1979 Yamaha RD400 Daytona Special
Miles: 14,199
Clean California Title
Listed Price: $14,000 Or Best Offer
Listing Ends: Jan 16, 2024
Introduced in the waning years of the two-stroke era, the Yamaha RD400F Daytona Special was an evolution of the company’s popular middleweight sportbike. By 1979, most of the two-stroke sportbikes were gone from the US, plowed under by relentless government pressure to create cleaner, more efficient bikes. Two-strokes, obviously, were neither. Kawasaki and Suzuki were no longer importing smokers, but Yamaha headed in the opposite direction and went so far as to significantly update their existing RD400 with new technology that improved performance and allowed it to squeak past emissions regulations for another year or two until the liquid-cooled RD350LC and RZ350 could pick up and carry the two-stroke torch until 1985. Sold for just one year, the new RD400F featured the aforementioned engine improvements, suspended from a stiff frame with adjustable shocks, thicker fork tubes, better brakes, revised ergonomics, and improved styling.
This is a very nice Daytona Special. This is bike #563 out of 5000 built and it was the last year for the RD400F. I bought it 11 years ago, and it had been restored by the previous owner and had just under 10,000 miles on it at the time. I bought all of the Spec II Performance parts myself and had them installed and tuned professionally.
It runs great all the time every time. I live really close to town, so I never really put a lot of miles on it. It’s always been a California Bike and has always been stored inside. Everything works as it should.
Classic two-strokes like the RD400 are very popular motorcycles among collectors, and the Daytona Special is even more so. It might look a bit pedestrian to modern eyes, but the RD400F was considered a serious sportbike in-period and featured excellent handling, good cornering clearance from the revised ergonomics, a relatively wide powerband, and plenty of two-stroke character. Considering the bike’s condition and the desirable Spec II performance parts, along with a life spent in sunny, dry California, and it’s not hard to see why the seller is asking top dollar for this particular example.
-tad
