This 1986 Suzuki RG500 Gamma has just 800 original miles and is essentially one of the company’s professional race bikes wearing street clothes. The RG500 featured a 498cc “square four” engine that developed upwards of 95 horsepower 53 lb.-ft. of torque at 8,000 RPM, and the videos online that show the bike at full chat reveal that this sport bike truly does have racing pedigree in its blood. The seller has listed the RG500 with an opening bid of $45,000, and not surprisingly, there are no bids yet. It has been with one Canadian owner since new until that individual’s passing, and it now resides in California with the importer who originally found the bike for the previous owner. The Suzuki is listed here on eBay in Suisun City, California.
The RG500 is based on the RG Gamma XR45 factory Grand Prix racer, which helped the company record championship titles in the 500cc class of competition. If you go on YouTube and check out the videos tagged with “RG500,” you can see what happens when a (brave) rider uncorks this bike near the top of the tachometer range: it sounds absolutely maniacal, reminding us that sport bikes like these are in a different performance category altogether, especially when you consider the rider is holding onto this rocketship for dear life. The RG500 was not a particularly heavy bike, weighing in at 340 lbs. dry, and could reach a top speed of over 130 miles per hour.
Everything on this bike was exotic, from the suspension to the brakes. The brake discs are really a work of art, and it features two 260 mm discs and quad-piston calipers up front with a single 210 mm disc with a dual-pot caliper out back. Suspension consisted of 38mm forks and Suzuki’s trick “Posi Damp” anti-dive system, along with an alloy swing arm connected to a floating mono-shock in the rear. What’s so special about bikes like this is that Suzuki effectively made its race-grade engineering available in a street bike application, which is why it’s a sought-after collectible today. Of course, with only 800 miles, it will likely be used sparingly and very rarely at the level it’s capable of.
As of this writing, the bike now has one bid on it at the opening number, but that’s not enough to clear the reserve. The seller has a Buy-It-Now of $60,000 on the ad, which likely isn’t too far off from what it could bring if the right collector is out there who wants one of these superbikes in their collection. As we’ve seen over the years, the highest performing bikes from every generation tend to become collectibles down the line, so it stands to reason that the seller is not wrong to ask all the money for what is likely the lowest mileage RG500 Gamma in existence. Would you pay that kind of money for a bike like this?
Built in butt clencher. I rode an rz350 2 stroke once, not aware of what I was getting on. Zero to terrifying in a few short seconds.
I had a couple RD350s that had plenty of power for me, about 40 HP and weighed close to the same as this Suzuki. I can’t imagine how scary 90-some HP would be!
You can’t beat those two-strokes for power. I rode a Yamaha TZ250 race bike at Laconia years ago. It was exciting!
Believe it or not, and my love of motorcycles, these “crotch rockets” are the only exception. While technological wonders, they are probably the most irritating, uncomfortable, mechanical nightmare creations,( if it’s anything like that POS DRZ, good luck) and for some reason, they have only one throttle setting,,wide open. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone ride one sanely. Something must be built in for the operator to lose all common sense when turning the key. Gangs use these to cause all kinds of trouble, since they go 100 mph in 2 seconds, LEO’s have little chance of catching them, until they wipe out. Nope, nothing good to say about these at all, except be a nice motor for the “Schnellaster”, or a boat.
The manufacturers of these bikes, Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki back in the 70s and 80s were Engineering master pieces. I appreciate all R&D that when into making racing machinery. We owe allot to the Japanese and German technology that we have today. The 3 big American manufacturers were left in the dust.
The owners, young and older are a different story!
frank, when you race at laconia?..My boss and I raced there in late 70’s. He did the ridding there, I was his pit crew. did pretty good, he was one of those with just natural talent. We both had 81 gpz 550’s. We went to summitpoint w virginia and both of us raced in the 600 stock class. We kinda dominated, him more than me, finished one an two. to be fair tho the 3rd place finisher raced a 400ss honda as there were no 550s down there at that point. My boss worked part time at one wheel drive in N Conway so we both got some of earliest 550s in the east as they knew in the fall of 80 about the gpz’s coming out in the spring an had 2 on order for us. Yamaha 550 seca’s came out too but ended up down on hp compared to our kawasaki;s…only took a couple yrs and all 4 brands were fairly equal tho…lota fun back then….first time a TZ 750 wheelied all the way up the hill on the back part of the course at laconia I was ” holy**** did you see that “…..good times
Tell that story about CornPop again, would you?
Holy cow,Howard! You caught us off guard again!! Yeah, these were some incredible machines for their time and to this day they are truly unforgiving, a absolutely incredible street legal racing machine-machinated retroactive birth control.
