Yamaha’s RZ500 was known in some markets as the RD500LC, but by any name, it was one of the weirdest and wildest sports machines ever built. The twin-crank, liquid-cooled two-stroke V4 featured a set of torque-boosting YPVS powervalves and standard Autolube oil-injection so riders could worry less about premix and more about handling what was one of the most heart-attack serious bikes of the period.
A six-speed gearbox put power to the 18″ rear wheel that had its motions damped by a rear shock mounted under the engine, Buell-style, because the rear expansion chambers needed somewhere to live.
Forks of course used an anti-dive system that seemed to be required equipment for virtually every 1980’s Japanese sportbike to help keep the front wheel in contact with the road.
Although power-to-weight ratio meant the bike was For Professionals Only, the RZ was surprisingly civilized: the engine used a balance shaft that was intended to reduce vibration and allow the frame and brackets to be more lightly constructed, saving weight, but also had the side-effect of making the RZ smoother than Suzuki’s RG500. Unfortunately “civilized” sort of defeated the purpose of the whole exercise, and performance nuts generally prefer the wilder RG.
The seller claims that this is “probably one of the nicest you’ll find,” and from photos it certainly looks that way. Head on over to the original listing for additional photos and plenty of close-up shots.
From the original eBay listing: 1985 Yamaha RZ500 for Sale
Selling my 1985 Yamaha RZ500. I am the first registered owner. This bike was purchased new by JO-CO Motors Yamaha in Overland Park Kansas for one of there employees. They had to pick it up in Canada since the RZ500 wasn’t sold in the US. He put 4,450 miles on it before he parked it in 1988. I bought it from him in 2009. He had never titled it. I went thought the necessary steps to get a clean MO. title in my name. So I am the first registered owner. He told me the motor would have to be torn down and inspected sense it hasn’t been started in 21 years. The upper crank bearing sits dry and could seize from not being oiled. I contacted Bill at Wilson Performance an expert with RZ500 and he said the same thing. I took the motor to him on 11/09/2010 and he did a top to bottom rebuild. There was nothing wrong with the motor other than the upper crank bearing. I have receipts for all the work he did. He finished the motor on 8/18/2011. Bill was very helpful getting it dialed in. It start’s on the first kick and run’s perfect.
Now on to the bike:
It’s probably one of the nicest 500 you’ll find. This bike is “unrestored”. Nothing has been refinished or repainted. There is no rust in or on the tank. Even the tires are original. It shows 7566 KM which is 4698 miles. I have the original exhaust, Manuals and spare parts. It has a rare steering dampener and the fox shock on the rear end.
Having just seen one for the first time in the flesh over the weekend, I was surprised how small they are. The styling is pretty bulbous when seen in photos, but it’s all very compact and purposeful when viewed in person. And while the Yammie may have lost out when directly compared to the Suzuki RG500 in terms of outright peformance, these are still extremely collectible and have very dedicated fans. More refined, but still pretty raucous when compared to modern four-stroke fours, the RZ offers up plenty of performance and thrills for fans of 1980’s hardware.
If you’re a Yamaha fan, or a vintage racebike fan, you should head on over to ClassicSportBikesforSale.com and check out the TZ750 currently listed there.
-tad
Beautiful!
original tires…yikes!
Yep! I’ll take two… New tyres, that is… Coolest bike ever, keep ’em comin’. I will NEVER grow tired of looking at these.
Relax- not original tires. RZ500s did not come from Yamaha with Metzeler CompKs.
Nice bike, it shows what a 1st class detail job can do.
