The RG500 name is probably one of the most famous and well known in road racing circles, made especially famous by Barry Sheen riding his famous No 7 to a World championship or two!
Suzuki introduced a road version of this model, called naturally enough the RG500 Gamma in 1984. It shared the same layout as it’s famous racing forbears with a square four liquid cooled disc valve engine giving an incredible 95hp @ 9500rpm. This gave the 156kg machine the best power to weight ratio ever seen on a road bike. The chassis was an advanced box section aluminium perimeter type, and gave breathtaking agility, and even today only the very latest GSXR, R1 and Blade will beat a well-ridden (and correctly set up!) with a competent rider on board.
Japan had a 400cc version to fit in with their licensing laws, this was not exported, although some grey imports have ensured a few are around European roads.
The biggest problem this model had was getting the carburettor settings right, and the inability of many dealerships to achieve this led to a not entirely unfair reputation of fragility, and poor reliability. Get one set up correctly however, and it would be impossible to find a more thrilling ride!
