A 1994 Suzuki RGV250 VJ22. Owner: Larry Coolidge, San Luis Obispo, California. Photos by the author.
When one is looking at the specs for a motorcycle, weight, power, wheelbase, etc., it is all somewhat instructive, but not terribly exciting. Until one reads the specifications for a Suzuki RGV250 and comes across this: Lean Angle, 58 degrees. Fifty-eight degrees!! On a street bike! But this model was never sold in this country, at least not officially. A few of these Suzukis did come in, apparently by drone, and reside in private collections.
As several pundits noted back when Europe and Japan were embracing this quarter-liter pocket rocket, this was as close to riding a GP bike on a public road as one could find. Suzuki was the first Japanese company to mass-produce a repli-racer with its RG250 Gamma, in 1983, using a two-stroke parallel twin in an aluminum alloy frame with a full fairing. Then five years later it turned out an all-new version labeled the RGV250, using a two-stroke 90-degree V-twin. The RGV250 is powered by a two-stroke, 90-degree V-twin.
Fast bikes are always fun…as long as the rider?s competence more or less equals the bike?s performance. Lonely roads are one popular milieu, where the rider is familiar with every turn and twist. But even then, the lean probably won?t run much more than 40 degrees. Track days are better, as one can unleash the beast without fear of stray dogs or oncoming traffic. But minor-league club racing would have probably been...