Rotary Engine Motorcycle? 1975 Suzuki RE5 - Jay Leno's Garage
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- Опубліковано 17 січ 2021
- This misunderstood motorcycle boasts an incredibly smooth rotary engine but was not a commercial success due to many factors that you'll learn about in this episode!
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Hosted by legendary comedian and “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, the series explores our obsession with all things automotive. From classic cars to supercars and everything in-between, Jay is hitting the road to discover the most exciting, weird and wonderful vehicles ever made and meet the passionate people behind their wheels. Each one-hour themed episode features a mix of stunts, challenges, reviews, and celebrity interviews that showcases the colorful history of the automobile. Whether he’s exploring the story of an iconic brand, road-testing the newest super car, or investigating the latest automotive innovations, there is no wheel Jay won’t get behind to tell the story of our love affair with the car.
About Jay Leno: Acclaimed TV late night show host, admired stand-up comedian, best-selling children’s book author, much-in-demand corporate speaker, lovable TV and movie voice-over artist, pioneering car builder and mechanic, and philanthropist…it’s no wonder that Jay Leno is widely characterized as “the hardest working man in show business.”
Rotary Engine Motorcycle? 1975 Suzuki RE5 - Jay Leno's Garage
• Rotary Engine Motorcyc...
Jay Leno's Garage
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" the wife left years ago, the kids won't talk to him, he washes carburetor parts in the kitchen sink." That's poetry Jay . You should finish it Jay, It's too good!
It’s the greatest country music lyrics of all times🤣
Holy crap, that's quite deep, isn't it?
Don't forget
It's garage in the living room where the coach used to be 10 years ago and the kitchen cupboard was where the polish and oil tags are...lol. been there done that..
James May?
You prolly dont give a damn but does anyone know a tool to log back into an instagram account..?
I stupidly forgot my password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me!
I was the Suzuki Factory Service Rep for NY & NJ when the RE5 was introduced. One of the big problems with the dealers servicing the bike is there was about a 6 month delay between the factory training of the dealers and the bikes arriving at the dealership. Everyone had forgotten what they had learned. Some of the first bikes that were shipped had the carburetor linkage misadjusted at the factory. Using a protractor type special tool attached to the butterfly shaft the linkage had to be bent to adjust it properly. I would willing to bet that the RE-5 carburetor is the most complicated carb ever put on a motorcycle and it baffled the mechanics. Being the "RE-5 Guy", I think I worked on at least half the RE-5's sold in my territory. It is a great bike once it's dialed in and fun to ride. On a humorous note, we called the speedometer "the lunch box". Thanks for a great video and a blast from the past.
Thank you Jay for covering the Re5. I bought mine in 1980, it was considered a 1976 model. Yes as you described Suzuki tried to de-weird it by putting GT750 turn signals and gauges on it and painting it black with gold pinstripes on the tank, which I thought looked pretty sharp. My good friend talked me into buying this bike because the dealer had a bunch of them and was trying to just get rid of them, I paid a $1000.00 for mine brand new still in the crate, and was pretty happy about it. My buddy who already had a water buffalo (GT750) got one too. And then he talked his neighbor into getting one also. When all three of were riding together we thought they sounded like a B-17 bomber, or so we thought. I did a lot of touring on it and even took it to Daytona from Detroit for bike week. I entered it on the boardwalk bike show and took 3rd place in the most unusual category behind a Honda minibike powered by Kawasaki Mach3 motor and then a custom bike with Chevy 350. Its funny you mention the kick starter because I had to use it for while when the starter clutch failed and I had to wait for parts to fix it. All in all a fun and reliable bike with a lot of great memories.
The instrument panel always reminded me of 'Rosie' the maid on the Jetsons!! Thanks Jay for sharing & preserving history once again.
Wow I thought that was an oil reservoir lol
Ooooo. Cool. Now I see it!
ô¿ô
Same
Ha! Never noticed that but I can't unsee it now lol
Hahahaha,true!
My grandpa has one of these and actually was licensed to work on it. He still has all the old paper work and everything.
Get him to do a youtube live 😊 I'd love to watch it!
During the mid 1970's I worked at a Yamaha dealer. The Suzuki RE-5 got our attention. I read all the magazine articles. I was probably more knowledgeable about the RE-5 than the local Suzuki dealer.
