- A few years ago a friend of mine who had just started
duning asked me a question while we were sitting around
the campfire at the Pismo Dunes. He asked "If you had my
LT500 and wanted to put in the coolest/baddest 2 stroke
engine you could - what would it be?"
-
- Without hesitation I responded with "The RZ500!"
-
- After I told him what it was, how rare it was and how
much it would cost I thought I would never touch that
topic again.
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- In case you don't know what it is - it is a Yamaha
motorcycle with a 500cc V-4 2 stroke engine. Two of the
cylinders are case reed design and two of them are
cylinder reed design. It has two cranks, a counter
balancer, electric exhaust port control valves (YPVS -
power valves) and the sound of a real road racing 2
stroke motor. Maximum rpm is about 10000. Stock
horsepower is about 90.
-
- Anyway, the next day he called me to tell me he had
located a compete RZ500 street bike. He wanted to know if
I would put the engine in the LT500 frame if he bought
it. I would...
-
- He bought the bike and we brought it home. Before
taking anything apart I wanted to take it for a ride
since there are so few of these models in existance. I
hopped aboard headed toward the freeway and let her rip.
Since the gearing was patterned after a grand prix road
race motorcycle, I had to slip the clutch in first gear
all the way to about 50 mph - talk about a tall first
gear. From there on up the gears were spaced more evenly
- with the changes from 3rd to 4th to 5th to 6th seeming
like a perfect fit and match for the power. By the time I
had found the red line in 6th gear the speedometer was
reading 165 mph.
-
- I found out since then that that indication was
highly optomistic and the speed was probably only about
140. Either way it was the fastest I had ever been on a
two stroke.
-
- After my ride I removed the engine from the frame and
completely disassembled it for a rebuild. This included
ordering parts for the engine from Canada since there was
no official Yamaha parts book for it in the USA. The
motor got new bores with 1st over pistons and all new
seals and gaskets. This was going to be a stock rebuild -
not a ported modified one.
-
- To make this story shorter - I'll cut to the chase.
The bike is an LT500 frame with a completely rebuilt
RZ500 engine in it. It has 4 custom made, chromed pipes
with aluminum silencers attached to each. The YPVS is
fully functional and features the stock tachometer above
the handlebars. It has a +10 over Lonestar Racing
swingarm and Marvin Shaw shocks all around. The tires are
10 paddle Haulers in the rear and Razorbacks up front. It
has a custom aluminun fuel tank feeding the stock carbs.
The electrical system is stock.
-
- This is a most awesome looking quad. When riding it
you notice two carburetors sticking out in front of each
leg when you look down. From behind you see 4 exhausts.
One attached to the outside of each footpeg and two
neatly tucked in under the seat. The sound this motor
produces is unreal. It is simply music to the ears. It
turns heads where ever it starts up.
-
- The sad thing about this is that my friend put too
much money into this thing - somewhere in the
neighborhood of $10000 - not including the cost of the
LT500. Right now he and his wife have a new baby so that
makes this quad for sale - some of you know what I mean.
Projects like this are never really finished because they
are the passion of those who need to make them possible.
If you think a quad like this is what you want and you
are willing to become part of this dream, email me.
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- Rick
-
- By the way, the RZ frame and everything else was sold
immediately after the engine was removed to recover some
of the costs of the project.
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