I now own this bike that is in the video. Have had to rebuild the engine, as it ate a big end bearing. The motor is currently being reassembled with a new crank, all bearings seals and Orings replaced. Along with new Pistons rings small ends and piston pins. New gear selector forks. Let's just say a completely as new engine. I've also rebuilt the gauges and polished all the brightwork. It's a great machine. Keeper for sure.
Had the identical 71 twin of this bike back in high school, except for the exhaust. With only 2000 miles on it. The ignition module was cooked and I never did get to hear the thing run. Thanks for posting this, now I know. Sounds healthyyyy! Excuse me while I go for a good cry.
My first motorcycle back in 1970 was this 250. My hair was long and this was my ride. Great feeling with your girlfriends arms around your waste. Lived on the Main Line, Philly. Loved driving the winding roads of Valley Forge or down to the Jersey shore. This bike was wonderful. I remember having to get the clutch adjusted now and then. I also remember when I hit speeds like 65-70 the front end would start to lift too easily . Much to lite for going fast but great city bike. Gosh, I miss those days!
In 1966 Kawasaki introduced the 250 A1 SAMURAI. It was a success and helped Kawasaki establish themselves as a maker of high performance motorcycles. It was followed in 1966 by the A7 350 AVENGER. This series continued until 1971 when the range was replaced by the S-series triples. It had two rotary disc valves, 31 BHP and a claimed top speed of 103 MPH. This was enough to keep up with most 500/650 four-stroke twins and the light 319 pounds weight ensured quicker acceleration times.
Fine video ! I owned such a bike, bought brand new in 1971, same color. Thanks for having permitted to listen to this good old two strokes sound once more. Remained only some pics and parts, but now I know where I can drive it again. Thanks for that from France.
I have mine for sale right now on Ebay!! 71 A1SSB 250 Samurai 90% there. this one has the rare high pipes. ran it 14 years ago but had a throttle issue and never got back to it. I need to give it to someone who will bring her back to glory!!
@tr500 I had one in 1977, I remember reading the gauges at full throttle in 5th showing 105 at 8,500 rpms. The bike was fast especially for a 250. The engine didn't like long fast highway rides, but then again it was a two stroke. I miss this bike!
Had one back in the day. Also had an A7SS Avenger 350 which had a claimed 42hp.. which was more than any other 350 at that time....The rotary valves would sheer off of their spline shaft if you miss a shift, and then suddenly clunk it into gear... The non-folding foot pegs we’re actually dangerous...they had the worst drum brake. I don’t know if it was the angles/the cables/the brake shoe material, but they were not as good as on the X6 or the DS7. It had a five speed with neutral below first gear I think,...Easy to find neutral, but,that made it too easy to miss shifts and Sheer off the rotary valves.. you would be riding along, and shift into what you thought was first gear, and you would hit neutral, the machine would redline in that accidental neutral, and many people would clunk it into gear, and sheer the rotary valves off when they would make the crankshaft suddenly stop dead from 8000 RPMs down to 600 rpm’s when they clunk it into gear.....only had a 5 speed.....they should’ve come up with a better method of securing the counter shaft nut onto the shaft. They often came loose. I do not remember it being the fastest of the 250s. That was the Suzuki X6 hustler which had a six speed box, & piston port engine.. at least until the magnificent all conquering Yamaha RD 250 with its six speed, reed valve engine with the 54 x 54 stroke/bore made the scene in 73...of course the best of the air cooled two strokes is the Bridgestone 350 .. The Bridgestone has chromed bores, A dry clutch, a six speed, it would kick start in any gear without being in neutral, it would start without a battery. It was rotary valve. The reason Bridge stone is not the #1 motorcycle manufacture around the world right now is, there was a longshoreman dock strike in the late 60s here in the USA, it lasted for months. That strike stopped all imports of everything right when the new model year motorcycles were almost here.The ships were just offshore loaded with Bridgestone’s ..They put all their eggs in one basket that year, and the longshoreman would not unload any ships because of a strike. That was the end of Bridgestone.. Bridgestone was the most innovative of the two-stroke Japanese motorcycle companies. I wonder what they would have come up with and that strike not ended that bright future they had..I had two friends that had 350 bridgestones..They drove from Pittsburgh to San Francisco down into Mexico across the country to Florida and back north to Pittsburgh on those machines, and they did not have any trouble with their machines. They took the 350 Bridgetown‘s because they had 6 gallon fuel tanks. Bridgestone was ahead of Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha in implementing up-to-date technology. Honda was allergic to two strokes. They just would not stoop to making two-stroke Street