Kawasaki H1 - 500cc triple

[Madmax]

Most H1 frames crack around the left lower front engine mount
(went through three before i found a good one)
putting an 18in front rim and dropping the tripple clamps down
about an 1in helps the handling a bit
but the pipes hit the ground a bit quicker

[toycollector10]

Here's one of my favourite videos.

It's all perfect and in tune with the era. Jimi Hendrix was ramping up as was the Vietnam war. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and if you were a bit like me it would have been Bob Dylan, The Animals and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Marijuana and acid were out of the box. Man had recently landed on the moon. People were tuning in and dropping out. Hippies. Communes. What else was going on? It was a great time to be young. And this video sums it all up. No helmet. No one's going to tell me what to do! Get a haircut!! I'm gone!!

[Madmax]

did anyone notice this

http://www.mojokawasaki.com/photos/s1r.html

[MaxB]

On my student OE in the UK a so called mate gave me a go on his Kwak 750. I rode the length of Richardson Road in Newcastle at an obscene speed with the front barely in contact with the seal all the way. I was just hanging on. What a buzz. Fair to say it made an impression.

[k1w160]

Ah - the triple with the ripple...I had a '72 H1B which had been fairly well abused before I got it, and as it was during the days of carless days, it wasn't exactly practical, but it certainly was fun.

I remember planning a Christmas trip from Christchurch to Wanaka and back, but I couldn't be sure that there were enoungh petrol stations that were within 60 miles of each other, so that got canned due to the 17mpg the bike was getting. It wasn't long after that I traded it in on a T500, which did all I wanted it to and was outstandingly reliable.

One of my good friends has a factory '70 H1R (same model and Ginger Molloy used), which is having the frame painted, and this will be back on the track this season. I've ridden this bike at Pukekohe and it's brilliant with a powerband that starts at 5000 and runs out at 9,500rpm, and it handles well.

I have to agree with others, they seemed a lot meaner when they were compaired to contempory bikes of the time, and I find myself remembering my ol' H1B through rose tinted glasses and tend to forget the dodgy electrics, jumping out of gear, hand numbing vibration and challenging handling. Ah - the good old days eh.

[Forest]

Just saw this on trademe: (Auction 179804468)


Kawasaki H2A 1973

Buy Now price: $10,000

Style: Classic & vintage
Make: Kawasaki
Model: H2A
Engine size: 750cc
Kilometres: 30,000km
Year: 1973

widow maker,12000mls,recond top end,expansion chambers,,,repainted panels,fresh import,needs certifying,appreciating classic early model highly collectable

[Forest]

More photos from auction listing:

[dangerous]

Just saw this on trademe:

yeah thats been up for a while now... crazy shit money if you ask me, not a lot origional about it so Im buggered if I know why hes asking so mush, its not even regoed, vined etc?

[Coyote]

yeah thats been up for a while now... crazy shit money if you ask me, not a lot origional about it so Im buggered if I know why hes asking so mush, its not even regoed, vined etc?

Like so many others on trademe, they're waiting on someone with more money than knowledge to finally snap it up. Same force that's made the 250 market become so inflated.

What would it really be worth anyway?

[karbonblack]

Gotapost this up.. its KBer Karbonblack from emoto chch... on his Mach III in 1972.

I also bought a Mach III 30 years later, a wrote a little story that was published in BRM that you might find interesting given the thread.

http://www.greenisland.co.nz/brm1.jpg
http://www.greenisland.co.nz/brm2.jpg

To be honest, I have kinda got over the Nostalgia thing, I think it is something you do in your fourties, now that I am in my fifties I am more interested in riding the Aprilia RSV4 I have on order!

[Forest]

I also bought a Mach III 30 years later, a wrote a little story that was published in BRM that you might find interesting given the thread.

http://www.greenisland.co.nz/brm1.jpg
http://www.greenisland.co.nz/brm2.jpg

To be honest, I have kinda got over the Nostalgia thing, I think it is something you do in your fourties, now that I am in my fifties I am more interested in riding the Aprilia RSV4 I have on order!

I really enjoyed reading your article. Thanks for posting it here.

[merv]

Yeah great article karbonblack. The orange B with disc brake they were cool.

[toycollector10]

Hi Peter,

I was a second year student at Nayland College and your name rings a bell. I remember the line-up of Jappers outside the college in the years 69-72. Stingers, T20's, a Titan, but mostly small singles.

My mate Grahame had a Suzuki 90 or something and he dropped it into the creek up at Marsden Valley where he wrote it off and broke some ribs and an arm. His old man then bought him a Titan? Go figure?

Grant Sheen owned the first Kawasaki Mach III in Nelson. Did he really wheel-stand it through the first intersecton down from the Chez Elco one night? Whatever happened to him? I heard he was a photographer somewhere. I hope that he made good. Madness really, but that was what the bike brought out in the rider. I think he used to run with the Wilkinson boys and maybe Colin Neighbours? I bought a crapped out BSA A10 off Colin for $198. It's funny how I remember these things.

I was a bit of a git with a step through 50cc Suzuki at the time. The shame. Now running a '69 CB750 and a '73 Z1 Jaffa.

PM me if you think you might like to ride with the Classic Japanese Motorcycle Group down here in Christchurch. We're a pre 1980 bike group. We also have a show scheduled for April 4th and 5th so you might like to show your Mach III.

[Big Dave]

You know how Steven Wright says 'I wrote a Children's book - but not on purpose' ?

I did my first serious wheelie on a H1. On Granville Railway bridge.

[dangerous]

I also bought a Mach III 30 years later, a wrote a little story that was published in BRM that you might find interesting given the thread.

http://www.greenisland.co.nz/brm1.jpg
http://www.greenisland.co.nz/brm2.jpg

To be honest, I have kinda got over the Nostalgia thing, I think it is something you do in your fourties, now that I am in my fifties I am more interested in riding the Aprilia RSV4 I have on order!

I liked that almost brought a tear to the eye

I remember as a kid a mate of my old mans that lived in the big house under the huge Gum tree on Yaldhurst rd (oppisit the race course) had a brand new H1 mounted on his lounge wall, I shit you not Harry Holt was his name.