Yamaha RD350. The “Rajdoot”. The two-stroke madness that provided performance that Indians hadn’t even imagined in their wildest dreams, which no other competitor could compete with. What made it so special? Let me explain.
So, the Yamaha RD350, also known as the Rajdoot, was a two-stroke sports bike that was launched in India in 1983 and was continued till 1989. It was internationally available, but the Indian version was detuned and specially modified for the Indian market to cut costs and give better fuel efficiency. It had a 347cc, TWIN CYLINDER ENGINE(WHAT?!) with a SIX-SPEED GEARBOX that made……wait for it………A BLISTERING 30.5 HORSEPOWER AND 32.3 Nm OF TORQUE!!!(Wait, wait…….I am a bit stunned by the specs, my head is spinning, let me control myself……yeah now I’m all right.). Such INSANE specs, IN 1983! WHAT WAS YAMAHA THINKING?! This bike is blisteringly fast, even by today’s standards! It can rocket from 0 to 100 kmph in 7 seconds, 0-60 in less than 4 seconds, and it has a top speed of an EYE-WATERING 170 km/h! It was used in races, just like the RX100!
I know, I know, you might be thinking,” Is this guy high on something? Why is he hyping up a vintage bike so much?”. But come on guys! You are getting such an INSANE performing bike, in 1983, when there were no features like ABS! And, this bike weighs ONLY 155 KGS! Such an insane performing bike in those times when bikes were not that technologically advanced and Indians only cared about practicality, started a revolution when Indians got the taste of world-class performance and arguably, started the scene of performance-oriented bikes in India. Indians got the need for speed, and the RD350 created the market for performance-oriented bikes in India, which came after it.
Naturally, people loved the RD350! It went really good, but what happened is that later the bike got discontinued, for certain reasons. Firstly, the bike was too expensive for most Indians to afford. Second, it was unsafe, because it was too powerful and fast, and the Indian market was not mature enough for such a high-performance motorcycle, and it didn’t have the modern safety net like ABS and to cut costs, they gave it drum brakes (the international version had a front disc brake), so it didn’t stop properly or safely. The reputation became so bad that people called it “Rapid Death”. Lastly, the fuel efficiency was not that good and the bike was not easy to service and maintain.
Despite its flaws, the bike is still respected by Indians today. It might be discontinued, but it still lives in the hearts of enthusiasts. It has a cult following like the RX100 and other two-stroke legends and people continue to restore it and modify it to look like café-racers etc. just like the RX100. The RD350, like it or not, is still a legend, and you cannot forget it in the list of 80s-90s two-stroke motorcycles, correction, legends, that completed the average Indian’s need for speed. This is the story, of the two-stroke powerhouse that turned the Indian market upside down.