bikes. I was a Honda dealership mechanic at the time, and my specialty was 350 Honda twins.. they were junk. It was very unusual to see a 350 Honda twin that had the original camshaft in it at 15,000 miles. There was a bulletin from Honda to all the dealers that said to stock up on camshaft and related top and rebuild hardware and gaskets. They said for every 10 machines you sell, stock seven top and kits. To this day, I would not own a 350 Honda twin. Why were they popular? Because they had electric starters.... Back in the 60s, I was one of the two-stroke café racer groupies. The very first thing me and my friends would do when we would buy a new or used 250 or 350two-stroke. Was put flat bars on it, and remove the turn signals if it had them from the factory. Install koni shocks, and remove the center stand. That was standard operating procedure....I was always trading machines with friends. They were cheap. You could buy a brand new 250 two-stroke for $595. The Kawasaki 500 triple was $995, the 750 Honda was 1095... I had several X6, DS7, RD 250/350, S1, S2, H1, Bridgestone GTR, motorcycles. I think I had four RDs.. 3-S2s...never bought a new one. I was always trading cars, guitars, for motorcycles, I would get something like an my A1 and trade it for a 350 Bridgestone that someone forgot to put oil in the injector tank...I would fix the Bridgestone, and trade it for an RD or a Kawasaki triple... that’s the way it was in the late 60s and early 70s. Bikes were cheap, they were everywhere, and they always needed fixed, which is where I would swap a good bike for one that someone was having trouble with, things like, blown crank seal, seized, dirty carburetors, crashed, the Kawasaki triples had crash vulnerable oil pumps they were also a bitch to start.. They were also the worst handling two strokes ever. You would see them at local club road races doing tankslappers everywhere...you just didn’t go out and ride without carrying new spare spark plugs and the tools to change them.Owners manuals actually told you useful things like how to change tires or adjust the timing ,rather than be filled with warnings like, don’t drink gasoline that you see in today’s owners manuals. Motorcycles actually came with crude basic tool kits., and hinged flip open seats.Bikes were cheap/disposable, consumables. 2strokes really didn’t last that long. They generally needed a fresh top end around 10,000 to 20,000 miles. Except for those Suzuki 750 triple water buffaloes.I never had one, but they had a reputation for lasting as long as a four stroke engines between needing a top end refresh... You knew when your two stroke was getting close to needing new pistons, especially on a Kawasaki because you would hear the dreaded piston rattle which was amplified by the air cooled cylinder fins. The reason Kawasaki had the most prominent piston rattle, sometimes even new,Was because they put their wrist pins on center of the piston. Other manufacturers would put their wristpims slightly off center to reduce rattle.. Kawasaki didn’t care about extra noise back then. Just look at the 1973 introduction of the Z1.. you could always tell the sound difference between the Z1 and others like the Honda 750 /4 because you would hear that straight cut primary gear whine Emanating from the Kawasaki. Of course straight cut primary gears don’t require reinforced thrust washers and that helical cut primary drive requires, because straight cut gears do not tend to push away from each other the way helical cut gears do, straight cut primary gears also transmit power in a direct line rather than at the angle helical cut gears do. I actually bought a set of aftermarket straight cut primary gears for my A7SS Avenger. I loaned them to Eric Buell in the 70s, he still has them come to think of it. In one of my swap deals back in the day, I ended up with an H1 R..That was a Kawasaki factory Road racer like the one Duhamel raced for the factory.Those machines were such horrible handlers, that they were almost unrideable, which is how I ended up with one. It had sandcast cases, the Bores of the cylinders were chromed, and it had a perimeter tube type frame, 4 shoe front brake., And you had to replace the crankshaft on the racer about every 600 or 800 miles. I remember my friend and I had to drive all the way up to Boston from Pittsburgh in 22jrs to buy a rebuilt crankshaft from Kevin Cameron, the so-called expert on the Kawasaki triple road racers. He said he would not take the chance of shipping us a crankshaft because they are so precision balanced when they are rebuilt, that he wouldn’t take responsibility unless we picked it up in person. So we hopped in my buddies brand new Chevy Vega, and did the 22 hour round-trip to pick up this precious perfectly rebuilt precision balanced crankshaft from Kevin Cameron, who happens to be the guy that writes for one of the magazines about two strokes. When we got home, that precision balanced crankshaft was so out of true, it would not even fit in the cases.. So much for Mr. expert. I never believed any of his technical rants in the magazine since... I don’t remember exactly what I ended up trading my Kawasaki A1 for.. I put I’m sure it was another two stroke motorcycle. They were everywhere and cheap...
