stock, completely standard example of the Yamaha RD500. Sounds impossible for a 37-year-old bike but it really is, every part that was not rebuilt or refurbished was sourced as new old stock. In fact, just the rubber section of the rear single seat cover was sourced and cost £502 such is its rarity.

There really aren’t enough superlatives to share the quality of this RD500; look at the detail of the fuel tap and throttle linkages, they just look brand new.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not completely immaculate, there is an air of originality here and there if you look closely, specifically some of the unpainted plastics buried behind the fairings. The mirrors do also show some minor scuffing, but decisions were made to either keep the bike original or fit cheap after-market bits. If you have seen the quality of the aftermarket mirrors that are available for the RD500 you will agree that choosing the former was the right thing to do.

Okay, we are being extremely picky, and should you see the bike in the flesh you would think we are being overly critical. You are correct but our vendor has been very accurate and honest in his description and is a rather modest chap.

We think the bike is absolutely stunning and would challenge you to find a better example. Don’t take our word for it, go and spend some time in the image gallery.

Our view 

For those starting a motorcycle collection the Yamaha RD500 is very likely to be the first on your list. At the very least they really do have to be in your top five bikes as they are genuinely a groundbreaking iconic bike, one that pretty much started the race replica movement.

Personally, if we bought it, we would struggle not to ride it such is the exhilaration that is delivered as the power band opens – but also accept that this example may be classed as “too good” to ride. That’ll be for the winning bidder to decide, either way how can you not envy that choice…

We genuinely believe that you are going to be very hard pushed to find a better example on the market.  We fully expect this to have a lot of action so feel free to do your research and then come back and buy the best Yamaha RD500 on the market. Yes we accept that may be a very big claim but hey, this example really is at the top of its game.

In one word – Stunning!