The Suzuki RG500 carried Barry Sheene to the 1976 500cc World Championship title.
Sheene won the championship for Suzuki during the 1976 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. The RG500 was a highly competitive two-stroke racing motorcycle with a square-four engine configuration, reflecting Suzuki’s growing strength in the premier class.
The 1976 title was Sheene’s first 500cc world championship. He successfully defended it in 1977, again riding Suzuki machinery. This makes the RG500 especially important in Suzuki’s Grand Prix history, although the factory race bike should not be confused with the later RG500 Gamma road motorcycle.
The championship was decided across the era’s 500cc Grands Prix, the predecessor to today’s MotoGP premier class. Modern MotoGP uses four-stroke machines, whereas the RG500 competed during the dominant two-stroke period.