In 1985, Japanese motorcycle designers seem to have become slightly over-enthusiastic about what they were doing.
That year, three of the four – Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha (Kawasaki has always been a bit unhinged) – came out with ridiculously fast two-stroke middleweights, based loosely around their 500cc Grand Prix racers. Grand Prix was a big deal worldwide, though slightly less so in Britain as the nation hadn’t produced the kind of world-beating superstar rider the sport needed since Barry Sheene. Though we did sort-of adopt Aussie Wayne Gardner later on, as he raced for Honda Britain!
With GP so important to boost sales, Yamaha debuted its new 90bhp RZ/RD500LC square four-cylinder, while Suzuki came up with the 95bhp RG500 Gamma, another liquid-cooled, two-stroke, square four. While the Yamaha was a road bike dressed up like a racer, the Suzuki was a racer for the road, and even shared parts between road and track machines.
Honda didn’t directly respond with this horsepower-waving contest immediately and didn’t produce a bike quite as silly
