RG 500 Gamma

Suzuki RG500 Gamma
(Article from Cycle Magazine, December, 1985)

Irresistible. The Suzuki RG500 Gamma is irresistible! Standard equipment should include the Riders Rites for Absolution for acts soon to follow. The rider herein cannot be held responsible for acts committed as an accessory to the Suzuki Gamma!

Raw numbers first indicate the Suzuki Gamma’s spellbinding qualities. With its reservoirs for gas, oil, coolant and adrenaline all topped off, the RG weighs 406 pounds. Given its 95 rear wheel horsepower from 30.5 cubic inches, the 500cc Suzuki Gamma has a horsepower-to-weight ratio in league with the strongest one-litre Superbikes of not only its day, but the Superbikes of today! Clean up the Gamma’s jetting, and would likely be into and through V-Max territory quicker than you can say “still too rich”.

Lightness sharpens the edge of the Suzuki Gamma’s horsepower. V-Max power is a bludgeon with a velvet cover that wallops you forward with unending force. RG500 Gamma power is different; it has the quality of an arrow shot from God’s own crossbow – instant and direct.

Run the Suzuki RG past 7000 RMP and the space ahead collapses around your helmet; here does something more than become there; here is there! Everything the RG500 Gamma does, it does quickly. The Gamma’s geometry tucks the front end back more severely than any production street motorcycle in our collective experience. The head angle is 25 degrees, 10 minutes, tail a steadying 4.4 inches. the squat front end rolls on a 16-inch wheel, and the wheelbase measures 56 inches. So faithful is the Gamma to the rider’s body language that, should he roll his eyes upward, he thinks the Suzuki RG500 would lift off and fly. Maybe the only thing the Gamma doesn’t do is respond directly to brain waves

Park the RG500 after that first brief ride – which is nothing less than an invitation to criminal activity -and you’ll marvel at how close conceptually this street-going Suzuki is to a real RG racer. Suzuki RG hallmarks abound: an aluminum alloy (aluminum, magnesium, zinc) frame and a two-stroke, square four engine, with upstairs/downstairs banks and basement gearbox, rotary-valve induction and power-valve-and-chamber exhausts. The street Gamma shares almost every conceivable piece of sports-spec hardware with a half-dozen or so supreme road-blasters inside and outside the Suzuki range. Still, the Suzuki RG500 Gamma is a racer-replica in concept only; to understand that all you need to do is look at a pure racing RG500 Suzuki, which sized like a 250, makes 100-130 horsepower, and has a power-to-weight ratio of about two to one.

Despite the engineering department’s skillful and resourceful massaging, the Suzuki Gamma’s output curve still resembles a spike. Imagine a motorcycle that whistles along at 6500 rpm making 37.5 horsepower, and then in a single shriek doubles its output and more, reaching almost 70 horsepower at 9000 rpm. That’s 37 horsepower concentrated in a single snap across 2500 rpm. And frankly folks, we wouldn’t have the Suzuki RG500 Gamma any other way!

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