Suzuki RG 500 Gamma from 1985

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Suzuki RG 500 Gamma from 1985

Power to the people

While the Yamaha RD 350 had already given us two-stroke freaks the feverish nightmares of the rat-hot Grand Prix racer with TÜV, this situation turned into health-threatening delusions when the Suzuki RG 500 Gamma was unveiled in 1985. We wanted to turn the gas like Barry Sheene, hearing the four rotary valves sing, inhaling the consciousness-enhancing drug made from burned premium gasoline and castor in the thick oil mist. We were crazy about it.

A proverb claims: “The Swabian does not get clever until he is forty.” With which the more ambitious and domestic South German associates less adventurous youthful sins, but mostly the proverb has to serve as a legitimation for middle-class derailments. The car was scrapped while drunk, the neighbor was given a “g ?? scrub” during an argument, and the village policeman was shown the bird. Anything can happen, the Swabian only gets clever at forty. But there is also the strain that is said to never change. Well over forty – and still a child’s head.
Between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb, in the middle of the Gau, a representative of exactly this type works, primarily on Suzuki. This is how Rainer father earns his bread in Bondorf. And if he’s not repairing and tuning motorbikes, then he drives them. No, no, he doesn’t just drive a motorcycle, he has a Gamma 500 in the stable and a whole collection of engines for it on the shelf. But actually such a gamma motor does not belong on the workshop shelf, but in the living room. As a monument of the highest two-stroke culture, the zenith of an era destroyed by valve manufacturers, camshaft designers and government exhaust gas detectives.
The basic construction of the Suzuki Square Four engine corresponds almost exactly to the Grand Prix engines of the 80s. Everything is included that was also included in the RGB 500 factory machines from ex-world champion Barry Sheene and his colleagues. Just not with more than 100 hp, but only 95 hp from 500 cubic centimeters. In order to put the GSX-R 1000 faction in its place in its horsepower glory, 190 hp from the full liter displacement. 1985, mind you. At that time, Japanese designers squeezed around 120 hp from a five-valve Yamaha FZR 1000 by all means.
And the RG horses wanted to be fed, because nothing comes from nothing. 28-millimeter flat-plate turner, uh, knife gate valve – no: FLAT SLIDE CARBURETOR BLUSTER their flammable mixture through the plate turner, sorry flat-plate valve, ah: PLATE ROTARY VALVE into the depths of the crankcase. Because full throttle through a 28 carburetor can curse, but not quite as curse as it can slip through a 32 carburetor, the tuners in the backyards quickly agreed. Huge carburetors and mercilessly trimmed rotary valves were supposed to channel even more of the coveted full throttle into the cylinders and provide adequate pressure there. Said and done.
Rainer also cleared the way, but with care. Because Rainer doesn’t have much to do with running anymore, he opted for the moderate weekend setting for his RG 500. Finely adjusted timing and a lot of work in detail. With it, the brave Swabian climbs over a lot of alpine passes down to the Mediterranean. Put the tank bag on and off you go. “The Gamma is definitely enough for the few R1s and Fireblades that hang around there,” the Suzuki dealer apologizes for the estimated 110 hp of his two-stroke rattle. “In winter there are new pistons and freshly adjusted crankshafts, then it jumps properly again.”
His »Tourer« has 80,000 kilometers on the clock, optically standard, technically better. Much better. So much better that he pushes the RG out for an extended test round without any fuss. “You can turn it until twelve, oil is in, the water should be 55 degrees already ?? But as an old Yamaha TZ driver, I don’t have to explain anything to you. «Thank you and bye.
Kickstarter out, gently kicked twice, and it’s back, that tinny rattle, the growl in the drive, the oily haze that wafts around you like a drug. Clack ?? Connection established, rolled off, racing suit pulled out. The day can come. The rich hodgepodge of gears rasps and growls ?? between the crankshaft and the clutch are not two, but five ?? loudly to himself. The situation calms down from 3000 rpm. Coincidence or not, but this is where the scale in the white tachometer begins. If the resonance vibrations of the gas column between the carburetor and the exhaust pipe have come together in harmony, then RG’s RG has almost 8000 rpm on the clock, then pure madness breaks loose. And attacks the pilot in no time at all, crawls into the neck, paralyzes reason, pokes at the ego and turns him into a deer.
