Kawasaki H1 Mach III - The OG Widowmaker

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  • Опубліковано 18 тра 2023
  • Kawasaki H1 played crusial role in elevating Kawasaki's image among the motorcycle enthusiasts. In today's video let's find out more about the Kawasakis H1 Mach III aka the OG Widowmaker.
    Disclaimer
    Under Section 107 of the Copyright Action 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
    I do NOT own the video materials and all credits belong to respective owners and the links to those original videos have been given below. Regarding copyright issues, please get in touch with me immediately for any further action.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 33

  • @marktiller1383
    @marktiller1383 10 місяців тому +6

    63 year's old and my all-time favourite bike's were 70s Kawasaki triples.

  • @Brutaga
    @Brutaga 11 місяців тому +5

    Thanks for reminding me of how fabulous the H1‘s were and are. Every morning when I head into the kitchen to get breakfast I am greeted by My H1a which is parked in my lounge. She’s fully functional and faithfully reminds me of better days when being young and alive was everything 🌟

  • @noelvandermerwe6456
    @noelvandermerwe6456 8 місяців тому +4

    I had one H1 in 1971, still have the receipt, just over ONE THOUSAND RAND in South Africa. Everything that was said here is TRUE! Had a few close shaves myself. A deadly machine.
    Thanks for bringing back those great memories. The ladies loved the speed.

  • @krtrains123
    @krtrains123 Місяць тому +1

    I had a 1973 H1 in that great green color, new off the show room, it was a fantastic machine

  • @ralphcantrell3214
    @ralphcantrell3214 9 місяців тому +8

    I grew up on H1's. I got my license on my 14th birthday, wheelied away on a blue 1971 model with drag bars and chrome J&R Power Pipes, and never looked back! I had spent the previous couple of years on a 100cc dirt bike, and then pole vaulted straight to the top! My Dad was older and already retired, and bought it for me to ride to school and back, so he could sleep in and go fishing and stuff. He didn't know a thing about motorcycles, and I convinced him it was a "scooter". LOL!. The law held that I was supposed to be restricted to 10 HP until I turned 16, but I decided that 70 HP would be okay if they couldn't catch me 😎.
    Over the next 20 years or so, I also had a white 1969 model, a red 1970 model, a peacock gray 1970 model, a green 1973 model, a red 1975 model, and a rootbeer 1975 model, all of which I bought myself, with money from mowing yards and working various and full and part time jobs until I got old enough to start a legitimate career. I also owned several Yamaha RD 350's, which were not quite as fast, but were lighter and a bit more "refined" than Triples, and with better brakes and superior handling in the real world situations. And they were plenty exciting enough, especially in the hands of a capable tuner with a die grinder. One of the sweetest hot rod bikes I ever rode was a friend's perfectly built and tuned 1974 RD350, in the gorgeous purple metalflake with white stripes and lettering paint scheme. I even bought one just like it, and spent a small fortune trying to replicate its wonderful and unique power characteristics, but never quite got there.
    The 1975 rootbeer H1 eventually got a stage 3 engine, compliments of a friend who was a very competent builder/tuner/racer of world record-holding Kawasaki Triple drag bikes, and it was truly an unholy beast. It was what we called a "sleeper" back in the day, meaning it remained street legal and looked as stock as possible, so you could lure unsuspecting suckers into a race and take their money. And oh my! When it came on those black FBG Pro pipes, you had better be hanging on. A few months after I sold it, a fellow nearly died on it when he looped it over backwards in 3rd gear. Apparently he had convinced the next owner - who was much more of a "collector" than he was an experienced or capable rider - that he had ridden lots of Triples, and talked his way into riding it up the street and back. I was told the first thing to hit the ground was the instrument cluster, immediately followed by the headlight and front fender, and that it just got worse from there. The rider left in an ambulance, and the bike went to the motorcycle grave yard. Unfortunately lots of Triples ended up like this, often in the hands of unprepared riders. They didn't call them widowmakers for nothing! I preferred to call them "sprocket rockets" myself. 😄
    Sometimes in the early 1990's I moved on to 4-strokes, and am now on bike number 45 or so, but I still miss the old 2-strokes, and I sure do wish I had hung on to a few of them. $$$

    • @petegkSalonika
      @petegkSalonika 7 місяців тому +2

      nice story well said, lots of people are killed with motorcycles because show no respect, and their idea simple was let's do this or that and see what happens ..

    • @davidmacphee3549
      @davidmacphee3549 6 місяців тому +2

      Where I am, I gotta be sixteen to touch anything delightful.
      Well I guess kids rode tractors and things to work in the fields.

    • @ralphcantrell3214
      @ralphcantrell3214 6 місяців тому +1

      @@davidmacphee3549 Things have changed around here too. In my day {1970s) ANYTHING was legal at 14 years of age, as long as it was "governed" to 10 horsepower. The local bike shop would unscrew the top of a carb and place a spacer under it that restricted the slide to about 50% of it's movement, and give you an official "CERTIFICATE" to go in your wallet that declared it had been governed to 10 horsepower. Then you went staright home and removed that thing and threw it in the trash. Now the law restricts you to 150cc or less until you are 16, so it is a lot harder to cheat.
      By the time my kid came along this new law was in effect. He had started on a 50cc at 6 years old and was up to a CRF450R by 13. I didn't want him to get plowed from behind on a 150, so I put him on an SV650 street bike on his 14th birthday, but only let him ride behind me until he was 16 and fully legal on it. I knew he was ready for the SV, so it was just a matter of not getting pulled over for the first two years. He put 12,000 miles on that SV riding behind me before he turned 16. He's in his mid 20s now and is quite a capable and responsible rider with excellent traffic IQ and survival instincts.

