As you can probably tell from the ‘500’ name, the Ronax is taking inspiration from an earlier era of more delicate, knife-edge 500cc two-strokes. Yes, it does look a lot like an NSR500, doesn’t it? And yes, they’re only making 46 of them; which is kinda sad, because us mere mortals will likely never ride or see one in the flesh.
In terms of spec, the bike isn’t far from an NSR either, even though it’s all built in Germany. The 499cc motor is an 80-degree V4 with twin contra-rotating crankshafts, fuel injection and a six-speed cassette gearbox. At 160bhp, it’s a tad down on the 180-200bhp that the last of the 500cc strokers were making, but it’s supposed to be road legal and will hopefully last more than a race distance before seizing up - remember to cover that clutch!
Something else to cover is it’s €100,000 price tag. You could nab two Panigale V4R’s for that money and have enough to buy a brand new S1000RR. But, they aren't 500cc or two-stroke so… yeah.
Here’s to dreamin.
For more details, see Ronax.
