Page 53 - LHR November 2025
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Collectors







          Steve’s had a few                          Twin crank V4 499cc two-stroke    Twin crank V4 499cc two-stroke with
          over the years.                           with YPVS exhaust powervalves.   YPVS exhaust powervalves. Steve has
        Legendary dealer Clive                     Steve has regularly turned it over on   regularly turned it over on the kick-
        Padgett made an offer                      the kick-start to stop it seizing but   start to stop it seizing but it’s never
        at the NEC bike show                           it’s never been started.             been started.
        but dropped his price
         when he got back to
            Yorkshire!




















































    Steve Brankston has just sold his      Bank  and  another  through            RD500LC.  But  by  then, Yamaha
    zero-mile  Yamaha  RD500LC  on         Webbs—to afford it. "A bit cheeky,      had  stopped  production,  and  the
    eBay  for  R872,000  (approx.          I  know,  but  I  was  desperate,"  he   bike was considered too valuable
    £36,100).  The  bike,  which  he       admits. He hired a van to transport    to  risk  riding.  "It  stayed  in  the
    bought back in 1985, has remained      the  bike  home,  still  wrapped  in   garage, and the only time it left was
    completely untouched since then.       factory  plastic  to  protect  the     when it was on display in Webbs
    When Steve first bought it, he was      bodywork. "I tried to sneak it into    for a year."
    in  his  early  20s,  and  it  was  an   the house while my parents were      Steve  says  parting  with  the  bike
    impulse  purchase  that  almost        out, but it wouldn't fit through the    wasn't easy, but it had been on his
    drained his finances. "I bought it      hall, so it ended up in the garage."   mind for a while. "Last year, my
    from Webbs in Lincoln when I was       With  the  pressure  of  two  loans,   wife and I were both quite unwell,
    22," Steve recalls. "I had a 350LC     Steve  struggled  financially  for  a   and  that  pushed  me  to  finally
    that  I  used  for  daily  commuting,   while. "I couldn't afford to insure it,   consider  selling  it.  I've  got  an
    and when I saw the RD500LC, I          so it just sat there in the garage. But   R1M,  a  VMAX,  and  a  Honda
    knew I had to have it."
                                           I loved knowing it was mine," he       Monkey, so I'm not short of bikes,"
    The  RD500LC  was  priced  at          says.  Over  the  years,  Steve's      he adds.
    £3250,  and  Steve  took  out  two     financial  situation  improved,  and
    loans—one  from  the  Yorkshire        he could finally afford to use the


                                                           53                           NOVEMBER EDITION 2025
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