Classic Yamaha RD 500 LC: Designed for the race track

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The Yamaha RD 500 LC came like a bolt from the blue in 1984 and shocked the competition. The brand had launched a 500cc two-stroke that looked as if superstar Kenny Roberts had won the world championship on it. The RD 500 LC, painted in the factory colors red and white, had a slim full fairing, stub handlebars and discharged its exhaust gases into the open via four rear silencers. Two of them were installed conventionally, but the other two protruded from the top of the rear as on the GP machine - lean angle clearance was an important criterion at the time. The four-cylinder engine produced 88 hp at 9500 rpm and reached an incredible 223 km/h.

Not a real V4

Strictly speaking, it was not a race replica of the OW70 from the 500cc World Championship, as Yamaha had to make many compromises for road approval. The water-cooled engine was also not a real V4, although it said so on the fairing. It consisted of two in-line two-cylinder engines arranged at a 50-degree angle, each with its own crankshaft. There was also a balance shaft between them. The RD 500 LC featured the Yamaha Power Valve System (YPVS) developed in racing, in which the diameter of the exhaust port of the respective cylinder was changed by a roller depending on the engine speed. This allowed more peak power to be generated without the usable rev range becoming too narrow.

Things got going above 6000 rpm

With 88 hp, it was not one of the most powerful motorcycles at the time - there were large four-stroke models with well over 100 hp - but the two-stroke engine was what made the RD 500 LC so interesting. Below 6000 rpm there was little to do, but above that the machine tore forward with brute force. The sound increased from a hoarse sawing to a shrill screech when the four-cylinder engine revved up. If you always kept the revs in the range between 6000 and 9500 rpm, you were going extremely fast. This was also the reason why the rev counter was enthroned in the center of the cockpit. The rider would do well to always shift gears diligently, because if the revs were too low at the exit of a corner, the Yamaha would starve.

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Yamaha RD 500 LC (4 Bilder)

Extremely handy

The RD 500 LC was extremely easy to handle, it could be easily angled and precisely circled through any curve radius, which was mainly due to the short wheelbase of 1375 mm and the small 16-inch front wheel. At the rear, it rolled on an 18-inch wheel, a wheel combination that was not uncommon in the 1980s. However, its 130 mm rear tire was considered incredibly wide. The suspension strut positioned horizontally below the engine to allow the short wheelbase was remarkable. The deceleration of the two front, internally ventilated brake discs with a diameter of 267 mm including two-piston brake callipers belonged to the reference class at the time. In short, the RD 500 LC was not only one of the fastest motorcycles of its time and a very serious proposition on the racetrack, but also meant high prestige for the owner.

A steel frame made it heavy

The riding position was not extreme, thanks to a low seat height of 760 mm and relatively high stub handlebars. The developers had given the RD 500 LC a sturdy steel frame, a decision that was probably made for safety reasons, but which made the motorcycle relatively heavy with a full tank of 216 kg. The 22-liter tank also contributed to the high weight. Today, no sports motorcycle would be expected to have such a fuel tank, but back then it was urgently needed, because the two-stroke engine was thirsty: less than 7 liters per 100 km was hardly feasible, and on the racetrack it was sometimes well over 9 liters, plus about a quarter of a liter of two-stroke oil per 100 km.

Noble and expensive

Of course, so much racing couldn't be cheap. The RD 500 LC cost 11,188 marks in 1984, a lot of money at the time for a motorcycle with very limited everyday usability. The RD 500 LC therefore remained a rare sight in Germany. In some markets such as Canada and Australia, the model was sold as the RZ 500, but Yamaha never officially imported it into the USA, although it was the largest motorcycle market in the world, due to the strict emissions regulations. For the same reason, the 500cc two-stroke only produced 64 hp in Japan.

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Yamaha RD 500 LC (5 Bilder)

Yamaha offered it as the RZV 500 R with an elegant, handcrafted aluminum frame so as not to scare off the local clientele. The rear brake, the gearshift and the clip-on handlebars were also made of the light metal, which gave the RZV 500 R a total weight saving of around nine kilograms. It also had a telescopic fork with adjustable preload and rebound. Only 1600 Rs of the RZV 500 R were produced, which are highly sought after today. Skilled tuners got over 100 hp out of the RD 500 LC for racing, although this necessitated frequent engine overhauls.

Queen for a year

The Yamaha RD 500 LC remained the queen of the two-strokes for just one year, as Suzuki countered in 1985 with the RG 500 Gamma, which not only had more power with 95 hp, but also weighed considerably less at 181 kg. Nevertheless, the RD 500 LC deserves the honor of being the first 500cc GP offshoot to enrich the market. It was built until 1987 before Yamaha discontinued it. Although the brand continued to produce road-legal 250cc two-strokes with two-cylinder engines, first in in-line and then in a V arrangement, they did not come close to the tremendous performance of the 500cc.

(mfz)