Customer Works Bike? 1984 Suzuki RG500 MK11 (I Think!)

Customer Works Bike? 1984 Suzuki RG500 MK11 (I Think!)

I joke a lot here about being jealous about not owning some of the exotic bikes we list on RSBFS.  This is the sort of bike I’m truly sorry I don’t own.  Who the heck wouldn’t want to own a piece of racing history from when GP racing technology was evolving full throttle.  This particular bike is quite interesting as it comes from a time when Suzuki had “officially” pulled out of grand prix racing and had turned the reins over to companies like Padgetts, Harris and Heron.  When I first saw a picture of this bike the frame threw me off.  It looked way to spindly for 1984.  Before Suzuki pulled out, the frames on its’ XR series of race bikes were getting noticeably more stout.  So what gives?  I warmed up my fingers to search the WWW for answers.

After the glaciers melted and Columbus supposedly found America, Suzuki started to produce customer race bikes, the MK series.  It started with the MK1 in 1976.  Once you get to 1982 it gets a little confusing.  The RGB500 appears.  As far as I can tell this is just a continuation of the MK series.  So, if you still follow me,  in 1982 you have the RGB1 or MK7.  Feel free to comment if you can clarify this.  There is some debate but it appears the last “complete from the factory” MK was the MK9 (or RGB3) in 1984.  After 84 Suzuki supplied engines but left the rest up to companies like Padgetts.  And so here we are, a Harris framed 1994 RG500 MK11 from Padgetts.

Here is MK11 from Padgetts back in the day.  What is fascinating when you start researching these old RG’s is the number of different frames you will see on them.  They were trying all kinds of stuff.  It sounds like these bikes had reed valve engines with power valves which was strictly factory spec stuff. Nice!!!!

 An example of the varied framed RG’s of the day.  This was an experimental carbon fiber frame  on the Heron Suzuki.

Here is a little about the bike for sale from the seller:

George Beale restored the machine, which was acquired by Kevin Wilson; who ran it at the Isle of Man Jurby circuit and then brought it over to Canada.  It was then purchased by the current owner who ran it at a track day at Mosport in Ontario, Canada about 8 years ago and then decommissioned it (fogged and drained).

The machine is one of three built by Padgets in ’86 through Suzuki under contract as a factory MK11 with a MK 9 power valve engine. One was built for George Farlow, one for Trevor Nation, and one for Darren Dixon.  Original cases #: rgb500-10150, rebuilt cases #: rgb500-10501 and Harris frame # HPMK.102. The bike includes the factory manual, parts catalogue and a stack of documentation.

Be sure to check out the sellers Flickr account more a lot more photos of this beauty.

Oddly enough while researching this bike I found there are quiet a few MK’s and RGB’s for sale.  None were in the US or cheap if you were curious.  This one is pretty close being in Canada.  The auction is up and running.  Starting bid is $15,000 and I’d imagine it will take a little while to find the reserve.  Take a look.

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RG historians I’m deferring to you now.  After finishing up this post I was going over the sellers photos on Flickr and found one with the bike and a info sheet.  The info sheet says the bike is 1985 MK12.  I know it is not earth shattering news but I’m sure for the money this bike would sell for someone would like to know exactly what it is.  It also looks like a rotary valve engine as well,  instead of the reed valve I’d mentioned earlier.

Ian