0 miles on the odometer Suzuki RE5 (photo from ebay listing) These types of things come up from time to time, a classic car with low miles stored on a velvet pillow, a motorcycle owned by Steve McQueen, you know rare items that grab some headlines because of some sort of provenance. A recent event that created a lot of hub-bub was the Lambrecht auto auction, which if you don't know anything about it click the link to see video and information about that unique event that will go down in classic car history.
Now this site is primarily motorcycle focused and what follows is an auction on a bike that arguably is as rare and notable as the aforementioned vehicles but will probably not get any media attention. I am talking about an ebay auction for a 1976 Suzuki RE5 with less that 1 mile on the odometer (about 6 tenths to be exact) so it is out of the crate probably rolled around a dealers floor but never set up, engine not ever started. A unique find on a very unique bike, er engine placed in a motorcycle. The bike is notable as the engine is a rotary (Wankle) engine, if you don't know what that is think Mazda RX7. Anyways this made the bike a total departure (and a head scratch-er) in a sea of popular, and even by that time ubiquitous, inline 4 cylinder motorcycles. It was obvious the 2 stroke street bike engine was on the way out so this was possibly a fresh idea or alternative to that even though Suzuki did make inline 2 and 4 cylinder bikes as well. Suzuki was weird this way seeming to take big chances on alternative designs no matter how big the potential flop. Well this bike was a flop for many reasons and was only produced from 74-76. This brings us to this auction, an unused, unsold bike that even when new was destined to be a collectible. However it does beg the question because the bike was such a flop and a poor seller to its stablemate the GS750 which sold in greater numbers, are there more of these examples out there? If you want to know more about this bike here is a factory Suzuki promotional film. Currently as of this writing "reserve not met" (images courtesy of ebay listing) click for a larger view.
Now this site is primarily motorcycle focused and what follows is an auction on a bike that arguably is as rare and notable as the aforementioned vehicles but will probably not get any media attention. I am talking about an ebay auction for a 1976 Suzuki RE5 with less that 1 mile on the odometer (about 6 tenths to be exact) so it is out of the crate probably rolled around a dealers floor but never set up, engine not ever started. A unique find on a very unique bike, er engine placed in a motorcycle. The bike is notable as the engine is a rotary (Wankle) engine, if you don't know what that is think Mazda RX7. Anyways this made the bike a total departure (and a head scratch-er) in a sea of popular, and even by that time ubiquitous, inline 4 cylinder motorcycles. It was obvious the 2 stroke street bike engine was on the way out so this was possibly a fresh idea or alternative to that even though Suzuki did make inline 2 and 4 cylinder bikes as well. Suzuki was weird this way seeming to take big chances on alternative designs no matter how big the potential flop. Well this bike was a flop for many reasons and was only produced from 74-76. This brings us to this auction, an unused, unsold bike that even when new was destined to be a collectible. However it does beg the question because the bike was such a flop and a poor seller to its stablemate the GS750 which sold in greater numbers, are there more of these examples out there? If you want to know more about this bike here is a factory Suzuki promotional film. Currently as of this writing "reserve not met" (images courtesy of ebay listing) click for a larger view.
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