So,the nice little orange DS6C is all finished and totally functional.She's been road tested and I'm just waiting on this friend to make up his mind if he's going to buy it or not.I'll give him one more week and then I start to advertise it.So,now it's time to move on to the next project.At first I was thinking about building a 1970 R5 but then I thought about things and decided it's time to go back to this really sweet 1966 Yamaha that I started but never finished.It's a keeper but it's time to finish it.The bike has a story that goes all the way back to my youth .The day I got my drivers license in 1965 I bought a new Yamaha YJ1 .I knew nothing about motorcycles or how to ride one.Went to the local Yamaha Dealership . looked at all the bikes and bought the cheapest bike there.It cost under $300 dollars new and the dealer could get the insurance and plates for me bringing the total to a shade over $375.I went for it ! Next day it was ready and he took me outside the shop in a parking space in the road and showed me how to work the controls .After I showed him I could work them he told me to go up the road for a mile or so and come back.It was a Friday afternoon and there was traffic but I was fearless and off I went.Came back ,he slaps me on the back and says "you're good to go" and there began this adventure that has lasted for 57 years this May and still continues. This is a 1965 YJ1 I not too recently bought am going to restore at some point down the road .It is exactly the same bike as my first !
So,I rode and rode ,Crossed the country in 1969 on my 3rd motorcycle ,a 1965 Yamaha YDS3 .
Kept riding and got a DS6C in 1972 .Rode it to Newfoundland and all sorts of other cool places.In the late 80's started to get into motorcycle restoration .I discovered there were others into the Japanese motorcycles too and started making connections.Started going to this vintage Japanese bike show at White Rose MC in PA. Made lots of friends and bought lots and lots of parts.It was the 90's now,I was in my prime .One year there I met this guy who it turned out was from my home town. He saw the NY plates on my R5 that I had ridden there.As we were talking he tells me about his original 1966 Yamaha YM1 .He 's telling me where he bought it and it was the same place where my first bike came from.His had been left to sit unused in his garage since the mid 80's close to 15 years ago and the motor was stuck.He asked if I'd look at it and I did. This was around 1998.Years went by.We'd bump into each other at the bike show and one day he told me he'd like to bring me the bike to assess it for a restoration. This was around 2012 .
So I pull off the heads and see that the motor is solid rust.
It took me 3 days to get the cylinders off without damaging them. I told him what I found and what it could cost to fix . He decided he didn't want to spend that kind of money so he asked me what I would give him for it. We finally arrived at $700 bucks and it was mine. He was happy that I was going to save it and told me he still had all the original paperwork from when he bought it. So,a year or two go by and I have it mostly finished when he meets me at the bike show again with all this paperwork. I couldn't believe my eyes when I look at this stuff.There in my hands some 50 years later I have the original bill of sale signed by the guy who set me out on this incredible journey ! My friend passed away a couple years back.He did get to see his old bike near completion .His passing sort of took the wind out of my sails and the bike has just been sitting waiting on me to finish it safely tucked away in the shed with my other projects. Here it is the way he saw it
And here it is today in the shed waiting:
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