Ronax 500: 160hp V4 two-stroke

German company Ronax GmbH’s street-legal 500cc two-stroke sportsbike project has surfaced, with the machine a trip down memory lane for those who remember when grand prix racing grids were made up by the brutal machines.

The Ronax appears to be styled on the Honda NSR500 which won the 2001 MotoGP title in the hands of Italian Valentino Rossi, but the official website doesn’t explicitly mention the Italian icon – but people can join the dots with Ronax only making 46 examples (Rossi’s racing number) of the machine, and the fact that the tailpiece also bears a resemblance to Rossi’s machine.

The Dresden-based Ronax has developed the powerplant in-house, and it’s an 80-degree V4 with a bore and stroke of 54.5mm x 54mm – the same nearly-square dimensions as the final iterations of the Yamaha YZR500 and NSR500 before the four-strokes became the MotoGP staple.

It has two counter-rotating crankshafts inside the CNC-machined billet aluminium crankcases, and there’s electronic fuel injection.

Performance is claimed at 160hp at 11,500rpm, with two different maps: Sport or Rain. Although the literature is silent on the topic, lubrication is likely to come from direct injection, and there’s a cassette-style six-speed gearbox.

There’s a twin-spate frame, 43mm Ohlins upside-down fork, TTX rear shock, forged aluminium wheels, Brembo brakes and carbon fibre bodywork. The dry weight is 145kg.

To make it ‘street-legal’, there’s the suite of lights and mirrors. In Germany, it can be ridden on public roads using “temporary license plates”. Of course, consult your licensing authority if you are looking at buying one – if it’s not too late.

Price is around $140,000. For more information, visit www.ronax500.com/en.