Kawasaki Triple

[XRVrider]

Theres been a kwaka 2 stroke triple on TM. Only a 250, but wondering if anyone has had one of these or different CC rated bikes?

Have looked into this a wee bit and like the idea. If youve had one or ridden one, whats the 250 go like, even they must have a bit of get up and go. Probly better to have the 500 or is it the 750 after that? Any probs with these, weak points etc...

Ta all.

[Ixion]

I owned the original 500 triple model (the drum brake one) . And rode the 250 350 and 750 (not the 400).

The 500 tried to kill me. There is still an outstanding contract by Kawasaki Heavy Industries on me, I can never ride another Kockasuckie.

It failed to kill me, only because I realised that it was lying awake nights, when decent bikes are sleeping, plotting homicidal intent. I sold it before it had the chance. The gentleman I sold it to, also realised the mortal peril he was in and sold it in time. I found it a few years later in a wrecker's yard.Tteh man he sold it to , it killed him. Almost all Kawasaki 500s ended up in wreckers' yards under such strictures.

The 250 and 350 were less homicidal, but even more tiresome to ride. The 350 I rode, I borrowed from a mate. A few weeks later, it threw him off , caught fire and burned him to death. A passing bus driver tried to extinguish his body with a fire extinguisher but the flames were too great and he had to let the body burn itself out. I brought the wreck. There was no blood on it, it was all burned off, for which I was grateful. That pretty much sums up the Kawasaki triples. I sold the engine to a man who wanted it for a mini-hovercraft.

The 750 was the best of them - the insanity was broader, and thus less vicious.

They are definately NOT a bike to ride for enjoyment. But , if you can accept the high probability of death, they are an interesting experience. What hymns do you want?

[Edbear]

LOL!!! Good post!

The wee 250 was not that fast and the RD Yamaha was a better bike. However I still loved the whole range of triples. The 350 was quick but not as dangerous, it wasn't too bad really, but the 400 was the best triple of them all. It was fast and it handled but looked more mainstream which some didn't like as much.

The 500 was pretty much as Ixion described, a hooligan bike that would bite you if you weren't careful and would even if you were careful, often. The green one was a fantastic looking bike and the stuff of a schoolboy's dream. The 750 was similar with more power... Main problem was the weight distribution which was too much rear-biased and with the weak frames unable to handle the power which came on suddenly, like a light switch, would flick you off.

Most sports bikes now put out a lot more power, but of course they brake and handle, something the bikes of the 60's and 70's weren't particularly good at....

[Motig]

Apart from all the above points your biggest problem will be finding parts for it.

[Dadpole]

The 250 was always all show & no go. You could see 100 mph on one, but that was only because the speedos were a joke. They are a good, fun bike, but silly money is being asked for some of them.
The best and most affordable one is probably the S3 400.

[rok-the-boat]

They were rubbish from new. Saying that, I had 3 of the 250s. They run fine for awhile, then they run on two cylinders. Then, one. Good fun while they last, but they don't last long.

[robinm]

I owned the very last 750 sold new in NZ, dec 1976, what an awesum machine, I production raced it, dragraced it, commuted on it and once tried to tour on it, but at only 15mpg at 100kph and a small tank I had to stop and refuel every 10 minutes it seemed. 3 tanks of gas to go from ChristChurch to Blenheim to attend Hawkesbury road races, but instant wheelies in any of the first three gears was a buzz. But as others have said, the other ones, the 500's started out as suicide machines, had the nickname of "widow makers", but as they aged the did get more ridable, the best of them was the '75 models I feel.
The 250's were rubbish, the 350's were ok but still not that good.The 400's, although they do not have the cult following of the 500's and 750's were in my mind the best of the smaller triples ( They still were not as quick as the RD400 of the same era though) The ultimate triple though would have to be the HB2B 750 of '75/'76, Or if you can find one overseas the H2C which we never got here, same as a H2B but with twin discs.

[robinm]

Just remembered I hd this photo on my computer, the very last H2b sold in NZ sold by Norjos in ChCh in dec '76193163

[Grubber]

I owned the original 500 triple model (the drum brake one) . And rode the 250 350 and 750 (not the 400).

The 500 tried to kill me. There is still an outstanding contract by Kawasaki Heavy Industries on me, I can never ride another Kockasuckie.

