I feel very lucky to get an opportunity to ride this one heck of a machine though it is from another generation altogether. I am 23 years old and this bike has gone out of production 18 years back. To signify my connection with the bike emotionally let me first narrate a story.
In 1984 the bike first came to Indian shores from Japan. The same year my father got his job in the railways. He was a bachelor and wanted to celebrate his youth with a bike that complemented it. The bike scenario then was ruled by the Suzuki’s, Kawasaki’s and the Yamaha’s. All manufacturers had clearly understood by then that to be effective in the Indian biking context they had to bring lower displacement but higher horse powered bikes to increase sales. So the 250 cc’s and 350 cc’s which were already taking a beating suffered even worse. Came the roaring two stroke 100 cc’s from each of the aforesaid manufacturers.
Cutting the long story short the Yamaha’s RX-100 was the most frugal and the most powerful of the lot back then. Packing a 11.5 bhp of raw 2-stroke power. My father booked one for a 1000 bucks, and got delivery a year later. The bike costing Rs 14200 of his hard earned money. He said each and every part on the bike had "Made in Japan" written over it, even the smallest of nuts and bolts. The bike was unmatchable in city traffic. No other bike had such great pick up.
The power to weight ratio is still enviable as the bike weighed only 95 kgs dry. To such an extent that the bike came close to be banned in some cities because they were used by chain snatchers frequently, and the Royal Enfields used by police back then could not match with the pickup. Thank Lord it didn’t.
In 1989 the importing of the bikes from Japan stopped and the bikes started to be manufactured in India which killed most of the performance of the original bike still the engine remained reliable as before and still so after so many years.
We were four in the family, my parents, me and my elder sister. We used to go 40 kms one way to my uncles house and my father recalls the bike never went out of breath though he didn’t ride hard with us on the bike. I always had to sit on the fuel tank which got hot at times. It was like a thick metal sheet used for a tank, no curves whatsoever. Then came the ban on 2-stroke bikes and higher fuel prices due to which my father finally sell the bike in 2000 cause practicality took over.
He sold his bike to a friend of his for 9000 bucks, who became an eye sore for me since then as I loved the bike and could tolerate it going away. My fathers friend has been riding the bike since then, till date. It’s been 30 years, hard to believe but its true. There was one point of time when my father wanted to buy it back from him but he didn’t sell. He said -"Lakkhi gari, jibone bikri korbo na". Which means Goddess Laxmi resides in the bike, he would not sell it in his life. I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t have either.
I earn pretty good now, just got placed after an MBA, and the first thing I did with my first salary was gifts for my family and a 1995 Yamaha RX-100. Though my fathers says it lacks on the performance front compared to the 1984 model after riding it, I think I can fix that with a proper mechanic. Still a 19 year old bike it is still starts with one kick, and cant be compared to any other 100-110 cc bike in today’s ultra mileage concerned commuter segment. The mileage is can be easily kept aside when your ride gives you so much joy. I will buy a 100-110 cc commuter in a few months, but the RX-100 stays where it belongs with me :)