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Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend $146,000

I'm close to stacking up 200 hours spent playing Ride 3. Even though it was launched almost four years ago and there are plenty of other motorcycle racing games out there, this one has always kept me glued to the screen. And in one of the recent challenges, I got to experience the Suter MMX 500 motorcycle around the Nurburgring. I was 10th fastest out of over 100 riders, with a time of 6 minutes and just over 12 seconds.
Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend $146,000 7 photos
Photo: WRS Italy / eBay
Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend $146,000Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend $146,000Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend $146,000Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend $146,000Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend $146,000Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend $146,000
Without a doubt, the MMX 500 is one of the fastest motorcycles you can ride in the game. For most people, this kind of virtual experience is the only way they will ever get to see what the MMX 500 is made of.

Chances are that if you're not an avid motorcycle enthusiast, you might not even be familiar with this model at all. While it was introduced less than a decade ago, it draws inspiration from what some refer to as the Golden Era of MotoGP.

We're talking about an age that gave us close battles between legendary riders like Wayne Rainey, Mick Doohan, and Kenny Roberts JR. The two-stroke era came to an end in 2001 when Valentino Rossi also claimed his first premier class title.

If you need to understand how insane MotoGP bikes were back then, you just have to look at a video of Kevin Schwantz doing his thing on the track. So it's not hard to grasp why hardcore riders and motorcycle enthusiasts were saddened by the switch to four-stroke racing starting with the 2002 MotoGP season.

Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend \$146,000
Photo: WRS Italy / eBay
One of those people was Swiss-born Eskil Suter, a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He had competed in the 250cc class for years, using the Aprilia RS250, before a brief endeavor in the 500cc class in 1998.

His passion for fast bikes reminds us of Brian Crighton's story in a way. We could go on and on about how complex this machine is, but then again you could also sum things up in one sentence. The heart of this thing is a 576cc two-stroke V4 engine that's capable of delivering 195 horsepower at 13,000 rpm.

This has a dry weight of 279 lbs (127 kg), which makes for an astonishing power-to-weight ratio. Mind you, the Crighton Rotary CR700W delivers 220 hp for a dry weight of 285.5 lbs (129.5 kg) but it does have a few more additional years of development.

When Eskil Suter announced the MMX 500, the company was planning on building just 99 bikes in total. And each one had a price tag of $121,500 at the time. Right now, we've come across an Italian company that usually sells racing parts, which is advertising the MMX 500 for $146,676.

Rare Suter Racing MMX 500 Could Be Yours if You're Brave Enough and Can Spend \$146,000
Photo: WRS Italy / eBay
The company also claims it has two bikes available if one of your friends fancies owning something just as fast as you do. We just hope whoever buys this will get to enjoy it on the track, and not just store it away in a museum for safe-keeping.

We've tracked down an onboard video of an MMX 500 at Isle of Man from a few years ago, and also a small testimonial from the 1987 MotoGP World Champion Wayne Gardner to make you think about the whole thing.

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About the author: Dragos Chitulescu
Dragos Chitulescu profile photo

The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S.
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