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Tadd reviewed an ’88 RGV on RSBFS back in 2017. “The quarter-liter sportbikes of the 1980s and 1990s might look virtually identical on paper and offer very similar performance, but they all managed to have their own individual character, although that may have been down more to marketing and brand loyalty than any distinct differences. In any event, the Suzuki RGV250Γ had a reputation as a bit of a wild man and may been less refined than the Honda NSR250, but these little machines were all about snarling and snapping and adrenaline anyway.
…the RGV stuck close to the class formula, with an aluminum beam frame, a liquid cooled, 90° two stroke v-twin with power valves and backed by a six-speed gearbox. The later VJ22 had the very desirable banana swingarm, although that also increased weight over the VJ21… With a sub 300lb dry weight, the 50-ish horses are plenty to move the RGV along at a good clip, assuming you beat the little bike mercilessly.
And that’s really the point of the RGV: it was an angry little machine that required and rewarded abuse to make good progress. Tiring for sure, but plenty of fun of fun and, if you love to attack the back roads, bikes like the RGV are your willing accomplice. ”
As Wikipedia puts it, “The top speed of a standard RGV250 is around 130 mph (209 km/h). It has a 0-60 mph (97 km/h) time of around 3.7 seconds.
This motorcycle’s engine performance is not very inspiring at engine speeds under 7,000 rpm, due to the two-stroke engine power delivery of a relatively narrow power band. However, once the engine is revved over 8,000 rpm, the power delivery characteristics effectively doubles, as is expected of a two-stroke racing motorcycle.
Due to its light weight, engine characteristics and cornering capabilities, it is particularly suited to the track, compared to other motorcycles of similar engine capacity.”
VJ22 Swingarm, stock otherwise. 1988 model year only released in japan
Clement Salvadori wrote about the RGV250 for Rider stating, “When one is looking at the specs for a motorcycle, weight, power, wheelbase, etc., it is all somewhat instructive, but not terribly exciting. Until one reads the specifications for a Suzuki RGV250 and comes across this: Lean Angle, 58 degrees. Fifty-eight degrees!! On a street bike! But this model was never sold in this country, at least not officially. A few of these Suzukis did come in, apparently by drone, and reside in private collections.
As several pundits noted back when Europe and Japan were embracing this quarter-liter pocket rocket, this was as close to riding a GP bike on a public road as one could find. Suzuki was the first Japanese company to mass-produce a repli-racer with its RG250 Gamma, in 1983, using a two-stroke parallel twin in an aluminum alloy frame with a full fairing. Then five years later it turned out an all-new version labeled the RGV250, using a two-stroke 90-degree V-twin.”
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