Purists Beware: Tim Coughlin’s 1990s-Style RD400 Road Ripper…
In 1979, with the motorcycle world hurtling fast toward four-stroke dominance, Yamaha released the Yamaha RD400F Daytona Special — a lightweight, giant-killing smoker that would be one of the final chapters in street-legal, air-cooled two-stroke sports bikes.
“Innocent-looking, trim, petite, quiet—all of it’s a sham: the 400F encourages the unwary to go too fast, accelerate too briskly, stop too hard and wheelie too often. Anyone with the narrowest streak of anti-social behavior will find the RD the perfect conspirator. It is Dennis the Menace on Yokohama tires, and is the most fun street motorcycle currently available for sale.” –Cycle, 1979
The Daytona Special was no aesthetics-only rehash of the regular RD400. Yamaha extensively revised the RD, not only to meeting new emissions standards but making it faster and better in nearly every way. Yamaha’s Ed Burke recalled the bike’s origins in an interview with Motorcyclist:
“When we decided to do the Daytona, we knew it would likely be the last of the air-cooled RDs, as we had liquid-cooled designs in the pipeline. We knew we had to make it special, with added technology, power, functionality, styling, et cetera. We wanted the RD line to go out with a bang and celebrate the many years of R5 and RD successes in the showrooms, on the street, and, of course, on the racetrack. Looking back now, it’s pretty clear we did a decent job…”
Enter our new friend Tim Coughlin of Vancouver, who bought a five-year-old 1979 RD400 Daytona Special in 1984 and proceeded to ride the wheels off of it.
“It was beaten badly over the years and left behind when I rode my RZ350 to the West Coast and settled there in the late 80’s. But I missed it like an old girlfriend, so I had it shipped to Vancouver and abused even more. Eventually I was forced to sell it for $350 in 1991 to make rent one month — I didn’t cry that day, but it brings a tear to my eye when I think about it now.”
For the next 12 years, Tim raced nearly any motorcycle he “could get a leg over,” but he never forgot his Daytona Special. Fast forward nearly 30 years, and Tim found another Daytona Special on Craigslist…and decided to build the bike he could’ve had in the 1990s.
“I like to think it’s a road race / cafe / flat track inspired / stripped down, and slightly updated ripper. Someone could have built this thing in 1993 — the majority of the components I have added are basically of that vintage.”
Below, Tim tells us the full story of his RD400 Daytona “Pure Fun Survivor” better than we ever could. We absolutely love this bike and Tim’s whole backstory, and we know you will, too.
In the Builder’s Words…
My name is Tim Coughlin. I grew up in Southern Ontario, Canada, toying around with dirt bikes and got my road license at the age of 17. Back then (1984) you could ride anything once you had a class 6. My first road bike was a 1977 GS400 (so there’s no need to talk about that). After a few months I sold the old lump to friend and bought a 1979 RD400 Daytona Special from Power Cycle in Windsor Ontario. One of my buddies had a KH400E and I needed to be able to keep up.
At the time the 5-year-old RD was in fantastic shape for a mere $800. I crashed it and hurt myself several times until I finally learned how to handle the power and lean over the front wheel. Unfortunately it was beaten badly over the years and left behind when I rode my RZ350 to the West Coast and settled there in the late 80’s.
But I missed it like an old girlfriend, so I had it shipped to Vancouver and abused even more. Eventually I was forced to sell it for $350 in 1991 to make rent one month — I didn’t cry that day, but it brings a tear to my eye when I think about it now.
I spent the next 12 years racing every motorcycle I could get a leg over. Road Racing mostly: SOS, 650 Twins, 883 Sportster, 600/750 Superbike, even a year with AMA Sidecars. Mixed in with motocross, hare scrambles, and ice racing (that was way too cold for me).
Fast forward to 2020. I hadn’t seen another Daytona Special for almost 28 years and one shows up on Craigslist in running order with mild mods and 95% of the original parts. The seller was a massive two-stroke enthusiast and we have been friends ever since (we two-stroke guys stick together).
I rode the bike stripped down and cafe-ish for a few years before getting tired of the lackluster suspension and heavy wheels with skinny tires — it just wasn’t as fun to ride as I had thought I remembered. So I decided to have some fun with it and make the RD that the kid in me really wanted but couldn’t pull off in the 80’s.
I like to think it’s a road race / cafe / flat track inspired / stripped down, and slightly updated ripper. Someone could have built this thing in 1993 — the majority of the components I have added are basically of that vintage.
Putting it all together:
Front End: I needed to lengthen the steering head center tube to fit it in the RD frame (cut off bottom weld, push in 12mm, and re-weld). Then I had to weld in some narrower steering stops on the lower triple clamp to interface with the Yamaha frame. I cut off the GS500 fender mounts from the lower fork tubes and made my own to hold a bobber style front fender I found on eBay. The Yamaha ignition fit right on the upper triple clamp after slotting the holes a little.
Swingarm: I then fitted an XS650 Special swingarm I got for $20 on Marketplace. It bolted right in, with mods to get the ride height right and I welded in a web to stiffen it up a little and give it a more factory look.
Other details: Many people slap on a Radian swingarm and an inverted fork from an R6, but that’s not my style — I wanted to keep the vintage look as much as possible but gain the tire selection that 17-inch wheels have to offer. The tires are Michelin Sport Radials 110-70-17 Front / 130-70-17 Rear.
I needed to make brake stays and adapters and a few wheel spacers to get the rear wheel fitting nicely. To get the gearing how I wanted it, I machined a rear sprocket from a blank I got from McMaster-Carr. Then I made a set of braces to tuck in a RZ350 tail light and plate holder.
I really didn’t care for the gold anodizing on the DG heads so I had it re-anodized black and polished the fins for a “factory plus” look.
The majority of the work performed on this bike took place in my 8.5 x 20 shipping container shop (known as Can3).
The paint is not that nice and the overall look is a little rough around the edges = Perfect for ripping on & enjoying…
Riding experience:
It’s a completely different riding experience than original: 326lbs with 1/2 tank of fuel and 2.5 inches longer wheelbase, adding 4.4% weight bias to the front. It still wheelies like an RD and goes pretty good — I’ve had it up to 185K before I chickened out at only 8k (it revs happily to 10k). The butt dyno feels like somewhere around 50HP at the wheel (but a scary one at that). I ride it aggressively during the summer months in dry weather and absolutely love it.
The best part is the stability, with the lighter 17-inch wheels it likes to change directions, and the brakes are a massive improvement; suspension is a little stiff over larger bumps, but feels well planted everywhere else, confidence-inspiring enough that it doesn’t require a steering damper.
Conclusion: With a bit of passion and elbow grease almost anybody can build a fun little bike like this and update a classic to handle more like a modern bike (90’s modern anyway…). When I sit around looking at it — or riding it — I often think how much fun it could have been if I had built this back in the day when I was racing.
I highly recommend taking on a small project like this — it was a blast to work on. Oh — a word for the purists — TOO BAD!!!! (Yeah, yeah — I kept all the parts that I removed for a collector to buy after I am dead.)