Thanks Harry really enjoyed your reminisces. I would have to agree with nearly all of it. I rode across Australia on T500 Suzukis and the GT750 Suzuki. Both of them were nearly unbreakable. The T500 I rode across the continent several times and 2 up and spent several years road racing it. Unlike the two strokes you mentioned I sold it still on original bore and pistons at 50,000 miles and it still had alot of life left in it. Later I rode the TR500 Suzuki and it also did not chew up pistons. The Suzukis were built tough. The GT750 shared the bore and stroke of the T500 and was also a durable machine. I hope you don't mind but I would like to copy your reminisces into my local vintage club newsletter. I would love to hear any other stories you may have. cheers Murray
tr500 murray Murray murray... What would you like to hear? How do I put into words the thrill I felt, just starting my A7SS Avenger..How do I describe my gut reaction to my first ride on an RD 350 as it hit the powerband in 1st gear?? I could hear the reed valves, resonating at a musical pitch.. like a muffled kazoo times two... I can still smell that lovely two-stroke clouds of smoke the night I was street-dragracing my avenger ,run after run after run against a brand new black with white bucket seats 1970 396 Yenko Chevelle .. I sat practically on top of the gas tank to try to keep the front end down at the launches.. I had no mercy on the clutch, I never did.. Standard operating procedure at a red light launch in that situation was, pin the throttle, make sure im in second gear, and fan clutch.. That Chevelle procedure was, to brake torque, melting the back tires, release the brake when the light changed. It was a cloudless summer night....everybody knew Rays Chevelle was the car to beat.. we went at it five times that night. even every time. Neither one of us lost that night.. Ray said he could look out his passenger window, and see my helmet disappearing as my A7 Front wheel left the ground through second and third gears.. After five runs with no winners,The Chevelle started to push water out the overflow. My avenger didn’t mind, but I could hear metal expansion clicking sounds from my engine after those 5 redline launches.. there is no sound quite like that. We both decided that someone was going to call the cops. It was after midnight/Saturday night on the McKnight road flats , where most of the muscle cars went to settle the score And the cops knew it, We decided to go to the local Saturday night hotspot to grab some burgers.I remember rays Chevelle radio playing sunshine of your love that night as I removed my helmet to get into his Chevelle ..eat ‘n Park...I sat in the passenger seat , ordered my usual big boy, fries and a coke-no ice..The stacked carhop Skated our orders out , eased the tray on the half open window. We each paid for our own since neither won,And we gave Barb a tip,but she never smiled,.. she was much older afterall..22 I think..from that night on every time I Saw Ray, I always said to him...I didn’t lose, and he always replied, neither did I.. Then.Kawasaki released the S2..
Sure, this bike had some weaknesses, I remember I often opened the engine to replace evasive joints which made the motor eating its own oil, creating a beautiful dense blue smoke behind me on the road (pollution wasn't fashion by these times), but we talk about our youth and the Kawa A1 which gave all of the owners their 70's biker's pleasure. Bibopekawa.
are you a fool, no-one has ever suggested that this bike has a rotary engine, it is a rotary valve two stroke twin. The rotary valve is a disc valve geared to the crankshaft.
