If you thought a rotary engined bike was something out of seventies scifi, then think again.
Suzuki produced the RE-5 for a couple of years in the mid seventies.…We’re not sure how successful the bike ended up being. We can only imagine that the big rotary whirring in the middle of the bike must have tended to instability.
The very cool old video says most of the things that we could say about this thing and more. So. Enjoy.
Every now and then we come across a small, Japanese utilitarian vehicles (or kei car) that floats our automotive boat.
They’re designed to be cheap and to help trnscend various taxes and other regulations, but inadvertently at times they seem super cool and somehow aesthetically appealing.
We’re not sure why.
But we reckon it’s probably ‘the bonsai effect’.
If you make something composed of stout, practical stuff but condense its essence into a dinky package — you instantly have something that, to western eyes, appears to be transcendent of rigid design orthodoxies.
Suzuki’s Suzulight Carry series of kei utes were born in the early sixties — and our favourite the glassed panel van hot the streets in 1964. September 1964. It had a little 360 cc two cylinder two stroke that produced 21 hp: so a powerhouse it most certainly was not. But think of the fun that could be had buzzing around Japan’s congested cities in one of these things.
Of course, nice graphic design came as standard in sixties Japan, and the catalogue scans here speak for themselves…
The eighties in bike culture was a story of Japanese dominance and technical innovation. European brands suffered greatly from the explosion in popularity of fast, reliable and colourful machines coming out of the far east, which were rooted in high tech engineering.
The cheapness and accessibility of Jap machines meant a whole new generation in Europe and America was able to get on their bikes — and the proliferation and broadening of choice made biking a much more colourful proposition than it had been in previous decades.
For the first time in the eighties, buying into bike culture wasn’t about just being a generic, leather clad ‘biker’. It was about being the sort of biker you wanted to be.
Swedes: outdoor types. Your Swede is not intimidated by a bit of inclement weather. While the majority of British motorcyclists hibernate (some, it has to be said, to save their bikes from being eaten by road salt), Anders Nordén and his friends are sump-deep in fresh powder on three generations of lairy motorcycles.
Anders is the founding member of the Forest Fighters, a loose-knit, ten-strong bike club who get their two-wheeled kicks in the most extreme conditions.
As soon as Anders and his mates discovered their fellow countrymen had campaigned hard to ensure Sweden’s lakes remained free of speed limits, they realised this lack of restriction applied when the lake was frozen too.
Sweden has Draconian speed enforcement. Therefore the liberation of nailing a bike in a winter wonderland was too much to ignore. And it wasn’t long before Anders had fitted his first generation Suzuki GSX-R750 with studded knobbly tyres and learnt how to drift his sportsbike on ice.
‘The thing is when you ride on the lake,’ Anders explains, ‘especially if you have black ice — which is very seldom because you normally have snow on the ice, you have consistent grip. So you can do what the big guys do in MotoGP. And you can gear up in the middle of a turn when you are going sideways. A quick gear change and the rear keeps spinning. Try to do that on tarmac and you are in orbit.’
And accuracy isn’t an issue. ‘On the lake you can miss the apex by 50m, so what? You end up somewhere else.’
The Scandinavians, Russians and North Americans regularly hold motorcycle races on frozen lakes, but Anders is pretty sure he’s the first to choose to ride GSX-Rs on ice rather than more specific race bikes, or more sensible motocrossers. But even the GSX-R’s lunacy pales next to what some of the Forest Fighters choose to ride. How would you fancy throwing 300-plus kilogrammes of six-cylinder Kawasaki Z1300 into an 80mph powerslide? Nope, me neither. Perhaps a Gold Wing GL1100 then?
The club do not exclusively use old muscle bikes. A brand new Ducati Hypermotard made it onto the lakes this winter, but cutting edge machinery isn’t ideal for frozen lake frivolity.
‘Most sportbike rims are too wide for the tyres we use,’ says Anders. These are Trelleborg knobblies with over 100 short metal studs to grip the ice. The Forest Fighters know that the tyres disintegrate at 130mph… ‘The old GSX-R750 rim is narrow, it’s perfect. The Hypermotard is running a 5.5in rear rim. Fit a motocross tyre and the profile is very flat. And the more modern bikes don’t have enough clearance between the tyres we need to use and the radiators, swingarm and bodywork.’
Still, there are very few barriers to pen the Forest Fighters’ insanity. The point is illustrated clearly by their next plan.
‘I also scuba dive,’ says Anders. ‘I have been training to do ice diving. Next winter we are going to put up some cones to make a track, then dive under the circuit with a video camera to film from below as the bike is going sideways above us. I think the sound would be awesome.’
Anders rides in summer too, touring to motorcycle Meccas like the Nürburgring and the Isle of Man, but winter riding is what he loves the most.
‘My absolute favourite kind of riding is up a ski slope. You can’t have any more fun than that. You need to know the guys who prepare the slope, though. If you hit a skier…’
Photography by Anders Norden
Following the successful launch of the 25th anniversary GSX-R750 last month, Suzuki GB unveiled the second model in the exclusive trilogy this week with the limited edition GSX-R600.
