Craigslist Quickie
1979 Yamaha RD400F Daytona Special
6,574 miles
Clean Title
$11,000
Las Vegas
Seller
All original with very low miles, California bike, cases never split, original clutch, carbs, pipes. Some rubber grommets here and there replaced, new tires. Runs and rides perfect. Clean title, I have owned since 1988 but need to make room for other projects. Won’t last long, no trades please.
A monument to the 2-stoke motorcycles that defined an era
Motorcycle Classics gets right to the point in their review of the Daytona Special, “The Yamaha RD400F Daytona Special was the last hurrah of a long line of sporty mid-sized 2-strokes. Although Yamaha intended the Daytona to commemorate its racing successes of the previous year, this bike ended up as a monument to the 2-stoke motorcycles that defined an era. The Daytona Special was the last air-cooled street 2-stroke sold in the United States.”
As seen on RSBFS
We have covered 10 of these bikes over the past 15 years. This past fall on RSBFS we had a Daytona Special that was bidding over $11,000 with 4,305 miles.
Almost a year ago Mike covered one for RSBFS reporting that the Buy It Now price was $19,500 with only 30 miles and mint condition.
Even though there is only one photo, this seems worthy of a phone call and a visit if you are looking for the bike that symbolizes the 2-stroke era. The seller seems to think this will go quickly, and perhaps they are correct? Not enough info for us to see here – but definitely enough to get a local curious buyer to visit.
Good luck to the buyer and seller!
Just contacted the owner, more pic’s on the way, and it’ll be listed on Ebay as well. It’ll be interesting to see what the Ebay exposure will produce. I’m not a big fan of the “E” people (trying to be nice here) these days, much like BaT more exposure can be a good thing, too much not so much.
I’ve owned one of these as well (along with an r5 and an rd350) and this was by far the most refined version of the two stroke twins, but it had its issues as well. As with all bikes of this era, modifying it did nothing to enhance it longevity or reliability, as a result there’s not a great many originals left. I remember seeing one on a dealership’s floor in the Houston Tx area in mid 1981, still wanting for an owner. It was the bike yamaha should have offered in ’76, alas they didn’t and two yrs later was just that, two years too late.
Its a great piece to add to anyones personal collection. If its intact, it’ll draw a decent sum, whatever that means these days. If it has a fully intact carburetor rack and an intact and functioning exhaust valve, it’s a keeper.
A stock air-box and functioning oil pump are also important to me. Got a “one owner’ w/ 18K miles in very good condition about 10 years ago. Put new pistons/rings in it. It’s a keeper.
Interesting Yamaha went back to a points/condeser ignition for this one. I thought they were popular in ’79. What other competitive 2 stroke street bike was out there in ’70?
’79 not’70
That’s a good point jess, just keep in mind you’ll be able to find an oilpump and airbox for this bike, but the exhaust valves and vacuum regulator have been NLA for about 30 yrs. Carb parts aren’t any better… one of the issues that developed on these bikes especially modified ones was the stator side of the crank. Constantly ringing these motor’s up to red line stressed the stator side crank bearing creating excessive bearing runout and noisey bottom ends, which in turn caused the stator to fail as well.
By 1979, it was the only one (2 stroke) because of noise and emissions, everyone else had moved on to four strokes, big four strokes (think GS, KZ, XS, CBX). Faster, funner, more comfortable and way more reliable as well as better on gas than any 2 stroke I’ve ever owned. The 2nd to last 2 stroke I’ve owned (1980) was a ’75 kawasaki H2, stage 2 Denco motor, expansion chambers etc…. I really, really had a lot of fun on that bike, but handle well it didn’t and even worse, 20 maybe 22 mpg’s on a good day. The yamaha in stock trim was fun to ride, but fast and competitive, it wasn’t… it was a tribute bike and a fitting end to a fine line of two stroke twins…
Now listed on Ebay, $12,500 OBO….