40 years of race reps
…and a big birthday celebration. Bike nabs an invite to the 40th anniversary party of the ultimate race rep at Cadwell Park’s Summer Bash
Words Jon Urry Photography Chippy Wood
The (fairly) original one
‘Externally this is pretty stock but the engine has had a bit of work – partly for reliability but also to make it a touch faster. We are coming up to our 30th anniversary together and we’ve done more than 26,000 miles, which have been thoroughly enjoyable but not without a few repair bills…
‘The RG was about ten years old when I bought it, and while it had suffered the usual 1980s fashion issues such as cut-down mudguards, which I sorted, it was standard aside from the belly pan – and that’s how I’ve left it. The original bodywork is tatty but if I got it repainted I worry I’d get too precious and not ride it, which would be a shame.
‘I’ve always loved two-strokes but when the RG came out I had kids and couldn’t afford one. But prices plummeted in the mid-1990s and I think I paid £2150 for it – but the engine was a little sick and needed a re-bore. I took it to Stan Stephens and while it was there it gained a bit of love in the way of a stage-three tune (porting, retimed disc valves and skimmed heads) and the disc valve covers’ lining replaced. There is a Bakelite-type lining that peels off and drops into the cylinders, which is bad news.
‘The stage-three tune makes it more tractable low down and it’s a delight to ride. I used to do trackdays but ground clearance was an issue and I was touching the expansion pipe down. I didn’t want to crash it, so I just ride it on the road now. It has been reliable – aside from a cylinder detonating (I was playing with a Ducati…). My only major worry is that I’m still on the original gearbox, which is very fragile.’
Keith Dickinson, 62
The carbon one
‘I’ve owned this RG since 1986, so it was less than a year old when I bought it – yet oddly it had been through three owners already. And crashed…
‘It was totally original when I bought it and it was my only bike for many years. I rode it to and from work, loaded it up with luggage and a tent, and took my brother on the back to Le Mans… everything. Its showing more than 54,000 miles.
‘I didn’t actually set out to buy the RG; I was after a Honda CB900F Bol d’Or, but when I saw the RG I just thought “nope, that’s the one for me”. It cost me £3000, which was quite a chunk of cash back then.
‘After about ten years or so it overheated when the top hose went, so I started changing bits on it, and then the gearbox let go so I needed a new engine. That motor was tuned, at which point I realised the tyres were no good so I changed the wheels and brakes. Then the original bodywork cracked, so I got a carbon fairing. Then I found the carbon tail piece and a few years ago I found the carbon tank. It has been a gradual evolution over 20 years.
‘The wheels are from an early GSX-R600 in revalved original forks with WP springs and six-piston brakes gripping magnesium-centred discs off a BSB bike. The fairing is made by Japanese company Magical Racing, the tank by a British company and the seat unit by an Irish man called something Dunlop, who only ever made two. I have no idea if he is anything to do with the Dunlop racing family. The thing with RG special parts is they tend to be made in small batches so you either need to wait for them (often for years) or buy them as soon as you hear they are for sale.’
Darren Rivers, 58
The lightly modified one
‘I bought my RG in 1990. I’d been hankering after a race rep for the road as I did a bit of racing in the early 1980s on an RD400. When Yamaha announced the RD500 I thought I’d buy one, but the reality was that it wasn’t anything like the race bike – it was far too heavy and slow – whereas the RG500 was far closer to the racer.
‘Originally it was bog-standard, but then the internet happened. In the late 1990s there was an email group for RG500 owners and we swapped emails about things we did to our bikes. This was the days before online forums and it was a run by a Dutch guy. The emails were about fork conversions and the like, and that got me thinking about how I could improve my RG. In the early 2000s, when members of the group started physically meeting up with their bikes, I was inspired to begin work on mine.
‘The engine is Stan Stephens-tuned and it is now 550cc using bigger pistons from an RG150, I believe, with bored-out carbs, updated expansions and a Nova gearbox. I was lucky – when my original gearbox went bang I was only doing 30mph but it still holed the crank cases! The Nova gearbox is fit-and-forget; it is 100 per cent reliable.
‘The frame and swingarm are standard but the forks (with extenders) and wheels are from a GSX-R400 with six-piston Hayabusa brakes. You can stick the whole GSX-R400 front end in with minimal issues, just a few new head bearings. The top fairing is off an RGV250 as I like the sharper headlight look.
‘The 17in wheel conversion really works on an RG [standard is 16in front, 17in rear – Ed]. As well as making the bike handle better it allows you to fit modern rubber, which is a huge benefit. I use my RG every week and it has got more than 28,000 miles on it now.’
