A couple of nice LC's

[Bustaspoke]

Been at the Classic TT/Manx GP for 5 days & amongst all the usual specials & exotica were these two Yamaha LC based bikes.Back in the day 250 & 350 LC's were the dream bikes of my mates & me so we were made up to see these.two






The Yellow one had a modified & shortened RGV 'Banana arm'.
There wasn't much original apart from frames & bodywork but they looked stunning

[mangocrazy]

Both very nicely done, there's obviously a massive amount of time, money and love gone into them both. As regards modified LCs, my question is 'where do you stop?' My LC is what I would call standard(ish) but it has Brembo calipers and adaptors, YSS emulators and springs in the forks, a YSS shock and uprated coils. In its first incarnation I threw different forks, Spax shock, box section lengthened swingarm, AP Lockheed calipers and a 3/4 Pantah clone fairing at it.

I fully understand why these guys have done what they've done and more power to their elbow. As Bustaspoke says, there's not much original apart from the frame and to me, therein lies the rub. LC frames by modern standards are piss-poor; very heavy due to the thick wall pig iron tubing, and very flexy, and that was with only 40-odd hp going through them. Tune the engines (as these boys have surely done) and uprate the cycle parts and the frame is still (basically) shit, but even more obviously shit now you've improved everything else.

I think red and black boy has the right idea; he's kept the iconic swirly wheels in spite of them being stupidly heavy and unable to take tubeless tyres, because they define what an LC looks like (IMHO). He's beefed up the brakes (a man after my own heart), cheekily stuck a YPVS motor in it and uprated the swingarm, but kept RWU forks (even though I'm guessing they're the beefier items off a YPVS), so it still looks vaguely standard - but a lot more 'ish' than mine...

But a pair of crackers. And I bet they're an absolute hoot to ride.

[Screwdriver]

The phrase "tarts handbag" springs to mind but in fairness, they are well done and I guess it fulfils the schoolboy dreams these chaps probably had all those years ago...

[Bustaspoke]

We all agreed that they must have spent a hell of a lot of money & many many hours building them,we reckon you could buy a Z900RS for less. We also wondered if they ever saw rain.They weren't ridden there,they were in the back of a van,but we all agreed that they were stunning.

[Skub]

Pretty nicely done. They may not be 100% my taste,but they aren't my bikes and I can appreciate the time,effort and the probable hefty cost involved.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I had two tuned LCs many years ago, a proddie race 250LC which was the nicest LC I've ever ridden, handled nicely and was quicker than a standard 350, but not mega quick, and a 350 that had standard head and barrels when I bought it, Microns and K&Ns, like this it was nice once I sorted the carbs (with the help of Leon Moss), I then bought an F2 top end for it, it was much quicker, but the frame flexed like a rubber band and it wasn't a nice bike to ride.

My point is that it's quite easy to over power an LC frame, about 45 bhp is nice in them.

[Taipan]

Yellow one looks like its got Allspeeds on, which to me were always the nicest sounding spannies. So its a win from me!

[demographic]

Yellow for me although those speedblocks look well shonky. The wheels arent OE but the OE ones weigh a fucking ton.
Same as on my old XJ550.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

XJ550 wheels look like LC wheels but aren't the same