Forty years ago, in early 1985, Suzuki rocked the motorcycling world with not one but two ground-breaking sports machines – the GSX-R750F, and the ultimate 500 Grand Prix replica, the RG500 Gamma. Now bona fide classic motorcycles, their fortunes have differed massively over the years.
Unveiled at the Cologne Show in September 1984, they went on sale in the spring of 1985. Both could claim to be the pinnacle of road-going sports machines – but in very different ways. As it was, they were the first and last examples of their particular breeds.
The four-stroke, four-cylinder, ultra-light GSX-R was the first large capacity ‘racer replica’; a road legal but race ready version of Suzuki’s four-valve-per-cylinder GSX family. It was inspired by Suzuki’s successful factory endurance racers and conceived to bring track performance to the street.
Conversely, the RG was actually the last (after Yamaha’s RD500LC and Honda’s NS400) of the racy two-strokes of the era. It is considered by most to be the best example of the short-lived fashion for 500cc GP replicas.
Now both of the iconic Suzukis are being celebrated by the Classic Bike Trackdays team at their brilliant two-day Summer Bash event, which is taking place at Lincolnshire’s Cadwell Park circuit on the weekend of July 19-20. They’ll have special sessions and photo shoots featuring both the GSX-R750 and RG500 (as well as the bruising big GSX1100EFE, which was introduced in the same year).
It’s a track day for all classic bikes (as well as more modern retro styled machines), but if you’re a big Suzuki fan, it’s one of the places to be this summer. There’s stuff going on off track too, and Suzuki ambassador, former British superbike champion John Reynolds, will even be one of the guests of honour.
So, with these truly landmark machines celebrating their 40th birthdays this year (as are we at Carole Nash, don’t forget!) we thought we’d take a look back the history of the original GSX-R750 and the RG500. This is the story of how they came about – and the legacy they have left, four decades on.
1985 Suzuki GSX-R750F
No superbike or sports machine of the modern is era is better known, arguably more successful or has as large a following as Suzuki’s GSX-R line.
Whether in original 750 or in succeeding 600 and 1000cc forms, the ‘Gixxer’ has a roll of honour no other sports bike can match: it won racing championships at every level, became the class-defining street sportster for repeated generations and, across all its incarnations over 40 years, reportedly sold over a million examples.
Which is why the 40th anniversary of the launch of the original, 1985 GSX-R750F, a bike now regarded as the first ‘racer replica’ and which revolutionized the big sports bike class, is so significant.
With its endurance-inspired full race twin headlamp fairing, no street bike had ever looked so pure a racer. And, with a dry weight of just 176kg and 100bhp on tap, Suzuki claimed it had the performance to match that promise.
Virtually overnight the new GSX-R750 became the ‘go-to’ production bike for racers and a new dream machine for road riders. And when the bigger GSX-R1100 arrived to a similar reception in 1986, a dynasty began.
This ‘racer for the road’ was inspired by Suzuki’s own racing history. The Japanese marque had been one of the leading lights in Grand Prix racing’s transition to two-strokes in the 1970s and famously won two 500cc world titles with the legendary Brit Barry Sheene.
But, by the 1980s, big four-strokes were where it was at when it came to high performance road bikes, and Suzuki became renowned for its GS1000 based racers in prestigious endurance and superbike competitions.
These racers featured lightweight aluminum frames, and when the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reduced engine capacity for superbike racing to 750cc in 1983, the die was cast for the first GSX-R750.
Lightness was the key. Liquid-cooling was rejected as casting techniques weren't yet optimized to sufficiently save weight, so an enhanced air/oil-cooling system called ‘Suzuki Advanced Cooling System’, or SACS, was employed. Engine internals were pared down wherever possible, with the GSX-R’s pistons lightened by 10%, its conrods by 25% and crank by nearly 20%.
The first GSX-R was actually a Japanese market model and the 750 project’s chassis team created a stronger version of the 400’s box-section aluminium frame, with the result weighing less than half that of the preceding GSX’s steel version, tipping the scales at just over 8kg.
Cycle parts were lightened as much as possible too. The GSX-R’s 41mm forks were beefier than the GSX’s 37mm versions but weighed the same due to thinner walls. The 18” wheels were an ultra-lightweight design and had hollow spindles, while the 300mm disc rotors were drilled too. It’s all stuff that’s commonplace these days but which, four decades ago, was pretty revolutionary.
And, of course, the new GSX-R’s styling, bodywork and equipment was all racer-inspired, too. The GSX-R750’s slab-sided (hence its ‘slabby’ nickname) bodywork, mimicked the endurance world championship winning XR41 wherever possible. Even the GSX-R’s instrument console looked like that of the racer, comprising just a white-faced speedo and tacho mounted in anti-vibration foam.
