Should I be scared?

[wiznorton]

Hello one and all, and thanks to Wayne for accepting my application.  My name is Andy, and I'm pretty familiar with rotary motorcycles........ but the more basic ones! If you're interested , this is what we do:- wiznortonracing.co.uk  
I also have a motley assortment of DKW / Hercules bikes as well. A very under-rated little machine IMHO!
So, having taken the plunge and I'm now awaiting arrival of my first RE5. Please tell me that the carb, and any other of the Sukuki specific items are not the work of the devil (as my fellow Norton aficionados have tried to tell me!) 
Any general advice would be most welcome about known weak spots, particularly on a bike that has had little use in recent years, and what I should be looking out for over and above the 'normal' recommissioning process for any other bike.
Thanks!  

Anyone raced one?

[Jess]

You might want to spend some time and do some reading.

Every question you have, and more can be found here on this forum.

Regards,

[wayne]

There are threads on here about recommissioning a long standing RE5. Also threads on carb setup and just about anything else you can think of.

The only "thing" about RE5's is the carb, if not set up properly, can cause a hesitation when the 2nd throat starts to open (ball park 2800 to 3500 rpm). Plenty of info on this. Suzuki Bulletin 8 and 9 are "must have" and can be found HERE.

There are a few other minor things that are not rotary specific, just like any old bike. Starter clutches can be problematic but often fixed by just changing oil. Nothing serious.

Many many well behaved RE5's on the forum. Bikes here with more than 150,000 miles on original engines (proper units).

Re the DKW, I agree. Very under rated but so well behaved I personally find them a bit boring. That's actually a compliment to the designers.

[wayne]

And, yes, someone is racing one here in Australia. There is a thread about somewhere. Do a search maybe with the words "Eastern Creek".

Prior to that, the man who established Rotary Recycle, Sam Costanzo, did all sorts of things to RE5 and raced them. Belt drives, supercharging, flat slide carbs.

Back in the day and I wish I could find this article, two RE5's won a 24 hour endurance race.

[Ramblin' Russ]

Welcome aboard.
I've just checked out the wiz Norton racing website, cool. 
Are you thinking of racing the RE5?, sounds like you are. I'd love to see that.

[wiznorton]

Thanks for all the input folks, much appreciated! I'll get searching through the forum (plenty of 'lockdown time' to do that I guess.)
Very interested in the 24 hour endurance story, if anyone has any links / pictures I'd like to see those

The Norton road bikes of course are charge cooled and lend themselves to tuning by drawing the cooling air through using an exhaust venturi, and feeding the carb with cool atmospheric air. I have also played a bit with the Sachs rotary to cool it that way , and results are quite promising.

I'm ashamed to say I haven't yet looked into how the Suzuki rotor core is cooled,I assume it's oil cooled so presumably there are oil seals as well as compression seals on the rotor flanks??? If that's the case then porting & adjusting the compression pocket would be the way to improve power. With venturi exhausts it is very difficult to silence and still get adequate venturi effect to cool properly, so we are really limited to circuits or events with no noise limit. Luckily the Classic TT encourages as much noise as possible, and there are a few European events with no noise limits, but in the UK we really struggle. So maybe we could get some more power out of the RE5 and still have it quiet enough to pass noise testing! The weight of the Suzuki would no doubt need a bit of attention.

In reality, I have actually bought this RE5 as a road bike...... but who knows! Racing is my main interest. Is the Aussie racer a member on here? I know of one that races in Germany, and a couple of DKW/Hercules racers in Germany too.

Thanks for indulging me!

[wayne]

RE5 is oil cooled internally. So yes, compression and oil seals. Even Sam probably doesn't have the rotary race experience that you guys have but he once told me around 125mph genuine was the best they could get from an RE5. "....only so much you can do with a single rotor".

I don't think the Aussie guy is a member here. It's him and his son. They're not serious with it. It's just a club fun thing. As far as I remember from meeting him there was no engine work and nothing fancy in the exhaust. Just some basic frame mods (GS1000 front end?). Can't recall what he did with the carb, think it was stock but minus the lengthy filtering tube.

The RE5's a great road bike. It handles better than just about anything from 1975 (not just my opinion, regularly noted in magazine tests of the day and Cycle named it "King of the Mountain roads in an 8 bike test which included BMW and Norton among others). It's steering and front suspension is very good for the era. Rear suspension is crap but typical. Where it really excels in stock form is ground clearance. Nothing of the era from Japan comes close in stock form, I can recall Suzuki claiming 45 degrees which is incredible for the day. How they tested that on stock IRC Japanese tyres I'll never know (they were worse than melted down LP records). You can have some fun on it. Try that on a GT750J, sneeze and you're grinding pipes and doing damage (not much better for a late model waterbottle, Honda four or Kwaka nine).


Found the thread on the Australian Racing RE5.

[wiznorton]

Thanks again Wayne.   Yeah, you reminded me,  70's Japanese rubber was ..............er..................bad! But at least predictably bad all the time.  

I'll see if I can find pictures of the German racer.

[rotoryguy]

Hey Wiz, I liked your web pages with those excellent pictures!

Whoever does your photography needs a pat on the back!

I am now in process or restoring a 1976 and this forum has been a fabulous resource.

Everyone is willing to share knowledge and advice.

Lots of information and gotchas available.

Please post some pics when you get yours!

[wayne]

Member HGN 770N reminded me of the guy below. It's not the 24 hour endurance race I was thinking of which was won by two RE5's either first and second. This one was a bike supplied by Geoff Monty and raced by Chris Wilkenson and Ray Battersby in 1976 and was at Caldwell Park in the UK:

[wiznorton]

Thanks Wayne. so race prep in those days involved removing the rear light, stands and indicators.....................and that's it by the looks of it!!! Lift handle and pillion pegs must have been too much effort.

[wayne]

Half face saves weight too! : )

Seems to be a yellow pipe (?) running up the 40 degree frame tube rear of the rider's leg. Clearly seen to the rear of the "Geoff Monty" sidecover.

[wiznorton]

I hadn't spotted the pipe, I think it must be an oil level sight glass for the underseat tank. Actually quite a bright idea, they could check that at pitstops without lifting the seat.

[HGH 770N]

I seem to remember the rite up stated that a 1pint of oil was added at every pit stop. Thats a good oil burner for a new bike per tank if fuel that was only 25mpg .
I remember the Dealers Bike, were I worked.
added a pressure gauge on his crash bar so he could view the pressure before it ran out and activated the warning light.
Thinking about it nowadays I think it was a wasted add on .
What it needs is a LOW Level warning light.
Or gust check it with every fuel full up.

[wayne]

Courtesy of member HGH 770N for reminding me and FB member James Saunders who obviously used the right fingers in his Google search. Here's a link to the Caldwell Park endurance race victory. I guess I must be wrong, this must be the endurance race I've been thinking of.

At the end of this web page, click the "SUZUKI" link to continue reading:

TWO RIDERS, ONE TEAM: