1970 Kawasaki Mach III
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- I bought this Kawasaki H1 back in 1992. I restored it with proper cables, headlight, shocks, etc. I've always liked the peacock gray 1970 although it never was the most popular ! Louis Kranyak
love these old bikes, kwaks and suzi triples makes me feel young, just hearing and seeing them again is great. my FJR1300 would beat them in all ways but the old bike are so great and you guys keep then going.
Best sound in the world!
I had a 69 model when I was 18.
Im 60 now and I wish I still had it.
Well done.
I think we all say that about past bikes! LOL
Just watching this I can smell the two stroke exhaust from here. Like it's billowing out of the screen! What wonderful memories: Thanks for the posting!
Great times back then. You are welcome!
I bought a red mach lll in 1970,1104.00 out the door,I had to order it,I was there when they unloaded the crate,what a bike,the sound.Even today,it can keep up with most bikes up to 80 mph,with only 30 cubic inch.
That sounds like a great memory. The red ones were stunning!
The mechanical simplicity of air cooling and two stroke engine design.
Grand!
Beautiful H1.Thanks for posting the vid. It will give me something to watch while I wait for spring when I can ride again. :)
These motors were quick even by today's 500 standards. Great post.
Thanks, a great era to grow up in!
This was my older brother's and my first motorcycle bought used in '72 for $500. The Sound!!! What memories. To this day on the rare occasion that I might encounter one of these on the street my brother and I heads both snap in the direction that three cylinder two stroke scream comes from and say, "Mach III!"
shorts and flip flops...crazy...pretty bike...
+Pete Joyce Spur of the moment video...just got the bike...all I had to wear, etc.
+xsnut1 Spur of the moment video...just got the bike...all I had to wear, etc.
I bet that sound alone turns heads. Beautiful and spine tingling.
Twenty years ago and this "squid" is still going strong, thank you very much!
Just like the one I had in high school. Had to listen to the video a couple of times, nothing like the sound of a wide open triple. Nice !
The red ones were probably the best looking Mach III ever built !
Best sounding two stroke ever made in the world!!!!!!!!!!
I totally agree with you!
Makes Hemi Cudas down the rollaids
Very nice bike !! I have a 73 S2 :) I love the old triples !!
Love that intake roar!! Great video, dont see many peacock grey one's, nice to see one ridden as they should be!
Rode one these in San Francisco, 1971. Just off California and Joice. Not much happened until the tach hit 6,000 rpm and it was like a JATO assist, or a sling shot. Amazing bike. Two on, at a roll through the Stockton tunnel, from a roll it hit 95 mph as we exited.
Blimey that guy must be
a. The most talented rider I've ever seen with even more confidence.
or
b. A complete novice.
Why? Look how he was dressed.
My dad had one too, we lived in the Socal desert at that time. went for many rides with him. Great memories, thanks
Thank you! I had the 1971 when I was 18. i have a 1969 now!
@MACH3KAWASAKI Your memory is good. Avengers were great bikes. The 70 Mach III's came in red or peacock gray. I remember in the winter getting out of class at Junior College. The Harleys and Hondas were slow to start. It always irritated my friends when their bikes took awhile to start and I would hit the choke lever and first, second, or third kick and I'd be off. I never tried starting one by hand!
A friend of mine had one in the early 70s. It was lightening fast! I'd be putting along on my 69 Sportster, and he'd come flying past me on the rear wheel at 60.
These suckers were the shiznit when I was in high school. Great to see this.
Well do I remember the bike--my dad had one, and what a rocket it was. It was quite a thrill when it came up on the pipe.
I bought my KZ1000-LTD sight un-seen, from the Kawasaki dealer, in 1977...still have it and still love it. Haven't been able to ride this year though; I'm getting the carbs rebuilt.
Realy nice sound . and look fast too , congratulations , very very nice machine
My 1971 Kawasaki H1 cost $1126.25 out the door back in the day !
I had one IN 1970 same color...watching your video gives me chills of history!
Thanks...Check out ruclips.net/video/vhY3L3pxSSI/видео.html
You are correct. Once the RPM's got up there, it became a demon on wheels !
This sound brings back memories.....Thx.
A Blast from the Past! Nice.
I bought one in 1970,I paid 1104 dollars out the door,red with white strips.Fast as hell for the time,no brakes,poor handling.but pure fun for a 18 year old kid who worked after school to buy it.
