Kawasaki Triples

My uncle and my father had a nice GT750 Suzuki and it was heavy. But it ran like stink. Not compared to today's rides. Lets face it without a lot of work and mods nothing 30 years old runs like these todays scooters. But what the old Suzuki had was very pleasing. As mentioned the smell of a two stroke and the Banzi Powerband were pretty neat but the sound was something coming out of hell when she was screaming and when she was just bubbling along it sounded like a Lotus or a Lambo. My father and I would go to Bike night and he would stay just to listen to the two stroke club to fire them up to leave. He would smile and say it was "like banshee's storming the gates of hell itself!". Guess he rubbed off on me because I too love a 2 stroke triple making music. But I also know a friend of my father that died 4 times on the way to the meat locker after taking his H1 off road. They handle like crap. My uncle wrote about a smoker here
ambergrismooon.blogspot.com/2008_01_05_archive.html

I am on the kawasaki trples worldwide site, and I own 3 H1s and a KH400,they are for blasting around town and short trips,still very quick for their age,and a classic that always get attention at shows,the 500s are almost as fast as the 750s, and with me weighing around 140 compensates for any loss, I love them. I also have a 78 KZ650SR that I have been working on for years, now 810cc and cafed out,looks far from original, sold a 79 750b4 a while ago, I come on this site every now and then to see whats happening, been here for years and don't see anybody who was here when I first got here, but on the otherhand I didn't know much about KZs back then and this place helped emencley

does anyone know what needs to be done to the 500 cases in order to install 750 cylinders.

i am sure they prob just need bored to match the sleeves on the 750 cylinders.

gettem side by side and it will become obvious,no big deal as long as the 500 cases have the meat to remove.i have punched several cases out for big bores lemme know if i can help.


leon

RonKZ650 wrote: Depending on the magazine the Z1 and H2 were pretty even at about 12.5 give or take in the quarter mile. I wanted a Z1 or KZ1000 back in the late 70s and back then all were pretty much dumping the triples for nothing. I got my mint 74 H2 for $1000 and 2 complete 72s for $300, one was a chopper:laugh: Can you imagine riding a chopped H2, no there is some real mentality in doing that! KZ900/1000 and Z1 were much more money back then. Times have changed. I like my H2 to look at and ride once every couple years, but I can't imagine using a triple as a basic street bike even back in 1972. Vibrate, parts fall off, no brakes, load up in hot weather, real marginal handling to say the least. I don't get the allure really even after owning one for 32 years.

c'mon Ron,we know its the origional paint that does it for ya! :woohoo:
you pretty much summed up my brief experiance with h2's though! :laugh:

not too much around here listed but they are 100% for sure hiding in barns and sheds and such....there was a blue H2 rolling rolling bskt case with serious chambers and supplies for the re-do stock piled and extras...1000$ ..last year here c-list...(did i share this already?)

i posted the bikes ad here in the c-list thread and folks commented..i had no extra 1000 and did not want/ intend to take up the two stroke collecting bug..

co-worker has a early 500 in baskets.....saw the same ad last year and rushed right over,only to watch some other(quicker) guy who bought the H2 load it a drive away.....that is 3 folks i know who saw the ad and jumped...must have been 20 in route or calling.....imo ...in 2011...the deal is to find one in storage and strike a deal ,co-worker,neighbor,or their friends are where i am getting a ton of very decent leadson abandoned or storaged bikes right now..xt750,gs1100,cb1100f,cb750,in just the last 6 months from co-workers ....these are no advertised bikes sitting decades and for dirt prices....ask around at work ...everyone knows some old bike tucked away...

531blackbanshee wrote: i am sure they prob just need bored to match the sleeves on the 750 cylinders.

gettem side by side and it will become obvious,no big deal as long as the 500 cases have the meat to remove.i have punched several cases out for big bores lemme know if i can help.


leon

will do leon, thats what i figured to guess ill just buy one cylinder first to check.

They are not quite what the legend says they are.

I have a 75 H1F, it looks OK, it goes OK when it is in the right mood - but I would not take it too far from home tbh.

last time out, the alternator/stator vibed off the end of the crank and left me stuck at the roadside. I have lost count of the nuts and bolts that have vibed off. It even lost the front mudguard when all four screws came out....none of those problems are at all unusual on the H1's.

I now use Loctite as a matter of course on every fastener. They are ultra thirsty as well. 20/25 mpg is good for one of these. Might be OK in the U.S. where gas is cheap - but it is not so good in the U.K.

Anyone from the Rockford area may well have seen this one before - it was in purple H2C colours and in MUCH worse condition when it came over here about a year back, but that is where it hailed from.

I much prefer my 650C1 (also came over from the States)

sweet bikes ..tight

Yea, they were and are cool bikes, but not nothing you want to ride too far on even back in 1972. I remember Kawasaki had an add at one time touting the H2 as the ultimate touring machine:) . Well that was a laugh even back in '72

Went a mile from my house to a boat repair place where the guy said he had a few

old bikes, to get me a 20 dollar metzler tire. There was two 650 kaws with no plugs or carbs

and they looked like good motors before sitting. And there was a frame of a bike.

A 500 triple in it with no plugs or carbs. the only thing missing other than that stuff,

whatever belonged on the crank left side of the engine. looked workable to me.

If anyone wants to buy it for dirt cheap just pm me and I'll see how cheap I can get it,

take a better look at it. See you gotta be from ND. People here arn't all excited

about bikes and they sit and rot or just sit. I see this stuff alot and wish I had

the money to fix it. I see a variety of diff. bikes. Like the one in carrington nd.

That gpz was nice and it was the right year, low miles. For 1600 I can't believe

no one wants it. But oh well I,d rather see these bikes and parts in the hands

of one who truley loves these old motors. And will use the heck out of them.

My bike is like a triple, it has the wicked power band up top like they do.

but they don't put out the raw torque mine does. They can't even rev as high

with the porting and piping they have stock, so to me they are just junk on

a motorcycle. Something else though... now that could be fun.

nads.com wrote: Went a mile from my house to a boat repair place where the guy said he had a few

old bikes, to get me a 20 dollar metzler tire. There was two 650 kaws with no plugs or carbs

and they looked like good motors before sitting. And there was a frame of a bike.

A 500 triple in it with no plugs or carbs. the only thing missing other than that stuff,

whatever belonged on the crank left side of the engine. looked workable to me.

If anyone wants to buy it for dirt cheap just pm me and I'll see how cheap I can get it,

take a better look at it. See you gotta be from ND. People here arn't all excited

about bikes and they sit and rot or just sit. I see this stuff alot and wish I had

the money to fix it. I see a variety of diff. bikes. Like the one in carrington nd.

That gpz was nice and it was the right year, low miles. For 1600 I can't believe

no one wants it. But oh well I,d rather see these bikes and parts in the hands

of one who truley loves these old motors. And will use the heck out of them.

My bike is like a triple, it has the wicked power band up top like they do.

but they don't put out the raw torque mine does. They can't even rev as high

with the porting and piping they have stock, so to me they are just junk on

a motorcycle. Something else though... now that could be fun.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh north and south dakota have been my secret happy hunting grounds for 2 and 4 wheeled projects for many years!
The indians up there treat vehicles like horses,if it quits running it just gets shoved in a corner of the yard.
Kind of a nebraska philosophy except theres no salt on the roads to rust everything away! :woohoo: