| Author | Message | ||
     86129squids |
Just read the 2-3 sentences on Motorcycle Daily, wondering if anyone else has some downlow. I tried to win one of those Kenny Dreer brikes when it was being raffled off at the IMS show a few years ago- now what?! | ||
| Badlionsfan |
There were a few posts about it in the racing forum in the moto gp thread. | ||
| 86129squids |
Looked up the vids for the rotary racebike- SWEEEEET! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
The NRV 558 gives me wet spots in my funny places. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
Sounds like a two stroker. | ||
| Swampy |
Comedy scene: guy leaning on the back of the bike knocks it off the lift while the engine is just being blipped, launching bike through tent and into side of support vehicle. | ||
| 86129squids |
"Sounds like a two stroker." HA- even better, it's a rotary! (AKA Wankel) Those motors have always fascinated me- every aspect of the combustion cycle happens simultaneously! They run HAAAWWWTTT! One vid shows a dyno run, the entire exhaust is BRIGHT red, like fresh lava! Also, I read that competing racers hated trying to pass, because on decel the damn thing shoots flame! WOOHOO!  | ||
| Greg_e |
My old RX7 did the same things, damn fun machine though! | ||
| Skinstains |
I thought there was a problem in sizing the engines as "everything happens at once" made it impossible to find a displacement figure that was accurate and agreeable. On a side note...where'd ya get that jacket ? | ||
| Greg_e |
They still have a combustion chamber that is swept so the size can be calculated, but they run basically the same as a 2 stroke since there is no real wasted motion in the cycles. They are also oiled like a two stroke which makes them hard on emissions. A nice Wankel motorcycle would be kind of eery, the engines in the cars were so smooth that in a bike they would just kind of purr up through to redline. Torque right off idle all the way up... Really would be neat to ride a bike with one of these installed. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Suzuki built one back in the 70s as did Norton, there was even a police version of the Norton in the UK. | ||
| Fast1075 |
There is nothing louder than an unmuffled rotary engine. Evinrude also toyed with a rotary outboard...my old marine mechanics teacher from high school had one. The big problem with them "back in the day" was keeping the apex seals working. Rpm is virtually unlimited...the Mazda drag racers turn theirs in the 13K range and are limited by how much rotating mass (read clutch and flywheel) they can run without flying apart. Cool idea....with todays trends in motorcycle engine following function over form and hiding that ugly lump under bodywork, appearance is no longer a problem. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Here y'all go. http://www.suzukicycles.org/RE5/RE5-Rotary.shtml http://www.rotaryownersclub.co.uk/nortonrotary/ | ||
| Trojan |
there was even a police version of the Norton in the UK I rode one a few times and it was truly awful! The original air cooled rotary engined Norton 'Interpol 2' Police bikes had a great motor but an absolutely shocking chassis which felt like you were sitting on a plank of wood with a mega tuned two stroke attached. The worst part was that when you closed the throttle the bike actually went faster for a second, so there was this delayed reaction before you realised that not only was there no engine braking but you'd better hit the (very poor) anchors pretty quick! The one great thing about them was the ability to produce 10ft blue flames out of the exhaust at will. Just flick the kill switch on and off and it exploded like a cannon. Good fun through Blackfriars tunnel in London  Later 'Commander' versions got a bit better but it was never suited to police duty and hated to run at slow speeds. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
I used to run down to the Chelsea Cruise back in the 80s, & no trip to "The Smoke" was complete without running through Blackwall both ways as hard as possible with straight pipes on a big V8. Happy days, ok nostalgic hijack over back to the bikes. | ||
| Britchri10 |
Used yo "do" the Blackwall on 2 stroke Yamaha RD250's & 350's. Fun, fun, fun! (& loud) Chris C | ||
| Gunut75 |
My father owned the Suzuki shop in Antioch, IL in the late 70s, and according to him, the rotary Suzuki had great linear power, but the downfall was the engine serviceability. Even the shop techs were not allowed to open the motor cases under warranty conditions. Therefore, if there was a failure of sorts that could not be serviced without opening the cases, the motor was sent back to Suzuki. This left the customer waiting for a motor. That is one reason they didn't sell well. A little ahead of it's time perhaps. | ||
| 86129squids |
I miss my built RZ350. | ||
| Brumbear |
Hey Glad to see you back Grump, There was an older guy back in the 90's that ran with us a bit who had a Suzuki rotary and if I am correct the motor was and is guarenteed for life. | ||
| Jaimec |
VanVeen was another manufacturer of Rotary-engined motorcycles, though in far more limited numbers than Suzuki OR Norton. | ||
| Trojan |
This weeks MCN quotes Stuart Garner (Boss man at Norton) as saying that they will be building a new 4 cylinder 1000cc motor for MotoGP use  He also says that unless he has everything in place such as sponsorship, staff, engineering, finance etc before the end of this year then it won't happen. It would be great to see it come to fruition, but I think he is facing a huge uphill struggle for such a small company to achieve. Good luck to him though | ||
| Greg_e |
They need to make it a road ready machine to fund the racing from road going sales. There certainly should be a way to get a 1000cc machine onto road going trim and sell them. | ||
| U4euh |
what is the noise @ 53 seconds? | ||
| 86129squids |
Pull my finger. | ||
| 86129squids |
Hunnnhhh?@ Time passages. |