I have a green 73 H1...the first one I had back in 1981 was a green 74 H1--my dad made me sell it because he nearly died on his Norton back in the 60s in New Zealand
Awesome! Just completed my 1970 H1 complete resto in the same Peacock Gray colors. Video coming soon. Cheers!!
Awesome. Stupidly, I sold that 1970 H1 and regretted it. Now, I'm building another one! Looking forward to your video!
Awesome bike my dad had one in early 70's. that power is amazing !
Midnight Blue is the color...yes with the Red Flame stripes it's classic! I've been in two recks on mine. Was sideswiped by a big four door Caddy up at Lake Tahoe. I wiped out both doors on one side of the caddy with almost no damage to my bike. The second time I went down beneath a car coming the other way. It took nine months to get my bike back; they had to get a new tank from Japan. My bike still looks great after all these years. Ride safe!
I owned a '71 Mach III for many years and this machine is detailed in my book The Tiddler Invasion.
My 2005 Kawasaki ZRX1200R will easily beat them but the Triples are so much more fun to ride, sound and look better too !
@toilit You are so right...it is a magical sound! Music to my ears!
Thanks for the memories. Ive owned two of these beasts, one the same as yours and a later disc brake model.
I owned a 1970 red and a 1972 blue H1 500s. I had the '72 worked on and it was fast! My best story is from about 1973 with the blue, I pulled up to stop light in Newhall, CA and 2 Honda 750s pulled up next to me and were revving like they wanted to show me something. When the light went green, I dusted them both up to about 80 MPH and I lifted and they went storming by with a CHP on their asses, lol. I won and they got the ticket. I now have a 1974 H2.
Small world...I bought a 1977 Kawasaki 1000 LTD brand new when I was in college. Purple-ish tank with red stripe on tank. I loved that bike until an older lady pulled in front of me when I was going about 80mph.Bike was $100.00 short of being totaled and insurance company had it rebuilt. It was never the same after that and I sold it! Great motorcycle!
Thanks ! As soon as weather gets better, I plan to fire it up and take some more video. It's been many years since I've ridden it ! Louis
There are times I'd like to go somewhere and not have to wear a helmet. Although a helmet is probably the safest way to go, I believe an individual should have the right to decide whether or not to wear one. I grew up in an era that we didn't have to wear one and I've always resented the fact that I am now forced to wear one. Thanks for your postings !
Yeah, that 2-stroke howl was intoxicating. My first bike was an H1 with a modded engine and bad swingarm bearings. Quite the sphincter-clenching ride. It had almost no power below 5500 RPM, but once it hit the powerband the acceleration was brutal. It's amazing I didn't kill myself on it. I traded it for a console stereo in a moment of idiocy. Doh! Definitely one of those "wish I'd never let it get away" machines.
Yeah, Great safety equipment. I should have had on jeans and good shoes so I could really tromp on it ! Louis
Yes! Great looking tank! I wish I had mine but after it was wrecked it tracked funny and never felt the same! Take care!
Enough already with the comments on my sandals! LOL!
I used to have one exactly like this one: same color and same year. She scared the hell out of me.
Like a KH250 could even pull the front wheel up !
THANK YOU!
Good sound!
That will get up and go. Looks like fun.
+Matt Cook It was...too bad I sold it...hope to be building another one soon!
very good bike driver thanks ,nice machine
These bikes were actually very hard to wheelie. I'm sure in the age of "Stunters" that's kind of hard to understand, but back in the '70s Honda made an inline 6 cyl. that was designed to be nearly impossible to do a wheelie on because of warranty issues regarding cracked engine blocks.
magic sound!
You have a very impressive collection of motorcycles. I especially like the RZ500. Let me know if you post any videos of it on the rode ! Thanks !
That's a 69/70 model formally called the SS in Japan. With 60 bhp & a power band the width of a gnats nudger made for great excitement,killed off by the fuel crisis of 73.H1A through to H1F saw a reduction in power & thus performance to it's eventual demise in 76.
The white ones were actually the first year models released in 1969. Towards the end of the year, there may have been a few peacock gray models released that wer 1969 but generally peacock gray models were 1970. At the time, that color was not well received and mid-year Kawasaki changed to a red tank with a white stripe (very sharp looking). I have noticed a resurgance of popularity for the peacock gray model in recent years, probably because it's not that common!, I like all the colors 1969-71.
Hey ...thats the way to ride a Kawi 500 Triple...beautiful..!!
