Two Strokes?

[Che]

Kawasakis of yesteryear.

[Smitty]

my 2nd bike was a blue series1 MachIII 500cc 2stroke Kwaka
mit front drum brake and cross ply tyres

luv 'em ...even if they were widowmakers

nice pics btw!

[rocketrod]

Ahhh memories thats blue one reminds me of my old S2,(the 350 triple)my 1st road bike.I remember i used to carry a pocket full of spark plugs around with me cause it used to foul plugs so often.
In fact i found a pic of the old beast.

[thatp1g]

My third or fourth road bike was a h2 triple.

I remember seeing them lap bathurst. One hand on the throttle one hand on the forks to try and settle the flex

[Nafz750]

Haha, the old boy loved this thread, one of his old crew used to have a mach111 500, reckons the bloke used to get his kicks off letting guys who had no clue ride it an watch em grab a handfull of throttle at the lights and flip the thing.

[Gosling1]

DRY CLUTCH !!! slobber slobber drool drool

wonder if Fast by Gast take children as a downpayment.....

there really is nothing else on earth like a good 750 triple.....

[zzzak]

Dear me this topic attracts some enthusiasts doesn't it?

[Gosling1]

It does mate, and was always going to. I think its a great addition to KSRC, and your idea the other night was just at the right time.

[ProblemChild]

i luv the old clunkers, so this topic is right up my alley ,well done boys & exelent pics .

[Smitty]

woooohooooo.....
oily blue zorst smoke up ya nostrils

I have fond memories of my ol' Mach III
even if it only had a drum brake on the front
and cross ply tyres
and tried to throw you orf on every corner

still..it easily outran the Bonnevilles and BSAs
my mates rode....

[MiG]

Now I'm being serious here, what's the big deal with these big two strokes? Why are they so tricky? The specs suggest that they're a bit tame compared to modern bikes. Was the gearing too low once you got in the powerband?
LOL, I just looked up a dyno graph of an H2. Very funny looking. It's like an engine with a massive turbo.

[kellz]

wow they had the looks back then
i reckon to rid eone of them would be the best riding experience, would take some talent aswell.

[zzzak]

Now I'm being serious here, what's the big deal with these big two strokes? Why are they so tricky? The specs suggest that they're a bit tame compared to modern bikes. Was the gearing too low once you got in the powerband?
LOL, I just looked up a dyno graph of an H2. Very funny looking. It's like an engine with a massive turbo.

You need to think of them in a historical context for them to make sense,at the time the bikes to have were the Triumph Bonneville and Trident,the BSA Rocket III or the Norton Commando which had ruled the roost seemingly forever.

Then around the late sixties the Japs got serious and in addition to their by now pretty extensive catalogue of small and/or agricultural bikes they muscled into the sport bike market with a zing-zing.

My Mach III would absolutely slaughter the best the local boys,who were die-hard Brit fans and dreamers about Harleys,could offer.

My Suzuki 500 Titan was bad enough when I got it, they thought that it was going to be twice as fast as a 250 and the new 250's were hardly sluggish so the Suzie was regarded with awe and when I got the Mach III it was all over.

Back in those days a 500 was a big bike,the Triumph 650 only developed 46hp and when the Kwacka kwacked out 60 from a 500 and all in one go we were all astounded,it was like a ufo had landed.

Then came the Mach IV (H2) with 750cc and that,followed by the H***a K1 was the nail in the coffin for the Brit bike industry.

My first bike was 22hp and over 200 kilos.



Two bikes later it was one of these.



Another thing was the sound that they made,up until then there were no large smokers,especially three cylinder ones and that, added to the fact that the power came in one lump changed the face of motorcycling forever.

Great days they were and great bikes,they didn't handle but we didn't know much about handling back then so everything was ok,the fact that no-one else saw you slow for the corner showed how far you were ahead and they could only find which way you'd gone by following their noses.

It was just at the end of the sixties but I'd better stop there,we still have the bikes fortunately although all the rest of that revolution appears to be gone.

I would love a blue 72 H2,for the riding that I do and the vintage rego status it would be perfect as a second bike.

[Gosling1]

Great post zzzak, that blue triple looks fantastic.

I remain in awe at your ability to unearth great pictures of these most famous Kawasaki models ever made.

MiG - the power outputs of these bikes are in some cases almost 40 years old. For their era, they were phenomenal outputs.

The Z1 of 1972 put everything else to shame. 84 bhp !!!

[zzzak]

A repressed historian maybe?

It's a lovely bike, know any around here?