A7 exhausts and polished cases [not silver painted] are deviations from stock. These run superlube whereas the A7 runs injectorlube ,which oils the big ends and rods.
I owned one in 1968, it had more grunt than my YDS2 Yamaha, though it nearly killed me a couple of times with massive death wobbles at 80 mph. Another time at 60 mph with my girlfriend on the back.(That got my attention). Maybe the steering damper needed adjusting but I didn't want to die while experimenting with it and traded the bike for a car.
I owned this classic motorcycle new in 1971 and it is a wonderfully 'balanced' motorcycle, in widest sense of that word. The Achilles heel of this bike (and the 350 Avenger) is the small-end bearing, which is of a very poor design (compared to the same era Suzuki Super-Six). If one of these bearings go (around 12K miles) then it is curtains as the needles cascade through the engine, which happened to a 350 Avenger owned by an aquaintance.
@tr500 i have to add here that in 1974 there was a version of Samurai with 750cc, 3 cilinders,2-stroke of course, with awful breaks(as usualy for a Sumurai) and with an astonishing acceleration. the top speed? I am still counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a 1971 G3SSA that has been turned into a little cafe racer. I'm definitely interested in looking for a A1 or A7 motor to bring more than 90cc's to the bike. Anyway, great looking bike.
I had the A1 and the S7 350… horrible front brake, and the rotary valves often broke off the splines that they were attached to the crankshaft with. If you missed a shift, and then suddenly clunked it into gear, you would probably snap off a rotary valve at the splines because they were just made of fiber , Much like a 4 1/2 inch grinding disc. Some genius came out with aluminum ones in the aftermarket, you can’t run aluminum on aluminum. It ended up destroying the engine cases, and valve cover by having an aftermarket aluminum rotary valve. The rotary valve just looks like a fiber wheel of one of those small grinders with a section cut out of it from let’s say 9 o’clock to 12 o’clock. The carburetor was mounted to the valve cover. Bridgestone had the same set up.. I think if it were not for the dock strike in the late 60s by the longshoreman that would not unload any ships for months, and some of those ships had the next year’s Bridgestone motorcycles on it. That put Bridgestone out of business. And that’s a crime because, I had a 350 Bridgestone GTR. That thing was so advanced above suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki. The bores of the cylinders were chrome plated. They wouldn’t wear out. It had a six speed which was rare, it had a 6 gallon gas tank, the top of the seat was left felt like material that you did not slide around on. You could put the shifter and the brake on opposite sides to have right side shifting and left side breaking, or vice versa.. it also had a dry clutch. Spinning the clutch in oil robs power.. The Longshoremans union for Bridgestone out of business. And that’s a pity because I believe it would be Honda, then Bridgestone, then Yamaha Kawasaki Suzuki.. But, the Kawasaki A7 SS avenger what is the most powerful 350 of the day. 42 hp. But it had such horrible front brakes, drum, they also needed a steering damper which they had. It wasn’t hydraulic, it was a friction damper that went on through the steering stem.. One night I was drag racing my A7 avenger against a Yanko 396 Chevelle SS. We ran them off four times. My A7 was slightly faster
i still have 2 of them a 1970 and a 1969 the 1970 has electronic ignition and the 69 had points and condencer. the only problem is i burried them in 1988 along with a couple yamaha rds in 1988 i may dig them up and make a utube vidio
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I now own this bike that is in the video. Have had to rebuild the engine, as it ate a big end bearing. The motor is currently being reassembled with a new crank, all bearings seals and Orings replaced. Along with new Pistons rings small ends and piston pins. New gear selector forks. Let's just say a completely as new engine. I've also rebuilt the gauges and polished all the brightwork. It's a great machine. Keeper for sure.
How much did d you buy it for ???
Beautiful!
Had the identical 71 twin of this bike back in high school, except for the exhaust. With only 2000 miles on it. The ignition module was cooked and I never did get to hear the thing run. Thanks for posting this, now I know. Sounds healthyyyy! Excuse me while I go for a good cry.
