With the July issue of CMM seeing a test of the rare RZV500R, Phil Jason asks about the relevance of imports and why two-strokes are going up in value.
Is the Japanese-market RZV500R – and other imports – less valuable than the home-market models? The RZ with its ‘hand-crafted’ aluminium frame, restricted motor, gold wheels and self-retracting sidestand, is the holy grail of road-going Yamaha two-strokes.
Yes, there’s an irritating red light that confuses the rider when it comes on at 55mph, eliciting fears that your two-stroke oil tank has run dry, but this can easily be disarmed and the bike can be derestricted so you can enjoy the full (claimed) 90bhp.
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There are conflicting stories about how many of these particular 500 fours were produced, but it seems that fewer than 2000 ally-framed, Japanese-market machines left the factory, which makes them very rare and very desirable.
Read the rest of this article in the July issue of Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, available in the shops NOW!
