An R5? Alright! I have a '72 Mandarin Orange R5 out in the shed waiting it's turn for restoration. Wild little hotrods those old things were. I restored/hopped up an RD400 earlier this hear. Lots of go fast goodies in it and virtually every possible wear item replaced. I had a bit of a learning curve getting it tuned correctly with the modified air intake system, modified carbs and expansion chambers as well as setting the the best programable electronic igniton curve. Once I had everything dialed in, I was startled how quick this little thing is.
I loved the sound of my bike once I put those expansion chambers on. I moved the footpegs back,
had clip-on handlebars, single seat. At the time I was the only one on the road with a racing fairing,
now they've all got them. The people in the shop where I worked thought I was weird. We sold
Honda and Ski-doo/Canam, so I was a bit of a traitor.
Programmable ignition curve ? Never heard of such a thing. I remember playing with jets and
needles and then setting the timing so it wouldn't knock, that was about it.
I went to the motorcycle mechanics school in Daytona Beach back in '77. That was a blast. One
of the teachers was into hot-rodding 50cc mopeds. He had one that would do 70mph.
Paul