The Suzuki RG500 "Gamma", a
sport bike
A sports motorcycle, sports bike, or sport bike is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfort, ...
with a
two-stroke engine
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a f ...
, was produced by
Suzuki
is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...
for just two years between 1985 and 1987.
The RG "Gamma" 500 was directly based on the series of
Suzuki RG Γ 500 Grand Prix motorcycles with almost identical features to the official two-stroke machines used by Italian world champion
Franco Uncini during the 1984 season with the
Gallina team. The RG Γ 500 won two consecutive Riders' Championships in the 500 cc class with
Marco Lucchinelli in 1981 and
Franco Uncini in 1982. Like its GP forebears, the road-going RG was powered by a 498 cc
naturally aspirated
A naturally aspirated engine, also known as a normally aspirated engine, and abbreviated to N/A or NA, is an internal combustion engine in which air intake depends solely on atmospheric pressure and does not have forced induction through a turboc ...
,
rotary-valve inducted, twin crank
square four two-stroke engine. This engine employed thermostatically controlled
liquid-cooling by means of a front-mounted radiator.
Suzuki used an aluminum box-section frame with castings for the headstock and rear swing arm. The front suspension had pre-load adjust, as well as an anti-dive system called Posi Damp. This was a popular feature on early 1980s sports bikes and was supposed to control the tendency of a motorcycle's nose to dive under braking. At the rear, the full-floater suspension design used dual swing arms.
RG400
A smaller 397 cc derivative, known as the RG400, was also developed and produced alongside the 500. This machine appeared identical to its bigger brother in every way, making use of the same frame, suspension, and gearbox. However, the main differences between the two were a reduced bore width (50mm instead of 56mm) with power output reduced to , different big end roller bearings (some roller-less), clutch disks unit, front brakes (non floating discs), silencers, and 'RG400' stickers on the fairings.
The RG400 was produced and sold within Asian markets: its 397cc capacity and output complied with a restricted Japanese motorcycle driving licence of the time.
Production numbers
References
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RG500
Sport bikes
Two-stroke motorcycles
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