Hmmm. It seems they are never as nice as they say. The bike was obviously brought in to this country with the express purpose of production racing in mind. The shop employee never titled it so what else do you think he did with it? Mileage is therefore anybody’s guess since speedos are not part of good race prep. The bike has gone down. Note the dent in the tank on the right side front caused by the bars being forced into the tank causing the throttle housing to hit. The front turn signals aren’t original (they should match the stock rears). The missing V4 logos scream repaint. They don’t come off easily and what motive could there be for removing them? The rim paint looks too good for a track bike that certainly had several tire changes. Either there were other non-stock wheels used (not allowed in production racing) or they were resprayed after the fact. The tires are not original, the standards being Yokohama’s and not the later Metzelers shown. No stock pipes even though he bought it from the original owner. He lost them?? As for Wilson motor work, a “top to bottom rebuild” would imply his standard fare which includes the use of aftermarket Wiseco full skirt pistons (rather than the stock rear Yamaha ones with proper windows for use with piston port reeds) and welded cranks. Stock cranks and pistons are much preferred but too late now.
Aw man, what a buzzkill! Seriously though Rick, thanks for chiming in: your sharp eyes are appreciated.
As Rick notes, the bike has been down. There is a fairly significant crack in the upper fairing below the right mirror that to support that claim. The rear axle hardware is incorrect. What’s with the water pump? To my old eyes it almost looks like a JB Weld repair. Without any real facts to support the bike’s actual mileage I’d ignore any claim of low mileage. I have a box full of 500 clocks here and they are easily changed. As Rick says, they aren’t sued for racing, so the actual mileage could be significantly higher. The seller doesn’t mention if the engine # matches the frame. The tool kit has seen some use. I would expect the bag to be clean for a claim low mileage bike, but that is just nit picking. The bike may be as claimed, or it may have a lot of time and miles on it. 24 years is a long time to be untitled and a long time to use and abuse any machine. Some parts show plenty of wear while others look new. For example, compare the CDI and powervalve controller. The rear caliper looks well used and is more indicative of the age of the bike. The wheels and some other parts, including bodywork look just a little too clean. Could be a great bike, or could be misrepresented, accidentally or otherwise. The current owner may only know what the seller told him, and we all know how that works. Overall it’s a nice looking bike, and may, in fact, be perfect. I have a pair of 500s and one has 45000 KM on it and looks near perfect and unrestored, but that is because I restored it to look that way. Before laying out a bucket of cash for this one, ask the right questions and hope for the right answers. Contacting Bill Wilson at Wilson Performance would be a good place to start. Find out what you’re buying and what it looked like when torn down.
Reply to Rick Lance:
Curious how you post trash on the seller without even asking him a single question first. You are correct about it being club raced as well riden briefly on the street in the 80s though but it was never laid down. And if you had cared to read the description in detail he has the OEM pipes and they are like brand new just not pictured. As for the V4 logos not being present the original fairs were damaged in shipment from Canada in 1985 and these were the replacements. The original owner never cared to install these, they were still new in the package when Mark purchased the bike. Lastly, the wheels are original and not resprayed and the tires are the second set, I believe the date codes put them in 1986.
And as for your disparaging tone concerning my engine services. You’re right I do use the superior quality Wiseco pistons, why, because they are forged. Also, because they are far superior to any cast piston and that’s from the people using forged pistons every day in every major racing genre across this country. And the idea that somehow a windowed piston is ‘proper’ over an arched intake piston shows your ignorance within Yamaha’s engines yourself. Everything from the IT, YT, AT, YZ used arched pistons in piston induction engines beginning in 1971 all the way till 1988. The piston is simply in the way of the induction process on a reed valved engine not controlling it. And welding cranks, especially the upper primary on the RZ500 is a near essential. Having built near 40 of these engines now in the last 15 years, several highly modified when completed, multiples of them came in with the upper primary out of true by some .040″, and one at .080″! I have three sets of cases on my shelves where this same location main journal is so beat out it will require welded repair to be used again because the upper primary flyweight went out of true and beat the bearing and case to oblivion. The engine in this bike was caught right before it was to that point! So, don’t spout off about welding cranks as a negative or unsatisfactory option as it is the most widely used form of preventative maintenance against flyweight creep there is. It’s obvious you’ve either not seen it or don’t care to provide that level of prevention for your clients.
This is a fantastic original example RZ500 and it runs excellent period.
