The ONLY Mass Produced Rotary Motorcycle - The Suzuki RE5 (1974-1976)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ย. 2024
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In this Rare Motorcycles documentary, we go into the history of the only mass produced motorcycle to use a rotary engine, the Suzuki RE5.
This was the first production motorcycle to go main stream featuring a rotary engine, and it turned out to be the only mass produced rotary powered motorcycle. The Suzuki RE5 only lasted in production from 1974-1976, so what happened?
Stay tuned to the end to find out all there is to know about the incredibly rare and exciting Suzuki RE5.
This video aims to provide a short history of these unique and rare motorcycles so you can learn about them in a quick, easy to digest video.
*Note, we are not historians. If you see an error in our research then please mention it in the comments!
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Love the video. The only thing I wish you could have done was have some audio with some of the riding sequences. It would be nice to know how the bike sounds.
Noted!
The Norton rotary worth a look at also, even the UK Police had them.....😎
Yes I would love to do a video on those as well!
@@raremotorcycles Here's one I found.... th-cam.com/video/RpCA6Z34aDw/w-d-xo.html
And it won on the IOMTT that's real cred.
DKW made a rotary motorcycle the W2000 often badged as a HerculesW2000 production ran from 1974 to 1977.
There must be identified a poor research, because it was the Hercules Wankel 2000, although it was almost in the same timeline in 1974
This was produced to the tune of 6,000 units versus the Hercules ~1,400 so I would classify this as mass produced in comparison
Opens you up to telling us what number is 'Mass Production'? 1401?@@raremotorcycles
FYI, the German maker Hercules also made a rotary bike, called the W2000. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(motorcycle)
Thank you for sharing that I was unaware of this bike! Granted it never reached "mass production", it is still cool to see another example of a rotary bike!
There was the Van Veen OCR 1000 too. Not mass produced though. Rather limited production run, but a winner in the 'Top trumps' game of the 70's.
I had a show winning RE5, great bike but so heavy!
"We took out the cylinders from the engine and put 'em at the dash and the tail light."
LOL
I loved the bike but having no engine braking took a while to get used to , I should have kept it .
Have one for allmost 40 years and have 230000 km experience. I even own the ( in my modest opinion) last existing 16 mm factory sales movie Suzuki made about it which is looked yet 1000000 times on youtube
And do you know the dutch OCR 1000 by van Veen, which did use the Citroen 2 rotor engine from th citroen GS birotor?
I saw one 2 days ago , very rarely ever see them
I did an internet search for the RZ 301, got nothing. It turns out to be the RZ 201.
IN the 1990s Norton mass produced a rotary, this was sold to the police and the public it was also raced.
I get around 37 miles per gallon when I ride my RE5 which is better than a Suzuki Water Buffalo and really does make this a viable touring bike. People always say Suzuki's rotary was unreliable but in reality it very reliable and the maintenance isn't that bad. This is also the most fun bike I have ridden, just a pain to control at times cause of the weight.
I owned an re5 from last year till beginning of this year, i only got 36 mpg once going under 60 mph on the highway. The rest of the time i averaged 24-26 mpg. Had no issues except the occasional hard start every now and then. Its not a fast bike, definitely heavy, parts are nonexistent which made me sell it because i didnt have the resources to deal with a potential failure. Definitely a collectors bike, although one that rides very well, i was surprised at how easy it turns in despite the weight. I dont think i had a smoother bike on the highway like the re5. I dont wish to own it again but it was an interesting bike to experience and i would recommend people to try it out.
@@FSXairpilot Once I got some speed its a joy to take turns, I feel like the weight makes it a lot more enjoyable on turns than light weight motorcycles. It just sucks trying to move it in neutral as I weigh like 1/6 of the bike. People tell me to sell it however I don't think I want to however I to am in some fear of failure but I think it would be the transmission that would have a failure which shares parts with other Suzuki bikes and is cheap to fix. I honestly never got below 30mph and I was going 70mph most the time at least so that's interesting, Ill do more calculations with the miles to see what other numbers I get.
@@FSXairpilot I know the motor bike came stock with titanium carbide apex seals which I think are some of the best materials for apex seals today so they lucked out and actually gave the people good apex seals that don't seem to break as long as you take it fairly easy. I hear many RE5's that can last up to 200,000 miles and more.
@God.EmperorBran I'm glad to see you enjoy the bike. It's not for everyone and I have huge respect for people like you that keep them and maintain them despite the lack of support from suzuki or motorcycle shops.
The bike in the video @ 8:15 is in Minnesota, I wonder where it resides here?
I think they made a snowmobile,also...not sure.
..
I did an internet search for 'yamaha rz 301' and got nothing
The Norton rotary (which I think was a twin 600) was in production for ~10yrs. Honda managed to get in banned from the racing circuit, as they were sick of losing to it. Typical also is comparing a 500 suz to a 750 honda. I have 1st hand experience of 70s suzukis and hondas and the suzukis are vastly superior.
Rotary displacement is 1/3 of reality. RE5 is 1.5 Liter.
wait a second there... the Hercules W 2000 also was build in 1974 like the Suzuki RE5, does anyone know which one was first?
"ONLY Mass Produced Rotary Motorcycle"
Yes, the only mass produced rotary motorcycle.
That wasn't a Hercules W2000. Nor a Norton Classic. Nor a Norton Commander. Nor a Norton F1. Nor a Norton Interpol 2.
I'm sure the numbers of just the RE5 exceed the combined production total for all of these other models.
But mass production happened, with at least five other models. Plus another, a works racer by Norton.
Finished the sentence- Mass Produced FOR THE GLOBAL MARKET. Pay attention to the details
I'm pretty sure Norton and Hercules both produced for export, also. @@email4664
The ONLY mass produced rotary??? I'm afraid not.....the DKW/Hercules 2000............??? The Norton Rotary??? The Van Veen??? Ooops, all been mentioned down the lists........
Suzuki was the first to produce a rotary in 'large' series.... and the only one!
And this almost made the brand disappear. Like NSU and Citroën !
“we didn’t think the efficiency could be so bad”
th-cam.com/video/1mrH5FqTjvU/w-d-xo.html
Yamaha made a very pretty wankel prototype, the RZ 301, but decided against it.