Dazza - In your first pic, I had a black TDR250 in '96. It made me do very naughty things, using the drop kerbs as ramps, sliding round roundabouts, riding at speed on pavements, and generally using the road like a motocross track. I had to get rid of it, I would have ended up having the book thrown at me eventually, I was safer on a 150mph superbike.
Also in the first pic, the RD350N, had one of those too. Bought it with 1500 miles on the clock at 12 months old, rode it for 24,000 miles and it never gave any trouble, apart from the usual powervalve seals, fork seals and a clutch, my first "Big" bike. Had so much fun on it, tear arsing round with my mates on similar bikes, racing CB900F's Z1000's etc, and showing them a clean pair of heels, apart from on long straights obviously.