My first motorcycle back in 1970 was this 250. My hair was long and this was my ride. Great feeling with your girlfriends arms around your waste. Lived on the Main Line, Philly. Loved driving the winding roads of Valley Forge or down to the Jersey shore. This bike was wonderful. I remember having to get the clutch adjusted now and then. I also remember when I hit speeds like 65-70 the front end would start to lift too easily . Much to lite for going fast but great city bike. Gosh, I miss those days!
In 1966 Kawasaki introduced the 250 A1 SAMURAI. It was a success and helped Kawasaki establish themselves as a maker of high performance motorcycles. It was followed in 1966 by the A7 350 AVENGER. This series continued until 1971 when the range was replaced by the S-series triples. It had two rotary disc valves, 31 BHP and a claimed top speed of 103 MPH. This was enough to keep up with most 500/650 four-stroke twins and the light 319 pounds weight ensured quicker acceleration times.
Fine video !
I owned such a bike, bought brand new in 1971, same color.
Thanks for having permitted to listen to this good old two strokes sound once more.
Remained only some pics and parts, but now I know where I can drive it again.
Thanks for that from France.
what a stunning example of a nowadays rare bike, all the best
Had one in the same color scheme. Rebuilt it in my bedroom in 75. Some of my x's still rememer it to this day. Thanx man.
I have mine for sale right now on Ebay!! 71 A1SSB 250 Samurai 90% there. this one has the rare high pipes. ran it 14 years ago but had a throttle issue and never got back to it. I need to give it to someone who will bring her back to glory!!
@tr500 I had one in 1977, I remember reading the gauges at full throttle in 5th showing 105 at 8,500 rpms. The bike was fast especially for a 250. The engine didn't like long fast highway rides, but then again it was a two stroke. I miss this bike!
Had one back in the day. Also had an A7SS Avenger 350 which had a claimed 42hp.. which was more than any other 350 at that time....The rotary valves would sheer off of their spline shaft if you miss a shift, and then suddenly clunk it into gear... The non-folding foot pegs we’re actually dangerous...they had the worst drum brake. I don’t know if it was the angles/the cables/the brake shoe material, but they were not as good as on the X6 or the DS7. It had a five speed with neutral below first gear I think,...Easy to find neutral, but,that made it too easy to miss shifts and Sheer off the rotary valves.. you would be riding along, and shift into what you thought was first gear, and you would hit neutral, the machine would redline in that accidental neutral, and many people would clunk it into gear, and sheer the rotary valves off when they would make the crankshaft suddenly stop dead from 8000 RPMs down to 600 rpm’s when they clunk it into gear.....only had a 5 speed.....they should’ve come up with a better method of securing the counter shaft nut onto the shaft. They often came loose. I do not remember it being the fastest of the 250s. That was the Suzuki X6 hustler which had a six speed box, & piston port engine.. at least until the magnificent all conquering Yamaha RD 250 with its six speed, reed valve engine with the 54 x 54 stroke/bore made the scene in 73...of course the best of the air cooled two strokes is the Bridgestone 350 .. The Bridgestone has chromed bores, A dry clutch, a six speed, it would kick start in any gear without being in neutral, it would start without a battery. It was rotary valve.
The reason Bridge stone is not the #1 motorcycle manufacture around the world right now is, there was a longshoreman dock strike in the late 60s here in the USA, it lasted for months. That strike stopped all imports of everything right when the new model year motorcycles were almost here.The ships were just offshore loaded with Bridgestone’s ..They put all their eggs in one basket that year, and the longshoreman would not unload any ships because of a strike. That was the end of Bridgestone.. Bridgestone was the most innovative of the two-stroke Japanese motorcycle companies. I wonder what they would have come up with and that strike not ended that bright future they had..I had two friends that had 350 bridgestones..They drove from Pittsburgh to San Francisco down into Mexico across the country to Florida and back north to Pittsburgh on those machines, and they did not have any trouble with their machines. They took the 350 Bridgetown‘s because they had 6 gallon fuel tanks. Bridgestone was ahead of Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha in implementing up-to-date technology. Honda was allergic to two strokes. They just would not stoop to making two-stroke Street bikes. I was a Honda dealership mechanic at the time, and my specialty was 350 Honda twins.. they were junk. It was very unusual to see a 350 Honda twin that had the original camshaft in it at 15,000 miles. There was a bulletin from Honda to all the dealers that said to stock up on camshaft and related top and rebuild hardware and gaskets. They said for every 10 machines you sell, stock seven top and kits. To this day, I would not own a 350 Honda twin. Why were they popular? Because they had electric starters....
