Suzuki made rotaries?

[GrayWolf]

And won an isle of man tt

from memory the rotaries cleaned house in racing, it was the japanese who in effect got the Norton banned by having the class legislation altered to outlaw it. Had the Norton not ecieved this treatment? Who knows.. it was one of those times where the Japs over engineering (RE5) was overcomplex and a failure,,, Norton kept it simple, light and it worked very well...... British Police also used the Rotary Norton in some districts for a while (Norton Commander)

[Kickaha]

from memory the rotaries cleaned house in racing

They weren't even close to doing that

it was the japanese who in effect got the Norton banned by having the class legislation altered to outlaw it.

Got some links or sources to back that up, can't say I've ever heard of that before now

British Police also used the Rotary Norton in some districts for a while (Norton Commander)

I thought at the time the Police were the only people who could get the Norton Rotary as it wasn't for public sale

[pete376403]

Pretty sure I saw a Norton Commander at a Cold Kiwi some years ago, so there's at least one around. Was set up as a touring bike, big fairing, integrated panniers, stuff like that.

there was a pile of difference between the race motor and the road one, from what I've read - the race motor used air cooling for the internals of the rotor, drawn through by an exhaust extractor. This meant a lot of oil got mixed in the exhaust, not the ideal road setup.

There are a few youtubes of steve spray on the race bike, sounds nice

[T.W.R]

Pretty sure I saw a Norton Commander at a Cold Kiwi some years ago, so there's at least one around.

There was one for sale in one of the ChCh shops years ago, Metallic gunmetal with Yamaha wheels either ChCh Motorcycles, Bland Brothers, or John Boot
Something makes me think it was ChCh Motorcycles not long after Lindsey got hold of the Hesketh

[Jantar]

Have a chat to our fellow KBer in the South Island http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/me...hp/1471-Jantar

Yep, I have owned 4 of them. Still have 1 complete and a parts heap.

my recollection is that only the first model had the tin can instruments. It also had a tail light the same shape. The two years after that had GT750 waterbus instruments.

They were only produced for 10 months, but had 2 models within that time. The RE5M which had the origional round instrument panel and tail ligth cluster, and the RE5A which had GT750 type instruments and tail light. Most A models were just re-instrumented M models, but there were a few genuine A models. I had one which was destroyed by vandals in Turangi.

I know a guy here in Christchurch who has one. Apparently the carburetor has 32 adjusting screws. There was no training for mechanics, if the engine went phutt a new one was installed. There's no parts book I think is what he said. He was lucky to be able to source a spare crated engine with zero hours on it out of Canada a few years ago too.

The Carb has two adjusting screws, but you do need a special tools to set up the timing for the secondary port to open. No parts book? I have one, and a full workshop manual.

I have ridden 6 different RE5's over the years. To my knowledge Colemans only brought 29 of them in (at least that was the information I was given many years ago), so that means I have ridden approx 1/4 of all the RE5's in NZ.
I love them. A good friend of in ChCh has had one for over 30 years.
Ant the earlier poster was 100% correct about the instrument panel and tail light, only the 1975 "M" model had the cylinder style units. The '76 "A" models used GT750 components.

There were 12 in the first shipment, followed by two shipments of 6 each. There were also a few imported privately.

Most'later models' in NZ were simply earlier models retro fitted with the 'later model' dash. I remember seeing a wee pile of the old dashes in Wanganui

Hee, hee. Those "old" dashes are now worth heaps. I just happen to have a couple spare.

yeah the RE5's are a really cool bike. A well known member on here has one. well, two. OK, one and a half RE5's, I wont name him, (not my place) but its a cool bike. This particular person has had i think 4 of them over the years, bought one, sold it, went what the fuck did i sell it for, then had another couple of them. I keep trying to twist his arm to get it going and gimme a ride on it, but I dont see that happening any time soon!!

Yes, I need a new rotor housing, and I believe I may have tracked one down.

I owned the very first RE5 to be sold in New Zealand. It performed very well in every respect and out handled all other bikes of its size in the day. What caught out a lot of riders was its long wheel base and low center of gravity. The low CoG made for very stable cornering and a rapid rate of roll into the corner. But the long wheel base meant that it didn't feel like it was flicking in quickly. It could go over to incredible lean angles compared to other bikes of the mid 70s and seldom ever scraped anything.

