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Dave Dobinson
Cairns, Australia
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A great site with lots of valuable info. I have an original complete and running YDS 5 250 that I saved from a wreckers in 1985. I was thinking of selling it but after seeing how much tech knowledge and assistance there is available now maybe I will keep it and restore. Does anyone have any comparative performance info re the 250 Yams and the Suzuki 250 T20? The T20 was very popular here in Oz and as a result not many Yam 250s were sold in the mid to late 60s which makes them uncommon/rare here these days. Parts and knowledge about them are virtually nonexistent which is why i have been waiting over 20 years for a site like this!Keep up the good work. |
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phil
near Seattle WA USA
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Thank you Ludy so much for the memories!
My first ride on a real street bike was my friend's 250 Yamaha Big Bear (i believe it was called). We were 14 or 15 (53 now) and it wasn't too safe, not having a working front brake. There was an old road that had been cut off due to a new highway. Looking back it seemed like it was about 500ft long(170 m). We were trying to see who could get it going the fastest. As i remember, we were getting the speedo over 60 mph (96 kph) and there was a barricade at one end of the road, and blackberry bushes at the other. The miracle was we never crashed. Had to wait till i got older and dumber, but that is another story! I had a '75(?)TT500. I never heard of the HL 500. I've got an old video from the 70s, of a hillclimb in Utah, not too far from the Bonneville Salt Flats (which are encircled by mountains and hills) called The Widowmaker, which is quite legendary by its own right. I've driven by the "hill", but haven't seen the race in person. The hill rises up from the same floor as The Bonneville Salt Flats and rises to 1000 or 1200 feet (400 m) at like maybe 50 - 60 degrees. Hillclimbers were bringing all kinds of bikes to try to make it to the top. There were many modified bikes, many with extended swingarms.
All of these would try to get up as much speed as possibe at the start. None of these could make it. Some would go too fast, lose control and wipeout low on the hill. Some would try to use too much power and bury the rear wheel in a rooster tail of dirt. I swear on a stack of Yammy repair manuals the only bike that made it to the top was a stock TT500. I believe the rider was a from a Yamaha dealership. He just cruised right up at a comparatively slow steady speed. just let the bike do its thing. i couldn't believe it when i saw it, i had the TT500 then and had heard stories about their legendary climbing abilities and had bragged about them but there was the proof!!! I have that on VHS and should see about getting it put on a DVD so i could post it. I'm sure a few Yamaha fans would enjoy it. Note: the other bikes at this time were pretty much parallel twins. Shortly after this time the highly modified four cylinder bikes came out and changed the hillclimb story. These new bikes were capable of climbing almost anything at slightly subsonic speeds throwing a mile high rooster tail of dirt. So much for finesse!! Sorry if i take up too much web space. but you got the dottering old fool's memories going!!!
if i'm not too boring i might tell the story about my 1971 360 Enduro, being tossed over the handlebars, ruined ankles and sheared woodruff keys its pretty funny (now)!! Thanks again Ludy! |
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Charles N. Rudesyle
The Farm, USA
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Very commendable work here! A pleasure to read, many sincere thanks for your effort and I hope you keep this going! Interesting articles and photos, a real treasure from the past... |
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John LeBlanc
North Dakota, USA
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Hi, what a great website you have here! I have a 1966 Yamaha YM1 I had restored last year. I thought you might enjoy seeing some more restored Yamahas so here is the link to the website of Damon Graddy, who restored my bike. Enjoy! http://www.vintage2strokes.com/ |
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promoton - ton bakker -
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Hallo Ludy,
Mooie website!
De YDS5 ziet er schitterend uit, het is leuk om mijn spuitwerk op deze manier terug te zien.
Hartelijke groeten,
Ton Bakker
Promoton |
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Dolf Peeters
Dieren
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Dag Ludy! Gevonden via zoekwerk voor een Suid Afrikaanse Motorblaadje lezer! Je hebt een fantastische stek op het web gevonden. En de Suid Afrikaner die ik op je heb afgestuurd is ook al baaie bly! Natuurlijk zet ik de link in ** maar ik zal ook effe checken of Motoplus en Promotor hier al aandacht aan besteed hebben.
Veel succes en plezier in de tweede helft van je leven!
Dolf |
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Craig Anderson
Big Bear Lake, CA
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Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your passion for Yamaha. I have a small collection myself and really enjoy the process of restoration and learning the history of the type. I hope to meet you one day and see in person your beautiful collection. |
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willem van nuenen
tilburg holland
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Hi Ludy,my name is Willem,51 years old and i love old racebike"s from end 60"s untill the 80"s.My hobby is now building Protar scale 1:9 models.I"ve finisched an MV Augusta 500cc 1964 but my next one is interresting for you.I call it:Saarinen Tribute Project,the building of the Yamaha yzr 500 OW20 from Italeri,to make an exact copy of the bike from Jarno starting the season 1973 on scale 1:9 to honor the Flying Finn.If you are interrested,mail me and i keep you informed as also Hehk van Melzen and Klaas Tjassens.Thanks and meet again greetings Willem |
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John Boote
New Zealand
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Hello Lude,
Your web page is what the World Wide Web (** is all about. Information from some one so knowledgeable and yet prior to the net we would never have had access to. Fantastic and if I can do any thing for you or the site just ask. I have a huge collection of Motorcycle brochures and i am happy to share images with you or your visitors. I also have a 1960 YDSD1 scrambler if any ones interested in talking to me about.
