This Lot has arrived in the UK from overseas under Temporary Admission. Shippio Ltd must automatically uplift this Lot after the auction, complete all post sale import or export customs administration, and store this Lot until it is customs cleared. A compulsory fee of £350 + VAT will be added to the buyer's invoice for this. This Lot cannot be collected from the auction venue by the purchaser or any alternative transporter.
If the Lot is to stay in the UK or is not exported within 90 days of sale, Import VAT at 5% on the hammer price is payable.

"Before 1983 Joe Public could only imagine what top-class racing equipment might be like to ride. Then Yamaha revealed the RD500LC. Here was everything on the wish list: the water-cooled V4 engine sprouting a multipack of expansion chambers, a mirror of the twin-crank V4s campaigned by Kenny Roberts. Its screaming 88bhp motor powered a lithe 392-pound package wearing all the factory racing graphics..." - Classic & Motorcycle Mechanics.

The machine offered here is an example of the detuned Japan-only version - the RZV500R – which differed from the export model chiefly by virtue of its aluminium-alloy frame (the export model's was painted steel). The 'detuning' was achieved by the use of restrictors in the exhausts, which were relatively simple to open up. A short-lived model produced between 1984 and 1986 only, the RD500LC was known as the RZ500 in Canada and Australia but was never officially sold in the USA. Few motorcycles before or since have caused as much of a sensation as Yamaha's RD500LC Grand Prix Replica, and today this legendary model is one of the most sought after classics of the 1980s.

An early production example, '000179' currently displays a total of 23,176 kilometres on the odometer and is presented in nicely restored condition (the engine turns over).

Following a period of inactivity, this motorcycle will require recommissioning and/or restoration to a greater or lesser extent before returning to the road and thus is sold strictly as viewed. Prospective purchasers should satisfy themselves with regard to this motorcycle's completeness, history, authenticity, originality and mechanical condition prior to bidding.
Offered with key