Greetings, a Gamma Story and Help Needed

[2strklvr]

First of all, by way of introduction to the forum I will say that I have been a two-stroke street bike nut since forever - from the days of my petulant youth thrashing 350 & 500 RZ’s to the years following when my garage more often than not contained an RG, NSR or TZ. Sadly over the years all these bikes eventually went by the wayside, sold for no real reason other than dis-use or perhaps me just going in another direction. I sold my last street stroker, a 2MA TZR250 about ten or eleven years ago. Since then I often have kicked myself for parting ways with so many fine motorcycles – hindsight being 20/20 I should have kept them all. As time went on I came to realize that I likely would never be able to replace any of them partly due rising prices, but mostly because the limited supply of decent bikes left have steadily been locked down by enthusiasts and collectors.

Anyway that was my story – until two weeks ago when the clouds parted, a ray of light shone down upon me from the Heavens and salvation was delivered unto me in the form of a completely unexpected text from my buddy Nick. It included a picture of what looked to be a pretty decent Gamma with a message saying the owner had passed away and it was for sale. I replied with three words - “I’ll take it”. However once I got the back story, it tempered my enthusiasm. The picture and info came to Nick via his neighbour’s friend who knew the departed former owner. He also is a bike guy owning some vintage Honda Super Sports etc. Being at least four times removed from the seller I didn’t hold out much hope that I would even get a chance to look at the RG, let alone purchase it. Regardless Nick said that he would pass the word along that I was a serious buyer. Well to make a long story longer, about two days after that Nick got back to me with the name and number of the person selling the Gamma. I reached out to her and made arrangements to take a look at the bike this past Saturday. Turns out the bike had been languishing in a storage unit since 2017 when the owner passed away. When she unlocked and rolled the door up in the finest “Storage Wars” fashion, I could hardly believe that it was really happening. The bike looked better than I had hoped and by the end of the day I was rolling it into the shop at home.

Now this is where I am hoping somebody here can help me out with the history of my bike. As soon as I saw the bike I could tell Rick Lance’s fingerprints were all over it - 17” wheels front & rear (possibly from a Can-o-tuna?) , upgraded front brakes, anti-dive delete, Lance air filters, Lance suspension link, Ohlin shock, etc. The seller was able to provide me with some paperwork that she had collected knowing it was pertinent to the Gamma. Sadly there were scant few invoices for parts or services, but lots and lots of USD money order receipts all made out to Rick Lance. There is also a Forward Air waybill for shipping the bike to Georgia with Rick as the consignee. So suspicions confirmed, but that’s about it.

My hope is that somebody on this forum may have known the previous owner and have an idea of what work was performed. His name was Tim and he lived in the GTA. He worked in the movie industry, travelled a lot, raced tunnel hull boats and rode observed trials on a Sherco. The Gamma itself started out life as a blue & white Canadian bike but now is painted in Walter Wolf colours. Hopefully something there rings a bell for somebody. Additionally I will be posting pics (once I can find a decent free host since it would seem that tinypic is gone) and looking for advice/opinions as I recommission the old girl. Any and all help would be appreciated.

TIA, Pete

[ns86]

Welcome aboard and Congrats on a true find nowadays. Sounds like you avoided an advertised sale so maybe a good deal was had on a Lance Gamma bike. Hopefully a member can shed some light on the former owner etc.

I was in Bracebridge and Huntsville yesterday in fact and I, and several others are in the North Bay area. Close enough for a get-together some summer day perhaps. Good luck finding info!

I use the free Postimage service and it works well. You may want to try it.

[motosapien]

Hi Pete,

Congrats on your Gamma! I know the bike you are talking about and it belonged to Tim Wood (not sure about the last name) who lived an hour from Toronto, raced boats and passed away in mid 2017.
Rick planned on hauling the bike back to US and sell it to me. I couldnt buy as I had kid and I was defending my PhD in Jul 2017. Bike looked fantastic, I still have the pics.
It has all the Lance gamma mods and stock motor. Bike was blue/white from factory but the owner choose to go with the WW colors when Rick did the maintenance and fiberglass bodywork.
You have a fantastic bike that needs nothing! I am not jealous at all lol

Happy new year!

Sharath

[silverstrom]

That came together nicely and shows just how small the 2 stroke world is.

