The garage
Yamaha 1963 YDS2 (250)
Nickname : Barry Drummond
Age : yes
Been riding since : 1977
Been a member since : 2000
I remember this bike at a friends place in the back garden and in the garden shed.
An ex Yamaha YDS2 kitted Racer.
It was a race bike with only the crankcases in the frame and many spokes missing from the front wheel. It was a 250cc with chrome chambers and a fibreglass tank
& seat unit. It had been a road bike and still had the original tank and exhausts.
1962. I wanted something different.
I was up for a challenge.
I got her home & upon inspection, the frame was badly bent to match the seat. Oh joy.
One of the barrels was buggered. So it was pushed up under the house for storage and there it sat. It was hopeless.
Many years went by and very little happened until I somehow got to know about a guy near Christchurch. He had two of these YDS2’s.
He sent me a copy of a parts book and after he found I had the race barrels heads and some bits for other bikes he had. A deal was done for a set of original barrels and heads and the very special LH engine outer case. I could at least start to rebuild. Eventually I got an engine together,
but it did not have any carbureters or ignition system.
By now the internet was up and running and in Australia a guy had parts and race bikes.
I swapped the very rare chrome water blown chambers for the real deal YDS2 carbs.
I concealed the K&N air filters inside a pair of shortened golden syrup can to lookthe original setup. At last after 13 years, it was a runner and sounded great.
The VJMC newsletter came out and a guy was selling his deceased dads old race bikes, including a rolling chassis for a YDS2. After phone calls to Taranaki I found it had been sold.
A chap in New Plymouth had bought it and never did anymore with it. After many more years this New Plymouth guy finally let me buy it. This solved the seat and tank problem. It had the bonus of a bent up main stand. 4 hours of welding & bending it was straight and usable.
Back up to New Plymouth, I have found another YDS2 bike at mega expense.
It has the elusive proper air filters and instruments and header pipes and tank mounting brackets.
So now I can say I have a proper complete YDS2 Yamaha.