Apart from our very beloved Bullets, there’s probably another great motorbike you would want to customize and ride once in lifetime. Yamaha RD 350cc is definately another choice of every bike enthusiast in country. Notorious, the converted RD350 was the first attempt of Hima who is quite known by our reader for his modified Electra. He shared his building experiance with us, Thanking him over to his story:
“I christened her “Notorious”, I found this 80’s RD350 lying in a small garage..I has always wanted to own an RD. Growing up in the 90s it was my DREAM BIKE back in the day. So, I used whatever savings I had and bought her. This was in 2007. In the beginning, she gave me lots of problems, the connecting rod had to be changed, even before modification work got started! Then the gear lever slipped, you name it…yeah she was difficult in the begining.”
“Then in Dec of 2007, we started working on her, with my friend Ms-a, the same guy who worked on my Electra. The fuel tank is the original tank, cut up, dented etc to have a retro cafe racer look. The chasis was altered a little. The seat was custom made (it was not very comfy, mind you). The head light is a Thunderbird headlight, so too the head light clamp. The fork was dropped to the lowest possible extend. The handlebar was that of a standard bullet 350, but later I used an FZ handlebar. Both the wheel rims are 18 inches. Both the tyres are MRF zappers, the front is 100/90/18 while the rear is 120/80/18.”
“What made ‘Notorious’ unique was the oil tank. The tail had two compartments, the front housed a dry cell battery, while the back was used as an oil tank. Oil was piped down from this tank to the engine. It was pretty tough to get the right shape for the tail (oil tank). We had to cut a bullet fuel tank to make the tail…after a lot of weldings and denting, it came out right. The tank cap is taken from the fuel tank of an old generator. ” He laughed.
“In the early 2008, I had to go down to Guwahati, so I took the engine covers and got them buffed clean and shiny there. The number 5 stands for my Birthday. I used two colors red and white because I think they are the two colors which are quite in contrast but at the same time blend quite well. The exhausts are both Bullet exhausts which I bought in Guwahati, the dukan-walla called them rockets? 🙂 Well, yes this baby ‘Notorious’ sounded like a rocket, announcing her arrival a few minutes before she shows herself, thanks to the rocket silencers.”
Due to some reason Hima had sell his modded racer in early year, 2010. “In 2010 I was badly in need of money, so I had to sell her off. It was a very difficult decision to make. I dont even wanna go into details. Well, thats about “Notorious” I used to ride. “