That is cool Bodey, you wouldn't get me a copy of the paper work and info would you? I'm a member of AMCA (American motorcycle club of America) and the info would be great for our archives.
Dear Mr Lenno, with your lifestyle, and you being so fortunate to live such a admirable lifestyle. How could you vote for joe biden?? People like you confused me. Remember most normal Americans who ate going and trying to make our way cannot afford electric cars . We cannot afford tax increase. We can't afford reparations for people that lived 159 years ago .
@@p51mustang82 Did he? I am sorry to hear that....I guess in Hollywood if you don't say you voted for geriatric, globalist, corrupt Biden you can kiss your career goodbye.
I love it now and I loved it then I bought one in 76 when I got my drivers license... still have it... it runs as good now as it did then.. of course I have only got 14,000 miles on mine.
That's amazing. What an awesome bike
Any videos of it
Jay would be an excellent salesman. So much detail and history in such an effortless and genuine way makes you fall in love with whatever he’s talking about.
When shopping for cars I always appreciated salesman that knew everything about the car I'm looking at instead of trying to get into my pants.
As someone who rode a couple of Harley's for a good amount of time I can appreciate a motorcycle that does not vibrate.
we all have our faults. At least you are honest.
Oh jeez, don't type that out loud, you'll have the entire "loud pipes save lives" crowd crawling up your spillway.
I ride my Honda 750 Ace...
Buy a BMW K75. The K100 was the 4-cylinder that didn't feature a balance shaft. The K75 was a 3-cylinder, and even with less power it's still the better bike because the triple required a balance shaft.
@@ZGryphon my shirt reads " LOUD PIPES POOR SUBSTITUTE FOR NO SKILL !!!😄😄😄😄😎😎😎😎😎🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🍺🍺🍺
"I'm gonna smooth out of here" 🤣
He's a gem!
Haha he's cool love him!
Stop trying to make ‘Smooth outa here’ a thing Jay! 🤣
That's his Star Trek Captain tagline. Doesn't have the same effect as Engage.
I was a Suzuki mechanic when these came out. I owned a '76 for awhile, as did the service manager (he still has his). Suzuki had a two day training course at the time - I still have a couple of training manuals from that class. Since Suzuki didn't let dealers work on the engine 'proper', the bike wasn't that bad to deal with, except that the carburetor was probably the most complex carb I've ever worked on. If the engine did have a problem you would have to replace the whole proper assembly (cases, rotor, eccentric shaft) as a single unit, and return the old one.
It would have been pretty entertaining to see Jay try to start the bike with the kick starter. I think I was able to do it once.
There is a guy in the midwest that was a friend of one of the Suzuki managers and he ended up buying every spare part that Suzuki USA had. He still has almost every part for the bike.
Were you guys warned or had any problems with the famous apex seals?
There are no 76 models.
How can I find this guy in the midwest? I own a Suzuki RE5 thats why I’m asking.
@@markcolt1114they are titanium carbide and are the most reliable (biased). They only fail if you turbo the motorbike.
I parked my bike next to an RE5 every day at university in 1975. I thought it was the coolest bike. Never saw the owner. I still think it's the coolest bike.
You never saw the owner because he was hiding. I owned one of these and heard my friends laughing who had never laughed before.
What did you have?
@@huntermcmurray9326 Yamaha TX500
My Dad and our family business from 1970 to 1982 was motorcycles, we sold Suzuki and this brings back some fun memories! For the introduction of the bike to the dealers in Las Vegas they had this big space theme and nasa astronauts to meet people. We had one on our floor, it was dark blue. It never sold. I think my dad traded with a guy to get it out of shop. They were smooth and fun to ride, but the rotory engine scared folks. Nice to see it's not forgotten!
I learn as much from Jay as I did my auto shop teacher.... both of them .. very knowledgeable.
The 1970's, what a great decade for Japanese motorcycles.
Yes had a Suzuki GT750 and thought it rotated the earth but my friends H2 Mach IV 750 was absolutely terrifying.
1970's - great decade...
@@markcooper8561
Yeah, but the 60s was a 🎶Magical Mystery Tour🎵 of peace and love. And really good pot! ✌😉
It was the start of Japanese greatness. Bought a 1973 Kaw Z1 for $300 at a junkyard. Only had a burned out fuse and ran all thru college.
