re5

Steve Tyler's Suzuki RE5

This RE5 was imported in 1975 but sat around in a showroom until it was sold in 1977. The second owner took it to the Isle of Man in 1985 when the CDI unit went wrong. Someone on the Isle of Man set it up with a coil and condenser, which got him home and it then sat there until 2004. He then spent a lot of money refurbishing the bike and fitted a new CDI unit. Unfortunately the speed relay unit was not replaced, (the speed relay unit controls which of the two sets of points it runs on). Therefore as this was not replaced the CDI unit did not know which points to run to which then burnt out the CDI unit and he then gave up again)

Steve acquired the bike in November 2007 and has replaced all the chrome, as the original had been re-chromed on rotten steel, replaced all seals and jets in the carburettor and reset to factory settings, at which point he found the joke with the CDI unit and then converted it to run on the A model electric’s, IE: one set of points and converted to Boyer ignition.

Steve bought this RE5 from a VJMC member through the Tansha who had spent in excess of £800 on it doing things like crankshaft seals, bearings etc but it still had an electrical fault hence Steve was able to buy at a reasonable price. Since acquiring the bike Steve has spent in the region of £1000 on genuine Suzuki parts found through eBay, the Internet and from buying two more bikes, which he broke for parts.

He's has to replace many parts including shocks, seat (this is now the correct pattern but picture shows old seat), all chrome parts, side panels, mirrors with ‘S’, wiring harness, ignition lock etc.

This bike is now as it would have left the factory with the exception of braided hose and an after market carrier which is a genuine accessory from USA.

The Club For Classic Japanese Motorcycles

For Japanese Motorcycles 15 years plus