I don't know about that...at the time, I rode mine all over the place and it never broke down! The English motorcycles and Harley's did on our trips to the coast. They still run and they are easy to work on but they did have their faults, brakes, handling, etc.
Sorry to disappoint you but it's obviously a 1970 H1 Mach III. The registration papers, serial numbers, and just looking at the bike support that fact. Thanks for looking and commenting though !
A friend has a beautiful restored Kawasaki 750 triple, we are not by any means youngsters, but somehow it still makes me smile when he lifts the front wheel in the first few gears leaving a bike meet. The bike is well looked after and he has done a nice twin disc conversion on it, otherwise stock, but there is something about it that makes him a hooligan! Excellent
what a good bike driver-thanks -damn ace
@chuanist Thanks for enlightening me! Luckily, this squid has not left any jelly deposits (yet)!
You are right it was a '71. The blue was stock color and I had the heads done, Kalgarded and expansion chambers. I wish I still had that bike it was fun. High speed wobble a couple of times though. Suppose to excellerate out of it but at 80 MPH no way I just rode it out and hung on, lol.
Thanks for posting this, I have never heard one of these run in person and this is quite close. Brrrrrrrr rrrrrp Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I'M TESTING MY MEMORY WITH THIS, BUT I THINK I'VE GOT IT RIGHT. IN 1969 I BOUGHT A NEW KAWASAKI 350cc A7 AVENGER. MY FIRST BIKE. IT WAS FAIRLY SMALL AND SCARY FAST. THE POWER BAND WAS AMAZING. I RODE IT FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND SOLD IT. I THINK I PAID $799 OR &899 AND SOLD IT FOR $600. I THEN BOUGHT NEW A 1970 KAWASAKI MACH 3 500cc TRIPLE.
I HAD MORE FUN WITH THESE BIKES. I HAD FRIENDS WITH HARLEYS BEFORE THE DAYS OF ELECTRIC START. I WOULD CRANK EITHER BIKE BY HAND AND REALLY GET THEM.
These, and Norton 750's, were the quick bikes of the day. These triple 2-strokes were quite "pipey" and when the power came on they could get away from you....
That is a great story! Was the 1972 custom painted blue? I thought they only came in orange in 1972. I know my blue 500 was a 1971 with a drum brake and 1972 was orange with a disc brake. Terrible brakes on 1969, 1970, and 1971 !
"you aint a biker- till you had a tripleH "[ as john wayne used to say ] & IF IT DONT SCARE YOU- YOU AINT RIDING HARD ENUF,top vid
A good sound and good smoke
@MACH3KAWASAKI Not to mention the drum brakes with little stopping power. My friend got a 1973 when I had a 1971. It stopped so much better!
I had a 2005 ZRX1200R and a 1979 Honda CBX 1000. Both would spank my H1 and H2 but they are stock! Nevertheless, in their heyday, H1's and H2's were fast and still fast as far as I'm concerned and fun to ride ! When you think about it, forty+ years later and they compare with today's muscle cars in the 1/4 mile, not with top end though!
Thanks ! Official Kawasaki Riding Sandals !
Great bike. Thanks for the Video. I had a H1F in '75. Craziest bike I ever owned!
That reminds me; what do you called a Frenchman in sandals? Phillippe Phillopp! ;-)
I was thinking Arizona but Texas sounds good too!
I'm glad I didn't either ! That's why i took it easy on the bike, because I didn't have proper riding gear !
i was just about to complain about the thong riding until I read the rest if the comments, lol. nvm. Great piece there!
I made that video 23 years ago...I still ride with my sandals sometimes...the trick is not to fall off the motorcycle...to all the "safety nazis"...and, even though California has a stinking mandatory helmet law, I sometimes go for a ride without a helmet...I hate the "mandatory" helmet law! California Sucks!
I used to ride my friend's 500 all the time. Front wheel rarely touched the ground. Fastest bike for it's time, but handled lousy and was not dependable.. My BMW R1200RT is as fast as that bike was.
anders your 100% right the 500 had a white tank and just a little slower then the 750,all up to the driver.
@poopy50832 You are right. It was kind of a spur of the moment video. Hopefully soon when my work slows down, I'm going to make some better videos!
Not sure what you mean by "breaking of " the bike ! If you are referring to whether they would break down or not, I always found them to be very reliable. If you are referring to the brakes (braking), the drum brakes were lousy and when you would get on it you had to make sure you had plenty of road ahead to stop on !
