Suzuki RE5

The Suzuki RE5 was one of the few rotary engine bikes ever made, was only made for 3 years. Suzuki, in 1970, was locked in a three-way competition with the other two big Japanese motorcycle makers, Honda and Yamaha. In a relentless march to improve technology and capture market share, Suzuki went after a then-untested production technology, the Wankel rotary engine, with the idea of putting it in a motorcycle'

The Only Japanese Production Rotary

The RX-5, Suzuki's prototype rotary, was unveiled at the Tokyo salon in 1973, one year after Yamaha's RZ-201. The RX-5 was technically more advanced, and it flashed a snazzy Italian Giugiaro bodystyle to boot. It went into production soon after, while the Yamaha languished at the prototype phase, In doing so, Suzuki had made the new bike, rechristened RE5, the only Japanese series production rotary and the first rotary put on the assembly line since Germany's rustic Hercules and the antiquated Dutch Van Veen.

No Splash with the Public

Unfortunately. innovation does not always score with the public, and the RE5 did not exactly send buyers rushing off to their local Suzuki dealers, checkbooks in hand Some were put off by the aesthetics, which may baffle current collectors, since Giugiaro styles are generally acknowledged to be brilliant, but more were disappointed in the RE5's lack of real punch from its water-cooled 197cc rotary, It was not the end for Suzuki, however-the firm scored big in 1976 (worldwide-not us) with its GS750, a bigger bike with more power than the courageous RE5 Rotary.