Watching these videos of the 1958 race....really provided me some insight on the prestige and how really special the Catalina Grand Prix had become on the "international motorcycle world.

It's amazing to see Yamaha's early commitment to the US market and how they influenced
the US motorcycle market for decades afterwards....



I know the videos are not of the highest quality...but I am fascinated watching them...
especially since Avalon is less than 45 miles as a "crow flies" from where I live.

Found some neat stuff surfing for specs tonight . . .

Seeing that YL1 reminds me somewhere on the net recently i saw a mint looking bike which was an AT1 with a YL1 fitted in it. L1 tank too by memory. Might be in a link off the side of the stuff i put up yesterday. Anyway--another YL1 story--brother in law had blue YL1 & it was faster than you'd think. Did 70mph two up. We were on a road ride out in the back blocks & on a long straight stretch, one guy was on an AJS 650 twin doing 70mph & bugger me this little 100 twin crept past two up lying flat on the tank [or flat on each other--i'll stop thinking about that lol]. Those first ones were such a willing motor, then [as seemed to happen with a lot of jap stuff] the second model we got was an YL3, red & 5 speed & was down on power compared to the first one. Probably why they fitted 5 speed to get the best out of it with porting for higher revs probably. Was a p--s off anyway, customer complaining as the old was was more user friendly etc. Exact same thing happened to the 100 single L2G, first one was a good commuter, second one we got i think might've been sourced from Asia somewhere instead of Japan & was bloody useless. Had strangled porting & no doubt other things as well. That one came with a lockable tank cap & slash cut end on the muffler & once again--customer complaining as they'd had the first model too. I could go on--& on--but better not. Loved the Catalina GP vids thanks.

More YDS information - applicable to the early twin cylinder bikes.

yamaha-enduros.com/index.php/how-to-arti...teardown-walkthrough

yes--just looking through that link i remember having to adjust those stop bolts on the gearchange camplate to limit the travel. Not sure why i had it apart but--centre seal maybe--loved those old [new then] howling YDS3's.

RT325.... I always enjoy your posts and the information you have to share...it's great !

Your always welcome to post in any of my threads !

Mako....very cool how to article !

Thanks for uploading it to the site .

Based on your project is it close to being useful?

Mako....the article is actually correct for my YDS2 based motor. So it's 100% applicable to my project.

Fortunately my Ascot's motor has very few hours on it since it was rebuilt...and only needs the crank seals freshened up
along with the remaining engine seals and gaskets.

As I may have mentioned before.....my strategy on this restoration is to ..repair, rebuild, refinish most everything for the bike...

Then once I have most everything completed assemble the bike in a very short time.

I am getting there.... thanks again