23 replies to this topic

[tdijam]

I have Recently agreed to buy an ex Wolfgang Von Muralt MK 9 Suzuki RG, and i would like to try to build a history for the bike.I have seen some photo's on highsiders.com,but as yet have i have not been able to find any others. Wolfgang competed in most of the World 500cc rounds in 1984 including Silverstone.Does anyone have any photo's, or know any photographers that might have taken photo's during this season.
Does anyone know how many MK9s were produced?, and know of any others that still exist, any information would be most helpful.

John Mould.

[harrypotteringaround]

I have Recently agreed to buy an ex Wolfgang Von Muralt MK 9 Suzuki RG, and i would like to try to build a history for the bike.I have seen some photo's on highsiders.com,but as yet have i have not been able to find any others. Wolfgang competed in most of the World 500cc rounds in 1984 including Silverstone.Does anyone have any photo's, or know any photographers that might have taken photo's during this season.
Does anyone know how many MK9s were produced?, and know of any others that still exist, any information would be most helpful.

John Mould.

You lucky sod.
You could contact Wolfgang personally. He has an old age home in Switzerland I believe. I don´t have his email address, but I think there is a poster on here who once worked for him (Andy?), and who might be able to help.

[tdijam]

You lucky sod.
You could contact Wolfgang personally. He has an old age home in Switzerland I believe. I don´t have his email address, but I think there is a poster on here who once worked for him (Andy?), and who might be able to help.

I have contacted Wolfgang , and he has told me that he had two new RGs supplied to him for the 1984 season from the Swiss importer Franconia. At the end of the season he sold one bike to a fellow Swiss rider, and the other to a rider in Holland. The bike was last owned by a collector in Holland, and i'm told the engine has been rebuilt by an ex Factory Mechanic in Holland. Thats about all the information i have at the moment.

[gmwzorro]

I have Recently agreed to buy an ex Wolfgang Von Muralt MK 9 Suzuki RG, and i would like to try to build a history for the bike.I have seen some photo's on highsiders.com,but as yet have i have not been able to find any others. Wolfgang competed in most of the World 500cc rounds in 1984 including Silverstone.Does anyone have any photo's, or know any photographers that might have taken photo's during this season.
Does anyone know how many MK9s were produced?, and know of any others that still exist, any information would be most helpful.

John Mould.

Think I have a photo of Wolfgang on a Suzuki from Jerez but I think it was 85 or 86 will dig it out if you want
Gary

[tdijam]

Think I have a photo of Wolfgang on a Suzuki from Jerez but I think it was 85 or 86 will dig it out if you want
Gary

IF you could that would be great.I think he used the MK9s for the 84 and 85 seasons. The bikes had the original MK9 colour scheme, with Franconia on each side of the fairing.

[picblanc]

Silverstone 1984.

[tdijam]

Silverstone 1984.

That's the bike , many thanks . Does any one know how many were made?

[ravenous25]

I imagine quite a few, most of the leading British privateers at the time - Lingham, Salle, Henshaw, Griffith, Iddon, Nation etc all rode them.

Edited by ravenous25, 25 November 2010 - 20:54.

[GD66]

There's a thread on the iomtt.com site forum called Mystic Suzukis : on there a bloke claims the Suzuki press release for the Mk 9 indicates there were 24 made, they had a square-section alloy chassis, a 16" front wheel, 4 x 38mm carburetors, and weighed a claimed 277 lbs.
And were available for 13,800 quid from Padgetts.

Sounds in the ballpark...;)

Edited by GD66, 27 November 2010 - 07:48.

[tdijam]

There's a thread on the iomtt.com site forum called Mystic Suzukis : on there a bloke claims the Suzuki press release for the Mk 9 indicates there were 24 made, they had a square-section alloy chassis, a 16" front wheel, 4 x 38mm carburetors, and weighed a claimed 277 lbs.
And were available for 13,800 quid from Padgetts.

Sounds in the ballpark...;)

Thanks for that information, i wonder how many still exist in there standard form?, I read somewhere that many riders did not like the MK9 alloy frame and reverted to the Mk7/8 steel frame.

[stuavant]

Thanks for that information, i wonder how many still exist in there standard form?, I read somewhere that many riders did not like the MK9 alloy frame and reverted to the Mk7/8 steel frame.

