My new old bike

[bdalameda]

Haven't been posting much lately. I have been spending a lot of time restoring a 1976 Suzuki RE5 Rotary engine bike. Just took it out today for its first ride since finishing it today. It sure does turn heads. This is actually my third RE5 having purchased a new one in 1975 and another one in the early eighties. I actually was factory trained by Suzuki on the RE5 Rotary in 1975 when I worked as a mechanic at a Suzuki dealership. Strange bikes but surprising good handling and quite reliable. Very short range and the fuel economy is not the best at about 35 mpg if you really are careful. Here are some pics.

 

[Coucours Grad]

That is one P R E T T Y bike. (I didnt say old cause I really dont think it is)


You done good on that one !!!

 

[Booger Man]

I always liked the RE5. I had a 74 GT750 Water Buffalo. Great bikes. Looks like good restore,Bring her east so I can finish the testing for you.

 

[cruiser58]

You can be proud of that one.

 

[BakerBoy]

Wow, nice job! :bow1:

I've never heard one ... by chance could you make an audio clip of it running?

 

[Fortunet 1]

I had forgotten entirely that these once existed, till I spotted one at the International bike show in San Mateo last weekend. There was a small group of restored Japanese bikes along a wall and
one was this rotary engine RES. I had a good chat with the fella that owned it, and apparently he liked my interest in asking about it.
I am so glad you posted this because now I may have the opportunity to actually hear it running someday... being that I'm only 40 mins away from you.

Thanks for posting this up !

 

[Justytroll]

Very nice piece of history. W ankel motorcycle. I saw one of those years ago. Wondered how nice they would be.

 

[nhdiesel]

Very cool! Two of those started in the 2009 Iron Butt Rally. I like anything strange and odd...and the RE5 fits the bill!

Sent from my PB99400 using Tapatalk

 

[Firstpeke]

Beautiful machine, they are an interesting bike for sure..... the power, if I remember, comes in like a deluge, but it winds up so quick you can barely keep up with the gear changes..... in reality not that powerful a bike from a torque perspective, but being a rotary it was very revvy and quick.....

Always thought Norton's rotary was smoother quieter and way faster...... but never got to ride one..... just remember a Lancashire Police one I saw at a filling station..... the guy riding it was so proud of it and stood a coin on the tank with the engine running...... smooooth....

 

[970mike]

Nice looking ride! Enjoy it.

 

[bdalameda]

Beautiful machine, they are an interesting bike for sure..... the power, if I remember, comes in like a deluge, but it winds up so quick you can barely keep up with the gear changes..... in reality not that powerful a bike from a torque perspective, but being a rotary it was very revvy and quick.....

Always thought Norton's rotary was smoother quieter and way faster...... but never got to ride one..... just remember a Lancashire Police one I saw at a filling station..... the guy riding it was so proud of it and stood a coin on the tank with the engine running...... smooooth....

Actually the Suzuki rotary is quite tame - a very torquey engine with a flat curve. It redlines at only 6500 rpm. The engine has two massive steel flywheels, the alternator rotor plus the main rotor is steel so it is quite heavy - you get all that mass spinning and it pulls hard though it revs somewhat slowly. Not the fastest machine but in the 55-to 75mph range pulls like a locomotive. It is noisier than the Norton but it is just as smooth as Suzuki developed a very effective way of balancing the rotary that had not been done before.

 

[bdalameda]

Wow, nice job! :bow1:

I've never heard one ... by chance could you make an audio clip of it running?

I will see if I can figure out how to do this.

 

[bdalameda]

I had forgotten entirely that these once existed, till I spotted one at the International bike show in San Mateo last weekend. There was a small group of restored Japanese bikes along a wall and
one was this rotary engine RES. I had a good chat with the fella that owned it, and apparently he liked my interest in asking about it.
I am so glad you posted this because now I may have the opportunity to actually hear it running someday... being that I'm only 40 mins away from you.

Thanks for posting this up !

Yes I saw the RE5 at the show. I was in contact with the owner of that bike on the Suzuki Rotary forum. That bike was not restored but in original condition with only 3400 total miles on it. It still had the original tires and as the owner put it "still has the Japanese air in the tires!"

 

[bdalameda]

Way COOL , I loved the RE5 when it hit thie show room floors,,, Big GT 750 and 550 fan here,,,
My dealer changed the motor out of the one RE5 that he sold,,, I think the motor was smoking????
At the time I was lusting for one and the dealer said he would not order or work on another RE5 . and that was the deal killer on my lust for the RE5,,,
To me the sound was a lot like the ST 1300,

The sound is a bit like an ST with a little more pop to it and somewhat louder. Many of the earlier RE5's smoked when cold. Suzuki determined that these bikes were not broken in correctly and in fact needed to be run much harder to get the side seals worked in. The smoking never hurt anything and only did it when cold but was a bit annoying. Many dealers were scared of the bikes and I am sure this helped the demise of them. I often wonder what would have happened if Suzuki had kept going with the RE and released the twin-rotor bike that they had waiting in the wings to be released. A few years back i talked to a person that rode the twin-rotor machine and he said it was really amazing. Yamaha, Kawasaki and Honda all had built Rotary prototypes. Yamaha came very close to producing theirs but had a lot of difficulty tooling up for the engine.

 

[Firstpeke]

I may have confused it with the other interesting bike that was nicknamed "the kettle" over here....... the GT750.......

 

[bdalameda]

Here is a link to a video of an RE5 running for those that want to hear what they sound like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrPve61LNfU&feature=related