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Baja Tested
By Kent Taylor
1973 was a pretty good year to be alive. We could watch cool television shows like “Kung Fu” and movies like American Graffiti and The Exorcist. Disco was still a few years off, so great music from The Doobie Brothers and The Edgar Winter Group (“Frankenstein”) was always on the radio. For motorcyclists, fun dual-purpose motorcycles were available in all sizes, most under $1000.
These motorcycles were misnamed as “enduros.” An enduro event is a grueling, masochistic exercise pitting rider and machine against Mother Nature on her worst day—with a headache. These motorcycles were really dirt bikes, giving just a little here and there to be ready for the street. Big bores weren’t too big back in the day, so Yamaha’s RT-3 360 was at the top of Yamaha’s lineup of two-stroke “enduro” bikes.
Cycle News tested the 360 in its November 28th, 1972, issue, and from the very beginning, the Yamaha was in trouble. Not because it was a bad motorcycle; rather, the bike came to the test crew looking as if it had just gone 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali. “Our RT-3 had the marks of negligence written all over it,” wrote CN. “The bars were bent and the forks slightly tweaked. The chain had been adjusted and lubricated, but it seemed that with only one adjuster, the bike loved to turn right. The turn indicators…flashed left rear, right front and left front-right rear.” Whoever had wired the machine must’ve been in charge of the oil change, as the Yamaha was overfilled by a full quart, resulting in clutch slippage and fluid puking out the breather. The bike was also incorrectly jetted.
But motojournalists of the 1970s were both scriveners and screw-tighteners, so a few hours of wrenching brought the Yamaha back to a test-worthy state, and it was off to a place called a “cycle park.” Three kicks brought the 360 to life, with plenty of punch. “By fast,” the staffer wrote, “I mean it compares favorably with most 400cc motocross machines.” But the RT-3 also packed usable power. “Trail riding means using first, second and third gears. The Yamaha has the power to pull long gearing and long gearing it gets. Coupling this to the usual Yamaha easy shifting makes riding the RT-3 easy.”
When the cycle park fun was over, the crew “headed south of the border for the Mexican 1000.” Today’s saddle-sensitive tenderfoots will chafe at the mere suggestion of riding a two-stroke single-play bike for 800 miles, but that’s exactly what the staff did with this Yamaha 360, cruising along at speeds between 60 and 75 mph. One quart of two-stroke injector oil was good for about 200 miles, and the bike delivered 45 miles of travel per gallon of gasoline. Other than noting that “the 21-inch front wheel affirms its dirt inclination,” the Yamaha proved to be a worthy street machine.
Back in the dirt, the Yamaha was a solid performer in the Baja. The bike was “straight line stable” and the suspension “ate up all but the worst of obstacles…the RT-3 isn’t a desert sled but subs for one very nicely in a pinch.”
No motorcycle is perfect. The stock rear shocks, while pretty darned good, weren’t as good as Koni models, which were the standard-bearers of the day. The front brake offered no adjustment at the hub, and the taillight burned through light bulbs like Lucky Strikes from a jittery, two-pack-a-day smoker. Also, the Yamaha was loud! The “blat-blat-blat” of the RT-3 drew the attention of the Los Angeles Police Department, though an apparently charming staffer schmoozed his way out of a citation.
The Yamaha RT-3 360 came to the CN offices looking like it had already gone through a good beatdown. Undeterred, it handled the dirt trails, a long street ride and some of the meanest terrain of Baja. It passed all tests and did many things very well, earning a rep as one tough little motorcycle.
Maybe the term “enduro” wasn’t such a misnomer after all. Maybe the term “enduro” wasn’t such a misnomer after all.CN
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