RE5A FS in Toowoomba, QLD, Australia...

[pmcburney]

This 'restoration' isn't exactly to my liking and there are a couple of red flags, but if anyone in Australia has a $25,000 hole burning in their pocket for a repainted RE5A, have at it:


www.ebay.com.au/itm/335267895498





EDIT: by Wayne. I've added a picture of an almost completely stock and factory original RE5A (paint and chrome included. This bike doesn't have anything redone). Hopefully will assist any newcomers in "spot the difference" as a general education tool. The bike below is a 4000 mile original and it was displayed (with full tour kit) in the original Rotary Recycle Museum. The only thing that's not stock is the big ugly fuel filter and the tyres. The rack is genuine Suzuki accessory made for the RE5. Among other things, this bike has factory original lightly polished engine cases which have been factory clear coated. In the ebay bike above, the seller appears to have painted them.

[Framitron]

$25,000 for an A model?
There are a lot of things non-stock about this bike but I will point out one thing:

-The flexible brake hoses are getting sharply bent by the forks at full travel. That is a total safety hazard in my eyes.

What do you guys think?

[wayne]

Those brake lines are appalling. Dangerous as you say Framitron and quite possibly the forks have some static sag so at full extension, I can't imagine how they'd survive.

Agree, this is one of the worst claims of "nut and bolt restoration" and "...is close to 'as new'..". So much not stock on this bike like the obvious seat and blinkers (and so much more). Go to the link and run through the photos.

As for the paint job, compare the pinstripes to the original.

It also appears those rims are chrome GT750 style and not original mag-alloy (compare the two photos). Even if it was dirt cheap, you couldn't even use it for spares. If the job on the brake lines is any indication, how bad is everything else?

And where does that fuel line actually go lol............

I'm hoping that after a quick Google image search, even an inexperienced RE5 buyer will see how ridiculous this offer is.

[timpa136]

I noticed the early kick start position. Unfortunately, he doesn't list his engine number for us.
RE5-13903

[wayne]

Feb 24, 2024 19:40:07 GMT -5 timpa136 said:

I noticed the early kick start position. Unfortunately, he doesn't list his engine number for us.
RE5-13903

That number should have the later kickstart position. However, if you put an early kickstart lever on the later spline, you'll get what appears to be an early lever position. And that looks like one of the early kickstart levers. There's the gooseneck, then there's a straight lever which is not like the GT750 and then there's the GT style (I think there's one more from memory). The one on the ebay bike is the 2nd gen lever just to give it a name.

If the Ebay bike was fitted with a GT style lever, as all around this number usually have, I'll bet it fits perfectly. Here's the other side of my A model. It's Frame number is RE5-13729, has its original GT style lever sitting correctly, very close to the Ebay bike in the production run. Below is the ebay bike's kick start.

And given the lack of adherence to "like new" on the Ebay bike, who knows where that lever came from.