Back in the 60s, I was one of the two-stroke café racer groupies. The very first thing me and my friends would do when we would buy a new or used 250 or 350two-stroke. Was put flat bars on it, and remove the turn signals if it had them from the factory. Install koni shocks, and remove the center stand. That was standard operating procedure....I was always trading machines with friends. They were cheap. You could buy a brand new 250 two-stroke for $595. The Kawasaki 500 triple was $995, the 750 Honda was 1095... I had several X6, DS7, RD 250/350, S1, S2, H1, Bridgestone GTR, motorcycles. I think I had four RDs.. 3-S2s...never bought a new one. I was always trading cars, guitars, for motorcycles, I would get something like an my A1 and trade it for a 350 Bridgestone that someone forgot to put oil in the injector tank...I would fix the Bridgestone, and trade it for an RD or a Kawasaki triple... that’s the way it was in the late 60s and early 70s. Bikes were cheap, they were everywhere, and they always needed fixed, which is where I would swap a good bike for one that someone was having trouble with, things like, blown crank seal, seized, dirty carburetors, crashed, the Kawasaki triples had crash vulnerable oil pumps they were also a bitch to start.. They were also the worst handling two strokes ever. You would see them at local club road races doing tankslappers everywhere...you just didn’t go out and ride without carrying new spare spark plugs and the tools to change them.Owners manuals actually told you useful things like how to change tires or adjust the timing ,rather than be filled with warnings like, don’t drink gasoline that you see in today’s owners manuals. Motorcycles actually came with crude basic tool kits., and hinged flip open seats.Bikes were cheap/disposable, consumables. 2strokes really didn’t last that long. They generally needed a fresh top end around 10,000 to 20,000 miles. Except for those Suzuki 750 triple water buffaloes.I never had one, but they had a reputation for lasting as long as a four stroke engines between needing a top end refresh...
You knew when your two stroke was getting close to needing new pistons, especially on a Kawasaki because you would hear the dreaded piston rattle which was amplified by the air cooled cylinder fins. The reason Kawasaki had the most prominent piston rattle, sometimes even new,Was because they put their wrist pins on center of the piston. Other manufacturers would put their wristpims slightly off center to reduce rattle.. Kawasaki didn’t care about extra noise back then. Just look at the 1973 introduction of the Z1.. you could always tell the sound difference between the Z1 and others like the Honda 750 /4 because you would hear that straight cut primary gear whine
Emanating from the Kawasaki. Of course straight cut primary gears don’t require reinforced thrust washers and that helical cut primary drive requires, because straight cut gears do not tend to push away from each other the way helical cut gears do, straight cut primary gears also transmit power in a direct line rather than at the angle helical cut gears do. I actually bought a set of aftermarket straight cut primary gears for my A7SS Avenger. I loaned them to Eric Buell in the 70s, he still has them come to think of it.
In one of my swap deals back in the day, I ended up with an H1 R..That was a Kawasaki factory Road racer like the one Duhamel raced for the factory.Those machines were such horrible handlers, that they were almost unrideable, which is how I ended up with one. It had sandcast cases, the Bores of the cylinders were chromed, and it had a perimeter tube type frame, 4 shoe front brake., And you had to replace the crankshaft on the racer about every 600 or 800 miles. I remember my friend and I had to drive all the way up to Boston from Pittsburgh in 22jrs to buy a rebuilt crankshaft from Kevin Cameron, the so-called expert on the Kawasaki triple road racers. He said he would not take the chance of shipping us a crankshaft because they are so precision balanced when they are rebuilt, that he wouldn’t take responsibility unless we picked it up in person. So we hopped in my buddies brand new Chevy Vega, and did the 22 hour round-trip to pick up this precious perfectly rebuilt precision balanced crankshaft from Kevin Cameron, who happens to be the guy that writes for one of the magazines about two strokes. When we got home, that precision balanced crankshaft was so out of true, it would not even fit in the cases..