The downside was it loved fuel and tyres, and too much torque for the chains of the time. I used to get 28 mpg if I rode it quietly and 33 mpg if I thrashed it. The 17 l tank gave an effective range of less than 160 km. Tyres would last between 300 and 2000 km, and I could get almost 3000 km out of a chain. O ring chains came out in time for the A model and what a difference to chain life.

With modern tyres and chains, the life is not much different to modern bikes, but it still loves that fuel.

The RE5 is rated at 497 cc, but that is the measured capcity of the three combustion chambers, and the swept volume of all three chambers in one complete rotor revolution. Only one chamber is presented to the spark plug (single) for each crankshaft revolution, so the equivilent capacity when compared to a 4 stroke is only 165 cc. In competition the effective capacity is doubled and it is treated as a 1000 cc bike.

There were just over 6000 ever made and still 1700 world wide.

[Jantar]

Got one RE5 down here in Riviera of the South too...AND an XN85..

That particular RE5 is the first one I owned, and the one I still regret ever selling.

[HenryDorsetCase]

great writeup Mr Jantar

http://www.angelfire.com/retro/roadster/index-12.html

gotta love the obsessives: is that the same guy holding the rotor in the top photos dya reckon?

[tigertim20]

Yes, I need a new rotor housing, and I believe I may have tracked one down.

.

wellyou just lemme andIll be overwith my leathers!!!

[Kickaha]

Pretty sure I saw a Norton Commander at a Cold Kiwi some years ago

I've got a photo of one racing at an early Sound of Thunder when they were supposedly unavailable outside of the UK to the public so there was at least one around

[Paul in NZ]

I've got a photo of one racing at an early Sound of Thunder when they were supposedly unavailable outside of the UK to the public so there was at least one around

Yes - there was a grey one in ChCh many moons ago. Not sure if it was a civilianised Police one or a genuine air cooled non police one.

[Motu]

motor used air cooling for the internals of the rotor, drawn through by an exhaust extractor.

That was used in all the Norton rotaries,it was the breakthrough that made the aircooled engine simple and efficient.

The Norton was actually a BSA....I've got a couple of magazine articles about it's development somewhere if I could be bothered to find them....most likely on the web now anyway. They sent someone off to do a feasibility study of rotaries,and then the whole British industry started to crumble around them,departments and brands were shut down,people layed off. When the dusted started to settle someone had a look at why shed 47 was getting tea bags and toilet rolls....inside was a running rotary. They had forgotten about him,and he just carried on with his job.

[pete376403]

Right, researched a bit more and the diff between the road and race motors was the road motor took the (rotor cooling) air and burned it, where the race motor just fired it out the exhaust.(with its payload of oil vapour)
quote John Robinson (Performance Bikes magazine, August 1990) -
'More power could be available but not with the present system of rotor cooling. At about 100bhp, this becomes the restricting factor. Intake air is taken through the eccentric shaft; oil is injected into it and centrifuged out through the shaft bearings to lubricate the rotor seals. The air is then fed into a plenum chamber before going to the downdraught Mikuni (F1) carburettors. This preheats the air to between 70 and 150 degrees C, and pressurizes it to some 20 inches of water. The extra pressure is good for power, but the increasing temperature isn't and around 100bhp is where the temperature has more influence than the pressure. The 'exhaust ejector' method of forcing air through the shaft (as on the racer) is too noisy for use on a road bike. One possible way to get more power would be to use a separate fan to cool the shaft and rotors, and let the intakes breathe fresh air'. (end quote).

[thehollowmen]

I've been watching this thread very carefully. I love kookie bikes.

I've been lusting after an RE5 for quite some time. I fell in love with Janter's one.

Unless I can get into the will of somebody who owns an RE5, I'm shit out of luck.

I think I'll put together my own one in the end, since RE5 parts are very hard to come by. A two stroke racer frame with a rotary go-cart engine would be a wonderful project in years to come.

[\m/]

Steve Whitham has a dragbike with a CBR-built 13b turbo.
http://www.curranbrothersracing.co.n...ham_-_Dragbike

[gammaguy]

So I was getting some work done on my bike down at Honda in Barrys point Road on the shore, and spotted one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_RE5

Prior to seeing the bike and having a natter with the mechanic that worked on it, I hadnt realised anyone bar Norton had made rotory bikes. Amazing old bike, with some really crazy styling, and according to Wiki, really ahead of it's time.

Would love to see what it would sound and ride like. Anyone ever had one?

Yamaha made one too,but never released it