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[-] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Is that a one-off engine? I thought Sachs was known for making rotaries for snowmobiles?

Or did you mean a one-off Hercules with a rotary? Lol

Bet that thing leaned one way really well, with the mass of the rotor spinning at thousands of rpm, and probably stood right up when you let off the throttle.

I'm a huge rotary fan (have owned a couple RX-7's), and rotaries on bikes seem like a great idea - except for fuel consumption and that rotating mass issue.

[-] Pipster 6 points 3 days ago

Norton made a few, the Commander (not Commando) in the late 80s and early 90s was the main one, they bought the tooling from Hercules. Didn't really work out in the long run.

[-] Mac@mander.xyz 3 points 2 days ago

Suzuki made one too, the RE5.

[-] Schmuppes@lemmy.today 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Norton were pretty successful racing those bikes too, but they were too thirsty and had inherent heat issues.

this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
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