It comes with an exclusive colour scheme replicating the 1999 factory machine, like its larger sibling the GSX-R600 will be limited to just 25 models.
Featuring a Yoshimura exhaust, exclusive top yoke plaque and certificate, the GSX-R600 will come with a recommended retail price of £8,799.
Enjoying great success on the roads and track since its introduction in 1997, the GSX-R600 took Fabrizio Pirovano to the World Supersport Championship title just two years after its launch, repeating the feat with Stephan Chambon the following year before going on to secure the world manufacturers title in 2002. At home, Michael Laverty secured the British Supersport Championship in 2007 with Bruce Anstey taking the GSX-R600 to a TT Supersport win one year later.
The bikes will be available for reservation from 1st April, Visit www.imgsx-r.com for more information on the reservation process.
BMW HP2 Megamoto
Why? One of the first signs that BMW had loosened its tie and started drinking in the morning. Powered by a highly tuned version of the fuel-injected, 1170cc, 8-valve Boxer engine, it is the most playful BMW ever built. Well, I say playful, playful like sporting a lamb chop waistcoat and having a game of ‘Hide and Seek’ with a grizzly bear.
+ It is a BMW the Batman would ride
– Short tank range. Loves expensive petrol
Suzuki GSX1100EFE
Why? It’s a dumb as a rock-chewing dog but it’s unlikely there’s been a sturdier motorcycle ever built. JCB could paint one yellow and use it in quarries. The engine is predecessor of the mighty GSX-R1100, but this bike has no fussy fairing to complicate or beautify. Cormac McCarthy’s Road will be patrolled by GSX1100s.
+ Simple, brutal and tougher than a herring gull
– Most have been turned into hideous drag bikes
Bimota SB2
Why? From the days when a tiny Italian firm, more used to making industrial heating and ventilation ducts, created the most advanced road bike the world had ever seen. Motive power is supplied by a tuned Suzuki GS750 motor. It’s also Massimo ‘916’ Tamburini’s first masterpiece.
+ The frame unbolts and splits in two for engine removal.
– Only 140 were ever built
Triumph Speed Triple T309
Why? The very first Hinckley Triumphs didn’t set the blood pumping. Reliable. Bulletproof. British. Yes, yes, yes, but a bit briar pipe for a 20-year-old. Until 1994’s Speed Triple T309. It’s a high watermark in motorcycle minimalism. Subsequent Speed Triples have all been technically better but didn’t capture the imagination in the same way.
+ Built to last. And British.
– It’s a pensioner magnet. ‘I used to ‘ave a Triumph…’
Penton 125 Six Day
Why? There’s something about these early-1970s dirt bikes that is just so right. The metal tank, yellow number boards, tiny drum brake and radial-fin heads. Of course, I could’ve chosen a Husqvarna 400, but this tiddler is close to perfect. These early bikes were produced by KTM for American company set up by enduro rider John Penton.
+ Weighs the same as loaf of bread, but climbs like an ibex
– A modern washing machine has more torque
Honda ST70 Dax
Why? Yes, its cousin, the C90, is the best-seller of all-time, but the Dax has fold-up bars so you can easily more store it on your yacht. What do you mean you haven’t got a yacht? You’ve got a Dax though, right?
+ Named Dax due to its similarity to the dachshund
– Doesn’t come with a free yacht.
Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5
Why? Every now and then the Japanese build a bike that so stunning lorry drivers stop owners and demand to lick their headlights. But, due to their relentless new product timescales the Japanese forced on the market, replace it in two years, and chuck away what made it so gorgeous. Yamaha did it with the R1 of ’02, and Suzuki did just the same in 2005.
+ The ultimate disposable Japanese hyperbike
- Blue and white can clash with your leathers
Scott TT Replica
Why? Between-the-wars, two-stroke racer for the road. The earlier Flying Squirrel is more famous, but the TT is the one I’d have. Long-stroke engine, fishtail exhausts and sturdy Scott front forks. And it’s liquid-cooled. The Japanese didn’t get to grips with that until the 1970s.
+ Pokey, even 70 years later
- Not named after a gliding rodent
Wood Yamaha YZ450
Why? A pure competition bike made in small numbers in Costa Mesa, California. This chro-mo framed beauty is built to compete in dirt track races on the short ovals of the Mid-West. It is as pared-down as an HB pencil. Everything fit perfectly, and has a purpose. It is the purest distilled essence of a racing motorcycle on the planet.
+ Absolute minimalism
- Not much good for touring the Alps
Indian Scout
Why? Like the majority of, but not all, the bikes in the list it was built to last. They left the factory a few years after The Great War and some, still 90% original, are still earning their keep on the various Walls of Death around the world. The other reason I love them is for their left-hand throttle, swapped to allow Patrolman to ride and shoot at the same time.
+ The tooled-up vigilante’s ideal ride.
- Unless the bad guys are in anything faster than an Austin 7
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