I've been riding a 75 model for around 18 months now and have done a few thousand Ks, with no real problems. It's fuel consumption is very reminiscent of my H1A - if not actually worse. You need to have appropriate expectations and then you can enjoy yourself. They are heavy and cumbersome to push around e.g. in the garage (almost dropped it numerous times
). Like that, they seem badly balanced but once on the road they roll quite nicely.
The acceleration certainly isn't earth shattering, as they are more torquey than anything. However, once you get used to the beast, you can skip along quite nicely. My one feels very comfortable in the 130-150 KPH zone and she feels like she could go all day like that. The exhaust note is certainly unique, a bit like a poorly tuned Spitfire fighter plane
When my classic Japanese group is out in the country, there can be 10 bikes moving past paddocks and the stock won't lift their heads, BUT once the Rotary comes along they all bolt for it. There seems to be something about the pitch which is uncomfortable for them.
In NZ, there were only 23 imported originally so they are a thing of fascination nowadays and certainly attract people and comments when out riding. I ran into an older guy who used to be a mechanic when they first came out. He said that (during scheduled servicing), they used to change the oil and hope like hell that nothing else was a problem as they didn't really understand how the engine worked
.