Kawasaki z series 900 and 1000👍✅
I’ve followed Japanese motorcycles much of my younger days and only wish I’d of paid attention to this gem more closely at the time. I love it! Real head turner. So sad the parts got deep-sixed 😔. That failure ( So to speak) probably sunk a few careers but Suzuki is still strong and I’m enjoying one of their maxi scooters . Thanks for this really special review. Totally enjoyed this.
I bought the 1976 model new and had it until 1982 when I was hit by a drunk driver. Put me in the hospital for 9 weeks with a broken femur and totaled the bike. Sold it as scrap for $100.00. The most regretable episode of my life. I loved having that bike and enjoyed riding it so much. Forty years on and all I have left is memories, a few pictures and a limp. Thanks Jay, good see one again.
Maintenance is a bonding experience with your bike.
agreedos
Here in UK no-one bought them exactly because you couldn't do that. Everyone knew how to maintain normal bikes and fix them by the side of the road, but if you had a problem with one of these you were screwed. Going somewhere like the highlands of Scotland was out of the question because you probably wouldn't be able to get the right oil even if you could find a garage, so touring on it was risky. It might have made a decent town bike as long as you didn't mind paying main dealer (read: expensive) fees to have it serviced.
It wasn't really a case of the world not being ready, just that there were many more practical alternatives.
@@Kevin-mx1vi you have a great mechanic in uk his name is allen milyard!
Thats a real biker statement. Exactly us ugh ugh ugh men bond.
Speaking about Wankel engines, I would love to see a NSU RO80 on Jay Leno's Garage.
Yeah, that would be cool. Did Suzuki but this engine in any of their cars? Well all know Mazda put it cars and trucks.
My dad had a Mazda RX3 for a short point in time. And there were actually quite a few RO80's here in the Netherlands at the end of the '70-s.
@@25Soupy According to Google just in the RE5.
Some of the Norton ones would be cool too, they really went as far as you could go with the technology in motorcycle form.
Or ride a hercules wankel.
Thank you Jay for your interest and dedication to motorcycles as well as other vehicles and their history. Whenever I come across one of your presentations it's hard to turn away without watching and I look forward to the next segment. It's always a pleasure.
Hi Jay
I saw a write up in a magazine in 1975 when I was 15 years old and I was so taken by its futuristic design, it got me hooked on motorcycles. I have had many motorcycles but never had a RE 5 , never quite had the money for one at the right time and apprehensive of the complexity of the bike. Maybe one day ! Thanks for showing us your bike .
Would love to see more motorcycles on the channel, Jay!
I was a teen working at my brother-in-law's Suzuki shop at the time of this release... sat on the showroom floor forever! And I had to polish it everyday - closeup shots brought back a flood of memories.
I bet you're a five now
@@bingosunnoon9341 LOL - I really need to get a new keyboard...
Its one thing having a great collection like Jay, but the passion & interest/knowledge he has of each model in his collection is what makes these videos so watchable
excellent - but i cried when the rotary piston example was put on the seat!!1
Pfff, if he poked a hole in the seat, one of the guys could just reupholster it...
He has Zero F's to give.
@@jlwilliams it’s jay leno he can afford to throw it off a dam and have it repaired to brand new condotion in a weeks time or less
@ Tony Lee, Jay already knows where all the spare seats ,and other parts went, so I imagine he has out of work gill net fisherman and deep sea salvage divers on standby in the event he tears the seat! On the other hand I so much apreciate his ability to collect,store and share all these amazing vehicles
Glad I wasn't the only one!
Every week Jay manages to do the impossible and show me another vehicle I have never heard of.
Right? I frigging love this UA-cam channel!
You're obviously young /under 45
There's a reason you've never heard of them, it was such a nightmare that Suzuki dumped every unsold bike and all the spare parts in the ocean so they wouldn't have to provide support or have to look at another one, that's why even Suzuki doesn't have one to display, it was a total flop and almost killed the company, they wanted to erase every trace of them.
@@dukecraig2402 Anyone that was around at the time remembers them. A failure that big is hard to erase and tends to live on, regardless of a company's desire to put it all behind them. Rotarys nearly sent Mazda broke too. If only Triumph had managed to erase oil leaks as effectively during that period. The dealers "solved it" by not putting oil in the showroom bikes.