Each phase of the red light is preceded by hectic thrusts of the gas, when the gas is green, the gas tap is stretched as far as it will go, and the sportsman lies flat under the cladding dome at the end of the town. Too fast? What can you do with Mamola, Roberts and Spencer hanging in the slipstream? The boys only understand one language: Gaaaaas ?? and nothing else. And at Gaaaas the RG ratchet is moving forward, it’s hard to believe. Squeezed out up to twelve thousand, Rainer expressly warned, the tap stays at the stop, the clutch plucked for a moment, the next gears clicked into place with a consistent kick, and with an ecstatic blaring from four pipes, the front wheel rips off the asphalt ?? hooray, the gamma is flying.
If she could brake now, it would be great. But nothing really works. Stubborn 16-inch model on the front wheel, thin fork, measly discs, ole pliers. Pampered modern-day racers work up a sweat. With their bum pinched together and their gaze fixed, horse and rider row along between the verge and the ditch in the greatest danger of falling. “As an old Yamaha TZ driver, I don’t have to explain anything to you,” Rainer said and patted me confidently on the shoulder. But how do you explain it? i ?? s the Rainer? And the boss? What about the police? And why does the Gamma thread itself again now without crumpling itself in the ditch? No idea. But everything must have been a little different 17 years ago. Also the braking points.
Ticked off what doesn’t work, doesn’t work. Then we bend the gamma around the corners on the ear flaps. Hmmmm? On the spindly rubbers in cut-off wheel format? 120 millimeters at the back, what do current athletes take for a walk at the front? “I have?? Just to be on the safe side, put new tires on, of course in a grippy CompK compound at the front and rear.
The cracked racing driver ego receives its anointing when the knee sliders actually hiss gently over the asphalt. Finally. And that wasn’t all. It’s unbelievable how the gamma can be turned over. Ritsch, ratsch, from left to right and vice versa. Aaah, now the RG 500 is already sparking with joy with the side stand, and the Metzeler rubbers paint soft black lines in the landscape. So boys, the time has come, you can come now. Get in line at the back, one after the other.
E.in glimpse over shoulder ?? no one there? No Spencer, no Roberts, no Mamola? Aborted race Or what? Oh dear, I always suspected that castor oil does not upset the intestines, but also messes up your senses. This is what the doctor calls hallucinations. No, the yellow sign is not the pit board, Bondorf is on it, and in Bondorf you drive fifty. Right, left, there in front of the Suzuki sign, let the ignition roll off. What for? Check for the candlestick, of course, and the translation is also a tooth too long. Hello! Wake up!
“And? How was it? “” Great, just great, I’m at least 20 years younger ?? and just as stupid as back then. «Rainer checks the tires with a quick glance, rubbed open like an eraser. He grins. “Right.” And now I know the recipe for his cheerful charisma. Because the former Zuvi racing driver and Nordschleife expert is actually 60 years old. Actually. The likelihood of a belated attack of Swabian cleverness can thus be ruled out, and the passion for the RG 500 will hopefully last into old age. He immediately accepted the offer to ride the Gamma for a few liters of Castrol racing oil once a year. The date is already noted in the 2002 calendar. Will someone come with me??

Technical specifications

Engine: Water-cooled four-cylinder two-stroke engine in a square arrangement, front pair of cylinders offset downwards (RGB design), four plate rotary valves each with a 28 Mikuni VM 28 SS carburettor, separate lubrication, output 95 hp at 9500 rpm, six-speed cassette gearbox. Chassis: Double loop frame made of square aluminum profiles, XXmm telescopic fork with progressive damping, aluminum swing arm with full floater central suspension, double disc brakes at the front, 0 260 mm, front tires 110/90 V 16, rear 120/90 V 17, weight with a full tank approx. 180 kg , Top speed around 225 km / h. Price 1985: 11,999 marks

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