Okay, so I stumbled upon this thing called the “Suzuki Rotary Bike,” and I was like, what the heck is that? Turns out, it’s a motorcycle Suzuki made back in the 70s with a Wankel rotary engine – you know, the kind Mazda used in some of their cars. I’m no mechanic, but I do love tinkering with things, so I got it into my head that I had to see one of these things run.
First thing, I scoured the internet. I mean, hours of searching through forums, old blog posts, even some sketchy-looking websites. My goal was to find someone, ANYONE, who had one of these bikes, even better if was near me.
No luck. Most of the stuff online was just old articles and blurry photos.
So, I changed up my strategy. Instead of trying to find a running bike, I decided to find parts. Maybe, just maybe, I could find enough pieces to… well, I didn’t really have a plan, to be honest. Just wanted to get my hands on something!
I hit up some online auction and started bidding on anything that said “RE75” or “Suzuki Rotary.” Ended up with a box of rusty… stuff. Seriously, I’m not even sure what half of it was. But there was a cylinder head in there! And part of a rotor housing! Progress, I guess?
The Deep Dive (and the Disappointment)
With my box of questionable parts, I dove even deeper into research. I found some old service manuals online (thank you, internet archivists!) and started trying to figure out how this rotary engine even worked. It’s…weird. No pistons, just this spinning triangle thing inside a housing shaped like a squashed oval.
I spent days just staring at diagrams and trying to wrap my head around it. I even tried to make a little model out of cardboard to see how the rotor moved. It didn’t really work, but it helped a little.
Then, reality hit. Even if I could understand how it worked, I didn’t have the tools, the skills, or, let’s be honest, the money to actually rebuild one of these things. My box of parts was destined to stay a box of parts.
So, no, I didn’t get a Suzuki Rotary bike running. But I did learn a TON about rotary engines, and I had a lot of fun getting lost in the research. It’s a reminder that sometimes the journey is more interesting than the destination, even if the destination is a super cool, weird motorcycle.
Maybe someday I’ll find a complete RE75 in a barn somewhere. Until then, I’ll just keep dreaming (and maybe watching some YouTube videos of other people’s rotary projects).
