The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Hercules W2000 Rotary Engine Motorcycle

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Hercules W2000 rotary engine motorcycle

Once in a while a Hercules W2000 Rotary shows up for sale but they’re often in pretty bad shape, whether for lack of parts or knowledge of how to fix it. I spotted this one for sale on eBay and it looks to be in very good condition, according to the owner he had it completely restored.

The Hercules was only built from October 1974 to November 1975. 1784 were built and the leftovers were sold each successive year as that year’s model, right up until 1979. The early ones had a gas and oil mix, the later ones used oil injection. The Hercules was one of only a few rotary engine motorcycles to make it to market, the Suzuki RE5 being another as well as the very limited Norton John Player Specials.

Interesting bikes but except for Mazda and a few one offs, rotary engines never seemed to go anywhere.

Links: auction has ended
Related: Hercules for sale   Suzuki RE5 for sale
Related: Rotary engine motorcycle finished
Related: Norton John Player Special

Comments

  1. I saw one of these in person at a museum, I don’t remember where, though. It’s a pretty sizable bike.

  3. I thought norton made a rotary bike called the interpol but that idea flew like a wingless duck then some guys working at norton in their spare time, started taking off all the restrictions and the end result was the JPS race bike which was then copyed with the Norton F1/JPS look a like

  4. I’ve never given it any thought, but rotaries seem to make sense for motorcycles, small, light, and relatively vibration free.

    Mazda, get to it! 🙂

  5. I’ve ridden an RE5, from Picton to Christchurch (so 300km of beautiful coastal road) and what I really remember was how smooth it was. It had “classic” 70’s handling (a lot like a GT750 waterbus) but it was vibration free right up to an indicated 180kph. A friend of mine bought it because he’d always wanted one, but subsequently sold it. Isnt the big issue with them heat and fuel consumption though?

  6. But what about that Hercules styling.
    Looks like a CB350 with a bad goiter!

  7. As I recall, the Hercules came through Penton….I could have offered them as a dealer.

    The RE 5 had 221 parts in the carburetor and a guy named Bill Condon, in Ashtabula, Ohio, had about a half dozen RE 5s….

    The Herc was incredibly slow, which I found odd, because their enduro bikes were fairly quick.