It says something about your riding ability, Howard that (if I’m reading this correctly) you got crazy with one of these BAD@$$ and are still here to talk about it.
You ROCK, my friend!
Thanks, pal, but to be clear, I never had one of these. The DRZ I was referring to was that dual sport malarkey. I was more the GoldWing/ Harley type, and actually tried to promote safety on a motorcycle, not push it to it’s limits at every stoplight.
My first street bike at 15 y.o. was an RD 350. It was a little rocket. My parents had no idea.
The Isle of Man video of the Gamma is just nuts.
The 500 square 4 was the bike Barry Sheene used to dominate the GP scene in the mid 70’s. This one might be a bit fugly with the 80’s design pinnings but I bet through the twisties every rider had visions of being Sheene. It’s rare, but judging by the rnm final bid not that desirable at 60K
I covered accidents and other mayhem for a large suburban Philadelphia newspaper for 30 years. Had my own police scanner and direct link to our 911 call center. Almost every time a motorcycle accident was reported, it was idiot going 125 in a 35 in heavy traffic on a sport bike. I saw dead dudes lying in blood. At least they wear helmets unlike idiot Harley riders. I drove a new 2004 Yamaha R6 once. Told the kid who owned it to be careful. This thing is a rocket ship. He didn’t listen. Dead 2 weeks later. They are truly uncomfortable. On I 95 outside Philly, gang members were steel bottom boots, drop their feet to the ground at 100 mph. You should see the fireworks.
The only reason they wear those full face helmets with tinted screens, George, is so you can’t see what an idiot actually looks like. Tinted windows in corny 4×4’s, same thing,,,
These are so much fun to ride and exhausting because if you relax they will bite you.
There was a time when these were reasonably priced. They were never cheap but one could afford it. Had one for about two years. You have to be comfortable with power wheelies and that time has long gone for me.
They are the Hemi Cuda of the bike world. Love to see them again, hear them, and appreciate BF listing them.
Crotch rockets are the worst. They demand to be driven like a maniac and the idiots that are often own them don’t usually have the skills. Borderline immoral to build these things IMO. My CB 750 has 67 HP. A seventeen year old nitwit can walk into a dealer and drive off with a 120 HP bike. Ridiculous.
I think that an unfair statement David. I’ve owned Crotch rockets at a young age. I also went to Keith Codes Superbike school and got my AMA racing license. Life has many dangers.
This is a nice, old, fast bike but I’m calling shenanigans on it being classified as a “barn find”.
I bet you it has never been in a barn.
By far one of the fastest and scariest bikes to ever hit the market. The majority of them came in from Canada. The other was the Kawasaki Z1000 Turbo with a skinny back tire.
Very quick machines used to see them dust my buddys in lite to lite to lite races and they had 750s. Wild sound also. Not pleasant to the ear
wow…never seen so many people whine about something they’ve probly never even sat on much less ridden. I’m 68 an have ridden sport bikes all my life, haven’t had any of the issues above, not demanded to ride like a maniac, no more uncomfortable to ride than any other bike once you get used to the riding style, like any other bike. way lighter, better braking, better handling. Have I been down before ? Oh yah, just like everyone one else that rides….with a bike its not if you go down, its when. Far more control than the Harley I got talked into buying by a friend who told me how great they were…67hp will kill as quick as 120 if your unexperienced…I bet as many ridders get killed by car drivers texting or lack of attention than by they’re own hands. I followed a driver one time for 15 miles until he decided to turn left on a side road, at the last second he decided not to go that way and pulled right back in front of me. How could he not know I was behind him? good brakes an experience saved me. I retired couple yrs ago an don’t stray to far from home. sold my zx6 and bought me a 350 Suzuki 4 stroke dual purpose, strap my fish pole to my backpack an go anywhere I want. I love it
Good comments 20 riding is such a treat. The sport bikes are awesome machines, and a track or skilled street rider can really get the pleasure from them…. Ive ridden a couple, wild fast, and smooth..,but not enough practical or comfort for me…so like you i went dual purpose dr650 simple cheap and fun, still quick enough for a grin.
I like the fact that Barn Finds feature many kinds of odd and collectable vehicles. Lothar is being too nit-picky, IMO. Maybe all he wants to see is hard to see cars covered in dust.
I don’t like crotch rockets much either. My legs are too long and so, cramp up. This square 4, 2 stroke race bike was never sold in the US by dealers. The last year for 2 stroke street bikes was 1979, I’m fondly thinking of the Yamaha RD400F. My ’76 RD400 is as I bought it 20 years ago with rear sets, expansion chambers and other goodies. I LOVE it but… my legs are too long and cramp up. My other favorite bikes are Yamaha’s and one Suzuki, ’72 DS7 250, ’73 RD350, ’74 RD250, ’75 RD125 and ’70 T350. They’ll be with me until I’m scattered in the wind. My legs cramp up just seeing pictures of the RG500.