Lee Burton, 66
The award-winner
‘I can’t take credit for building this bike but I have updated it and made it better since I bought it in 2016. I own four RG500s – two standard ones, one Heron replica that is parked in my hall at home, and this special.
‘When the RG first came out I had just got married and had a kid, and a mate bought one and rode it over to my house. He said “have a go”, and I just remember being amazed by it – I never forgot that feeling. In 2004 my kids were older and an RG popped up locally on eBay, so I took my son to see it. I started it up and couldn’t resist. It cost me £2410 – and a massive bollocking from my wife.
‘In 2016 this special popped up for sale. I had originally seen it in 2012 at Mallory Park and it was built by Mark Dent and David Howard, who are well-known within the RG community. It was built for Team Classic Suzuki owner Steve
Wheatman, hence the sticker on the screen. He didn’t use it and eventually it got sold on and found its way to me. I paid £13,000 for it, which is a bargain when you consider the work that has gone into creating it.
‘The frame and swingarm are from an Aprilia RS250, and after Stan Stephens put the motor into the chassis, Mark and David then refreshed the engine, fitted GSX-R1000 forks and brakes, Marchesini wheels and Tyga Performance bodywork with a 1999 Kenny Roberts Jr paint scheme and Öhlins suspension. There are loads of lovely details such as the hand-built exhausts by Mark, Translogic dash, stage three engine with 108bhp… the list goes on.
‘It’s beautiful to ride and always turns heads. It won Best Suzuki RG500 at the Summer Bash, which I’m very proud of.’
Paul Snowsill, 66
The TT racer
‘I’ve owned this bike since 2018 but my history with RG500s goes back to the 1990s when I used to race them. My mate had an RG500 and as I had no money, he suggested we build an RG500 that I could race and he could take on trackdays. It seemed like a good plan but as we didn’t have enough cash for the really trick parts, I wasn’t that competitive – but we had lots of fun.
‘I now own a bike shop and a few years ago a lad who works for me called Charles Rhys Hardisty was racing the Classic Manx. I looked and they were all four-strokes, which I thought were dull, so I decided to enter a two-stroke. A local lad was selling his crashed RG, which we used to fix in the 1990s, so I bought it off him under the condition I would convert it to a racer. He said it would break his heart if someone restored it and it looked better than he ever had it, but he was happy for it to be thrashed around a track!
‘We built it using the parts we couldn’t afford back in the 1990s and gave it to Rhys to race in the Manx with the Taffspeed logo on it. Despite being trick, I wanted the RG to look of a period so that’s why it runs conventional R6 forks and brakes and not inverted items. And it has a whopping 31-litre tank, which is another story…
‘The TT rules say you can run a 24-litre tank, so when the scrutineer asked the capacity I said “24 litres”, to which he replied “you can run a 31-litre tank on a two-stroke”. I did confess it was “31 litres… and a bit”. It needs to be big – the RG drinks 16 litres of fuel a lap.
‘In 2023 this bike set a 112mph lap of the TT and has competed at road races such as Aberdare and Scarborough.’
Royston Edwards, 59
The Lucky Strike rep
‘I have a stock 1986 RG500 I’ve owned from new, a 1984 RG500 Mk9 race bike [one of only 25 built in the final run of the racer] and this RG500 Lucky Strike replica road bike special. I did have a few more road RGs but I had to sell them to buy the racer.
‘I bought the Lucky Strike bike in 2001. It was one of the first RG500/RGV250 conversions and featured in Performance Bikes magazine in the early 1990s. It was built by Foxcraft Engineering, who I think are now long gone, and is a 1991 RGV250M chassis, forks and swingarm with a 570cc RG500 engine in it.
‘I’ve done quite a lot with the bike since I bought it, and while it has always been a Lucky Strike, I’ve fitted a Dymag carbon front wheel with a Dymag magnesium rear (they don’t do a 4.5in carbon rear), wave discs, a dual-core radiator, Maxton suspension, Tony Green pipes and lots more. The fairing is RGV with extra scoops to feed the RG carbs.
‘I used to ride the bike on the road but about five years ago I SORNed it and I now keep it for track use only. It’s a lovely track bike with 100bhp and the engine, which is lightly tuned, is very reliable and feels just like the RG500 racer to use. In fact, it is amazing just how similar the two engines feel – you can certainly tell that they are related. And I have to be honest, the RGV’s chassis and brakes are much better than the RG racer’s on track.
‘As lovely as the Mk9 is to ride, it does feel its age and I don’t like to put too many miles on the racer as they are so expensive to run.’
Mark Walker, 58