Riding Speedwerks’ RGV500 Two-Stroke Masterpiece

By the seventh turn at New Jersey Motorsports Park this Suzuki RG500/250 hybrid and I were done warming up. “Let me go,” it whispered, “you know who I am.”

In seven turns I was indeed comfortable with what Steve Long and Dave Trotter at the Speedwerks had created: a mid-1980s RG500 engine, built by Rick Lance of Lance Gamma, in the amazing chassis of an early 1990s RGV250—wildly modified and well set up by Speedwerks. Long had mentioned this build to me at the New Jersey AHRMA round and my interest was immediate; I told the builder I'd ride anything he ever made, especially a 500 in a 250 frame.

My father passed his Walter Wolf 500 Gamma to me and it had Lance Gamma mods. I tested and reported on the RGV250s for the magazines when they were brand new. In 2000, my brain was warped by the motha of all Suzuki 500s when I lapped Phillip Island on Kenny Roberts Jr.’s championship-winning RGV.

And keep in mind that I raced a TZ250 in AMA and now campaign Rusty Bigley's Spondon TZ750 with AHRMA (and have my own street-legal TZ750), so I've been on both sides of this Gamma's 500cc displacement. I add this history because there are many two-stroke aficionados in this country with ring-a-ding backgrounds and they need to know this Speedwerks 500 streetbike is sensational, a brilliantly rideable assembly of power and handling. So, yeah, I was ready to push hard after the first lap despite the fact that this was the first 2.5 miles this project had been ridden. "Just roll around and bed things in, scrub the tires, make sure things work," Steve said as I rolled out. Good in theory, tough in practice. Things were working.

Let’s be honest, production 250 two-stroke streetbikes are slow. They have beautiful handling with precision that is unimaginable until you ride one; the power delivery is exciting, but there’s just not enough of it. Steve Long knows this fact intimately so when Dr. Jeff Martin contacted him about sliding a 500 Lance Gamma engine into an RGV250 chassis he took the challenge. He’d already built plenty of aluminum-chassied 250s and always felt the chassis just begged for more power.

My dad’s Walter Wolf, on the other hand, has enough power to keep your attention, but spindly wheels with low-tech brake and suspension components don’t deliver the handling confidence one might want on a 500cc stroker. Many 500 Gamma owners choose to modify the running gear after a quick sprint down a curvy road because the engine’s power production begs for a chassis to match. I’ve enjoyed many modified 500 Gammas, but this hybrid is the best I’ve ridden so far and it proved itself under the relentless demands of NJMP’s Thunderbolt racetrack. This wasn’t a quick spin up a curvy road, this was 30-plus minutes of “let’s get it on.”

We’ve all ridden bikes with trick parts bolted on that aren’t particularly impressive or rideable. The secret to bikes like this, machines that feel instantly familiar, is not the parts involved but the integration of those parts. Guys like Long and Trotter, and Carry Andrew for instance, produce instantly rideable motorcycles because they’ve seen it done right and wrong for years. I’ve had the pleasure to ride and race machines from guys like these and the experience is always the same: It’s easy to haul ass the moment the tires are warm.

The impression that hit me early is the one that stays with me: This Gamma hybrid feels like a production motorcycle. No, not a vintage production motorcycle, but a modern sportbike with very few weaknesses in form or function. For instance, I’m not sure how the neatly integrated lighting would serve during a spirited nighttime run up your favorite canyon, and perhaps the public doesn’t want to kickstart their motorcycles these days, but that is the level of “problems” I’m left contemplating.

Long and Trotter relentlessly pursued light weight. Yes, it makes this 115-hp bike accelerate harder, but there’s also a massive effect on braking and direction changing. The scales showed this Suzuki weighing 298 pounds sans fuel, and as the lap count increased I continued to steer the bike more quickly and ask for additional entry speed, all due to the bike’s lightness and rightness. It’s also notable that a light bike is less taxing to the old journalist aboard it! Yeah, I was sweating but lightness definitely extends riding sessions.

First things first: Sorry about the sound! You will hear an angry Yamaha FZ1 because our ultra-trick digital microphone on the RGV failed right from the start. It worked in our parking-lot tests and then abandoned us on the track. Sorry, two-stroke fans, we'll make it up to you next time. Second: The angry FZ1 could not keep the Gamma in sight—115 hp pushing 298 pounds makes lapping easy.

I certainly didn’t beat on Dr. Martin’s motorcycle because that would be wrong on many levels, but during the second session with other bikes on track, this Gamma and I jelled into a very quick pace that used the rpm, brake pads, and tires close to their very-high limits. A bit of the red haze filtered into my helmet as the bark of a four-cylinder two-stroke and unbelievably settled handling encouraged me to see how many four-strokes I could pass. I stayed out for 30 minutes. At no point did the Gamma hold me back. It delivered the precision of a Formula 2 250 but carried a 115-hp punch. Steve Long’s Speedwerks delivered what many two-stroke fans would refer to as the perfect bike.