I think the MK9 was an afterthought and I seem to recall that the Padgetts had a lot of input. The MK9 was one year to many I reckon but the pic is beautiful. Yes I am bias but what a bike!! Wolfgang sold me a Porsche 930 which eventually died and I sold it to Barry Woodland who drove it for a few years until pulled over and it was revealed that it had had no "tax"for 5 yrs..oops

[exclubracer]

I think the MK9 was an afterthought and I seem to recall that the Padgetts had a lot of input. The MK9 was one year to many I reckon but the pic is beautiful. Yes I am bias but what a bike!!

Didn't Padgetts buy the rights to the RG plus all the parts to sell complete bikes? They ran up to the Mk 12 IIRC but I doubt there was much difference in spec.

[tdijam]

Didn't Padgetts buy the rights to the RG plus all the parts to sell complete bikes? They ran up to the Mk 12 IIRC but I doubt there was much difference in spec.

I went over to Padgetts last weekend and had a long disscusion with Clive, he explained to me how the MK10 was built by them, at the suggestion of Suzuki, as the number of RGs being made at the factory were reducing to such small numbers that it was no longer viable to continue manufacturing them in Japan. If the number of MK9s made is correct at 24 , then it's hardly suprising.
Clive made no reference to having any input in the design/ spec of the MK9.
He said that the engines for the MK10 were built at the Suzuki factory and then sent to Batley, They then had to order every nut, bolt, and washer from the Suzuki part list!. He did say that they still hold a lot of the parts in stock , but some of the consumable parts are getting hard to find.
Clive still has a unused MK9 that has sat in the showroom since 1984, if you have £60,00 to spend it could be yours! They also have unused examples of most Honda and Yamaha race bikes made, some collection! well wort a visit if your in the area.

[stuavant]

I went over to Padgetts last weekend and had a long disscusion with Clive, he explained to me how the MK10 was built by them, at the suggestion of Suzuki, as the number of RGs being made at the factory were reducing to such small numbers that it was no longer viable to continue manufacturing them in Japan. If the number of MK9s made is correct at 24 , then it's hardly suprising.
Clive made no reference to having any input in the design/ spec of the MK9.
He said that the engines for the MK10 were built at the Suzuki factory and then sent to Batley, They then had to order every nut, bolt, and washer from the Suzuki part list!. He did say that they still hold a lot of the parts in stock , but some of the consumable parts are getting hard to find.
Clive still has a unused MK9 that has sat in the showroom since 1984, if you have £60,00 to spend it could be yours! They also have unused examples of most Honda and Yamaha race bikes made, some collection! well wort a visit if your in the area.

He also has, and it may be the same machine, a MK8 that I built from new spares for Clive in 84 I think in return for a loan of a MK7 ( X Dennis Ireland) which we took to Macau

[tdijam]

He also has, and it may be the same machine, a MK8 that I built from new spares for Clive in 84 I think in return for a loan of a MK7 ( X Dennis Ireland) which we took to Macau

I hope this works, i failed miserably last time i tried to post an image
Padgett Mk9

[picblanc]

Worked fine this time, great photo!

[mfd]

I hope this works, i failed miserably last time i tried to post an image
Padgett Mk9

Tell me I'm wrong if you like but Padgetts only distributed the Mk9, but they did build the Mk10 etc.

Edited by mfd, 27 November 2010 - 14:24.

[tdijam]

Tell me I'm wrong if you like but Padgetts only distributed the Mk9, but they did build the Mk10 etc.

That's is also my understanding, the MK9 was the last of the RGs to be built by Suzuki, and the only RG with an alloy frame.It appears to be a based on the XR45 from 1993.And your correct when you say that the MK10 was built by Padgetts.
Sorry about poor photo of Padgetts MK9, but it is sat on a shelf 6ft high , and slotted between a TZ750 ridden at the MGP by Mike Hailwood when he had a trail run for his return to the TT, and a unused 1987 RS 250 Honda.

[philippe7]

From the "Motorcycle Nostalgia" forum archives....

The Mk 7 RG500 came out in 1982 and was the first to have the stepped engine that appeared on the works bikes in 1978 - it was a production version of the 1980 XR34M, with Dymag 3-spoke wheels supplied as standard and the front calipers behind the forks.