So much for Mr. expert. I never believed any of his technical rants in the magazine since...
I don’t remember exactly what I ended up trading my Kawasaki A1 for.. I put I’m sure it was another two stroke motorcycle. They were everywhere and cheap...
Thanks Harry really enjoyed your reminisces. I would have to agree with nearly all of it. I rode across Australia on T500 Suzukis and the GT750 Suzuki. Both of them were nearly unbreakable. The T500 I rode across the continent several times and 2 up and spent several years road racing it. Unlike the two strokes you mentioned I sold it still on original bore and pistons at 50,000 miles and it still had alot of life left in it. Later I rode the TR500 Suzuki and it also did not chew up pistons. The Suzukis were built tough. The GT750 shared the bore and stroke of the T500 and was also a durable machine. I hope you don't mind but I would like to copy your reminisces into my local vintage club newsletter. I would love to hear any other stories you may have. cheers Murray
tr500
murray Murray murray...
What would you like to hear? How do I put into words the thrill I felt, just starting my A7SS Avenger..How do I describe my gut reaction to my first ride on an RD 350 as it hit the powerband in 1st gear?? I could hear the reed valves, resonating at a musical pitch.. like a muffled kazoo times two...
I can still smell that lovely two-stroke clouds of smoke the night I was street-dragracing my avenger ,run after run after run against a brand new black with white bucket seats 1970 396 Yenko Chevelle .. I sat practically on top of the gas tank to try to keep the front end down at the launches.. I had no mercy on the clutch, I never did.. Standard operating procedure at a red light launch in that situation was, pin the throttle, make sure im in second gear, and fan clutch.. That Chevelle procedure was, to brake torque, melting the back tires, release the brake when the light changed.
It was a cloudless summer night....everybody knew Rays Chevelle was the car to beat.. we went at it five times that night. even every time. Neither one of us lost that night.. Ray said he could look out his passenger window, and see my helmet disappearing as my A7 Front wheel left the ground through second and third gears..
After five runs with no winners,The Chevelle started to push water out the overflow. My avenger didn’t mind, but I could hear metal expansion clicking sounds from my engine after those 5 redline launches.. there is no sound quite like that.
We both decided that someone was going to call the cops. It was after midnight/Saturday night on the McKnight road flats , where most of the muscle cars went to settle the score And the cops knew it,
We decided to go to the local Saturday night hotspot to grab some burgers.I remember rays Chevelle radio playing sunshine of your love that night as I removed my helmet to get into his Chevelle ..eat ‘n Park...I sat in the passenger seat , ordered my usual big boy, fries and a coke-no ice..The stacked carhop Skated our orders out , eased the tray on the half open window. We each paid for our own since neither won,And we gave Barb a tip,but she never smiled,.. she was much older afterall..22 I think..from that night on every time I Saw Ray, I always said to him...I didn’t lose, and he always replied, neither did I..
Then.Kawasaki released the S2..
@@harrylime5147 I had the same experience burning off big Ford 351 ci cars. They were flabbergasted
ive got heaps of pics of your bike! it seems to pop up from time to time! cheers!
NICE..This was my first bike back in 74 ..paid $450 for it.
The only diff is your mufflers were different than mine .
it's the most legendery vechile i have ever seen.
Sure, this bike had some weaknesses, I remember I often opened the engine to replace evasive joints which made the motor eating its own oil, creating a beautiful dense blue smoke behind me on the road (pollution wasn't fashion by these times), but we talk about our youth and the Kawa A1 which gave all of the owners their 70's biker's pleasure.
Bibopekawa.
are you a fool, no-one has ever suggested that this bike has a rotary engine, it is a rotary valve two stroke twin. The rotary valve is a disc valve geared to the crankshaft.
A7 exhausts and polished cases [not silver painted] are deviations from stock. These run superlube whereas the A7 runs injectorlube ,which oils the big ends and rods.
Nice example! My cousin had a 350 Avenger (same styling as I recall) and an H1 500 triple in the mid 70s.
How does the 250 handle?
Nice Bike !