It failed to kill me, only because I realised that it was lying awake nights, when decent bikes are sleeping, plotting homicidal intent. I sold it before it had the chance. The gentleman I sold it to, also realised the mortal peril he was in and sold it in time. I found it a few years later in a wrecker's yard.Tteh man he sold it to , it killed him. Almost all Kawasaki 500s ended up in wreckers' yards under such strictures.

The 250 and 350 were less homicidal, but even more tiresome to ride. The 350 I rode, I borrowed from a mate. A few weeks later, it threw him off , caught fire and burned him to death. A passing bus driver tried to extinguish his body with a fire extinguisher but the flames were too great and he had to let the body burn itself out. I brought the wreck. There was no blood on it, it was all burned off, for which I was grateful. That pretty much sums up the Kawasaki triples. I sold the engine to a man who wanted it for a mini-hovercraft.

The 750 was the best of them - the insanity was broader, and thus less vicious.

They are definately NOT a bike to ride for enjoyment. But , if you can accept the high probability of death, they are an interesting experience. What hymns do you want?

Be it a little gory...that post is an absolute bottler. Ridin said machine some years ago and owned a 350 of the same. Very capable of killing many things and most of them Human. Insane bikes is an understatement for sure.

[Viscount Montgomery]

I had the mach 111 in the 70's, the 500, a 74 model I think, a purpley-red colour.
Those ones had one disc up front and the full firecracker power detuned a bit from the first white ones, but fuck, still a maniac-bitch power delivery.


From idle to 4500 there was zilch, from 4500 to 5000 things slightly started to happen, and from 5200 onwards to about 8500, the full nastiness came thundering in like twenty tons of cascading bricks.

The evil bitch sat at 100kph at 4200 burbling in 5th, you could feel the pent-up aggresion lurking like a caged grizzly, very smooth at low revs with just no power on tap without tap-dancing the gears, silky turbine smooth with crystal clear mirrors UNTIL that mean powerband hit at 5000.

For a while there, the communist dictator Muldoon who ran the country back then, single-handed with an iron fist, dumped the open road limit to 80kph and shut down all gas stations over weekends.

Try doing aucks to wells on a mach 111 on a weekend. Ha! Just couldn't do it! MPG was fucking atrocious. Weekends you had to lug a 5 gallon tin on your back (If you arsed off you'd become the flying flame) and still you never got far without having to turn back or else spend the day(s) hitch-hiking home with the fucken bike bone dry and hidden in the fucken scrub somewhere.


No matter what gear or revs or speed you rode, 15 mpg was the best I ever, ever got on the mach 111. No B.S. And the 2-stroke oil injection just drank oil like you wouldn't believe too. If you sat at 80 kph for more than 20 minutes, you'd have to continually knock her down to 2nd or 3rd and wring the bitch for a couple of minutes at 8000 to clear the plugs in a solid wall of blue smoke. Sitting on the speed limit was never gonna happen.

With a geared up 13-14 stone rider, she was good for 170 - 180 kph anywhere, anytime, and got there in a blink. Good conditions and a tailwind she'd crack 195- 200 kph. It'd cruise effortlessly dreamlike at 140 - 150 kph, but lose concentration and the good-ole tankslapper wobbles would set in with a vengeance. Shutting down the gas was the worse thing to do, you'd have to accelerate out of it..


Of course, on corners you had to wrestle and muscle the bitch hard-out, it was all over the show, like riding on bastard gravel with extremely vague feel and control. You had to mod your suspension with washers, hacksaws and hammers to suit your own weight. Tyres were inevitably the special grease-impregnated Cheng -Shins and shit like that, about as trustworthy as Rodney Hide or Bill English..


