Now this is a cool scrambler!!

[JJ]

...and I would bet a lot of fun to RIDE as well!!

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-yamaha-grand-prix-scrambler-350-yr2c/

[Moparnut72]

I could park that in the shed, no problem. I had a 250 Catalina back in the days.
kk

[inditx]

 

[JJ]

Yes, indeed...and as a vintage "two-stroke-SMOKER", one could join their local neighbor "Mosquito-Abatement-Patrol!" 

[Moparnut72]

I redid an old Yamaha 125 a couple of winters ago. One of the reasons I got rid of it was the non-politically correct stuff coming out of the exhaust pipe. I live in California after all. 
kk

[Swedemoto]

That's in nice shape! I had a YR2 project that I sold about a few years back unfortunately. Non scrambler model w/ J&R chambers. Miss that one! I prefer the '68 to the '67 or '69.

[Dirk_S]

Pretty sure I got to sit on one of these back when I worked at David Silver Spares’ US warehouse in PA. I put my DNA on a few of these vintage beauties, and even got to put-put them around the building before we cleaned them up and threw them onto shipping crates to be sent over to the UK.

I know the old Honda scramblers weren’t much to shout about performance-wise. How did the Yamaha scramblers do in this era?

[twowings]

Classic '60s look and nice color, too!  *cough cough* 

[guzziart]

I redid an old Yamaha 125 a couple of winters ago. One of the reasons I got rid of it was the non-politically correct stuff coming out of the exhaust pipe. I live in California after all. 
kk

My first bike was a '65 YA6!

Anyway, great looking 350.  For whatever reason, I've always liked the look of the "diagonal" front fender brace config on these old bikes, glad to see Kaw is still using it on their w800...good look imo.

[Jack Straw]

In '66 I traded my S-90 Honda for this YDS 3C "Big Bear".   It was my first "big bike" and I chose it over a Honda Super Hawk.  Shoulda got the Honda.

[JJ]

I always liked these models back in the day because they all had "real" steel fenders!!

[Redrider]

I could ride that beauty. My first road bike was the Kawasaki S3A 400 triple. PITA to keep timing and devoured spark plugs but spanked Honda 750s. Synthetic Bel-Ray Si-7 cut down on smoke. I always liked the Triumph and BSA scramblers but they were gone by the time I had enough money. I rode a couple of Honda scramblers but they were, IMO, slow and heavy. Honda did have the market cornered though. Name your displacement and get it in CB, SL or CL trim.

[Moparnut72]

"Shoulda got the Honda."

Why do you say that? I had a 250 Catalina, low pipes, good bike. I realize that the Yamahas took more maintenance but more power and better handling were worth the trouble. I've ridden a few 305 Hondas, wasn't impressed. The follow-up 350's were a vast improvement and were much better bikes. One of the better bikes of the time, not the fastest, but good overall.
kk

[Jack Straw]

My experience with the Yamaha 250 included terminal piston slap at 3000 miles. After a rebore it was fine to 5000 miles then needed another rebore, pistons, and rings.  Maybe I just got a lemon.  The handling  of mine was very unforgiving when pushing hard in tight turns.  There was no feedback, just a quick low side. The 5 speed tranny was nice though.

The CB77 Super Hawk certainly wasn't perfect with it's wide ratio 4 speed but it cornered very well and was predictable.  I agree the later CB 350 twins were a huge improvement over the CB77.

I'd expect either the Honda or Yammie to feel quite primitive today.  It would be fun to compare as-new examples.

YMMV.