11/10/2026
Some motorcycles are more than machines. They’re pieces of history.
And this 1976 Suzuki RG500 is a very special piece of Suzuki racing history.
Built for the racetrack, the RG500 was a purpose-built Grand Prix racing motorcycle. Just 58 RG500s were delivered for the 1976 racing season, making these machines incredibly rare today.
It was also a motorcycle that helped define an incredible era of Grand Prix racing.
In 1976, Barry Sheene raced Suzuki to the 500cc World Championship, while Suzuki was also crowned the championship-winning manufacturer for the season. It marked the beginning of an extraordinary period of dominance, with Suzuki going on to claim the manufacturers’ title seven years in a row, from 1976 to 1982.
This wasn’t just another race bike — the RG500 was one of the machines that helped put Suzuki at the top of world motorcycle racing.
But this particular RG500 has a story of its own.
Ray purchased the bike in 1980, after it had been involved in an accident while racing. It has remained part of the Western Motorcycles story ever since.
And for more than 45 years, it hadn't been started.
Recently, our workshop team has had the privilege of spending some time with this extraordinary machine, carefully completing an engine rebuild and bringing a very special piece of motorcycle history back to life.
Then came the moment we'd all been waiting for…
Ray starting it and hearing it run again for the first time since 1980.
After more than four decades of silence, that unmistakable two-stroke Grand Prix sound filled the workshop once again.
It's raw. It's loud. It's incredibly rare.
But most importantly, it's alive again.
Suzuki Motorcycles Australia