    • @ralphcantrell3214
      @ralphcantrell3214 5 місяців тому +1

      @@markholtdorf56 Times were never better than from the early 70s through the 80s, when you could pick up a hardly ridden, cherry H1500 or RD350 for $500-700 bucks and take on anything on the road.

  • @aceroadholder2185
    @aceroadholder2185 10 місяців тому +6

    In 1971 I bought an H1 that cost less than a Honda 350 twin and was twice as fast. Marginal brakes and suspension to be sure, but when the light turned green no one could catch you.

    • @davidmacphee3549
      @davidmacphee3549 6 місяців тому

      I never tried an original CB-350 but I was under the idea they were as fast as any Harley.
      Can't go wrong there! Legendary bike as well!
      I have to wonder, in this decade, what a Ninja 400 could do, Turbo charged like the New H2!

  • @joebajurin4115
    @joebajurin4115 10 місяців тому +3

    I still remember when I picked up my either 550 Suzuki or 750 water buffalo, at Selby motors in Redwood City CA. A person picked up his new H1. Me and my friend watched him fire it up. The cross Street was El Camino Real. He took off and ran right int to the divider between north and south El Camino. Will never forget that.

  • @marthaabernathy8868
    @marthaabernathy8868 Місяць тому +1

    Well now this is a interesting video and a very interesting motorcycle. I owned the 1972 500 triple H1 Kawasaki and then I bought a 75-900cc Z1 Kawasaki. They were both awesome machines and I enjoyed both of them immensely. At that time I didn't care how they handle. I just wanted to go fast.

  • @MHolt-yq5vg
    @MHolt-yq5vg 16 днів тому +1

    i bought a brand new 1971 Mach III from Jacks Go Shop in San Bruno Calif. I was 18 years old at the time. Only an idiot would call the Mach III the widow maker. 1 tooth larger on the engine sprocket would get me 9,500 rpm in 5 th gear. Putting drop handle bars makes the Mach III magic.

  • @IPING4U
    @IPING4U 11 місяців тому +6

    I miss my 1970 H1

    • @MHolt-yq5vg
      @MHolt-yq5vg 16 днів тому +2

      I miss my 1971 than my first girl friend.

  • @paulkenny7054
    @paulkenny7054 Рік тому +3

    Stunning Machine👍✌👌

  • @countrydawn418
    @countrydawn418 6 місяців тому +2

    Cool looking bike.

  • @davidmacphee3549
    @davidmacphee3549 6 місяців тому

    2:40 I am watching the rest of the video and you have done a wonderful job so far!
    Love it!

  • @davidmacphee3549
    @davidmacphee3549 6 місяців тому +1

    3:26 HEY! No dyno results! Damn .... I hope you can dig up valid ones. We want to know. I like how you indicate how close the torque and horsepower come close together at max revs. That explains a lot about how the old bikes really feel to ride. While ACCIDENTLY "Pinky touching your Baby finger on the HOT stove top while flying eggs. WHOOOH!

  • @davidmacphee3549
    @davidmacphee3549 6 місяців тому

    Did you say, "Kawasaki invented the two Stroke Engine"?
    I would be proud, I am obviously a fan of those exciting triples.

  • @bobcohoon9615
    @bobcohoon9615 8 місяців тому +1

    Both Cycle World and Cycle Guide magazines liked it quite a bit at the time. It looked like nothing else at the time, and I think they asked an American auto stylist to come up with the look of it , Ceriani style thin forks, ss tight fitting fenders,slim gas tank , 2-1 muffler placing, popular in racing at the time

  • @erickriebel4366
    @erickriebel4366 8 місяців тому +2

    I had a 500 Triple in 1970 in high school and for my age I had very high motorcycle riding skill I started out when I was 14 by the time I got to be 18 I was pretty good I think the title Widowmaker is overused they use the same title on high-performance sports cars people that lose it and get hurt or get killed on motorcycles or cars don't have the skill level to match the performance they haven't acquired that and they refused to take lessons or learn

  • @user-jn7bq8wh1e
    @user-jn7bq8wh1e Рік тому +5

    The Japanese are built different!🤘❤

  • @davidmacphee3549
    @davidmacphee3549 6 місяців тому

    Sorry for my overwhelming enthusiasm for the quality and accuracy and beauty of this video.
    I get carried away like my old bike used to do away with me..
    One last burning question if it's not too personal. I'm Canadian. (Toronto).
    I paid $1349 CDN in 1971 for an ORANGE "72. $1.75 an hour. Sheesh! 17,
    May I please ask what country are you working from? Your voice is good, man.

  • @phensriwood8081
    @phensriwood8081 8 місяців тому +2

    Look at the auction yards today, full of smashed up motorcycles. Today’s motorcycles handle so well but there are still so many hopeless owners.

  • @jamesthayer9278
    @jamesthayer9278 2 місяці тому +1

    Had an H2; wild! Great in a straight line. Horrible on the corners, vibrated, did not stop well, and balance was not good.

  • @FranzBrueger-ll3fp
    @FranzBrueger-ll3fp 6 днів тому

    You know, so far I didn’t hear one single comment , what made the 500 so dangerous

  • @user-mo9hm7ci4s
    @user-mo9hm7ci4s 8 місяців тому +2

    😅

  • @FranzBrueger-ll3fp
    @FranzBrueger-ll3fp 2 місяці тому +2

    Stop calling this fantastic H1 the widow maker. If one is a total Moran, you don’t belong on this bike. I’m 76 years old and my 72 500 is my favorite, compared to my 75 900 Kawasaki.

    • @MMCPN
      @MMCPN 10 днів тому

      Why?? The original H1 and its closest siblings (the 70 and 71) have been known as widow makers for nearly 50yrs now!! After 71 they were de-tuned and not as snappy as the early models, but lived off their older siblings reputations until their big brother came along in 72..