Kawasaki H1 Mach III History 1969-1976
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- Опубліковано 3 вер 2013
- All colors (usa models) from the 1969 Mach III to the 1976 KH500.
First of the famous Kawasaki two stoke triples of the seventies. I
spent my youth trying to out drag race mach III's with my Suzuki T500R
and my Yamaha RD350. It was always tough going.
1969 H1 500 Midnight White
1970 H1 500 Peacock Grey (early 1970's) -
Candy Red
1971 H1A 500 Candy Blue
1972 H1B 500 Pearl Candy Orange (disc Brake)
....... H1C 500 Pearl Candy Orange (drum brake)
1973 H1D 500 Candy Green
1974 H1E 500 Candy Red - Candy Green
1975 H1F 500 Candy Sky Blue - Candy Yellow (brown) - Candy Green
1976 KH 500 Copper - Deep Burgandy
I'm always looking for good photos of clean stock bikes if you'd
like to contribute you can e-mail pics to
www.mcmotohistory@gmail.com
Thanks
MC MotoHistory
I had a red H1E in the 70's i fitted clipons, racing tank and a fairing and had a fantastic time with my mates - one had a H1A and two had Yamaha 250's - we went to TT in ' 76 had a brilliant time watching at Ballaugh bridge and it was fantastic to ride round the course, those clipons really improved the handling, as i had had many a scary moment on my ' Kwakker ' with the standard set up - fantastic memories.
20 thumbs down? Probably mad they don't have one. I am so glad I grew up in this time frame.
Amazing monster! I had a candy blue 1971 H1A, in 1980... Still a powerful bike! No CB 750 Four was able to handle my "Bazonga"... I miss her very much. Greetings from Brazil!
I had the last one, 1976 KH500 in deep burgundy, yellow stripe. It was beautiful. Put 36,000 miles on it. Best memory, scariest (and there were a lot!) a "friend of mine" was chased by a cop in a big old Dodge, right, left, right again through the blocks right outside of town. Cop slid sideways up a lawn ripped off his tires on the curb and carved out the grass with the bear wheels till he broadsided the bushes in front of a house trying to make a 90 degree turn after "my friend". Parked it in a another friends garage a few blocks away and didn't drive it for a month. I'm still afraid to talk about it. Thank God I'm alive. Those were the days.
James Gardner .. right out of " American Graffiti "
I had a 70 500 that was pretty well tricked out.. Denco's, quarter turn throttle, K&N's cafe handle bars, and no telling what else..
Had it air borne racing a pokee and landed smooth...! Won the race..!
Love those 2-stroke Kaws'. Wish I had mine back again.
I had the 1972 500 triple and no car. I still miss that sound , and the smell of 2 stroke. And the instant wheelie in second gear at about 5 grand! Such a fun bike. Paid $500 in 1976. Still the most fun motorcycle I’ve owned, but far from the most practical 🤣
Had a friend who had same H-1 & walked a wheely up to 75 MPH and I was like amazed by the cool bike 🚲
0:58
1:22 1:23
STUNNING bikes! These old 2-strokes had SOUL!
1971 candy blue. 20 years old. Ist bike ever owned. Only by the grace of God am I here to tell about it.
For me the 71 has always been just beautiful, one of the best looking bikes ever to my eye.
I served as a mechanic and service manager for the whole duration of Mach III years and they were quite the machine. There were no durability problems with the engine proper in our dealership (Westchester Co, N.Y.), only a few peripheral ones. My neighbor bought one to use as a commuter bike and I tuned it down from the "wet" factory carb settings and he ultimately got nearly 55mpg with no performance or reliability degrade. It also acted smoother in performance, akin to the behavior of the Suzuki GT550.
They could produce some wretched reactions in hard cornering though and I experienced it only once to show me where the line needed to be drawn if it was going to be pushed hard. I didn't get tossed off but the gyrations it went through were exciting to say the least.
Why did they build them without expansion chambers and how much more horse power do you get when you add them?
