Bultaco Metralla 250 GT
Bultaco Metralla 250 GT

Race ready Yamaha TD3

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Brian

This is the way that we like eBay listings. Rare Classic Sports Bikes with racing history, and lots of pictures. I will never be able to own one of these, but lots of pictures help me through the day.

This TD3 offered on eBay right now covers both my needs.

Based on the YDS-7 the TD3 was a road racer that was offered to the general public, an over the counter fix for your road racing needs. The 250cc air cooled 2-stroke was  offered from 1972 until 1974 and was related to the world killing TZ of the same size. I read that they had a problem with “detonation” because of the new style CDI ignition.

The article did not say if the detonation problem was a small pre-ignition problem, or the hand grenade detonation problem.

BACKGROUND:

I bought this Yamaha 30 years ago. It was painted in the familiar yellow and black “bumblebee” colors and the only identification was a “Cincinnati Custom Cycles” sticker. At the time, it had no other known history.

Included with the bike was a steel drainpipe containing the hand written words, “Vesco Carruthers TD3″. I then called Don Vesco who assured me that the drainpipe was used by his team to hold their spare cables. He also identified the bike by engine/frame number as the machine which was ridden by Mike Devlin in 1972.

The following history and machine details were originally given to me by Don Vesco and in recent years by Mike Devlin, the rider.

The numbers I was able to find were from the base YDS-7 road going bike which offered 30hp at 17,000rpm. And if the 44hp found for the predecessor TD2, I can imagine that those would be increased by as many as 10hp? But with many ex-race machines, it was never in the teams interest to let power numbers out.

Why give the competition any ideas.

From the seller

This is not a 100% restoration. The rubber grips on the footrests, gear lever, brake lever and handlebars have purposely been left unrestored to give the Yamaha a “used racing” appearance. However, the seat, fuel tank, front fender, fairing, frame and all other black parts have been prepared and painted to the highest museum quality. The screen is new.

The stickers have been very carefully recreated from period pictures to exactly replicate their color and location on the fairing and seat, as seen when the Yamaha was first raced at Daytona in 1972 using race number 31.

As you may have noticed, I am a dreamer and often highlight bikes that I can imagine myself racing around famous tracks. This bike would get the buyer one step closer because it has races around those tracks. For a little more on the history of the bike, check out the listing on eBay. BB


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