Welcome to the forum Pete!

[giron]

It would make your day even better. If you frame is one of the 99 frames designated as Walter Wolf for Canada. The story goes that Suzuki was slapping Walter Wolf decals on VJ22, RG400 and RG500. The Canadians complain after all Walter Wolf was a Canadian. Suzuki made the last 99 frames for Walter Wolf.

[ns86]

.
Giron Said:

The Canadians complain after all Walter Wolf was a Canadian

Takes a certain type of American to tell a Canadian about being Canadian

News Flash: 1986: Canada gets Walter Wolf Special edition RG500 after complaining to Suzuki Japan about not being treated fairly.

[DukeRG]

Great find... post some pictures..

[2strklvr]

Hi Pete,

Congrats on your Gamma! I know the bike you are talking about and it belonged to Tim Wood (not sure about the last name) who lived an hour from Toronto, raced boats and passed away in mid 2017.
Rick planned on hauling the bike back to US and sell it to me. I couldnt buy as I had kid and I was defending my PhD in Jul 2017. Bike looked fantastic, I still have the pics.
It has all the Lance gamma mods and stock motor. Bike was blue/white from factory but the owner choose to go with the WW colors when Rick did the maintenance and fiberglass bodywork.
You have a fantastic bike that needs nothing! I am not jealous at all lol

Happy new year!

Sharath

That is indeed the bike Sharath and you are correct - Tim Wood was the previous owner. I had purposely omitted his surname to see if any respondent actually knew him well enough to add that detail. You say that you still have the pictures that I assume Tim sent to you, I was wondering if you can recall or even better had any saved correspondence where he may have elaborated on the work that had been done to the bike. The engine has been apart so I wonder to what extent - full basement-up rebuild or just a top-end? I also wonder if there was any different rotary valve timing, port matching or polishing. The bike was shipped to Rick in February of 2002, so I'm not sure where he was at in his development curve at that time as I know he was constantly improving on these bikes and broadening the scope of his modifications. As I said in my first post just from a cursory inspection revealed it has different wheels and front brakes, anti-dive block off plates, Ohlin remote reservoir shock and individual foam air filters. Additionally it has the oil tank and battery relocation mod. It also has some type of aftermarket pipes and I am interested to know if anyone can ID them. I can only assume that the fork has been upgraded to keep pace with the upgraded rear shock. Like I said before, so many questions.

[2strklvr]

Forgot to mention many thanks to all for welcoming me to the forum.

As far as thread hi-jacking and whatever back and forth "banter" goes on, fill yer boots boys as I am completely unfazed. I've frequented many a snowmobile and dirt bike forum which make the above sound like polite conversation over Sunday tea. To throw my 2 cents in regards to some of that discussion - giron you are correct that my post mentioned the bike is painted in WW colours. It also said that the bike was originally a white and blue Canadian bike (confirmed by Sharath), so obviously it's not one of the 99 frame numbers that was imported to Canada in that livery. Perhaps you were just saying too bad that it wasn't, or perhaps you need to slow down, read and comprehend before replying.

ns86, certainly a forum meet & greet is something that I would be interested in - once Uncle Doug deems it safe and Mother Nature cooperates of course. From the look of the list of bikes in your signature I vote we do it at your place - lol. In all seriousness it is something that we should indeed think about arranging.

[2strklvr]

Pic posting test. Let's see if this works.

[giron]

I don't need to slow down. I was curious since I have kept up with other Walter Wolf owners, but you still have an RG500.

[giron]

you are very lucky. The pipes look to be Tommy Crawford. I know Rick was having Tommy Crawford making pipes for him. The rear wheel is it a 4.5X17? Probably a VJ22

[2strklvr]

you are very lucky. The pipes look to be Tommy Crawford. I know Rick was having Tommy Crawford making pipes for him. The rear wheel is it a 4.5X17? Probably a VJ22

Thanks for the pipe info. I will have a good look at the rear wheel tomorrow. I know that it is marked Suzuki and there are some other numbers cast into one of the spokes.

[lost1750GTV]

"Looked better than I had hoped"
Yeah, looks like you got a really nice bike.

[motosapien]

I'll send my contact details in a PM. Feel free to give a call over the weekend and I will share more details of your bike.