The Mk 8 was the same but with 7-spoke wheels and the calipers in front of the fork legs.

The official release for the Mk 9 in 1984 said 24 were to be made, front wheel is 16", square tube ali frame, 38mm carbs instead of 36mm, and an all-up weight of 277lbs, 22lbs less than the Mk 8........oh and the cost from importers Padgetts was £13,800.

Then the Mk 10 had a Sheene-replica Harris steel frame and powervalves, which had appeared on the 1983 works XRs - in a photo in MCN they looked similar to the Yamaha rotating 'Powervalve'.

After the withdrawal of Suzuki from GPs at the end of 1983, all the 1982 and 1983 frames and engines were divided between Gallina and Heron-Suzuki. It seems the 1982 engines were what Sheene used in his 1984 Harris frame (the 'works' engine he had been given to put in his RG Mk 8 in mid-1983 was actually an unsuccessful version tested by Mamola at Daytona rather than Uncini's championship winner), while McElnea had a standard 1982 XR40; Gallina used 1983 engines and built an etched-ali twin-spar frame with power-steering that never raced, while Heron of course went on to the White Bike and the Black Bike with composite 'cardboard box' frames.

Paul M

www

Isn't that one of the very latest model, the one put together by Padgett's ( with the factory's blessing seemingly ) from a Harris frame similar to the '84 Sheene model and engines supplied by Japan but equipped with reed valves instead of rotary valves ( if I remember well...) ? I saw Simon Buckmaster ride one of those as late as the 1991 French GP at Le Mans.

Bloody legendary bike, easy to work on, reliable, fast when set up correctly and 12 years of service wasn't bad either. Shame they are expensive as I'd love to have one but there you go. Got a Mk8 engine in the workshop for a rebuild at the moment. And production RGs never had reed valves, only the last of the factory engines were equipped with reeds, called the XR45/70, installed in 1986 for the last season we, (Skoal Bandit) and Gallina in Italy ran Sq4s. We had to do some other mods over what the factory sent us to make them work good though. V4 came in 1987. This production bike, in the piccie above, would have had exhaust valves, same/similar as factory exhaust valves.

[mfd]

From the "Motorcycle Nostalgia" forum archives....

That looks like a Mk10...the rest

[tdijam]

That looks like a Mk10...the rest

So if Padgetts have a unused MK9, plus the one i'm buying ......where are the other 22? does anyone know of any more?.
A few images of the used one.

Edited by tdijam, 27 November 2010 - 23:20.

[philippe7]

That looks like a Mk10...the rest

Yes, it is Mike, the idea was just to confirm some of the things written earlier ( that there were 24 Mk9's said to have been built, that the Mk 10 was put together by Padgetts, to illustrate some of the differences between the versions etc.... ) and certainly not to contradict anyone...maybe my smiley was wrongly understood, sorry !

[Cstonerfan]

winning bike at Phillip Island Historic National championship 2010, XR40 from what I understand before 1980 to comply with the rules.


How close a RG500 roadblock is to a racing engine engine, in appearance only!
The whole road bike is just so close to a Mk7 in looks!

Edited by Cstonerfan, 28 November 2010 - 00:09.

[mfd]

Yes, it is Mike, the idea was just to confirm some of the things written earlier ( that there were 24 Mk9's said to have been built, that the Mk 10 was put together by Padgetts, to illustrate some of the differences between the versions etc.... ) and certainly not to contradict anyone...maybe my smiley was wrongly understood, sorry !

I'm suprised there was as few as 24 Mk9s made, but I guess by that time, they weren't as competitive, for the first time there was an alternative, the RS500 Honda triple, more costly but possibly quicker.
I remember the Mk7 was a quantum leap and closely resembled the RG Beta XR35 with stepped cylinders - I'm sure Stu had one ! The Mk8 wasn't too different and less riders thought it necessary to replace a 7 with an 8, whereas the Mk9 had more in common with the RG Gamma XR45. IIRC my buddy went Mk6, Mk7, for two years & then a Mk9, which I'm pretty sure had a serious revamp for year two, with a different non Suzuki chassis...

Edited by mfd, 28 November 2010 - 00:45.