Post by ski on May 4, 2016 22:08:37 GMT -5
It seems there is no short story to acquiring or owning and RE5 and mine is no exception. It was May of 1991 and I had just finished college in Denver. I was the neighborhood 'fix it' guy. If it had an engine and a problem, it ended up in my driveway. The neighbor across the street comes over one afternoon to get his 69 Camaro back after some much needed TLC. He says, "My dad and I have this rotary engine motorcycle that won't run right. Wanna take a crack at it?" "Sure", I said thinking to myself, "He must be stoned. There's no such thing." I'd been riding since I was 8 and racing since 13 and had never heard of such a thing. Of course, we all know when we're young, we know everything. Right? lol I come home from work the first Saturday of June and lo and behold, there's a beautiful, brand new (or appeared to be) Suzuki in my driveway. I get out of my car and give it the once over. Suzuki RE5 rotary. What engineering nightmare is this!? I am immediately fascinated and enthralled by it's styling. The neighbor comes over and gives me the story.
"My dad and I bought this new in 1975. It was the first one on the showroom floor and the salesman (who was a family friend) had been talking this thing up for months before it's arrival. We took it home and had it a few years putting just over 1200 miles on it, then it happened. It would start fine, but it would die above 1500 rpm. We took it back to the dealer and they reluctantly agreed to look at it. 'It's got an ignition problem', they said, 'but we don't want to work on it.' So it sat in the garage"
I said I'd take a look. Fresh gas, clean the plug and it fired right up. Choke off, idles great. Incredible sound. Crack the throttle and across 1500, she dies. Weird it seems rpm related. I spent some time researching what I could pre-internet to learn about the bike. I noted that the sensor/switch in the tach that controlled the second set of points was in play when the stall occurred. I concluded that the shop was right and that something in the CDI box had given up the ghost and the main points were not coming on line. By this time, very few NOS boxes were around, and the dealers wanted a huge price for one which they weren't willing to pay. Weeks of searching and I found a few at wrecking yards. $350, no guarantee it worked and no returns.
"No thanks", they said. "That's too much on a dice roll. We need to think about what we want to do."
"Ok", I replied. "Just let me know what you want to do. If you ever decide to sell it, let me know."
Fast forward to June 1994 and my wife and I had relocated to Tri Cities Washington. I get a phone call. "I'm tired of this thing taking up space in the garage. You still want it?"
"Hell yes! How much?"
"$800 and it's yours."
"Done!"
As luck would have it, a friend was going to Denver to visit her mother and would be more than happy to throw it in the back of her truck for the ride back. Two weeks later, it's in my garage. Ok, now what? I don't have the money for a new box and the used one I found was gone. Back to the search. After weeks of button poking and frustration, I find a place in the mid west that looked promising but he needs to check to see what's left of the bike. A few days go by and then the call. "Sorry, but someone bought just about everything we had." #@%& $^%* &*#@ was all that went through my mind. Then, "There is this guy, Sam. Owns a place called Rotary Recyclers. It's all they deal in. Give him a call." Woohoo!!! I can't dial fast enough. I explain my situation to Sam and what I need. He says,"That's not your problem. The primary circuit in the carb is plugged. Pretty common. Clean it out, rebuild it and you'll be fine. IF that doesn't do it, call me back." Between the back story of the bike, checking frame and engine numbers and Sam imparting to me some of his vast knowledge of the bikes, the call ends. An hour and a half after it started.
I followed his advice. What a nightmare. "Who the hell designed this thing!?", I screamed many times during the process. I had no manual at the time, Only a crude diagram I drew during disassembly with accompanying notes. Carb back in, choke, starter button.... CONTACT! Vrrroooom! Off with the choke. Idles great. Crack the throttle...... Revvvv revvvv whine! Runs like a champ! There's more to the story I will share when I have time, but I've had it 22 years now and acquired two more. Here's the photobucket link for pictures.
s1044.photobucket.com/user/Bret_Levandowski/library/RE5?sort=3&page=1
"My dad and I bought this new in 1975. It was the first one on the showroom floor and the salesman (who was a family friend) had been talking this thing up for months before it's arrival. We took it home and had it a few years putting just over 1200 miles on it, then it happened. It would start fine, but it would die above 1500 rpm. We took it back to the dealer and they reluctantly agreed to look at it. 'It's got an ignition problem', they said, 'but we don't want to work on it.' So it sat in the garage"
I said I'd take a look. Fresh gas, clean the plug and it fired right up. Choke off, idles great. Incredible sound. Crack the throttle and across 1500, she dies. Weird it seems rpm related. I spent some time researching what I could pre-internet to learn about the bike. I noted that the sensor/switch in the tach that controlled the second set of points was in play when the stall occurred. I concluded that the shop was right and that something in the CDI box had given up the ghost and the main points were not coming on line. By this time, very few NOS boxes were around, and the dealers wanted a huge price for one which they weren't willing to pay. Weeks of searching and I found a few at wrecking yards. $350, no guarantee it worked and no returns.
"No thanks", they said. "That's too much on a dice roll. We need to think about what we want to do."
"Ok", I replied. "Just let me know what you want to do. If you ever decide to sell it, let me know."
Fast forward to June 1994 and my wife and I had relocated to Tri Cities Washington. I get a phone call. "I'm tired of this thing taking up space in the garage. You still want it?"
"Hell yes! How much?"
"$800 and it's yours."
"Done!"
As luck would have it, a friend was going to Denver to visit her mother and would be more than happy to throw it in the back of her truck for the ride back. Two weeks later, it's in my garage. Ok, now what? I don't have the money for a new box and the used one I found was gone. Back to the search. After weeks of button poking and frustration, I find a place in the mid west that looked promising but he needs to check to see what's left of the bike. A few days go by and then the call. "Sorry, but someone bought just about everything we had." #@%& $^%* &*#@ was all that went through my mind. Then, "There is this guy, Sam. Owns a place called Rotary Recyclers. It's all they deal in. Give him a call." Woohoo!!! I can't dial fast enough. I explain my situation to Sam and what I need. He says,"That's not your problem. The primary circuit in the carb is plugged. Pretty common. Clean it out, rebuild it and you'll be fine. IF that doesn't do it, call me back." Between the back story of the bike, checking frame and engine numbers and Sam imparting to me some of his vast knowledge of the bikes, the call ends. An hour and a half after it started.
I followed his advice. What a nightmare. "Who the hell designed this thing!?", I screamed many times during the process. I had no manual at the time, Only a crude diagram I drew during disassembly with accompanying notes. Carb back in, choke, starter button.... CONTACT! Vrrroooom! Off with the choke. Idles great. Crack the throttle...... Revvvv revvvv whine! Runs like a champ! There's more to the story I will share when I have time, but I've had it 22 years now and acquired two more. Here's the photobucket link for pictures.
s1044.photobucket.com/user/Bret_Levandowski/library/RE5?sort=3&page=1