1980 YAMAHA RD250F AKA The Barcell

[alanski]

Back in the early 80's through to early 90's there was a very well known locally to Bedford Yamaha RD250F in silver/black that was tuned by Terry Barcell from Leicester and was faster than RD350LC'S AND 350YPVS and was louder than a screaming banshee on heat which caused the owner much hassle and attention from the police which he usually outran and people wanting to race it. Everyone knew The Barcell and it was wanted badly by the police for various reasons and its reg stood out KGS 4V. I was working in a motorcycle shop in Bedford at the time LINKS Motorcycles in priory street as senior technician and race mechanic owning several dayglo or bright coloured tuned RD400'S OR 350LC'S when in 1992 the owner of the shop Terry turned up with The Barcell with the biggest grin as we both had been after it for years. He started to use it but was constantly getting hassle from people and police as they still wanted it so we stripped it down and fully rebuilt in another frame so it lost the infamous reg to become NNM853V and he had all the bodywork resprayed by Dreammachine from silver to red and white again to hide its original ID plus fitted loads of new geniune parts like both mudguards, seat, switchgear etc etc in 1993. It was then sold shortly after to our part time parts man Gareth on the terms that when he wanted to sell I was first in line. In 1995 I rebuilt the engine for him after a nip with new crankshaft, rebore and piston kits, and some gearbox parts. About 70 miles later it developed electrical faults and was parked in the garage to be sorted as he had other bikes and this was just a fun bike. 8 Weeks ago I got a message asking if I was still interested so after removing from the same garage where its been since 1995 its finally mine and I have stripped it all the way down and sympathetically fully rebuilt using as much original as possible like paintwork is still 1993 one and the crank/pistons etc were perfect due to filling engine with 2 stroke when he stored it obviously I have changed all oil seals/oil lines/rubber components/tyres/brake caliper pistons and seals etc as been stood so long but nearly done and will be going to be set up on a dyno once some carb bits that are on back order arrive before being used and abused and not for sale.
So here's a few pictures starting with how it was originally, then how was found to now......

[Motty]

Wow nice story, it's nice to own a bike that you know the history
Richard

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[stephen bailey]

I love those red bars where did you get them from ? Cheers steve

[alanski]

Ebay £17.99 or £19.99 they are shot peened alloy and come in various colours essentially cheap Renthals been using them for years on various bikes
 

[alanski]

So rebuild finished carbs fully rebuilt with new nozzles needles jets etc as were the worst varnished ones I have ever seen plus the ledair nozzles and needles fitted were beyond saving. new rex cdi fitted as well as spark was very weak on the original and now have done just over 100 miles running in but been through 15 heat cycles as well so going to be set up and fine tuned on a dyno next week before fun and abuse begins.

[alanski]

so here is the first run on the dyno and we got 37.65bhp at the rear wheel ! second run after jet change was 38.5 have added std 250lc dyno as a comparison

 
but more to come as remember this was built in the 80's and i've only refreshed it to see what it does so that over the winter different expansions as not the original ones it had and modern inlet mods and some more dyno time as he recons these are holding it back especially low down but its not to shabby for an old aircooled 250 last on the road in 1995

[mervin]

Great  story and good to hear of a legendary bike saved , would be a great story to send to Del for wellard for our non net members to read to

[alanski]

A Bit of an update so we had a summer of fast fun and wheelies but not without issues, oil leaks despite new seals and blowing crank seals twice plus chasing a running issue meant it was going to come apart fully over winter as I had only dropped the bottom case off when I changed the crank seals all 3 times and wanted to fully inspect bores heads etc.

 So having done 580 miles, some at full chat plus several dyno runs, it was a nice crisp morning and was running particularly well and cleanly to 10,500 coming back from super sausage cafe through Milton Keynes I thought I heard a high pitched squeak coming out of a couple of roundabouts then 2 bikes came past on a long straight and I'm giving it beans 110 Changing into top and pop goes the weasel well l/h piston anyway.
 So The rebuild began a little early lol L/H piston holed alloy sprayed L/H big-end and mains plus both heads cracked in 5 or 6 places around plugs hence squeak.... both barrels are on 1.00mm over but both exhaust ports have deep historic squared off ring damage.... omg not what I expected as just made 38.5bhp! essentially my dyno man took a look and said they were scrap...... or not lol Talko had to go 2.5mm oversize to clear damage fully using dt125lc pistons which have larger ports on rear and nice cutaways on the side to aid transfer as added bonus making it now 270cc. The heads had both cracked and the blowing seals was all down to it being over compressed which I only discovered after lots of maths and stuff like PI checking the compression ratio on the good side!! This means new heads have been machined out for the 56.5 bore and squish area modified but not fully skimmed yet until it's rebuilt and rechecked squish/compression ratio etc. The crank has been fully rebuilt with RG500 big-ends and balanced by Grampians. We are aiming for mid 40'sbhp at rear wheel with this now.
I'll add pictures at later date

original RD250 1.00mm over piston and DT125 .50mm over size so 56.5mm bore


head with enlarged chamber 57mm and modified squish before I installed and will recheck squish/compression ratio

barrel ports


crankcases all cleaned and ready for fully rebuilt crank with RG500 big ends





and all together now just need to check squish etc and source some new expansions


   

[Motty]

What an update! At least you managed a few hundred miles before the piston cried "enough"
I hope you can get everything sorted ready for the spring
Richard

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[alanski]

Need to get it back together asap really as just got a 350lc to restore as well now

[alanski]

Small update but no pictures as my phone died and lost the pics as stupidly didn't back them up anyway engine all fully rebuilt by me back together fully blueprinted an re-bored barrels and balanced crank, 56.50 DT125LC pistons, Suzuki RG500 big ends, heads skimmed and enlarged with matched reprofiled squish area, LC read blocks with boyesen 2 stage reeds, 6mm alloy reed block spacers, .25 base gaskets, .40 head gaskets, resulting in a 270cc with 1mm squish and 6.83-1 compression ratio so happy days. I will be refitting it this week so the hunt is now on for expansions that will work with the tune rather than the LC350 F3 ones it had so those will be sold as well as some other LC Race bits I have over next couple of weeks.







   

[alanski]

[Motty]

It sounds like you are building it to quite a peppy specification
I'm looking forward to seeing this build progress
Richard

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