Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128138
Yamaha RZV500R 9500 rpm. Yup - me too: I'd like to know when and where a cyclist hit that sort of speed without peeling the tires off the rim or launching off the side of a mountain. Street-surfing by contrast down Florida's Space Coast aboard the RZV500R Yamaha, the result is truly impressive acceleration by any standards, and especially with a streetlegal sportbike weighing just 295 pounds ready for the traffic-lights GP - only 8.8 pounds over the weight limit required for 500cc GP bikes. And that's complete with all necessary equipment to license the bike for the street in Florida, where the fact they have no DMV inspection of any kind is presumably very helpful. "I couldn't have got a tag for this bike even in California," admits Wyn with a smile, glasses glinting in the sunshine as he handed me the keys to his creation. "They have too many unnecessary rules out west. Florida is the land of the free. Go cruise." Even with the smaller, modern wheels, the Yamaha feels just like a mid-'80s GP racer to sit on, and is paradoxically smaller than most of today's four-cylinder 500s - in turn reflecting the greatly reduced amount of power its aluminum twin-spar chassis is called upon to put to the ground. It feels very small, light and quite compact for a 500 V-four, though the footpegs are very high, reflecting the grip level delivered by the D207 Dunlops, which together stick far better than GP slicks did two decades ago. Kick-starting the beast (there's no electric leg) is a bit of an acquired skill. Persuading the RZV500 into life isn't easy, but once you get the hang of it it's fairly simple - though I'll admit to just one run-and-bump push-start, just like on an early-'80s GP grid, when I flooded it one time and decided jumping up and down on the lever in 85-degree Florida sunshine was not conducive to perspiration-free riding. The clutch lever seems a bit stiff at first, till you realize the reason is because Wyn has shortened it to save some extra grams ("Never mind the pounds - just worry about the ounces!"), thus reducing the leverage ratio somewhat. Of course, this only matters when downshifting, because the snick-snick gearbox action is otherwise plenty crisp enough to pretend you're a GP racer and speed-shift without the clutch - in which case you can start to reap the benefits of the Belorusky tuning talents. In fact, though, the Yamaha is incredibly tractable and easy to ride in town, pulling cleanly off the fast ] 500-rpm idle with hardly any clutch, and accepting full throttle from as low as 2500 rpm, without coughing or snatching the drivetrain as the small- 22 JANUARY 23, 2002' eye er 26mm stock carbs were apparently prone to do, when they weren't popping on acceleration or backfiring through the intakes. The four Mikuni f1atslides Wyn has fitted are perfectly set up, making five-minute sprint races to go get the milk, or 20-minute GP-rides to the local McDonald's, as easy to enter for as on a scooter or roadster. Well, enginewise, that is - the race-level riding position, with the dropped bars and quite a lot of weight on your forearms, plus the pathetic steering lock and poor low-speed handling make this a bike you'll want to push through Ronald's service line, rather than drive through. But then head for Racer Road for a post-prandial blast, dial up some revs and light up the rear tire with that trademark rasp from the four exhaust stingers - and prepare to be impressed. This is a mean-minded street racer that's quite content to amble around town wearing a goody two-shoes disguise - but with the constant promise of wanting to rock 'n' roll down the dragstrip once you hook down a gear or two and gas it up good. When that happens, there's an extra dose of revs when the powervalves crack fully open at 6000 rpm, then from seven grand upward you've got serious acceleration on tap, which has the front wheel hovering above the ground as the four transfer/single exhaust port cylinder mapping, and those meaty exhausts by Barlow and Turfrey, do their thing. But it's not an explosive kind of power that sends the back wheel scrabbling on the ground if you happen to be cranked over around a turn as you cross the I e ne"". power threshold, just a suddenly much stronger appetite for extra revs, which you're eager to satisfy via your right hand. Come the] 1,500 rpm power peak - two grand higher than the stock RZV500 - the V-four reed-valve engine stops pulling, and it's time to hit another gear, easily done via the neat little gear lever, though Wyn has retained the street-pattern shift layout. Zapping through the ratios as you accelerate out into the Florida flatlands delivers performance that even by the maxibike standards of the new millennium is genuinely addictive, and at least as impressive and much more accessible than the Bimota V-due's equivalent top-end power. The reason a mere hundred-horsepower motorcycle gives you such a thrill is, of course, because of its light weight, and the diet Wyn has put his weapon on pays off as well in the way it handles. The Showa forks and Ohlins suspension are quite stiffly sprung, but the damping rates are well chosen for such a light bike in street use - so that while the Yamaha will skip over a traffic stud or road ridge and briefly shake its head before resuming normal service, it rides bumps in the surface well and feels pretty compliant and well-balanced in terms of response. The fact that the RZV's steering geometry is more early-'80s than late-'90s means it's not too radical and arguably all the better for that in street use, turning in quite controllably to the few tight bends I could find in Florida. The bike's pretty stable under the heavy braking, those great PFM front discs deliver - still arguably the best aftermarket brakes ever made, before cast iron went out of fashion (or became less profitable for manufacturers to work with), they have so much feel and are easy to just finger lightly to get rid of a little excess speed so as to line yourself up properly for a turn. Actually, the whole chassis feels like it could handle quite a bit more power and performance than even the modified RZV motor delivers, thanks to the very strong package Wyn has created by effectively doubling up on the frame spars to add extra stiffness without a lot more weight. For this is that very unusual thing, a power-up project bike that's as dynamically effective as it's lOVingly assembled from leading-edge hardware chosen for its capacity to impress. This is not just a collection of nice parts that's all glitter but no go, but a carefully developed, progressively refined entity that is honestly the closest thing to a road-legal GP racer I've ever ridden. And to prove how practical a regular ride it is, Belorusky has clocked up more than 21,500 road miles on the Yamaha since his 'work in progress' on it began back in ]995. "I've done more than ] 0,000 miles on the top end, so I guess it's just about ready to be freshened up," he says. Okay, Wyn - but about these Honda NSR500V V-twins that are just exiting the GP stage, outpowered by the factory V-fours: can you work in the other direction, and make a sportbike out of a GP racer? If anybody out there has a refugee from the 500cc GP circus they'd like to see streetifjed, email Major Wyn on RZVWyn@aol.com and tell him what you've got. Judging by the Belorusky achievement in putting Elsie Yamaha on steroids, I'd sure like to try the result. eN