Yamaha RZ500, disassembled

Cycle Canada March 1984

 1984, only 2 years after the amazing liquid -cooled RD350 was unleashed upon the squid population of the motorcycle world, Yamaha upped the ante with an even more astounding GP replica RZ500. Cycle Canada was there frothing at the mouth wanting a chance to sit on it, ride it, take it apart... anything! And we the two stroke fans couldn't wait for more.
 Well we got it, Suzuki quickly took things to an even higher level with the RG500 Gamma, an even closer copy of the actual GP bike.
 Then suddenly, the Yamaha was eclipsed... it had, well, a steel frame, and an odd intake system with different reed valve setups for the front and rear cylinder banks- nothing at all like the real rotary valve intake systems of the racebikes.