When I was a grad student at Clemson in 1985, I bought a 1974 Yamaha RD200 for $400. That’s $1200 in real money. My intention was to save money on gas.
I must not have understood how money worked. Maybe I still don’t, but expenses needed to be cut. At that time, Clemson only had one stoplight, so there were few housing options for a destitute grad student. I lived 5 miles from campus, and the Cutlass was a hog.
As a teaching assistant, I got free tuition and a small stipend. It was really tough to cover my expenses with the stipend. I used to turn on my hot water heater for only a half-hour per day to save on utilities. That’s uncomfortably broke.
I didn’t want to dip into student loans for living expenses. Spending less on gas would help, and I could sell the bike when I graduated. I never sold it.
That was my justification. Also, riding a motorcycle is fun. With the mild weather in South Carolina, there were only a couple of months when the cold was a challenge.
The RD200 was a nice little bike. It had a two-cycle engine, but had an oil tank and a mechanical pump to mix it’s own gas. There were baffles in the mufflers that could be pulled out to reduce the back pressure and improve the performance. It wasn’t a highway bike, but was great around town.
The RD200 came home with me when I left Clemson. Dad wanted to try it.
On a gallon of gas, the RD200 got three times farther than the Cutlass. I never had any trouble with it, so it wasn’t a totally stupid idea. Once I started working at Caterpillar, I was in an apartment in Mentor. I didn’t have room for the bike, so it stayed at Mom’s house.
My little brother ended up with it.
I don’t recall if I sold it or gave it to him, but he rode it more than I would have.
nice pictures, sorry Sparky doesn’t drink vodka….