Barber Motorsports Museum: 1974 Hercules W2000 Wankel Rotary Motorcycle
Friday, July 30, 2010 10:05 am
July30
Until I visited the Barber Motorsports Museum, the only rotary engined motorcycle that I’d ever seen or heard was the Suzuki RE-5 owned by my friend Quacka. There’s a good reason for that. There were never many production models made using a rotary mill.
Like the RE-5, the Hercules was apparently a victim of it’s own innovation – the rotary power plant was prone to heat issues. It never saw favor in the marketplace and the model died off.
The German-made Hercules W2000:
For More Information on the Hercules W2000:
The Barber Motorsports Museum is the most amazing place. It is like a Church of Motorcycling History. Be sure to check out more blog posts from our visit there!
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6 Responses to this entry
10:16 am
That’s an incredibly sweet-looking bike! I LOVE the rotary engines, now having owned five Mazda RX7s, four of which were convertibles. I’d love to go see this museum someday. May have to make a road trip around it!
Thanks for sharing…
10:24 am
Hey Liz
I’m with you on the Rx-7! I had a 1990 red RX-7 convertible back in the day and LOVED that car. Unfortunately some butthole stole it and stripped it. That broke my heart.
You MUST go to Barber. It is such a unique experience to be able to see some many beautiful and diverse motorcycles in one place. It should be on every rider’s bucket list
12:09 pm
Maybe the name Wankel contributed to its demise.
3:06 pm
^ LOL
8:37 pm
Cool. I saw the same bike (and have a picture of it) at the Auto & Motorcycle Museum at Balboa Park in San Diego a few months ago. Very interesting design.
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