Beautiful bikes. The '69-'70 models were the strongest runners. The '71s were awfully close, though. But the '72-'76 models were detuned slightly, and as a result 12 second ETs were pretty much a thing of the past, low 13s were the new norm. Same with the '72s, they were quickest, and the '73s on were even more civilized. My buddy had a red '70 model. Man, that thing was unbelievable 😳. I was a pretty good drag racer, if I say so myself. So we took it to the track,, and I ran it for him. One time I raced a Triumph 650 Bonneville on the trophy run. Back in 1972, all 3 cylinder 2 stokes jumped 1 class. According to the NHRA, 650cc class was "D Stock", and 500cc class was "E Stock". Since the 500cc Kaws were 3 cylinder 2 strokes, I was jumped to "D", the 650cc class. So I had to run the Bonny straight up even. When the green light hit, the Kaws front wheel pointed straight up!! When it came down, I was PISSED when I saw that Bonny quite aways ahead, going thru the gears. I took off after him with everything that bike and I had, and by the end of the 1/4 mile, I couldn't tell who won!!! So I turned around and looked, and my side had the "win" light arrow on!!! I had caught him!!!!! Oh was that Bonny rider pissed, because not only did he lose, but his ET was slightly quicker!!! He couldn't figure out how I won when he was so far ahead, AND his time was quicker, to boot! This was so long ago that the slips showed no 60ft time, or reaction time. Apparently, I had left first, only slightly, then the wheelie happened. We lost in the long run though, because on that run, the Kawi tach quit working. We found out later the oil pump drives the tach. So if the Kawi tach quits working, park the bike, now!!!! Sure enough, since it was after dark, we couldn't see that the pipes had quit smoking. My buddy had a nice trophy, but his Kawi engine had seized, almost throwing him over the handlebars on the way home!!!!!
I bought a HI 1970 in 1971 for 600 dollars road around Texas for a year then sold it to another Marine when I got discharged. Lots of fun and today a restored 1970 HI go for 16,000. I'd buy one if I still had the reflexes to dodge 90 year old drivers on the road today, something extremely rare in 1971.
Friend of mine had a disc braked ‘72 Candy Orange model. Terrific in a straight line, handled like a shopping trolley 🛒 gone berserk.
The most beautiful bike. Yesterday just as non........
This brings back some sweet memories. I learned how to ride on my father's 1975 KH 400. It was a great bike although I did spend lots of time cleaning fouled spark plugs.
I had a '69 H1, in the white/blue paint. The one thing that let you know that there was something special about it...... put key in ignition, swivel kick starter out, press thumb "choke" on left grip, turn key on with right hand, listen for the unmistakable sound of a Kawasaki H1 ignition system coming to life.....! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee
my brother called the tree hunter just could not keep the front wheel on the ground
My first bike ever, 72' 500. Put in a Barnett clutch, accell coils. I weighed about 130 lbs at the time. Guys on 900 Kawi's would want to race and said they'd give me a head start. Well, at the next light, when they finally showed up, they say let's start at the same time! Miss the sound of that thing when it about 3500 to 4000 rpm's.
I was in third grade when my dad came home on a 1969 one of the first 60 to come to the states bought it at wilsons in fresno ca, I can still hear the ting ting ting and smell the fumes soon his brother and couple friends bought h1`s they called themselfs the hemorrhoids lol good memories
I had the lime green one and learned to respect it . It was a screamer . 3rd gear wheelies yes . Check it for loose screws yeah . Chain wear yes it was hard on chain and sprockets . When run moderate fuel usage was ok but ridden hard it went to hell .
Nice Glad I still own one!
Love the mach 3 and the mach 4,
try to get one of this beauty's!
I had a 1970 model. Gray . After I got over 1000 miles on it ,I took it to our local drag strip about 7 miles from where I lived. My friend from school worked there and got me a few runs. Almost no practice and I still was getting 12.8's at over 100 mph. Definitely a fast bike. Played with a Harley 883, used only first, third and fifth gears and still took it easy and beat him. Smoked a guy's 750 Honda and tore him a new one coming off the line. The speedo said it would top end at 120 but that's a little optimistic. Handlebars vibrated at high rpm but ok at cruising speed. Lots of ground clearance, handling on par with most bikes not british as long as you took it easy on throttle coming out of turns because 43 front 57 rear weight bias would lift front wheel and send you into a ditch. Know your bikes limits. Over 55 to the gallon of gas when cruising at 60. I later got a 73 500 a green one I called the pickle. It was a dog. Prettier, disc brakes, slightly better handling and LESS POWER!!!! Local drag strip again. 14.2 seconds in the 90's. They detuned it. Went from 100 to 92.5 main jets in carbs, changed timing, restricted exhaust. Thanks e.p.a. for screwing a great engine. So I drilled a hole thru baffles, reset timing, installed 97.5 main jets and hit the strip. 13.7 and high 90's. Got it from 105 to 110 on top end. Still a dog but half a second faster was a big improvement. Best bike I ever had was 81 Kawasaki KZ 550. In the over 42000 miles I had it before stupidly selling it, I only ,aside from regular maintenance, I had to replace timing chain tensioner at 24000 miles. 65 miles per gallon at 65 on freeway, smooth, good handling , torque like a freight 750train. Super roll on power, comfortable. I rode from Fort Lauderdale Florida in 3 days to California. 750 first day, 700 second [ found myself a riding buddy on second day who liked to take pot breaks and made bad time] 1200 on third day and my new buddy went a different direction so not as many breaks. 200 miles between fill ups then go again. Rode all day and night. 24 hours almost non stop. Didn't miss a beat. That was a bike. Wish I still had it.
