Converting an RG500 racebike int o a street bike makes for an exciting
mount. Even the instrument mounting (below) is off the racetrack.
No room ·'or
compromise
Even with turn signals. headlight and taill ight in place. the bike looks like it
is just in off the racetrack. It shows its heritage.
T
By John Nutting
There I was, riding a hill-blown grand prix
racer down Dunstable, England's main street
on a Sunday morning.
The pure outrage of the whole thing sent a
tingle up my spine as I anticipated the problems of another
traffic hold up. Yet it was all
perfectly legal: the ratt ling,
.is.
jangling 50Occ. two-stroke between
m y legs wa s all signed up a n d pl ated .
Short of being nabbed for ca us in g a
publi c di sturbance. th e law couldn 't
touch m e,
And this wa sn 't o neof th e n ew san itiz ed su pe r-spo r ts ters devel oped to
cash in o n the latest fashion for evestopping high -performan ce machin ery . This was th e business , th e real
thing. a n d had been used in th e heat
of tra ck battles less th an four years
a go.
C liv e Paige isn 't your average
motorcycl ist.
H e has that wide-eyed lo o k of th e
dr eamer, but un li ke most dream ers
he has h is fee t firmly set in reality. It 's
10 years since he last built a bike for
fun, a Triumph TIOO chop with a
reversed head, but that 10 yea rs gave'
h im the time to pounce when th e
time was right.
Dissa tisfied with the wa y things
I '
. 1 1>'
f¥a-p,t for-
mance invariabl y paid fo r in wei ght
a nd bulk, 35-yea r-o ld Clive wanted
something lean a nd li ght as well as
blindingl y quick .
H e knew th e time was right when
he Iound a Mark 3 RG500 sq uare-Iour
S u zu ki for sa le just o ver a year ago for
just 1200 . With just a littl e restora t ion and th e additi on o f full lighting
eq u ip me n t he wa s a hle to turn it into
a fully legal ro ad bike.
H e hasn 't go ne th e wh ol e wa y o f
co u rse, No doubt he feel s th at any
so rt of em ascu la tio n o f th e ra cer
would've defeated the o bject, a lthoug h
h e re lish es th e ide a o f fitting a n e lectri c st arter to th e hik e just for th e fun
of it - but that 's so me thi ng for th e
fut ure.
For the mom ent , th e RG 500 Mark
3 is just fine, thank yo u , a n d for a
m a chine that 's in stock tunc, just as it
would he su p p lied for th e tra ck , it's
remarkabl y easyto get a lo ng with o n
the ro ad.
That's , o f co urse. if yo u' re prepared
to en joy th e ritu al o f bump sta rt ing.
Rac ers will be famil iar with thi s, but
• ~VI.cnb~ i IrQ