That’s nice. I have one of Honda’s take – the NS400. They demands constant attention when aboard and are really hard to ride fast because you have to work so hard at it. I once rode an RG500 racer (it was a pals) at a track day. I was just starting to get to grips with it – or so I thought – when it spat me off. Lovely bike, though.
Howard – your gangs would use 4-strokes because they’re more predictable, easy to start and so on.
As a young Marine in 1986, I purchased a brand new GSXR750 from a local dealership after riding dirt bikes all my life and saving up for it for two years. Fun bike and scared me more than the Corps, my brother in law totaled it while I was deployed overseas. The above bike was the race version of what I bought. It scared me more than anything I did in the Corps, but what a ride. Yes, I rode it faster than I should have on the freeways. But what a blast.
This is a great, great bike and very detuned for the street. It’s actually pretty livable. It’s also easy to get this up to 140hp +.
The 500 gamma had better suspension and handling of the 2 stroke 500 GP clone bikes, but the Yamaha RZ500R had the best motor. 2 crankshaft, 4 cyl snarling banshee.
A set of pipes and a carb tune and it was complete insanity.
I was the service manager at a Yamaha/Kawasaki shop back then,
I had the first one that came into our dealership, stayed late to put it together and service it, first ride I almost flipped it.
I’ve owned a LOT of bikes, (currently a dozen or so in my shop, I’ll say that here the wife doesnt read this) and only a couple I’d wished I hadn’t sold. That was one of them.
I just checked it seems to have gotten a bid of 45K and has been sold
Jesus you guys, sport bikes are just motorcycles. They may have more powerful engines, better brakes and suspensions, and racy riding positions, but they only go as fast as the rider turns the throttle. You don’t like em, don’t ride em. Plus you know there are idiots who say the same things about muscle cars, right?
Props to those who spoke up in support of sport bikes, above :-)
Rode one back in the day. My mate brought it around. I owned an old Ducati 860. I came back and told him the tacho was stuffed. He then told me that it didn’t register until 3000rpm. I took another ride and scared myself crapless. Savage bike.
The rg500 gamma and similar yamaha rz500 2 stroke 4 cylinder ultrabooks to me are the pinnacle of 80s 2 stroke technology. Inexperienced riders and especially those with limited 2 stroke experience will be shocked by the performance characteristics of these. The exhaust note and wail of a gamma on full boil is something everyone that enjoys internal combustion engines should get to experience.
Growing up in the usa but not very far from canada where these bikes were legally sold I knew a few guys that had gammas and rz500s including my brother.
Raw unadulterated savagery is how I remember the performance of the rz500 that my brother had. Truly incredible. I remember watching one night as a local with a gamma got on it a bit leaving a local gas station and watching the bike spin the rear tire up into 4th gear as the peaky 2 stroke came on boil. Incredible sight and sound and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
These were immortal bikes that were seemingly unavailable to me normal people. I remember the owner having his gamma for sale in the late 80s and wanting 4500 for it. I dreamed and drooled but 4500 might as well been 45000 as either was out of my range at the time.
Imo this bike, with its condition and ise use history is worth the ask. Where else you going to find one? Watch enough gamma and rz500 videos on YouTube or rumble and you will see what I mean.
Absolutely amazing bikes the likes of which I dont think we will see again.
Interesting reading comments of a bike most if any have ridden.I got my RG500 in 1988 from a Canadian living in southern CA.I owned a 1985 GSXR-750 Canadian version (flat slide carbs,hotter cam and pipe- stock)at the time, so know both well.The RG is something special, it’s tiny to sit on and all the weight is low.I used it as my everyday bike for 2 yrs and even commuted via Topanga Canyon for 3 months,more comfortable than the 750 and smooth and easy if driven mildly.WFO the most stable bike I’ve ever owned- dead stable at top speed, took it on The El Mirage dry lake bed several times running flat out until I got bored.Canyon rides were quite different, keep it at 7-9000 rpm in turns to avoid the surge,turn in late and drag the kickstand on the left and fairings on the right but only first through 3rd otherwise way to fast on the street to test it’s limits.On the straights,keep shifting hold on nothing moves like an evil two-stroke and brake HARD !!
Now repeat for a few hours and you will be in sport bike nirvana,spent,anxious,glad to be alive.Just fully restored it and rode it for the first time in 25 yrs… as far as the Yamaha RD 500 engine being better than the Gamma’s- never heard that before!! heavier,less power,leak like crazy,complicated and expensive- all from a guy who built my engine and works on the RD engines as well.Do your homework