Kawasaki Mach lll. The prettiest motorcycle in all history.
+MrJohnverkerk And the scariest.
I ride the new Kawa supercharged machines and its a new dimension on this beasts, but the old mach3 and mach4 are my favorite retro Bikes!!!
I had the Pearl Orange H1. The model with 3 coil and points ignition. Couple of frights but never came off it
My old mechanic was ex Kawasaki dealer, his favourite was the 350 disc valve twin.
MAN THEY ARE SO COOL. IF YOU HAVE ONE LUCKY YOU !!!! ENJOY !!!!
Had a Blue one....1971...It was a death machine.
Sweet bike. I remember it well and its sound. My neighbor bought one. He gave me a ride but then took it on the freeway at 105mph, without my permission. This was a time when there were no helmet laws. I was sooo pissed at him.
I had a 1971 Candy Blue H1
FCH911J (GB) .
Best purchase I ever made
'The Triple with a Ripple'
Nicely put together video great bikes,
When I win the lottery I am having one of these for sure.
Indeed. A 1969 white colored
素晴らしい
I had a '70 H1...I remember the powerband...it was either boggin' or boilin', there was no in between, and when it was boilin', the front wheel was usually off the ground...the 750 was the same way...
thanks
Yep, I had the 1971 Kawasaki 500 triple two stroke and it was fast as hell. The biggest problem I had was when I let other people ride it, where they would hop[ on and full throttle the bike, thinking it was like a regular low end 4 stroke street bike. LOL
Yep, had one of these also. Used to whoop my friends 750 Honda, pissed him off every time. ;-)
Steve Raymond If you want another i have several and you can have it done for you stock across the board or it can be built any way you would like..I have 69 and 70 and 71 and 72 h1's..I do have some late model h1's but i strictly build the earlies..I have a very nice 70 h1 available right now and i have a very rare 70 h1 almost finished with bridge port cylinders and window carbs.The bike is peacock gray and one of very few left with this set up..954-829-0885
@@steverayrapp I had the Orange mach 3. I remember when you hit the power band it would pull you back on the seat. I also remember that it got really shaky on the road at around 105. Incredible power for the time. I think mine was a 72.
Gorgeous machinery they can't make anymore!
super Kawasaki
I remember when it came out. Saw it on the cover of a magazine. I was 18, I believe. 1969. FASTEST bike at that time, drag racing that is. I've heard it did not handle very well. They called it a kawasaki Blue Streak.
Has a '76 KH400. The ignition died and left me on an interstate bridge with a dead bike. (CDI or whatever)
And then there was the '69 Mach III Erv Kanemoto builds. S/n 495 blew the doors off all comers for the 9 years I owned it. I did have to swap the forks for a newer model to improve braking but she was always up for a wheelie up through 5th gear at 120. 1/4 mile 10.25 seconds. The stock looking pipes on the un-badged special were so tightly matched to the special porting every go fast custom pipe de-tuned the bike. Hole shots were a pain until a friend convinced me to dump the clutch at 6 grand and go. Whahoo!
10.25 seconds? No way. Try 13.5 seconds.
Al Pal 13.5 was stock, but read Erv Kanemoto's bio in the motorcycle hall of fame. www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=206 "His boss was so impressed by his excellent work the shop got Kanemoto involved in building drag racing bike motors.", this bike was built for the the San Jose Harley Davidson dealer and at the time I belonged to a MC based on drag racing bikes. So the friend, was drag racing stroked high compression 76 in sportsters. I'm sure I cracked sub 10s in the fog a couple of times. It really loved a little water vapor in the air. Some Kawasaki Dealers wouldn't let it come in for service but I found a Sunnyvale based road race team with a pair of H-1s they raced at Laguna Seca and they worked on it for free just for the test drives.
