bbbbBut it's a Honda!

Got to thinking about it. Second Place would go to an RD350, but that was 49 years and darn near as many pounds ago. Not a lot of top end but it was as quick as a snake!

towada.jpg


One of my favorite rides was from the Air Base at Misawa, to Lake Towada and around the lake. You can see the twisties, but what you can't see is the elevation changes that go with it. Loved it when I could get in with a crowd of Japanese "boy racers" and play the hooligan.
 
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Downeaster said:
Got to thinking about it. Second Place would go to an RD350, but that was 49 years and darn near as many pounds ago. Not a lot of top end but it was as quick as a snake!
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A few weeks ago I ran across a pic of one of my old RD's. Ever since, I've been on a daily hunt for an affordable fixer upper. Un-restored and affordable are getting rare as hens teeth. :(


rd350.jpg
 
My tiger 800xc is 215kg and 95hp according to specs, add in my 8 gallon tank and its a little heavier. It's a great bike, it's plenty maneuverable and it'll cruise 80mph with a 20mph headwind. A little lighter and a little more compact would be nice though.
 
Jim said:
A few weeks ago I ran across a pic of one of my old RD's. Ever since, I've been on a daily hunt for an affordable fixer upper. Un-restored and affordable are getting rare as hens teeth. :(


View attachment 186217
Click to expand...

I see one every once in a while in the $2000 to $3000 range. I get the twitch, but I realize I'm almost 50 pounds heavier and it wouldn't be nearly as much fun as I remember. I'm afraid the power-to-weight ratio of the FJ has pretty much ruined me for anything tamer.
 
Jim said:
A few weeks ago I ran across a pic of one of my old RD's. Ever since, I've been on a daily hunt for an affordable fixer upper. Un-restored and affordable are getting rare as hens teeth. :(


View attachment 186217
Click to expand...

For sure - where did all the ring-dings go? There is only one guy in our club who rides a two-stroke regularly and there are only about (I think) five or six two-stroke projects in the club.
 
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ThatXS650Guy said:
I need to get mine out. Just finished tuning the carbs. Now to see if I finally defeated that off-idle flat spot.
View attachment 186219
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Oh.....veeeerrrry coool Jim. Those are hard to find in nice shape and worth big money hereabouts.

My uncle Dave has a 1971 Mach III (Kawi 500 H1) that he bought new in 1971 for about <I think> $1150 CDN. It is blue and had the two-leading shoe drum on the front and the factory CDI ignition complete with the centre-fire plugs and a faint little hum when you turn on the key. He still has it and rides it every summer. It is in showroom condition and has never been wrecked, dropped or rebuilt (he is often told that it is one the few early H1s in Canada that has never been put through a fence on a back road or flipped over on a small-town main street).

EDIT - of course the Mach-III 500 cc bike is an H1 and not an H2. Sorry about that! To make amends, here is a photo of bike that is identical to my uncle's machine.

1971_Kawasaki_500-H1 (1).jpg


The last time I saw it, he had just under 20,000 miles on it and it was still a 1-2 kick start bike. I actually rode it once - and it is actually pretty stately off the line (unless you slip the clutch) but once the revs hit about 4-5000, it is like GOD kicks you in the @ss, your ears are assaulted with the din of 1000 atomic bumblebees and the world behind you disappears in a blue haze as the front wheel begins to skip off the ground. If you cranked it on while in a corner.....well, it likely wouldn't end happily.

Everything people say about the peaky power, wobbly frame and "21HP brakes on a 60HP motorcycle".....
.....is true. Having said that, I think that the later bikes were much more manageable and steadier handlers and the front disk brake has to have been a major improvement.

Nonetheless, it is a very very nifty bike and I'd love to have one.
 
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Thanks Pete. I've read that article. I've been a Motorcycle Classics subscriber from the beginning.
My favorite Kawasaki triple quote:
Cycle Magazine had this to say of the 1973 Kawasaki 750 – “The Mach IV is the quickest, most intense; most single-purpose street machine ever built for general consumption, a streaming, purple-eyed monster that does everything with a shriek and whose only God is performance. Lay at its feet the hottest production vehicle you can name—two wheeled or four—and the Mach IV will chuckle, snort, and then eat it alive!”

The same article reads “The Mach IV had the most willing and the most hysterical engine in the entire test. It is often difficult to wind a motorcycle’s engine up to 7000 or 8000 rpm and then gas it wide open and drop the clutch. It’s unnatural and it’s abusive, and it makes you cringe inside. But the Kawasaki engine rockets to 7500 rpm at the touch of the throttle; nick it and it comes at your throat with a cacophony of ringing fins and slapping pistons and horsepower unrestrained. The Mach IV demanded the most attention at the drag strip. It was also the most fun to ride, a wild and skittish bucking bronco with all the talent in the entire world and not one single ounce of condescension.”

My love affair with a Kawasaki triples started well before I could ride when my grandparents bought me a Reveille model of an H2 at around age 12.
They would have been horrified to see me on the H1.
 
ThatXS650Guy said:
I need to get mine out. Just finished tuning the carbs. Now to see if I finally defeated that off-idle flat spot.
View attachment 186219
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If it is the 750 I Have heard rumors that the flat spot on 2 first gears is Factory Spec 3 rd gear to dangerous flipping over
but the rest is OK.
Not common here and not good reputation . Besides looks.
 
gggGary said:
Had two 750 Triples, one even got a custom gggGary paint job, then bought a 750 Combat Commando those Kawi's were sold the same month the Norton arrived.
I still visit it now and then.
View attachment 186236
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HEY - I hadn't known that the gorgeous red Norton had been yours!

Geeezzzz....Gary - you're a lucky dude too.

Pete
 
I know I've told this story before, but it never gets old.... :rolleyes:
Had an early 500 triple... white with drum on the front. After I kinda sorta got used to it, I pulled out of the driveway and nailed it.... hard. Keep in mind I only went about 135-140 lbs at the time. Wrang it out in first and second... shifted into third still holding a healthy helping of throttle and glanced down at the speedo.... it said 0 mph... WTF!!
About that time the front tire finally touched down and the speedo jumped to about 70 mph. Holy crap that thing would wheelie. :yikes:
 
Oh yeah they'd wheelie. Just before the first H1s hit the showroom floors, Kawasaki sent a few around with factory reps to dealers for invitation-only test rides. I got the phone call and rode over on my '68 Bonnie to the appointment. Sez Mr. Rep, "Don't wind it up past 4500." Wondered what kind of fun a 2-stroke could possibly deliver with that restriction, but I complied. Hit I-74, ran up to 4500 rpm in 3rd, and surrendered to the urge to blip the throttle. The front wheel lifted about a foot. YOWZA!

Checked out braking and frame integrity and ran the bike back to the waiting rep, who asked "Well, what do you think of it?" Being a courteous guy, I said "That's a helluva motor you have there." Then he went for the sale: "When are gonna trade that Triumph in on one?" Reply: "I dunno, when are you gonna have a frame and some brakes to go with that motor?" The frame had all the rigidity of half-cooked pasta. The H1 richly deserved its nickname: "Hirohito's Revenge."
 

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