@@ExternalInputs
Yep, I was around back then myself, introducing a machine that's got horrible mileage and needs a quart of oil poured in it every 300 to 400 miles during an energy crisis is a recipe for failure.
Here's a hint, remember how he said the exhausts get so hot from the heat coming out of the engine?
One of the laws of physics is;
Heat=wasted energy.
Not good for a fossil fuel powered machine during the oil crisis 🤣🤣🤣
Jay,,,,,you drove me crazy placing that cylinder with all the sharp edges on that vintage seat!!!!! Wow!
The two bolts coming out straight in the seat were even difficult to watch.
@@pbyfr Jay is an amazing guy, but when you have his kind of money you may forget the little things,,,like poking holes in a vintage seat,,ha ha
And then he throws it on the ground hahahaha
@@harrybarnes3539 i mean the rotor and housing are already trashed. That prestine seat looks great tho:(
The "power curve" on rotary engines is very unique compared to piston engines.
- I drove the Mazda rotary in Japan and it took a while to adapt. Shift points and torque etc. are in different locations along the power curve.
Jay. Your down to earth attitude, affable way, and knowledge you share are much appreciated! A good escape from all the other bother out there. One of the highlights of my leisure time in the week. Thanks!
Love this format, Just Jay talking to us sharing what he loves and teaching the next generation at the same time. Thanks Jay!
I had a '78 Mazda RX-3 with the Wankel rotary engine. I took it up to 110 mph, and it was still 2000 rpm below the red line. Impressive, smooth power.
Pretty amazing for a 95hp car with a top speed of 115.
My Dad's favorite motorcycle. We both loved riding it. He would ride it from Cypress, CA to Kamiah, ID a couple of times a year to see his mom (he was retired Navy). He crashed and died on it in '79. I still have the bike out behind my garage.
My dad bought one of these when they came out. He questioned why the fan never came on. They asked him to bring it in and he got a warmed up Z1 as a loaner. My dad took me for a ride and because of that experience I fell in love with Kawasaki and the Z1. Be was always one for innovative design.
I went to the dealer to buy a leftover KZ900 and they had just sold the last one; the dealer sold me one of these. Damn him.
This engine has always blown my mind. I’ve known about these type engines as a younger man when Mazda tried them, never knew about the motorcycle try and being a biker, I’d love to experience it. The engineering in the motor is nothing short of genius, thank you for sharing.
Really beautiful bike.
Thanks for re-posting an updated video of your RE5 Jay, I was hoping you would do this one day. I have a 75 in the firemist blue and its a great bike and as you said, hated and misunderstood by many, but loved by those who own them.
Oh, Jay, your show is just great. Love watching it!
Love Jay's Garage. Many of the other vehicle channels just review high-priced cars. Bikes are always more interesting than cars...and I own both.
Wow, what an incredible bike and a bold move from Sukuzi to develop. I have always loved rotary engines and owned some rx-7's but never heard of this bike before seeing this video. What a unique and beautiful piece of engineering history. Way ahead of it's time for sure.
The maintenance issue with many owners is something I’ve never understood. For those of us that got our first car in the late 60s/early 70s, they were normally clunkers that either you stayed on top of maintenance or enjoyed walking. Having conducted teen driving schools for years, I am always appalled at the number of kids that don’t even know how to open the hood or check tire pressure…..and even more appalled when their accompanying parent don’t have a clue either. More than a few parents stated that they’d have to take the car to the dealer when I showed them low oil or low tire pressure on their vehicle…..and sometimes wouldn’t let me properly inflate a dramatically low tire, thinking that required trained dealer personnel. Personally I think hands-on car maintenance should be a requirement as part of every state’s driving test.
"If you ever get the opportunity to ride one . . . " You're killing me, Jay. Love this piece.
Actually a quick search of these showed that they are not terribly uncommon and very reasonable in price. There were even two that were in new condition. One had never been ridden. So yes, one could be had and ridden.
You're the man Jay. This channel is among the best.