Philip Agur
OK then - if it was modified by changing the port timing by shimming the barrels
& then had wild porting - with larger carbies & chambers it would do sub 11 seconds.
The wild thing was it's pure stock appearance. Somehow the even the stock looking pipes were custom internally. I picked up some high performance wheelsmith pipes and they really detuned her. The way it was delivered (set-up by Erv) it went from a boring 350 Honda to i'm coming over backwards in 100 rpm right at 5700 and ran up to 10,500. As to exactly what was done, the race team could never figure out. But Erv Kanemoto went right to being Kawasaki's head factory grand prix road race mechanic. I ran it on synthetic lube to protect it. I had a partial seize one year and the Laguna Seca race team that did her maintenance for free was ecstatic to tear her down for inspection. > Watching Cafe Racer TV always makes me sad, nothing coming close to what I thought was my cafe racer. They get the look but not the go.
Tendrían que hacer una versión moderna de tres cilindros, dos tiempos bien equilibrada y nerviosa..!
hey, Rick. Are you making the mid-Ohio trip again this year?
I think my 500 was a 72 model, I was 17 and it was orange with turn signals
Una moto mitica quanto mi piacerebbe averne una
I had the 1972 500 and I was really pissed that it came with the hated points ignition instead of the earlier superb CDI ignition. The bane of all 2-strokes back then was the points ignition which was too weak at high revs and missed and farted when the points had more than a thousand miles on them. I loved the bike but maintaining the points was a pain. The handling wasn't great but most other 2-strokes bikes handled just as bad back then. They further neutered the bike later on with lower hp models; what were they thinking? Wish I had bought the liquid-cooled Yamaha RZ 350 back then just to have in the garage today.
gwwayner That was and still is an easy change out to convert it to a cdi electronic ignition..
I had one too,always fouled plugs and yes high rpm breakup.I learned later the coils were mostly to blame.
My big brother had a GT750 with three sets of points. Know exactly what you're talking about unlike some of these other stupid f.n replies. They have no idea what things were like back then. I probably should just ignore them, but I'm a biker not a sage.
mine was a 71 candy blue
This bike was before its time, and people were not use to its power and This resulted in a fair few deaths. Remember a triumph Bonneville 650 or 750 is like riding a modern 250 commuter bike a four stroke one and they were a quick bike in the late 60s early 70s Yamaha had the RD two strokes they were quick but had issues with the carbs would need cleaning often and if you put a car spark plug in would burn a hole in the piston . Easy to work on and parts inter changed at one point I had a 76 block head and piston on one side and a 83 on the other it went fine but if I opened it up it would drop to 1 cylinder and I'd limp home clean the plug and carb and away it would go .my brother had a Suzuki Gt that thing flew .the first time I ride it I was doing the ton in 100 meters and it was old the crank case was made of shitty metal and was falling to bits it was sold before it fell to bits its speed sold it quickly.
I was 13 in Jr high.there was this high school freshman who was a. hardass.He rode a 71 had J n R. chambers ran out of gas in front of my house one day .I gave him two gallons gas he started it said .You want to ride it He'll yea rode around the block 2nd gear never got it into the powerban I was hooked owned 2 500. 400 s3 a bunch rd350 I have ft 550 motor frame in the garage there getting harder to find hold on to em
I had a 72 orange one and a 72 blue H2
+David Oaks Sr Congrats. You had my two favourite year models by far. My Brother owned 3 Mach IV`s, apart from a couple of Mach 111`s of various vintage, mostly earlier ones like years 1969-72. Later models really went downhill in my book.
Rode one remember 110 mph sooo fast. Zzzzzzing...!!!
These machines were capable of outrunning everything on the road when they came out. Even today, there are not very many vehicles that could beat one of these stock in a drag race. Nobody could catch this bike.
I had a 69 At that time they called it the Blue Streak it was white with 3 blue streaks a bout a 2inch line with 2 thin line above and. below the bigger one. I was 19 and thought that wss wow so fast and light too. I had it ported and polished ,and changed the primary gear so you used 5th gear in the quarter mile. My brother ran it at thr drags best time mid 12's . People wanted to know how he did it , he szid he revved it up to 7000 rpm and sat up on thr tank a d droped it. My best was high 13's . Changing the primary made a big difference. Bike got stole never got it back
Im 69 now bought a 2016 new Suzuki 109 R Yellow and black and whst a great bike that is . Haven't changed a thing yet but as it is wife hit the roof. I wanted one so i didn't tell her and had it delivered to the house. I will never do that again but at the time seemed like a good idea , Lots of bikers catch up to me to ask what make it is when i tell them they go no way. and really the bike flys for its type,
Bikes are such a low percentage of vehicle numbers, should be exempt from regs, we've let big brother take these beauty's away from us. Two strokes RULE!
