The RGV started life back in 1988, when it was considered to be a racer on the road. The original model was developed for seven years from the original "J" model to the last "S" model. The bike was not changed a lot apart from the addition of a three stage exhaust valve from the original two stage, the carbs that started out as 32mm ended as 34mm, upside down forks were fitted and the gearbox was uprated and changed slightly. There are some of the old style RGV's with the prefix "T" but these are the previous years model sold outside Japan as the Japanese model had completely changed in 1996.
VJ23A Model
The new RGV "T" or SP as it is more commonly known, is a completely different bike with a new 70 degree engine with a 54*54.5 bore and stroke. It was built as Suzukis swan song for two stroke bikes and the build quality shows this, it is put together very well and the design is close to the GP bike Suzuki ran for a while. The new bike is restricted with ignition and exhausts which cost around 130 000 Japanese yen to replace and modify to fully de-restrict it. The bike has fully adjustable suspension and runs a radical chassis set up that would not be out of place on a 250 GP bike. The chassis is totally different and a lot stiffer. Weight is down about 7 kilo's from the older model even with the electric start. The only restriction on the bike are the 32mm carbs on the bike as it is a Japanese only model, these cannot be changed easily either as they are special. There are two race kits available in Japan for the new RGV the "A" and "B" kits, I have invested in the full "B" kit and Sugaya exhausts for the race bike. See the RGV race bike page.
I have found out that there is actually a V designation for the fully de-restricted VJ23 model RGV. This is the Hong Kong model of the last RGV and has quite a lot of differences to the T model. Not sure how many of these make a difference to the performance but will be doing more investigating. Watch this space!!
New RGV race bike for 2000 season before fitting race kit
News on my new RGV250T.
The road bike is together and has been run on the dyno. The Suzuki claims of 70hp are a slight exaggeration, it is making 56hp fully de-restricted which is comparable with the VJ22A model, but has more mid range, about 5-6hp from 7000-9500 revs. This does not sound much but in real terms is a big difference. On the road it is a different story the handling is in a different league to the older RGV. The steering is much quicker, steering damper type quick. The suspension is normal soft Japanese model but gives plenty feedback. See the info on the race bike as it is even better in all areas.
