The works 18-inch rear rim was there, but the front was missing, so a standard 21-inch
alloy rim was laced onto the hub while the search continues for a works part. The white
plastic shields to protect the machined forks from stone damage are also missing, but
Burling hopes to get some from a production run in Belgium.
Holding it all together is a collection of Suzuki titanium bolts he had left over from his
days as a factory mechanic. They’d been sitting around in his garage for 35 years – just
waiting for this restoration? Probably...
It’s one thing to have a machine in many pieces: another to have it completed and
running. The knowledge and skills needed to assemble and get it running are becoming
rare – these were hand-built motorcycles put together by experts. Burling handed the
job to Alan Franklin of Colemans Suzuki in Auckland.
“Nothing fitted together very well, and it’s lucky Alan had the knowledge and
experience of the bike and the skills to be able to rebuild it, otherwise I don’t think we
would ever have got it going,” says Burling. “He has a great passion for this stuff.”
Just one of the tricky jobs was machining a five-speed gear cluster, which combines
some RM370 parts with others that had to be custom-made, because there is nothing
in the Suzuki parts catalogue to fit an RN.
The result is a piece of the finest rideable sculpture from that ground breaking era.
Firing up the RN takes a firm boot, but from the moment of that first explosion of
ignition from the magneto there’s nothing subtle about it. That huge carby, simple
piston ports and long, sweeping chamber combine to make around 45hp, which is
plenty in such a light bike.
This is not a bike with a lightswitch powerband combined with unrideable two-stroke
raucousness. With a deep, soul-stirring howl from the unsilenced stinger, the RN400
launches itself, riding a potent torque curve that maxes out at 6500rpm – just 500rpm
short of max revs – with no vibration or other vices to spoil the sensation of utter speed.
Even among the top 400cc motocrossers of our modern era, the RN400 will hold
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