I have some bad news for anyone who lusted after the Yamaha RZV500 when it was new: the bike is now 31 years old. With any luck, you’re aging as well as this V4 two-stroke GP-replica, although I’m sure that varies by individual. And that’s the thing about bikes and bikers this old: even if…
I have to admit that when I started reading RSBFS I knew nothing about the RZ500. I knew they were were always a reader favorite on RSBFS, but the origin of their popularity/exact reason why they were so desirable never seemed to be explained. When this RZ500 popped up, I decided to do some research…
A wild race-replica from the era of two-stroke Moto GP machines, Yamaha’s RZ500/RD500LC was a direct competitor to Suzuki’s RG500 Gamma. Never officially imported to the US because of emissions laws, many have found their way south across the Canadian border. The bike was powered by a liquid-cooled 50° two-stroke V4 with twin cranks. Midrange…
These things are…. well, just plain cool. Based on KR’s (Kenny Roberts) YZR500 from 1983 this V4 500cc 2-stroke packed quite the punch in 1985 with about 80hp at the wheel. The bike was quite heavy at about 470 lbs but if you are lucky you can find the super rare RZV500R which was a Japanese…