Nice bike, always liked the twins. Tried to buy one years ago , no joy.Do you still own it ???
I owned one in 1968, it had more grunt than my YDS2 Yamaha, though it nearly killed me a couple of times with massive death wobbles at 80 mph. Another time at 60 mph with my girlfriend on the back.(That got my attention). Maybe the steering damper needed adjusting but I didn't want to die while experimenting with it and traded the bike for a car.
I owned this classic motorcycle new in 1971 and it is a wonderfully 'balanced' motorcycle, in widest sense of that word.
The Achilles heel of this bike (and the 350 Avenger) is the small-end bearing, which is of a very poor design (compared to the same era Suzuki Super-Six).
If one of these bearings go (around 12K miles) then it is curtains as the needles cascade through the engine, which happened to a 350 Avenger owned by an aquaintance.
@tr500 i have to add here that in 1974 there was a version of Samurai with 750cc, 3 cilinders,2-stroke of course, with awful breaks(as usualy for a Sumurai) and with an astonishing acceleration. the top speed? I am still counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a 1971 G3SSA that has been turned into a little cafe racer. I'm definitely interested in looking for a A1 or A7 motor to bring more than 90cc's to the bike. Anyway, great looking bike.
How much are they worth?i know someone with a 68 burgundy 5000 original miles original owner runs and looks great
@tr500 The A7 first appeared in the USA as a 1967 model according to 'Cycle' and 'Cycle World.'
I had the A1 and the S7 350… horrible front brake, and the rotary valves often broke off the splines that they were attached to the crankshaft with. If you missed a shift, and then suddenly clunked it into gear, you would probably snap off a rotary valve at the splines because they were just made of fiber , Much like a 4 1/2 inch grinding disc. Some genius came out with aluminum ones in the aftermarket, you can’t run aluminum on aluminum. It ended up destroying the engine cases, and valve cover by having an aftermarket aluminum rotary valve. The rotary valve just looks like a fiber wheel of one of those small grinders with a section cut out of it from let’s say 9 o’clock to 12 o’clock. The carburetor was mounted to the valve cover. Bridgestone had the same set up..
I think if it were not for the dock strike in the late 60s by the longshoreman that would not unload any ships for months, and some of those ships had the next year’s Bridgestone motorcycles on it. That put Bridgestone out of business. And that’s a crime because, I had a 350 Bridgestone GTR. That thing was so advanced above suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki. The bores of the cylinders were chrome plated. They wouldn’t wear out. It had a six speed which was rare, it had a 6 gallon gas tank, the top of the seat was left felt like material that you did not slide around on. You could put the shifter and the brake on opposite sides to have right side shifting and left side breaking, or vice versa.. it also had a dry clutch. Spinning the clutch in oil robs power.. The Longshoremans union for Bridgestone out of business. And that’s a pity because I believe it would be Honda, then Bridgestone, then Yamaha Kawasaki Suzuki..
But, the Kawasaki A7 SS avenger what is the most powerful 350 of the day. 42 hp. But it had such horrible front brakes, drum, they also needed a steering damper which they had. It wasn’t hydraulic, it was a friction damper that went on through the steering stem..
One night I was drag racing my A7 avenger against a Yanko 396 Chevelle SS. We ran them off four times. My A7 was slightly faster
i still have 2 of them a 1970 and a 1969 the 1970 has electronic ignition and the 69 had points and condencer. the only problem is i burried them in 1988 along with a couple yamaha rds in 1988 i may dig them up and make a utube vidio
Merci de partager.
sounds a lot like the jawa 350?
nice
i had one ate the big ends
where they tasty?
mon plaisir
Nope, never was for sale
He wants 1500 bucks for it is that a fair price?
@tr500 HAD A A1 250 OVER TOOK A KH250 NO PROB 28 MPG I WAS CLOCKED DOING 112MPH IN MY MATES GRANADA SOD X7 FIRST 250 2 HIT THE TON
YORKI
Ok but front end could use better damping, but it is a 60s design
two popper .
@toilit Mi ad a 250 took er 2 112mph on clock wether rong or reading but beat mi X 7 suzuki