It came to Indian Roads in 1983, it was an era of heavy bikes like Royal enfield Bullet 350cc, Yezdi: Roadking, Classic, Rajdoot 250 standard. It was first indian bike with twin engine & 6 gears( 1 down 5 up). Tuning of two engine requires skills other wise mileage comes down to 6-7 Km/lit.
Properly tuned RD High torque(HT)can give mileage15- 20 Km/lit.
It can top speed of 165km/hr although I have not tried, but on highway I had 120km/hr with excellent road grip. Brakeing of this bike is excellent with front disc brake.
Some people think RD stands for Rapid death, it is true if speed is not controlled, because it has got rocket pick up o-100 km/hrs in 7 sec. First edition of RD had toomuch power for any average rider which lead to too many accidents. Company introduced Low torque engines for Indian traffic conditions.American RD comes with front disc brake & rear drum brake with alphabet B in starting of engine number & frame number.LT starts from 3000 rpm & goes to 6000 rpm & HT starts from 6000 rpm & goes to 8000 or 8500 rpm.
RD had reed valve 347 cc, air cooled engine, with each cylinder displacement of 173.5 cc, it was first bike in India with tacometer & to use torque induction ignition.
Yezdi Road king was the only competitor for pick - up.
Because of fuel consumption it was discountinued from Indian Roads, The fill it, shut it, forget it era of 100 cc four stroke bikes in 1985 marked the demise of RD 350
It is a legend & it is a bench mark for rocket pick up for any bike in India.