Suzuki RE-5

[HondaJon_imp]

Cool article in the October issue of "Motor Cyclist" on the 75 - 76 Rotary powered Suzuki RE-5. Crazy cylindrical dash/tail light on the 75...

[the Ferret]

I was selling Suzukis when those came out. Strange bird.Strange exhaust note too. We couldn't give them away. They went to regular gauges later, Didn't help.

[use2b_imp]

I recall them and after driving the 1st " winkle engine " Mazda I thought about it and it looked " Cool ?" but gad I went with the CB.
was told it had no torque

[kmoney_imp]

This seemed to be the fate of most rotary engined vehicles. When you read about its theory of operation, the Wankel seems like it should be the coolest thing on earth, but it never seems to translate into sales success.

[Cormanus]

I drove a Mazda with Wankel engine once or twice. It was an amazing thing. I also knew a bloke who put one in his racing sidecar outfit. It performed pretty well too as I recall.

[redbirds_imp]

When I first saw this bike I wanted to like it but it was so bizarre looking. Rotary engines have problems similar to two stroke motors with emission compliance also. High fuel consumption is another issue. On the plus side they are compact, smooth and make plenty of power.

[Retsel_imp]

I owned two of the early Mazda Wankels . If I remember correctly the first was the RX2. It had the "apex seal" issue that caused premature engine failure. It was warranty repaired the first time and I rebuilt it myself the second time it went out. It is a super easy motor to work on. They finally figured how to make a composite, that fixed the engine problem, and I bought the RX7 years later. Loved that car. Ran the devil out of it. Always thought it would make an interesting motorcycle engine. Torque was always an issue but high end performance was amazing, if you ignored the rpm warning buzzer! Fuel efficiency was pretty bad but, at less than 50 cents/gal who cared? That all said I think I'll stay with my CB

[DAC]

That bike almost killed Suzuki IIRC. The GS750 was luckily a very good follow up that saved the day.

[kmoney_imp]

That was one of the things that was so cool about bikes back in the day though is that companies still went nuts with stuff like this. Now everything is overeegulated and the cost of building something that bombs in the marketplace so high, nothing truly amazing and different really comes out.

[CA200_imp]

A close friend of mine took a test ride on one when they came out, he said it was every thing you dislike about a two stroke
and everything you dislike in a four stroke combined into one motorcycle.