195bhp two-stroke to debut at TT races

Brand new Suter MMX500 heading to Isle of Man and will be ridden by 10-time TT champ Ian Lougher. And, as he tells Practical Sportsbikes, he can’t wait…

ust in case you needed yet another reason to count down the days until the Isle of Man TT, here’s one: Suter’s tasty MMX500 two- stroke will be entering with 10- time TT winner Ian Lougher riding it – and the man himself has told PS that he can’t wait.  

The bike will be making an appearance in the Superbike and Senior TT races in June, and is packing a 576cc V4 engine which kicks out 195bhp while weighing a rather svelte 127kg. It’s capable of 190mph and even Eskil Suter, the former bike racer who’s behind the machine, has modestly described its performance as being “like a rocket.” 

We can’t wait to see how it performs in the hands of Lougher, who’s coming out of retirement after winning his impressive haul of TT titles between 1990 and 2009. “It’s a beautiful bike,” he told PS in an exclusive chat. “When Suter first asked me I thought they were joking, but then I suppose there aren’t that many people with the experience of riding a big two-stroke these days. I think 1999 was the last time I rode a 500 at the TT, and I got the fastest two-stroke record.”

So did he have any reservations about coming out of retirement? “It took me less than five minutes to say yes,” he smiles. “If it hadn’t been a two-stroke I wouldn’t have bothered, but it’s such an amazing and unusual bike and I think it’ll suit me down to the ground. I certainly wouldn’t be doing it if it was some garden shed bike – I’ve been to the Suter factory and it blows your mind. No one knows quite what to expect but I won’t be wobbling around the course, that’s for sure.” 

If you fancy an MMX500 of your own, you’ll need to be quick and wadded: only 99 are being made, at a cost of £120,000 each. So will Suter be giving Ian one of them as a thank you for coming out of retirement? “That’d be nice,” he laughs. “I think they’d like to make them for the road one day, so you never know…” 

Photography Suter, Team ILR