Per JR’s post….the waterpump was resprayed with Fusion enamel. Rejetting the carbs dripped fuel onto the pump cover causing the paint to run. The gray is actually green etching primer.
thanks mr lance for the useful info. some posters here seem dead set on taking everything seriously and/or personal when neither should happen on the internet
Curious how Mr. Lance is praised for his disparaging remarks while I’m not given a chance to rebuttal.
And pertaining to your opinion concerning the use of the internet, should someone mention my work in a poor light then it is personal and I will respond and defend any business practices I’m associated with. Your inability to see that makes you a poor moderator at best and an enabler of others at worst.
My mistake. The ad mentions that the stock pipes come with the bike. I would want to see them and inspect for evidence of the crash. Production racing requires the use of the stock exhaust. He states that the only thing Wilson found wrong with the motor was a bad main bearing. Why was a complete rebuild required or was it in fact not overhauled other than the bearing replacement (seals and gaskets, of course)? An accurate description with complete photos of all parts and receipts would be helpful in bringing the right buyer into the picture.
A very nice and clean example of this collectable. Well spotted Mr Lance, I am sure your input is valued by all readers. However the bike does not appear to be totally as described. I can`t help but think that had the seller been a little more forthcoming with the bikes history he may not have attracted as much negative attention. Original ? – not even close being an ex racer. None the less it is a very clean bike and good luck to the seller and to the buyer who can now purchase with “eyes wide open”
if im speaking to you ill say so smh
I’m curious how an ex club race bike somehow determines it’s no longer an original? The fact is that the seller doesn’t know as much of the history of this bike as I do. He texted me earlier today saying he’d listed it. I recommended to him about listing the mileage on the rebuild (less than 500 miles) and that the pipes are Nikons. He evidently forgot their make based on the questions on ebay he responded too.
As for the complete rebuild, I do what the client asks. The stock bores had very light surface rust in a few spots from sitting and the upper crank needed serviced. It was honed to 56.5mm and fitted with the forged pistons. All other components were cleaned, inspected and then reinstalled with OEM Yamaha gaskets, soil seals and o-rings.
Whoever purchases the bike is more than welcome to call me to discuss it’s history in detail. But it is every bit what Mark has described. As with many of these bikes it sat for way too long and the corrosion has taken the toll on it as can been seen.
Let me explain it to you and I am not trying to be clever here or stir up a hornets nest. Original simply means original regardless of condition.
“Present or existing from the beginning; first or earliest” Oxford dictionary.
I am a little perplexed how you or the owner can describe this bike as original with so many aftermarket engine components, incorrect indicators, fairing panels etc. Call it and sell it for what it is – a very nice example of an RZ500.
I understand now what you mean and I conceded the fact the turn signals are not OEM, he didn’t know, they were in the box that came with it. However, several pieces of the bodywork were damaged in transit from Canada and the bodywork on the bike is all NOS that came with the bike following import as it was replaced by the shipping company (minus the tank, it is original). The bike was riden with the original first set of damaged plastics and then these installed by this owner. So, again I conceded the fact it doesn’t have the set it rolled off the showroom floor with but it’s not a respray either, it’s all from 1985. And given the engine has been serviced the only aftermarket components in it are the cranks and pistons. Both being either superior or more cost effective at the time of the build. Neither of which are a negative but rather a positive to make the machine better for the next generation. So, no it wasn’t pulled from a shed, cleaned up and started original as built. But in terms of being a 96%, it’s all that.
There appears to be a photo taken in 1989 posted by Wilson online recently which shows the bike in question. Note the Michelin Hi-Sport tire. The belly pan is missing and the nose fairing either has very tidy stickers covering the signal and mirror holes or the part has been reworked. Hard to say. http://www.rzrd500.com/500phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13541
among other things, loving the vented disks… 🙂
mr lance youll make detective in no time with those skills good on you
I bought a set of EBC replacement discs for a customer years back. The stock ones are prone to warp if ridden hard. The new discs were the same thickness as the standard ones but were SOLID, not vented. Must have weighed 5 pounds more per set.