50 amcn.com.au
SUZUKI RG500
C
her said it best: If I could Turn Back
Time. My two-stroke whipper snipper
was strumming away and I was
dreaming about things I’d rather
be doing. I got to thinking about the
good old days; days when I was young and life
was simple.
My first bike was a two-stroke and all throughout
my youth I was surrounded by the ring-a-ding-
ding associated with such machines. Some of the
(unlucky) kids had Honda XR75 four-strokes, but in
those days the four-bangers were pretty much a bit
of a laugh to the two-stroke YZ clan.
I thought about days you could turn up to
Adelaide International Raceway (AIR), pay your
25 bucks and head out for a track day, all in. There
were cars, karts and all manner of bikes running
together on the circuit, all at the same time, and
all before health and safety was front and centre
in our lives.I first rode my Yamaha RZR 250 there and it
was on that bike in the circuit’s bowl section that I
scraped my knee for the first time.
As time passed my passion for bikes grew and
by 1986 I wanted to make the next step in my road
racing career. I loved my racing and wanted to take
it more seriously. I decided to step it up, the 250 was
nice but I wanted to move up to what I perceived to
be the big time.
This period was tricky though, as the framework
of racing was changing – it was an era when the
four-stroke mob started fighting back. The World
Superbike Championship was just around the
corner, F1 motorcycle racing was strong, Honda
had already been dabbling with a four-stroke 500cc
GP bike and then bikes like Suzuki’s futuristic GSX-
R750 hit the market.
Like all of us, I’d watch the Grand Prix on SBS (for
free) and in my eyes the best bike in the world was a
500cc two-stroke.- That anti-dive fork was
top-shelf technology when
the RG ruled the road - Original and ridden
regularly, Alan’s RG is as
honest as its day in the sun
was long - “Alan, for letting me ride
your prized RG, I’m going
to buy you a beer this big!”
says Editor Dobie - The days when engine
speed took precedence
over vehicle speed
The 250 was nice, but I
wanted to move up to what
I perceived to be the big time