Written by Andrew Jones
My partner loves talking about motorcycles. Sometimes, she just bangs on and on for hours and hours about two-stroke service intervals, the history of 500cc two-stroke Grand Prix racing and her favourite subject ? expansion chamber designs. I’m joking, of course. She hates bikes. But just imagine if there was such a thing. Imagine a partner that was as keen to mix two-stroke as you were. Well, for San Diego’s Eric Zanutto and his wife Melanie, nature has conspired to do the unimaginable. They both like bikes. Hell, they both build bikes. Here’s their latest creation – a ?71 Yamaha R5 Racer restomod.

?I grew up near Fresno in California,? reminisces Eric. ?It was an old farming town. My dad got me into airplanes and motorcycles from a young age. He was a bike builder as well,? says Eric. Sadly, he passed away a little less than a year ago. ?So with him being in the Air Force and into planes, I got pretty hands-on at a young age. I’m an aerospace engineer now ? I build and ride bikes as a stress reliever and because it’s just a big bunch of fun. But I’m always learning as I go, and I know I have plenty more to understand.?
Eric and his wife picked up this 1971 Yamaha R5, complete with a ?75 RD350 engine transplant, from Rancho Palos Verdes about a year ago. The bike was in extremely rough shape, with rust on pretty much every part imaginable and a whole bunch of mismatched bits. ?In the end, we were able to ...