What’s street-legal, only available in super-limited numbers, has a 100,000-Euro price tag, and comes with a 500 cc two-stroke engine?
If your answer was the Ronax 500, you’d be correct. The homage to Valentino Rossi’s 500 cc MotoGP machine has broken cover, and yes, it looks like the sort of machine that would encourage all sorts of high-speed fun if you could handle it, and no, you probably can’t afford one.
Only 46 units of the Ronax 500 will be available, at a price tag of 100,000 Euros (and if you want one in Canada, we’re guessing the shipping fees and other added costs would add up pretty quickly). For that money, you get a “Racebike – Ready for road” (or so reads Ronax’s website).
The heart of the machine is its 500 cc V4 motor, updated for the street; there’s an electric boot, so you don’t have to haul a starter with you everywhere, and EFI, with sport mode and rain mode. The motor supposedly makes 160 hp at 11,500 rpm. The bike has a six-speed transmission and wet clutch, and Kevlar mufflers.
There’s Brembo brakes front and rear (320 mm discs up front, 210 mm disc in rear), carbon-fibre bodywork, Ohlins 43 mm USD forks and TTX shock, and aluminum frame with adjustable steering head. The rear subframe is carbon-fibre, and dry weight is 145 kg. And, if you want to put the thing on the street, it comes with a mini headlight and blinkers …
GALLERY
Check out all the pics that go with this story! Click on the main sized pic to transition to the next or just press play to show in a slideshow.
Must. Have.
Totally.
I wish manufacturers would stop publishing dry weights for motorcycles. It’s meaningless. At least it’s becoming more rare with curb weights gradually taking over.