Suzuki Motorized Bicycle Concept

GoldenMotor.com

bluegoatwoods

Active Member
Jul 29, 2012
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Central Illinois
Hmmm.....it looks kinda neat.

One thing about Suzuki. They don't seem to mind trying out-of-the-ordinary products. I've seen one cylinder dirt bikes with a ram air scoop on them. And once in California I saw a Suzuki with a rotary engine. Two rotors, axis of rotation was side-to-side. I wasn't too impressed because it was quite a large engine, but only displaced 535 cc's. But I still gave Suzuki credit for having the guts to try to market it. (Though I doubt it was marketed in the USA. I'll bet someone bought it somewhere overseas.)

But, anyway, that's a nice looking bike. I wonder if it can be made legal on our roads?
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
11,837
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up north now
Blue- I think you are talking about the RE5. They sold them here for awhile, but they never caught on. The other wankel was the Hercules, and that one had the 'side to side' rotation, Suzuki was mounted conventionally.

Sorry about the hijack!
 

zean

Active Member
Dec 5, 2010
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california
Interesting. It does not have a traditional look, maybe they are appealing to younger people. I believe it is a little bit over engineered for a 50cc engine. Maybe it has a lot of wires running to that instrument panel. I wonder why they do not offer pedals.
 

crassius

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2012
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USA
I just don't get it - why is this called a bicycle when it seems no different than a lot of other 50cc motorcycles ??!!??
 

wheelbender6

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2008
4,059
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TX
My take on it is that Suzuki has noticed a stagnation in sales of 50cc motor scooters. They think that a 50cc bike with bigger wheels and less weight may compete well with those 50cc motor scooters. I don't think they are really planning to compete with kit-built motorized bicycles. The little Suzuki will be competitive with ebikes in some situations.
 

bluegoatwoods

Active Member
Jul 29, 2012
1,581
6
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Central Illinois
Blue- I think you are talking about the RE5. They sold them here for awhile, but they never caught on. The other wankel was the Hercules, and that one had the 'side to side' rotation, Suzuki was mounted conventionally.

Sorry about the hijack!
And I'm sorry for continuing the hijack!

But that's interesting info Bikeguy Joe. They actually had the guts to try to put something like that on the market in the USA, huh? It's not that I'm calling the bike some sort of monstrosity. It's just that automakers tend to be conservative. They're timid about marketing anything that's out of the mainstream.

I gotta give Suzuki some credit. They're fairly brave about what they invest in. Maybe that's more true of their two-wheel division than their four wheel, though. I don't recall seeing anything weird among their cars.
 

wheelbender6

Well-Known Member
Sep 4, 2008
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To contribute to the hijack of my own thread (no worries), Suzuki was innovative in providing the lowest costing four wheel drive/AWD cars in the USA. It started with the Samurai back in the 1980s and continued with the SX4 through 2013. I must admit that their other car models have been pretty ho-hum in the USA.
 

crassius

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2012
4,032
158
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USA
hmmm, had a samurai 3 cyl 2-stroke many years ago - incredibly interesting machine that had few practical uses in a city (40mph top speed)