RD350 F  1985-1986

There were two later versions of the 31K. They had slight, but worth-while, improvements in the suspension, brakes and performance. The major change was to the fairing.

While the old LC2 was part-faired, the new N model had no fairing at all and the F was fully faired. They were otherwise the same. It didn't make much difference which you bought because most F owners quickly converted them to an N by crashing them, which destroyed the fairing.

Suzuki had brought out a 250cc two-stroke bike the year before, which was better on the race track than Elsie. For some reason, it never became as popular as Elsie. However, notice that Yamaha dropped the LC from the name, perhaps because LC was now seen as second-best to the new Susuki RG.

Like the LC2, the engine numbers on both these models start with "31K", so they are also known as a 31K. However, only the LC2 had the official model code of 31K from Yamaha.