I'm a VW sandrail guy and I was on vacation at the Utah, little Sahara Sand Dunes. We were at this big hill called sand mountain and this old guy with a budget build had a Mazda Rotary engine and snow tires gave me a ride that made me change my shorts. He never took it out of second gear and we went up the back side of sand mountain with me white knuckles holding on. When we got to the top and headed down the big hill I thought I was a dead man for sure. LOL We landed back at camp and he let me out and gave someone else a ride. Holy Moly, that old boy scared us all with his home brew contraption and rotary power. Then he went off and was not seen for the rest of the weekend. Those rotary engines are the devil in disguise I tell ya. To bad they never caught on, It's a legendary design just like you Jay. Peace and Good Health to ya brother. Love your show and Love you!
The Honda CB500 I owned got 50 mpg even with lots of full throttle takeoff. I owned a 2004 Mazda RX-8. Beautiful car, superior balance and handling but the rotary engine still suffered Apex seal and water jacket failures. Your specimen is beautiful, glad to see it is loved.
In my country it was named "the toilet paper roll" (dassrullen) because of the gauge cluster.
Cannot unsee.
@@waqqashanafi muwhhahahaha... (-;b
Norsk, vil jeg anta:-D
@@RegulareoldNorseBoy Jeg aner ikke hva du prater om. (-:b
@@RegulareoldNorseBoy yup, om det är samma som user name på deviant.
"dassrullen" funkar för mig som svensk också😊
Thanks for posting this Jay. There are lot of forgotten rotary engine applications. Motorcycles, outboard marine engines, aviation engines, snowmobiles, chainsaws and more. Please, please tell me you didn't damage the seat with that rotor housing!
This was one of your better videos. Good to see you enjoy it. The 70's were a wonderful time when simplicity and experimentation such as this were much more common than now. They were lovely days. Take care.
Except that this bike was anything BUT simple. Even the dealers couldn't work on them and they had more systems than a missile base.
Thank you Mr. leno! I was blown away when I learned you had one of these! I own a 77 GT-550, and it's wonderful. Suzuki built a fabulous product.
There’s one in the motorcycle museum in. Solvang, CA! Ive seen it there a couple of times and really liked the Buck Rogers’ styling cues!
18:21 “I’m going to Smooth Out of here” too
Thxs Jay ❤️👍.
Well Jay, you've done it again. You've found something I've only read about but always been intrigued by, and brought it to life. Just like you did with your video about the Chrysler turbine engine car. I'll bet someday you'll come up with one of the cars that were experimenting enormous flywheels as energy storage systems.
Never knew there was one,great to see one looking so NEW ! I started on a Honda 125(74),then Yamaha DT 250 (77), and so on.. thanks for showing us ,Jay !
Those turn signals are pretty cool looking
Brighter then street lights.
Cool spherical design. Just a ball, half metal, half orange glass (or plastic?). It's strange but I agree, it does look cool.
My Yamaha has turn signals like them, lollipops
I saw one in the flesh many years ago. It was the most amazing bike I have ever seen or heard!
I owned one of these in 1976 and everything Jay said is absolutely true. Loved mine wish it was still in the garage. I have been tempted to buy another but finding someone who knows anything about them is a rare thing. On another note I bought a Heratige softail last of the carb models when harley davidson changed to fuel injection. Guys in the dealers were so young they never learned to set up a carburettor. So before riding the bike home I did it myself in the carpark. Thank you Jay. Colin from the UK
Best channel on UA-cam. Thank you Mr Leno for another brilliant video.
This motorcycle was made for a particular set of people, may be the set was too small to keep it alive. I liked it anyway. It really stands out. This is how a collector’s motorcycle should be. And Jay, thanks for popping the gauge cluster hood thrice! I love that mechanism.
I never thought such a heavenly thing could exist
There was a Norton rotary too.
6thGear oh it existed alright but the tech made it impossible to maintain remember Japanese bikes were popular then but your average joe could maintain them not so with this and as most people still did there own maintainence it took it out of reach for us so it was a Honda 750four or a z1kawasaki 900 cheaper and faster
Van Veen OCR 1000, 38 were built, 100 hp, weight 292 kg
china should make replacement wankel engines and sell them on ebay
What rock u live under the sea sponge Bob spare panties
Great video as always. Remember them from growing up, along with the best of them all for starry eyed boys... The Kwakkers with THREE exhausts and equally cool colours. I knew nothing of the RE5's sad history and poor uprake. What a cool bike. Thanks Jay you're making lockdown much more enjoyable!!!
Thanks Mr. Leno you are a true legend! I truly have looked up to you for a long time.
I love Jay’s enthusiasm.