I'm surprised the modern-day wowser 'officials' haven't banned all the kwaka 2-stroke triples yet

[speedpro]

I managed to avoid these, instead doing the RD/CB/Z route. Most of my mates has triples though. The 350 was one of the prettiest bikes with a beautiful blue paint job, and it only ever got 18mpg, ever. My RD got down to 18mpg but you had to be trying. There was a good collection of 500s in the bunch ranging from a blue one with drum brakes, orange with disc, and a couple of green ones. The blue one was fun but had no ground clearance worth mentioning, the orange one still had no ground clearance but at least had a disc brake which was a "little" bit better than the drum, but not in the wet. The green ones were a bit boring in comparison except for the one with alloy Denco pipes. As has been said, once you got to 5000rpm you better be looking at a straight bit of road with no bumps unless you wanted a LOT of excitement in what was left of your life. They did come with a warning system to let you know the steering damper wasn't wound up which was very hard to ignore. It didn't help if your "mates" had taken the damper off of course, in which case a quick trip to the nearest roadside ditch was mandatory. The 750s, engine wise, were relative pussies. I did have a brief squirt on a piped and carbed one which was bit more exciting. They all made an unreal moan from the intake below the power, the early ones in particular, and then when they got going I'm not sure. There was always other things to think about by then.

[Jantar]

A few weeks after I bought my Suzuki GT250R (1972) Kawaskai bought out the 250 triple (S2 from memory) with a claimed power output 1HP more than the Suzuki. I was gutted. Back in those days I rated power first and anything else a distance 2nd. Later I had a ride on one, and I was pleased that I bought the Suzuki before the Kwaka came out. Despite the claimed HP it wasn't as quick or as rideable as the Suzi.

Later I owned a Kwaka 750 tripple, and man could that thing go (as long as it was in a straight line). But like Ixion's experience it was a killer and I didn't own it for long. It woukld want to stand up mid corner for no reason, or it would appear sluggish one moment and the next the rear end is trying to pass the front end.

Also like robinm and Viscount Mountgomery have noted, touring in the weekend with no fuel available was a big nono.

[KAWA Z]

G'day XRVrider ! Have been looking at the baby triple myself for some time and would go for it if I wasn't a bit short on dosh at the moment, gotta spent $$$ on my Z1000 !
Would be a great fun little bike for a spin around the neighbourhood and countryside, but it's more about owning one little classic that appreciates and is certainly rare and special.
The good thing about it in comparison with the 500 and 750 widowmakers is that you might survive your first or second real ride on the wee one ! Have ridden 'em all and believe me, the bigger one have got some real surprises in store for the rider that doesn't really know his right hand.
The bike is a jap import as far as I see and not 100% but a very good project, parts are available from various suppliers, so......why not !?

[SPman]

The 250's were pretty gutless - espec compared with the previous disc valve 250 twin (Samurai, I think they called them). I hankered after a 350SS Avenger, but ended up with a 350 S2 for a while, and, apart from a wheelie from the kerb across the main street in Kaitia, it was fairly easy to ride - I was faster than my mates on RD350,s in the wet, but the drum brake didn't quite stop as well and lack of a 6th gear didn't help, either. Spark plugs every 3-500 miles, fuel cooled - I got 29 mpg 2 up down the Wairau Valley once (I had too, there was 70 miles between gas stations...) and top end rebuild every 3000 miles! The S2A (blue model) at least had a disc brake, but the 400 was acknowledged as being the best. The 500 was, as Les said - a viscious, visceral, evil handling lurker! But Fun!

[wayne636]

just got a s3 400 engined kh my self found lots of bits on e bay (easy to join)found a set of carbs for mine in a day at good price as said most ended up killing the rider so lots available got mine with a boot load of staters .flywheels .wire harnesses.pistons heads. an barrells. so no probs hopefully .be going to the apiti run see you there..................

[SPman]

as said most ended up killing the riderThe S3 400 was reckoned to be the sweetest model of the bunch.

[kr250]

I reckon my KR250A is a much nicer bike,6500 rpm hits hard disc valve, not known for the gentle approach, but isn't that why two strokes are fun

[Bandit Rider]

I liked my orange tank 500 - OK - powerband hopelessly narrow, frame not up to it, brakes like a land anchor compared with today (ie. like throwing out something attached to a rope), it was fun though.

Liked to hit 80 mph on a short gravel straight just past Princess Margaret Hospital in Christchurh - noticed the hang glider guys would stop and look at me - and in those days the survival rate for hang gliding was no better than for a Mach III pilot; slowed up a bit when I realised that - and still here.

Great bikes from a long time ago - I rate them as being something special. Agree with the comments about Yamaha RDs - but they just worked really well, so not quite the same mystique.