Two smoker heaven.

[imdying]

Runs though, and for an RZ500 that's good as they're quite a mission of an engine to rebuild !!

With rattles though... that's a bit of a worry with so many hard to find parts to die


Now... on that note!!! It's surprising how many RGV500 (or similar) specials there are on Ebay on a regular basis. Most of them are in the $15-25k region, and located in the UK... but some very well specced examples at times.

[T.W.R]

I saw that, Bill !!!
Mrs Nudie wouldn't even think about letting me buy it......!!!

I looked, thought, & sobbed

It's one of Don's (Pitlane *Cycletreads* ChCh)

a bitsa but would be alright as a trackday bike

[No FX]

Fuck me look how low down the forks the clipons are

definitely a tourer no doubt...

[vifferman]

Check this out for a deal - a $1 bike!

[malcy25]

Came across pics of this thing on the TL site,has been recently acquired by some brave bugger.Good luck to him a stint on a Kawasaki smoker years ago put me off for good.

That bike is an earlier twinshock chassis having been converted to a monoshock. used to be a common thing. Harris and others even made swing arms for the conversion in the 70's.

There are about a 12-13 TZ750's in NZ. 4 or 5 get used on a semi regular basis. If you know where and when to look, you will see one or more being used at some point through the year or on display.

Running costs are circa $20 a mile if you follow the recommended parts replacement schedule. That figure will also include tyres, chains pads etc, but no crash damage. Hence they don't get ridden a huge amount - 10 laps of Puke is about $350 worth of service life.

Don't believe half the stories you hear either about them being peaky. They are an easy bike to ride, but they are a hard bike to race hard and will bite at that point.

Only about 600 were built from 74 to 79 and estimates are about 40-50 being used worldwide. Many, many bikes lost engines to sidecars. Current value for a really good one rebuilt ready to ride is +/- on about $55k kiwi. Depending on a number of things like originality, history, matching #'s etc.

RZ500's are a pale imitation of a 2 stroke GP bike.....having ridden 2 stroke GP bikes and an RZ500 around Puke, the RZ was a soft flabby thing to which I was scared about zipping down the box to hard into the hairpin.... and wallowed around most other places.