Museums with RE5's

[john]

I'll start this tread with a link to the Museum Victoria RE5 Model M in their collection, having only 30Km's on the clock and serial number 13510 it is a good reference 
for an original Australian delivered bike. Hopefully this  answer the question I once saw around the fixing screw/bolt for the Seat lock (clearly Hex socket head cap screw)

collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/414911

as a side note, my own RE5M is serial number 13535, so I would suspect from the same production run as it looks identical.

Be keen to see any other Museum links to other Re5's.

[wayne]

Haha, that question was resoundingly answered long ago!

That does look very original. Is that 30 klm on the clock or 30,000? I'm assuming you mean 30. My M is 13812, close to yours. It has the forward set kickstart. It's possible the museum's bike could just have a incorrectly mounted kick as it seems excessively far back(?). Most, it seems, were forward set around this number.

Handlebars look very bent in that forward shot but might be an illusion. Nice to see an RE5 given due respect in a Museum. There's one in a Tasmanian museum. It's accompanied by a derisive information placard. A friend offered to get an updated and more accurate history of the bike but was refused. I think they liked having an "anti-hero".

The ultimate museum for RE5's was the original Rotary Recycle in Ohio. It was staggeringly good. Rows of RE5's and DKW's in a light flooded showroom. Pedestal stands with RE5's in front of scenic backdrops. RE5's and DKW's in crates. RE5's like you've never seen. Two Van Veens (around 4% of original production!). And everything both rotary and RE5 you can think of. I don't think there'd be a motorcycle museum in the world that matched it's devotion and thoroughness to the one theme. Sadly it's long gone. Think yourself special if you visited.

There's a 5,000 mile original A model in the NSW Powerhouse Motorcycle Museum in Tamworth. It's an import but other than the speedo is identical to an AU bike. The headlight was locked on from memory but it's just done mechanically and can be returned to original. A couple of ratty M's in the Nabiac National Motorcycle museum NSW and the one mentioned in the Tasmanian motorcycle museum which I've heard is not the best.

The famous Barber museum in the US has an RE5 but it's not a prime example. Another in Suzuki's museum in Hamamatsu. Sinsheim in Germany had some DKW's but surprisingly no RE5 when I was there given they've got everything from mopeds, F1's to Steam trains and WWII heavy tanks.

Here's a link to the Powerhouse bikes. You can scroll through the pics on the home page and if you look closely in the background of one, there's an M and A side by side. Only the A remains:

www.powerhousemotorcyclemuseum.com.au/

Some better pics of the Powerhouse A model. Originally from Sam Costanzo's and Jess's Rotary Recycle. It's all original parts, not restored. I don't have pics of the other AU bikes:






This is in the Suzuki Museum in Hamamatsu:

[motomartin]

The Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum in California has an "M". Solvang is located 35 miles North of Santa Barbara and is well worth the visit, the emphasis of the collection is on racing bikes, they have a Britten, a Hailwood Honda RC181, a Manx Norton, amongst other great bikes.
The sign for the RE5 (visible in one of the pictures) is none too flattering, "This was going to be the future of motorcycles for Suzuki. Needless to say their crystal ball was cloudy. It used a single rotor Wankel engine (the engine that put NSU out of business) which had very poor efficiency and so had a large radiator. Production of the RE5 stopped in 1977. Look at the GS1000 to see what replaced this goofy bike".

Martin

[wayne]

Try uploading a picture now MOTOMARTIN. Just keep it small, ideally 250kb or less.

[quawk]

For those in the U.S. there is a 1976 A model on display at the National Motorcycle Museum. Sorry I don't have a pic or link. It is located in the mid-western U.S. in Anamosa Iowa. This museum is worth a trip from a long distance for anybody interested in anything two wheels. You can spend the better part of a day looking around here. Besides all the beautiful motorcycles, motor bikes, scooters, they also have a great collection of vintage bicycles, two wheel toys, art, posters, vintage riding gear, etc. I would recommend a visit there wherever you are from. This is my own opinion and am in no way connected with the museum.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        As an addition to this earlier post, Anamosa, Iowa is also home to JP Cycles which is, as some of you may know is arguably one of the largest aftermarket motorcycle parts sales companies in the country (maybe the world). A trip to Anamosa to the museum and JP Cycles would make for a great destination trip for motorcycle people. Again, I have no association or connection to JP Cycles or Anamosa, Iowa and this is not meant to be a "plug" for any of these places. Just my own opinion and has been an enjoyable day the times I have traveled there. 

[timpa136]

Here are a couple of pics of a visit in 2015.

[quawk]

Tim, I was there earlier this year (for about the 4th or 5th time, as I'm only about 2 1/2 hours away) and saw just the one RE5 and as you saw they do have the various makes grouped together in the same area. But there is so much to see there I may have missed one.

[wayne]

Found these of the Powerhouse Motorcycle Museum. The second two are general promotional shots by the museum but you can see the M and A side by side:

[gartrade]

This 1976 RE5 was at the National Motorcycle Museum. I have had it there for 10 years and decided to take it out and maybe sell it. I was living in Iowa when I put it on loan, but have long since moved. It was a featured bike,so they have many posted photos of it. I also picked up my 1982 Honda silverwing.

[timpa136]

nationalmcmuseum.org/

Just got an email that the museum plans to close up later this year.

I must have seen your A model there. Unfortunate to have to close.