Restoring a RG400

animan

Well me and my dad are restoring my uncles RG400. Anyone know how difficult this will be. Also this is going to be my TY year project so any links to the history of the bike would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Gav

Oryx

The difficulty depends on how much work the bike needs. Is the engine buggered or ok? Is there a lot of cosmetic stuff needs doing? The fact that the bike is a two stroke means that the engine can be a bit more troublesome/temperamental. Also it is a mid eighties bike that was out only a short time. Id say parts might be hard to come by. Dont know that much more about it, sorry.

In short, you could have picked an easier bike to restore, but its never impossible. Just difficult

A web search throws up a few historical sites, but the ones Ive seen are mostly amateur individuals with an interest.

animan

I think it basicly needs to be stripped down, have all the parts cleaned and put back together and get a new paint job. It has the Lucky Strike paintjob like Kevin Schwantz's bike so we're getting this redone. It should look nice when it's done anyway.

Hotblack Desiato

It was also Jap market only (due to 400cc being the limit of one of their licence classes.) Even the RG500 which was sold here was like hen's teeth. Any engine parts specific to the 400 would be extremely hard to get, and stuff like rings and bearings etc. should be changed as a matter of course on any 2-stroke overhaul. I wish you well, but something like an old Honda 50 or CG125 would be a lot easier to get parts on, you could be waiting months to get parts for this bike if they can be got at all.

animan

ninja900 wrote: »

It was also Jap market only (due to 400cc being the limit of one of their licence classes.) Even the RG500 which was sold here was like hen's teeth. Any engine parts specific to the 400 would be extremely hard to get, and stuff like rings and bearings etc. should be changed as a matter of course on any 2-stroke overhaul. I wish you well, but something like an old Honda 50 or CG125 would be a lot easier to get parts on, you could be waiting months to get parts for this bike if they can be got at all.

Well as I said it's my uncles old bike so it's costing us nothing for the actual bike. It seems that there are a few floating around in the UK from what I can find out. also there's an article about a guy in octobersmechanics classic motorcycle.

galwaytt

Stan Stephens - aka, Mr Two Stroke in the UK, is your man for RG's and RGV's.... http://www.stanstephens.com/

If it goes pear shaped, whatever you do............DON'T SCRAP IT ...that bike is now a museum piece........and a good one is something to behold....