A 1985 Yamaha RZ500N was Found Still in Mint Condition | GTAMotorcycle.com

A 1985 Yamaha RZ500N was Found Still in Mint Condition

Had many chances to buy RZ500 and RG500 . But never really got into 2 stroke engines .
 
Wow

500 cc V4 two stroke weighing nothing !!!

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and street legal....!!!!
 
"[FONT=&quot]The road bike was lighter than the race machine, but Yamaha detuned for safety reasons. "

Yeah no.

The YZR500 weighed 130Kgs....the RZ500 weighed 205kgs....[/FONT]
 
I bought an rg500 off the showroom floor in 1986 for 5 large. also owned a couple rg250's, one a track bike. also had the good fortune to ride an rz500 and ns400r. man those were cool days.

stock rg250 was 286lbs dry, and handled better than both the rz and rg 500's.
 
LWTRacer said:
"[FONT="]The road bike was lighter than the race machine, but Yamaha detuned for safety reasons. "

Yeah no.

The YZR500 weighed 130Kgs....the RZ500 weighed 205kgs....[/FONT]
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Yeah, the weight reference sounded off. I can only think he got them backwards.
 
I too had a 1986 RG500 bought new and to tell you the truth, the RZ500 wasn't all that highly regarded at the time. It was a little heavy and slow for what it was supposed to be and didn't handle all that well. It could be modified for much higher performance though. When the FZR's and the Hurricanes came on the scene, the RZ was hard-pressed to better them.
 
I have one, Its actually in storage out in Port Hope at the moment. Nice examples are more common that you would think. I have a friend in Ajax that has 2 in pristine condition.

Chaos said:
By all accounts, this bike is a handful...
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Its really not as big a handful as you may think. In reality they are only around 80+ odd horsepower but the power is very soft and its very heavy, a bit porky even. The frame is quite basic and typical of the day, box section mild steel. It does have a cassette style gear box which must be one of the first on a street bike, although I think that where the similarities end with Roberts OW-70

It is a nice bike to ride. Its actually very comfortable and the engine is very smooth. Its easy to do an all day ride and I think the bike would make a good daily driver.

I have a few RZ 350's and I personally think they are a better bike, they just don't have the cool factor. I have a 421 with a +4 crank based on a set of ported CPI Serval barrels and it definitely feels more powerful than the 500 and pulls better from low down even without valves.

I guess the equivalent of the RZ today would be the R6 but with 30 years of development between there is no comparison.
 
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