Google “RD350 café racer” and thisbike immediately pops on the screen.
I’m going to start this write up withan article written on this bike when Jeff Pochodowicz aka “Tower”, who builtthis bike at Twinline Cycle, took it to debut at a Motorcycle show called “TheOne.” At the end is an update on thebike as of today.
The Article:
Tower’s been messing about on bikessince he was a kid, but in 2008 a chance meeting with Ian Halcott lead to himholding a job in the Twinline workshop and eventually stepping up to run theplace when Ian relocated to California. Since then Jeff’s taken a moreperformance-focused approached with their builds.
“The goal with this project was tobuild something with as much reliable horsepower as I could and to make it looksuper good.” says Jeff. “This bike started life as a ’73 Yamaha RD350, I boughtas a complete non-running bike. After about a year of sitting in the corner acustomer contacted me about a new build. They wanted a bike similar to the “Goldhead”that Twinline built years before.”
“On this build I wanted everything tobe more refined than the Goldhead. I wanted to use all the best parts availableand make it better than all my previous builds. Luckily the customer waswilling and we started buying parts. The motor was already rebuilt and most ofthe parts were in awesome shape so we had a great starting point.”
The shopping list started with all theitems Jeff needed to upgrade the bikes handling. Racetech emulators wereinstalled in the rebuilt forks and Works Performance shocks were bolted to therear. A polished alloy swingarm from DG was then added to hold the rear wheel,which, like the front uses a Bridgestone BT45 tyre on a DID rim that’s beenlaced to an original hub. The riding position was revised by fitting Woodcraftclip-on bars and a set of custom mounted rear-set footpegs from Motobits.
The front brake has been rebuilt withstainless pistons, braided lines and a cross-drilled disk, and at the rearthere’s a custom cable controlled set up for the drum. In the interest ofperformance gains via weight loss the bikes stock airbox and ‘Autolube’ oiltank were discarded and an antigravity battery has been mounted in the tail.
To get the reliable performance he wasafter Jeff installed a Power Dynamo/MZB iginition and charging system. Theengines cylinders were mildly ported and the stock heads replaced with SuperWebco units. He then picked out a top performing, great looking pair ofexpansion chamber headers and mufflers from Jim Lomas.
Improving upon the RD’s appearancecame down to a few tasteful modifications. The seat and rear cowl are all new,with the rear lighting frenched into the tail. A single mirror and TrailtechVapor gauge clean up the front end and the forks have been polished to matchthe new swingarm. The engine was given a thorough clean and repainted in satinblack, leaving a well-balanced selection of unpainted details. And the bodyworkwas painted by Mitchell Smith in a classic gloss black and silver pinstripescheme.
“The bike took about a year to build,but for a few months of that time it sat idle.” says Jeff. “In October 2015 Iwas trying to figure out what bike I would bring to The 2016 One MotorcycleShow when I realised this bike would be perfect. That decision also gave me thepressure and deadline I needed to get it done.”
At the One Motorcycle Show theTwinline Yamaha RD was the only two stroke on display and it got its fairshare of compliments, but at the time of writing this Jeff was revisiting it’stune. “I don’t have a power figure just yet, but the bike rides amazing. Itstarts easily and screams at full throttle. The suspension is perfect, worthevery penny spent and based on the engine mods I’m hoping for between45-50bhp.”
Later this year the Twinline name will find its way back toIan Halcott. That doesn’t mean this is the last we’ll be seeing from Jeffthough and here’s hoping that two-stroke engines remain a big part of his buildportfolio.
See also
Building a CafeRacerMotorcycle ReviewsYamaha Cafe Racer
Cafe Contenders –Yamaha SR400 and SR500
Two Bangers! There’s nothing quitelike the ring-a-ding-ding of a two-stroke motorcycle. Unfortunately, thedays of manufacturers building road-going two strokes have long gone, so ifyou’re in the market for one you’ll be trawling the classifieds.
One legendary ‘oil burner’ to look outfor is the <ahref=”https://www.returnofthecaferacers.com/category/yamaha-motorcycle-cafe-racer/”>Yamaha</a> RD350.Classed as a sportsbike when it was first released, the RD is a reliable all-roundercapable of mid 5 second 0-60 times. By today’s standards, the RD’s running gearis somewhat outdated though, making them a great candidate for modern upgrades.This is exactly the approach Jeff Pochodowicz, aka Tower, at TwinlineMotorcycles took with their latest RD based build.
Photographyby Enginethusiast
Fast forward to 2024:
After I took possession of the bike, Isent it to John Rodenhiser at Economy Cycle (Specialize in Yamaha 2 strokes) tofinalize the tuning. It turned out thecase had to again be disassembled and fully rebuilt to ensure the very besttuning. The bike had new Pro X Crank androds installed with welded pins, pair of Wiseco pistons, all new bearings/seals,Zeeltronic handheld ignition programmer, heavy duty RD400 transmission and clutch,bronze swing arm bushings, Shindy steering damper and transmission overhauled (builtin reverse shift pattern 1 up and 5 down). The bike has been ridden maybe 1500 miles since it was completelyfinished in 2017, the odometer resets when you replace the battery in theTrailtech Vapor head unit. Although itmay be hard to see in the pictures, the bike does have LED turn signals onforks and rear frame. Also has neutral light and turn signal indicator in thetriple tree. There is a small amount ofstorage under the gas tank, enough for spare oil, plugs, tools andpaperwork. The suspension is set up for a 200lb rider,but the coil overs can easily be adjusted to liking. I only run 93 octane gasoline, mixed withBelRay H1-R Ester Oil at a 36:1 ratio. The paint does have a couple of small blemishes that I tried to depictin the photos (mostly contained to the seat pan), rear left side has a smallvertical crack, right side has a small paint spider crack and there are acouple small chips just under the front of the seat. Everything functions as it should, all switchcups were rebuilt, has bright lights, horn, and a set of keys. Also have all receipts and paperwork, servicemanuals, spare gaskets, extra set of side covers and miscellaneous parts alsotools for timing and suspension adjustment. Super fun bike to ride, very quick and nimble.