...nice bike...looks like the California oilfields west of Bakersfield...
great stuff they are very fast
When it gets a little warmer, It's snowing right now but next week it may be 70 i live southwest of chicago it was 50 christmas day!I saved your video to favorites! I just picked up the RZ500 last year it rides like a GP bike!Did you start from ground up restoration? Patrick
@kawasakih1 a squid rides motorcycles without protective gear and, often as not, leaves some 'jelly' on the pavement when the bike goes down.
I'm not sure. I'll check it out and see. I'm curious now ! It is a low serial number and should have the early engine case like on the early 69 500's so maybe it has brided ports too. I'll let you know. Thanks ! Louis
Regardless, a 12.1 on a 71 H1A is Damn Good! That is a good running Kawasaki!
Yer right ! It was kind of a spur of the moment film job and temps out there in desert get over 100 degrees !
I drag raced my 71 and ran 12.1 seconds at 107 mph . Lost in the final round to a Norton Commando .
What a sound
If only there wasn't a helmet law, then I wouldn't be wearing a helmet either !
@inagod That would be awesome to get one straight out of the crate!
never had one but man would i have loved to .The fastest going road bike of its time , had GT380 suzuki quick but under powered for its size............ but fun...... man did it smoke when you put the hammer man...........
+pete burrows Back in the day, I hated the Suzuki bikes and thought of them as copying Kawasaki but I've grown to like them and respect a lot of their features such as the Ram Air Heads....Suzuki launched its air-cooled two-stroke triples GT380 and GT550 in 1972. An water-cooled three-cylinder GT750 had already been presented a year earlier and the 380 and 550 followed the design of the flagship model.
The GT380 and GT550 were predicatable and sporty motorcycles, but up to a point. At touring speeds they were comfortable and smooth, but twisting the grip farther brought a wobble and cornering at higher speeds showed the limitations of the suspension, swinging arm and the tube frame.
The GT engines were less highly tuned than for example the Kawasaki triples. It was tuned for the long run. Porting, timing, compression, carburetor size etc. were all chosen to deliver smooth power at the expence of maximum power. It made the Suzuki GTs more reliable than fast. The odd 3 to 4 exhaust system and rigid foot pegs also limited the leaning angle and the sporting nature of the bike. The GT triples were simply made for touring and not for sport-styled riding.
The Ram Air System (introduced in all of the air-cooled GT models) that forced the cool air to pass through the cylinders and behind the block was a new developement, tested earlier on Suzuki's TR500 racers. It is an simply an air scoop that ducts cold air directly onto the cylinder head the help the cooling on the engine. It was a known problem that two-stroke engines lost power when the cylinder head temperature rose too much. Cooling problem plagued other two-stroke triples but the Ram Air System made the Suzuki GT triples less suspective to the charasteric two-stroke power loss caused by too high a cylinder head temperature after a long, hard run. Nevertheless the GT triples still had a reputation for the middle piston seizing.
Suzuki's automatic system mixing fuel and oil had been refined for the GT models, providing less exhaust smoke, now called CCI. A clever new item in the early seventies was the vacuum-operated petcock was first used on the GTs and later used on all Suzuki mototrcycle models.
Both triples saw some minor improvements every year of their production but after only few of years production the two-stroke engined street bikes were terribly out of fashion. Although the GT380 was as strong and reliable as a four-stroke of equal displacement the rather high fuel comsuption of the two-strokers was suddenly an issue, when the gasoline prizes rose in the seventies. Even Suzuki itself dug a grave to its two-stroke models by launching its highly popular GS series with four-stroke angines. It was actually forced to change their minds and start making four-stroke engines. The tighter emission regulations in America sounded the death knell for most two-strokes.
The GT550 was discontinued in 1977 and the GT380 a couple of years later, in 1979.
Had one of these and a Yamaha rd350 and yamaha rd450. I grew up riding in Palmdale California and this looks very much like the Mojave desert is it? I also rode early 1970 honda elsinores , they were ahead of there time even b4 monshocks.
@atreewithnolife If they had that qualification in the U.S., I never would have been able to get one. In the U.S., it was give us your 1100 dollars and here you go!
I use to run surface gap plugs,no extended ground,
Thank you!
Not sure why you have Egg on your face or you are sorry but thanks for comment, always good to hear from a triple enthusiast!