But it was how the new GSX-R performed that ultimately set it apart, even against Yamaha’s equally innovative FZ750, which was launched in the same year. It would provide the template for generations of superbikes to come…
1985 Suzuki RG500 Gamma
The GSX-R750 wasn’t the only world-beating Suzuki sports bike launched in 1985. In a turn which would be almost unheard of these days, Suzuki also debuted another flagship racer-with-lights in the form of the RG500 Gamma. The two-stroke, square-four, 500 was widely considered the best of the short-lived 1980s 500GP replicas and is arguably more fondly thought of today than it was at launch.
But while the GSX-R was considered a true game-changer at the time, spawning a dynasty which would last decades, the RG500, despite its similar class defining supremacy, was almost immediately considered an expensive irrelevance, lasting in production for only two years and struggling on unsold in Suzuki’s showrooms until 1989. Never have two such significant motorcycles suffered such contrasting fortunes.
The Gamma was the final of three contenders in a class never seen before – road going replicas of the then ultimate racing class: 500cc Grand Prix bikes.
Although Japanese four-cylinder four-strokes had become the dominant road superbikes, and their racing applications were developing fast (hence the GSX-R), in the smaller classes two-strokes were still king.
Grand Prix racing was almost exclusively two-stroke, whether in the 125, 250 or the blue riband 500cc category. Smaller road sports ‘strokers’ such as Yamaha’s TZ-inspired RD250 and 350 LCs remained hugely popular, but a 500cc version mimicking the machines campaigned to glory by the likes of Barry Sheene, Kenny Roberts and Freddie Spencer, seemed an impossible dream. That was until October 1983, when Yamaha unveiled the RD500LC at the Paris motorcycle show.
Far from being a bored out RD350LC, the 500 looked like Kenny Roberts’ OW70 racer and featured a pseudo V4 engine. On paper, although the claimed 90bhp and 180kg (dry) fell well short of the racer’s 120bhp and 131kg, its power-to-weight ratio meant it should have given Kawasaki’s 108bhp GPz900R, the benchmark sportsbike of the time, a run for its money in terms of acceleration and handling.
The early ‘80s were a golden time for Japanese manufacturers, with big global sales and an ongoing technology war. Almost inevitably Honda and Suzuki weren’t far behind. Honda’s interpretation, the NS400R triple, as inspired by Freddie Spencer’s 1983 NS500 world title winner, arrived first. It was a fine handler but hindered in the UK by its Japanese-market 400cc capacity and a meagre 72bhp. Then, finally, in June 1985, came Suzuki’s RG500.
In truth, it was already old hat. Although Yamaha’s RD500LC had been impressive on paper and caused a frenzy of excitement, in reality its performance was underwhelming and two-strokes were falling out of favour against increasingly more sophisticated four bangers like the GSX-R750.
Its claimed 90bhp translated to a genuine 80 ponies at the back wheel so, although quick, it wasn’t the earth-shattering experience expected. The year also saw the arrival of the 105bhp Yamaha FZ750 and Kawasaki’s 75bhp GPZ600R, offering pretty much all the performance of the RD500 but with added practicality for a chunk less money. The moment was gone.
The same was true for the Gamma. It was seen as outdated before it even hit the showrooms, even though Suzuki had created a more faithful interpretation of their Grand Prix racer than Honda or Yamaha managed.
The racing RG500 was a four-time 500GP world championship winning machine. The road going Gamma had been modelled on Suzuki’s factory race bike and had a liquid-cooled square four engine producing a Yamaha-beating (albeit claimed) 95bhp.
With an aluminium box-section frame (the Yamaha’s was steel) it was much lighter. The Gamma outperformed and outhandled the Yamaha, and arguably looked better too. It really was the screaming banshee the others had promised to be.
In mid-1985, however, little of that mattered. By then the GP version had been withdrawn, soon to be replaced by a V4 racer with which Kevin Schwantz would become synonymous. Suzuki’s own GSX-R was more powerful and cheaper, and a new class of 600cc supersports seemed to be the future.
As a result, all the replica 500s were out of production by 1987, stock lingered unsold in showrooms for years and, even as late as the early 2000s, used examples could be picked up for a song. If only we’d known then how collectable they would become!
Today all the GP replicas are appreciating classics. They are revered by collectors, with the rare and ultimate RG the most prized and valuable of all. It’s funny how things change over time…
Words: Phil West
Photos: Suzuki
