So you wanna buy an RD eh. The first thing to ask from a theoretical point of view is, what do you want: a LT or an HT. Many people go for an HT just because of the "High" in the name.

I would always recommend an LT - Because that leaves room for upgrades later on; As and when you feel that you need more power from the bike.

Now the whole point is "theoretical" if you look at it from the point of view of power.

Because the maximum chance is that the bike one gets is in such a screwedup state that LT or HT, it might be putting out max say 18bhp. Note that this is just the probability - Nothing is against you managing to find a good RD kept in good shape, putting out some thing like 28-30 bhp or more. But then that has to be called incredible luck. No less.

Ok lets look at this situation to which i give maximum probability. Please understand that im a thorough pessimist; So my sense of probabity might differ from yours as well as reality.

Assume you have gone and got yourself an RD. say for 30k. Neat looking bike, say black color, wonderful stickering. Take a closer look at the stickering and you would realize that its nowwhere close to original. To avoid that please refrain from observing stickering too closely.

Fine so the bike looks good. The chrome is not bad. You are told that the bike is an HT. So look at the engine block - If its an HT, then it should just be written "347cc" on the sides. But you see that its written "Rajdoot 347cc". So obviously you have been cheated; Its an LT, in fact.

Ok so you look at those silencers. There are a few dents but have been tinkered back as ok as possible. Chrome is somewhat ok - but then you look at the silencer endpoints - an HT should end with a kind of "blunt" shape; An LT should have more curved ends. You notice that you are stuck with HT silencers on an LT machine which you have been informed to be HT.

Besides you dont know much abt the mufflers fitted. else you would have noticed that those are in fact RX mufflers which sound real bad; And that they are fitted with the wrong size nuts and within a few days one of them is gonna shoot right off like a missile, and you would have to park the bike in the middle of traffic and run back dodging buses and lorries to retrieve the fallen muffler. And burn and scorch your hand in the process.

But you remind youself that the bike has standard bores - that is, it has never been rebored and it contains standard size pistons. well thats some consolation. Little do you know that you are gonna contemplate suicide a few months later when you are broke the bad news abt your engine running shitty sleeves and some horrible X oversize piston.

So look at the ignition. A factory RD comes with a contact breaker points based ignition. You had asked the previous owner abt the ignition and you remember he replying "CDI, CDI..no points..so no trouble". So smile with the satisfaction that your new bike is converted to CDI and that you are free from all sort of troubles which points are prone to.

Little do you know that the CDI kit is expertly crafted out of different components from at least 3 100cc mopeds, and ingeniously designed to put out a spark which is at Max one-third of that required by your RD to generate at least decent power. How are you to know that the faithful CDI kit alone would ensure that the bhp wont cross 20 and that the bike wont cross 120.

Neither do you know much abt the air-filter. Its the worst possible filter which lurks inside - a thoroughly bad quality paper type one. It is capable of cutting down 5 bhp by its own. It will strangle the bike any time it attempts to revv out more than 6k.

But you are comfortable ignorant. So you look at the carbs. You cant find anything here. Well how are you to notice that the main jets are 115 size ones lifted straight from an RXG. Devilish idea by some mechanic to solve the mileage problem of the previous owner.

Of course you are not psychic - else you could have predicted that the bike would sieze within three months cos its running that lean.

So you are still blissful. You keep inspecting the bike. You stray to the side stand. You cant make anything out of it; rather you dont notice the details; actually its a complex mishmash of design and innovation and transplantation. Suffice it to say that its from a kinetic honda.

Again you are not six-sensed enough to predict that its gonna break off within a month.

You check the gear-lever; Looks damn neat. In fact another beautiful duplicate. Patience, in another month, its threads will give up right in the middle of traffic with you stuck in a false neutral and unable to change to anything else.

Your smile keeps on broadening as you take on the neat parts. You move on to inspect the fuel tap; doesnt mean anything to you. Had it, you would have seen that its not the original one, but one from a splendor. Had you been more careful, you will have noticed that it didnt fit properely so there is a little bit of welding to keep it glued to the tank.

How are you to know that its gonna leak like hell within a few weeks.

You move on to the top of the tank and notice with a lot of discomfort that the tank fuel cap doesnt lock properely. Ah anyway.

You peer inside the tank; You fail to notice tons of rust inside; Within a few weeks its gonna start clogging your fuel tap and leave you stranded and kicking in the middle of the road.

You look at the beautiful throttle grip. You dont know that it hides one end of the most poorly manufactured accelerator cable in this world. Neither do you know that its gonna snap within a few days.

The same applies to the clutch cable which in fact had been fitted in by a roadside mechanic when the previous owner got stuck in the middle of the road with a snapped cable. In fact half of it is now cut through; It will last for a week more maximum.

So still bliss. Only trouble so far is the petrol cap which wont lock. Thats fine for now.

You look at the speedo and the tacho. The owner had told you that both of them do work, you just need to spend some 5 rupees on the cables, some minor work.

In fact both are damaged beyond repair. Within a week you would go and buy a speedo-tacho set which is in fact a superb duplicate. You would fit that and ride in utter pleasure. The speedo would indicate 40 more than what you are doing. And the tacho would wave all over the place. Sometime later one day an RX135 would overtake you while you are doing 140 and as a result of the investigations which follow that grave incident, you would realize the speedos accuracy and be dealt the blow of knowing that your bike wont touch 120 if true speed is observed.

Now to the headlights. Dim light but you had been told that there is some small wiring problem - just a 5 min job. You dont know that it will never improve. And that the Headlight bulb will keep failing every two weeks, for no logical reason.

Indicators and horn etc. You believe the previous owner when he told you that the battery needs to be recharged thats all. You dont know the truth - the battery is max good for a paper-weight.

You would realize that one day and change the battery. Only to realize that none of the bulbs on the whole machine works. You will change them all.

Now front forks; They look decent enough. Well just wait, hardly a year before you gonna be spending money on them.

You inspect the tyres - not bad condition. The rim, again ok. The previous owner had told you that the spokes are new - Yes they are. But they have been fitted by a sleepy mechanic who never bothered to cut of the spoke-ends which jut into the inner side of the rim. Result - you end up having strange punctures every month. You cant find a single nail, but regular punctures happen.

You check the seat. Good condition. Though you dont know that the hinges are almost rusted off fully. Just a matter of time before the seat falls off. It wont be a big problem though. The lock on the other side will hold it and you will not bother much.

You look at the rear and notice with pleasure the original tail lamp; Wrong - they are from the bullet.

You have been admiring the bike from all angles for the past half an hour now; You dont realize that you have kept the petrol knob on; And you also dont realize that your bike has a thorough hatred of having the petrol knob left open and that for every such minute your bike is gonna demand 100 extra kicks.

You dont know that you are gonna be busy kicking trying to start the bike for the next three hours.

And that the kicker was a class duplicate. And that at the end of three hours, it will break off like a twig and you will end up pushing the bike all the way 5km to your house.