The RD 350 is the only bike thats worthy to be called a road ripper in India!
Never has a bike been built in India worthy of such high praise. I own a 1987 model LT which is the less powerful version which was toned down for the supposedly mileage conciuous people in India! It was the right bike but at the wrong time. If we had embraced that bike at that time then we would be rightly riding R1 by now!
Sadly the Indian Janta was not ready for the rush of the beast! So it earned the name of the most notorious bike and nobody could handle the power and acceleration which was phenomenal and since we were only used to the Jawa and Yezdi and Bullets of yore this was like killing (pun not intended) acceleration!
The high end ripper HT would hit a 100 in about 4 secs and would go all the way to 160km/h! Now let me tell you about my bike: It started its life as a LT! So whats it now? Its been ported and jetted to make a LT-HT combo! So it easily smokes every other two wheels in India and catch with a HT too! So have done around 150 on the speedo and with ease! Handling is praise worthy for a bike thats 17 years old!
The mileage my my my suddenly I forgot the meaning of the word! I am totally satisfied with the mileage for I am willing to sacrifice anything for the kinda kicks it gives!
The LT is a good bike to start with if its your first RD. The difference between and HT and LT when it comes to riding is the power band. The LT will make power from low down and pull your arms apart when you wack the throttle but runs outta breath at around 6500 rpm. Now the HT may be sluggish(?) at low rpm but let it cross the 5000 rpm when the power band starts and nothing can stand upto it!! The HT will scream all the way to the 8000 rpm redline and by that time it a heady feeling.
By buying an RD you can never make a mistake because if you have the need for speed then this is the bike to go for! Now if you cant afford any of the super bike of more than 600 cc then RD it is for you because the good old RD will smoke anything on two wheels less than 600cc on the road.
So guys if you go with my motto you gotta have this one in your garage and its the only Indian bike worthy to be along the R1s and the Ninjas in your garage.