Cheers>
John Boote |
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Fried Anepool
Driebergen, The Netherlands
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Hi Ludy,
Found your beautiful site through the links page on ** Your site already is a unique archive of Yamaha history. I'm sure you'll add much more unique material. Thnks in advance for this digital Yamaha museum. I'll come back for sure!
Kind regards,
Fried Anepool,
http://www.konepool.demon.nl/konepool%20motoren.htm |
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Don Sellars
Greenfield, England
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Hi Ludy, just found your site looking for Yamaha YES2/YES2R clubman's racer information, after years doing TD1's, I think it's a great site, very informative, thabks,
Don |
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Rick
Holland
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Yamaha fan from holland |
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Mark Roberts
Lexington, IL USA
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Hi Ludy,
Just found your site, after browsing a bit I can see you have had a very interesting career with Yamaha. It must have been great to be involved with so many historic events in the "Glory Years" of motorcycling. I will continue to check in for updates often. Very well done, I hope we meet on the road someday! |
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Harry Moses
New Brunswick, Canada
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Ludy,
Thank you so much for the great vintage Yamaha site. I enjoy riding a lovely 73 TX750 which has a KPH speedometer from Holland. I am looking forward to learning the "real" story about the TX750 from your perspective.
WOW... The "secret" TX350 was a gorgeous bike. It's a shame they never produced it.
By the way, thank you for putting the TX750 promotional video on DVD. Yvon Wolters kindly sent one to me, and I enjoyed it very much.
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William Egan
Toronto Ontario
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Hi Ludy
I have just discovered your great web site, I will look forward to your article on the TX750. That was my fist bike A gold 73. I'm 54 years old now and have restored one that is almost finished. You wouldn't have any mufflers hiding in a closet!!!! LOL
Thanks again for your Web site
Bill
Toronto Canada |
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Chris Wilson
Manston Kent U.K.
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 ear Ludy,
I am happy to see that an important part people being able to trace Yamaha's history is in your capable hands. Have fun with it and thanks for making the effort.
Cheers
Chris Wilson. |
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Gerrit
YMD
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 Hi Ludy, nice site and much background information.
Super ! Best regards, Gerrit YMD |
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NICK FREEMAN
PORTABELLA ROAD , WEST LONDON
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ITS A TWO STROKE RACERS FORUM, NICE ONE LUDY-SAN!! |
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popsyosh34
essex,that's right essex
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nice site! |
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Tony Edwards
England
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Good luck and have a great retirement (from work not Yamahas).
Great site I hope to see it develope over the years. |
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JIM REDMOND
ENGLAND
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HI LUDY look forward in exchanging TZ info |
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Torsten Weick
Deutschland
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Hallo Ludy, Glückwunsch zu dieser wunderschönen Homepage; es gibt nichts vergleichbares mit Yamaha Motorrädern! Vielleicht erinnerst du dich an mich; ich bin der Besitzer von der Yamaha TD3, die Börje Jansson in der Saison 1973 bei den Grand Prix gefahren hat. Wir
haben einmal miteinander telefoniert. Vielleicht bringst du mal aus erster Hand die Geschichte zu der Entwicklung der TD3 Maschinen. Schöne Weihnachten wünscht dir, Torsten Weick |
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Hennes Fischer
Germany
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I knew you would not just retire and leave your long time in Yamaha behind. Please continue with your passion for bikes (yeah- particular 2 strokes and TZ's )and nice to keep in touch with your website
Your "old" colleague Hennes
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Peter Weidenhammer
Germany
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What is more interesting than informations from first hand...As an enthusiastic owner - and driver - of a TX 750 I will wait paitiently for the truth about this innovative bike. |
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Steve Jackson
UK
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Hi Ludy, and I thought retirement was for taking it easy! Excellent website and I wish you all the very best, not only with the site but in your retirement too. I'm sure they will both be a great success. Steve. |
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Mario Stropek
Austria
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Hello Ludy, I glad you did not "retire" from working. So I think you will have lot of work with this wonderful wesite. Hope to see you 2008 in Salzburg at our Rupert Hollaus Memorial again. Merry x-mas and a healthy new year. Mario |
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matthew
topeka,ka usa
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so awesome seeing another ydt 1.mines a 1964 that i started restoring about a month ago.was sitting in garage fer 26 years.but its comin back to life , |
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Vaclav Koucky
YMCZ Prague
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Dear Ludy,
even we met only a few times, I have really appreciated having the opportunity to talk to a guy who not only experienced the entire Yamaha evolution in Europe but also remembers it and even more important can talk about it in a very interesting way.
So I am totally happy you decided to continue passing the PTW emotions through a modern communication channel, making it possible also for us "rookies" within Yamaha family to understand what Touching your heart is about.
Thanks for that and please keep sharing!
All the best
Vaclav
PS
Also BIG thanks to Remko - the website was not a farewell present for Ludy only I think, since much more of us as well as even more of Yamaha fans can benefit from it! Great idea with brilliant execution!
V. |
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Peter Abelmann
Germany
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Hi Ludy,
great website!! It is always nice to see your bikes !To have a new site related to old Yamaha twostrokes is really great!! Hope to meet sometimes next year!
Peter |
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Charles Beijen (Yamaco Charlie)
Bornerbroek Holland
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Hi Ludy,
It's great to see you also have your own web-site. I know sure, it will become a famous site with a plenty of visitors. I hope this is only a start of your site and you will let your site grown up to a fabouless one. Succes!.
I will make a link on my side to yours.
Charles |
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