Since the May 2018 issue of CMM we’ve been following our Aussie mate Jeff Ware’s loving restoration of his great, late mate Helmut Phillip’s Suzuki RG500.
Jeff bought the bike from Helmut’s family after his friend passed away, aged 80. The two had a long and happy friendship, despite the 40-year age gap. Well, the May 2019 issue will have the penultimate part of the sympathetic restoration and the June issue will see Jeff winding the project up. But, he sent us this video to show that the bike is indeed ready to ride so we had to share it with CMM readers on here. We can almost smell the two-stroke…
Jeff says of Helmut: “I really miss the guy, he was a true legend. He escaped from East Germany to the West, running across the border under gun fire when he was a Border Guard.
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“Eventually he made his way Down Under, where he settled for a series of Yamaha and Suzuki two-strokes through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He still had a soft spot for MZ, of course, and even the RG500 has an MZ badge on the top triple-clamp, which I will leave there for Helmut.”
Bikers make great mates and Jeff’s loving and sympathetic restoration of this very special RG500 is a fitting tribute to the two’s friendship.