I was holding my breath watching him jab the locator pins of the case into the seat 1:35, he's lucky they didn't poke through.
Same here. I expect more out of a car/motorcycle guy. People like this usually lean on cars as well in their Levi's with the studded pockets. Drives me insane!
@@CRFLAus I try my darnedest to keep my vehicles nice, but it never fails something ends up happening to them.
I've had three vehicles that were less than six months old when someone dented them.
Thanks Jay! Just seen one for the first time at a show in the w/end and your vid just popped up in my news feed! crazy cool!
What is so cool about the bike is the fact that a factory was thinking OUTSIDE THE BOX... and it made it to production... Kudos to Suzuki back in the day.
It would have been helpful to mention that it burned oil "by design" ... just like a 2-stroke, it had an extra oil tank. It also had the most nightmarish throttle cable ever. Thanks for sharing this!
I seem to remember one cable split into five different cables to pull on various things.
@@Oddman1980 My god...
Jay
You have to do a video on the Hercules Wankel. The original--german made Motorcycle. I love these.
They make a small rotary that I recently found out. I'm building a fat tire mini bike and look to purchase one of them to install on it.
Love the video! I met you at the rock store when you rode it there. I mentioned how I had one and had issues with it not running right but the dealer never worked it out. You told me how I should have hung on to it. $$$!
Thanks Jay for all you do!
As a kid so excited to see a new one at my home town's Easter motorcycle racing, tens of thousands of bikes to see on the town's streets. Wonderful memories.
Wow, I have never seen that before and I thought I knew everything. Thanks Jay.🏁🏁🏁🇺🇲👍🏁🏁.
jay brother, thank you for the motorcycle content
I heard you talk about this bike before, so it was Great to see this video covering it in a more complete way. If I had the income that I used to have I'd search for one myself as I always wanted a 70's Japanese bike. I had a 1989 Sportster and a 1996 Road King. But now a smaller more simple 70's Japanese style bike is an appealing idea. So Thanks Again, Chris Zinn
Great video. Thanks for posting Jay.
Next, do the two stroke triple street bikes. Those are SO COOL!
My friend has one of these, it took him ages to get it running.. and he's an aircraft engineer..
Nobody has a clue what it is here in the UK and he only rides it when its cold weather as its incredibly hot when running.
My dad got his cheap because the guy couldn’t get it to run. No spark, said he cleaned and changed the whole ignition system. Dad got it home and digs into it and discovers that there’s actually two sets of points on these, one sits behind the other and the bike actually starts on the inside set of points and only switches to the outside set during deceleration to change ignition timing. He cleaned the inside set and it fired right up haha.
@@watchjaredwork1487 gotta love those buys when they come around.
Just remove the carb and lean it out like Jay did....hahahaha
If it's too hot in the UK, then half of the US will be unrideable without a fire suit
@@truthseeker8483 I'll bet it wasn't quite that simple.
I'm a two stoke guy, but I've always been facinated with these Suzukis! Yours looks really nice, love the color and the details.
Great video as usual Jay plenty of history/ information and the important ride out . See quite a few RE5's on isle man during TT week in 70's very strange sound from them
My dad was a fan of rotary engines, but never owned one. Now I know why. (USN-WWII)
If he had owned one he would not have been a fan. I had a 73 RX2 and have never owned another Mazda.
@@greggcollins4215 Mazdas have never been a good car
@@thomaselliott573 I figured that after one.
The old 'Water-buffalo' was damn smooth too.
GT 750 ? We used to call them Water buses
The most fun with my buffalo was telling guys and gals that it smoked because it needed a valve job.
Kettle, waterbuffalo and few more names for them. I love mine. Nice power and smoothe ride
They were great bikes. Still some buffaloes running around here in AmishLand.
I had forgotten about these. I remember now thinking at the time that it was kind of pricey compared to 750's and such and I didn't want to be the first one to be some company's test subject. But this was a great episode. Thanks for doing this!
Lovely, lovely bike. First saw one in Leeds, UK, in 1979 when I went to buy spares for my Suzi GT250 (which I still have).
When I was attending CSUDH in the mid 80s, there was one of these in the parking lot regularly.
I took a shot every time Jay said "smooth" and had to go to the ER
I like the new to me camera view. Makes you seem more comfortable talking about the bike, like you'd talk to your friends . Great video, and back then they WERE ugly.
