Yamaha RD56, 1962-1966. The bike that gave Yamaha their first World Championships.

With the RD56 and Phil Read Yamaha had its first Worldchampionship in 1964.

The twin-cylinder engine had rotary valves on each side and with a bore x stroke of 56 x 50,7 mm this gave a capacity of 249,8 ccm.

Compressionratio was 7.8 and this resulted in 40 PS at 11.000 rpm for the 1962 version. In 1963 this went up to 45 PS, in 1964 50 PS andthe last version had more than 55/56 PS. Gearbox was 7 speeds and topspeed an astonishing 220 km/h.

P.S. Not all pictures from the RD56 can be "clicked" because of quality !!!

Yamaha RD56, Phil Read

Tyres were a narrow 2.75-18 up on front and a 3.00-18 at the back. Weight was about 115 kg.