And with a catalyst converter emissions are near zero any way ,
bring them back, please.
Modern synthetic oils are smoke free, would be cool to put a triple in a KX motor cross frame!
Big Brother gets a partial pass on this one. Alcohol, and riders who couldn't ride worth a damn, but thought they were Kenny Roberts, are almost as much to blame....
Otherwise known as "The Widowmaker"
No it wasn't that was the H2 750
@@davidmiatke6758.....They both made plenty of widows; I found & restored a CB350F "Soichiro"; not very powerful but so smooth, like my Mom's Husqvarna sowing machine; I love it; can't wait till Mulholland opens up
I had one in 1972.No Helmut in those days on the 405 freeway.L.A.Cal. I was 24 years, old. Young, dumb and full of com.
ACE
Glenn parent I have a 1973 purple 750 triple I was at a friend's house in the garage drinking and in the corner was a bike takin apart I asked him about it and he sold it to me for two cases of beer I took it to the bike shop and they put it together called me to pick it up as soon as they fired that bike up I knew something was wrong with the way it ideled he told me to be careful that bike scared the shit out of me I've rode all my life but I took it home and that bike still sits there in the garge
@@donaldrose8586 I'll give you 4 cases of beer for it
2 wheeled Rocket.
Seattle 1982 working as cook in 24 hr rest have this couple liveing with me both bums.the night it happened it was payday .remember no internet the newspaper comes 3am I'm going thru. motorcycle classifieds there's this one line add .Kawaski 500 485.00
A fat kooky lawyer in my home town had a red 72 H1 with mud flaps and streamers on the handle grips like a girls bike. We would laugh or curse him depending on the time of day he rode past. It was fast and silly
Blackpussy gettin fucked
@@tombordnet7852 wtf are you squawking about??
they handled like a brick shit house but they were fast for there day in a straight line and good for one time hard braking lol loved mine
Candy green H1e is wrong .....tail box was plain on an e
If you are going to use MY photos taken off the net, then PLEASE get your facts correct, the lime green H1d was not a "European Colour" In fact it never made it off the drawing board, and there really, REALLY was never any such colour as a Green 1975 H1f, The bike you are showing as a 1975 H1f is actually a 1973 H1d.
Rick Brett hush boy chaser.
I had the H1D 1973 model in the UK lime green, and I believe it was a US import as in the UK we went from H1B (candy red 72 disk) to HI E disk ( lime green 74). The H1E won the le mans style start of production bikes at Oulton park in 75 when I was there watching. I rebuilt the bike in 1980. I spent more time polishing the crank case with duraglit and maintaining it than riding it . I used it for pleasure only, as I needed a lie down after an evening on it.
Carp hit wrong key.I didn't Finnish my story.So I'm perplexed law makes 500 4 stroke the guy asking 485 not 500 450 .I have 460.00 at 5 am I call I got to know if tilts a cripple I getting it fuck the rent. my dad let me move back in guy answers the phone I ask him has any one else called and is it a three cylinder.yea some guy called right before he didn't know what it was. and yes it's a tipple.Drum roll please.he goes on to tell me it got wiesco pistons denco chambers in filters join shocks Dunlop 181 supervise bars Barnett clutch.and it 74 h1 I'm ducking sweatin get his address catch a bus to his house bought it 450 an got open face orange bell Helmut thrown in hall ads to the apartment come thru door and the bums you have the rent walked to the window and pointed to h1 there's the rent see us grabbed my Shit told manger I'm out that will never get a deal like that
Rocket
history my ass, no words can express how awful that would be music sounds instead of some kind of explanation of those wonderful bikes
FK OFF
Whatever, nothing but pics.
Turn that obnoxious damn music off and talk about the bikes. I do appreciate the video but damn.
The dam music got on my nerves couldn't enjoy the video
Seize with me, c'mon you center cylinders,seize with me,just lock up and put me on my ass,at 150 plus,now,seize with me. Road rash alert ! Wear good quality leathers !!!
What mods? 120 was about max