I can remember first seeing one of these in a motorcycle shop when my best mate was picking up his first bike (a 1973 TS125) and it honestly was like the future had arrived. I thought that flip up instrument cover was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Sadly I was too young to ride at the time, or I may well have signed up to buy one! It was a product of the times though, as no corporation would take such a huge gamble on such a risky technology these days. It is interesting how something that was viewed as a bit of a lemon back in the day has become a genuinely sought after automotive collectable. Thanks for uploading this video, very enjoyable.
Suzuki e suas motos cheias de tecnologia e curiosidades!
Que moto bonita!
revving a rotary engine is so addictive, what a bike it is.
closest thing today will be electric motor
Watching it in motion does look amazing. I ride a gogoro 2 electric scooter almost daily and the lack of vibration and having it not be too loud is amazing, plus the instant acceleration of an electric.
Thank you Jay, love all your videos. You rock.
They were interesting times- I also remember the German Hercules W2000 Wankel motorcycle with the Sachs 294cc unit- that was air cooled though- plus of course Norton experimented with the Wankel as well, culminating with Trevor Nation racing one at the Isle of Man. It sounded fantastic.
I was in the army when this came out so I don’t remember it. But as a kid I remember when Suzuki came out with water cooling and we all thought that was nuts (I still do). Suzuki has always been very innovative.
This is beyond Awesome. Jay never disappoints!
I test rode an RE5 in 1975 or so (I was 23 then), and had owned 3 piston Suzuki's before then, and owned a '72 GT550J (3 lung, 2 stroke). I rode it for a couple hours, and like Jay, I was astounded at the at the Singer Sewing Machine type smoothness. Zero mirror blur at any rpm. Decent acceleration and handling, but the price was well out of my reach. It was literally priced in the Harley Super Glide area. Great video by JL...as are all of his vids
Headbolts resting on that seat! Ouch!!!
yeah i winced
I saw that, started to get upset. Then I think, "well it's his bike, he can do what he wants with it".
@@m.b.82
Yea.. Me too.
Imagine lifting the barrel and seeing a tear 😱😱😱
@@harwoods11 If he noticed a tear he'd have made a quib for the camera, and simply had it recovered some stage after the shoot. Motorcycle seats aren't a "numbers matching" part expected to last forever, and while COVID may reduce ability to have crew in the shop ect, the couple of hundred bucks is going to be only a small part of the cost of making this video. You don't buy multiple half million dollar cars, and spend that again restoring them to pebble beach quality, then loose your mind over a torn seat.. these things happen, and in terms of accidental damage, its likely close to the cheapest thing in the shop.
@@SheepInACart
Really???
I thought these cheap pvc Japanese covers lasted for ever and a day.
I don't even sit on mine for fear of damage...i just ponder.
FFS !
"Is there a more seventies color than this?"
*BROWN*
*Mr. Regular appears*
Mustard Yellow.
James May Brown
Avocado
Brown and Orange is what comes to mind when i think "seventies colour"
This bike was gorgeous in '75 and still is, thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I always enjoy listening to Jay Leno he's a book of knowledge on car's 🚗 and motorcycles 🏍 thank's Jay
I worked at the Suzuki shop as a mechanic the year they came out and I had one and it was just like a great big two stroke as far as the torque goes only different I wish I still had it
Did they fire you due to your propensity for run on sentences?
@@gregp103 grammar Nazi....but that is funny
Ronald Daub I think I heard Jay say it went through a lot of oil .Did you find that ?
@@darrenswails Well, it IS a Wankel.
@@gregp103 good point 😁
It's beautiful!, Crazy to think Suzuki doesn't have one in their museum as it's one of the few Wankel motorcycles that were ever built
I have a buddy with one of these, rode it several times, always amazed at the smoothness. We took it to someone in Ohio who was a specialist and had quite a following one time, and he really tuned it up. Later, around 91/92 we took shifts driving it to his family's house just above Harrisburg, PA from Rochester, NY in freezing temps and occasional snow and froze near to death. I don't think it's been run since then.
I suspected Jay had one of these, Glad he finally did a video on. Im starting to get ready to restore my RE5. strange bikes and a good conversation piece.
Our small town Suzuki (and sporting goods) store got one of these in back in the day. Seemed like a space ship back then.