TOPIC:

My father in law said he owned a Kawasaki three cylinder two stroke that was a 550 in size. He said that the dealer had made it for him. They put the engine in the frame and he was the first to ride the bike brand new. It was his first new bike ever. He also said it was Kra-Z fast. I was thinking to my self maybe he was misstaken it for another bike. But he works on cars for a living and owned a LOT of bikes before so how could he forget somthing like his first new bike that was one of his fastest bikes he ever had.
His exact words were: a KZ550 Three cylinder 2 stroke the dealer put the engine in and he was the first to ride the first kz 550 in his area cause he had ordered it and no one carried it at the time. He was in Venezuela at the time.

Have anyone here ever heard of a KZ550 three cylinder two stroke???

It was a 500, and not a KZ. Maybe H2.

Kawasaki made a 350, 500, and 750 2-stroke triple.

One of them was called the "widow-maker."

Information available about the machinery here

Yea, no 550. The 500 was a H1, the 750 a H2. The H1 name was eventually changed to KH500. Maybe that's what he was thinking of.

If it was made for him then who knows what it was. Kawasaki did not make a 550 2 stoke but he could have had a 500 that was bored out a bit. It could have been in a KZ frame which would make it be titled as a KZ. You just never know whenit comes to special order bikes.

He could be wrong and he could be right. I will tell you guys this, the U.S. doesn't get everything that Japan sells and I am sure you all know that. This guy in St. Lucia told me he owns a ZX 12 and I didnt believe him til he showed me the pic. Brand new bike from Kawasaki with same tank and body as a ninja 636 but it is a 1200. Then in Martinique, the island next door, they have alot of Honda Hornets and Zephyrs, and probably other things we all have never heard of. So the old man could be right, you never know!

KaZooCruiser wrote:

It was a 500, and not a KZ. Maybe H2.

Kawasaki made a 350, 500, and 750 2-stroke triple.

One of them was called the "widow-maker."

Information available about the machinery here

Kazoocruiser is correct. Kawasaki also made a KH400 triple and I believe a 250 triple was available in some markets. It is quite likely our father-in-law either had a bored out 500 triple from the dealer or has the models confused.

Living near a high school back in the mid-seventies, it was a regular occurence to see the haywire triple riders doing 100 foot wheelies on their 500 and 750 triples after school. These things were scary and were like chainsaw engines on steroids.

It was funny to watch some of the other guys on their little RD 350 Yamahas almost keep up with the bigger triples off the line. When the one guy that had a hopped up Z1900 would fire up his bike the other bikers just stood by in awe!

I saw one guy on a purple 750H2 go right through a stop sign on the back wheel before he got control of the throttle and right then I decided I wanted one. Eventually there will be a triple smokin' up my shop.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to search through reborn's link and print it out. Maybe something will ring a bell in my in laws head and set this one straight for me.
These bikes look scary, a snow mobile engine on a bike

A question for you guys my friend had a water buffalo trip-two stroke. Witch one was faster?

The Suzuki GT750 waterbuffalo was nowhere close to a H2 750 Kawasaki triple for speed. The Suzuki was a much better motorcycle though. A motorcycle you could ride all day. That can't be said for a H2, but I have a friend that logged over 40,000 on a 73 H2 so to each his own I guess.

Suzuki made the 550 triple two stroke. They made a 380,550 and the 750 water buffalo .750 was the first water cooled street bike I believe. Wayne

Tower_Monkey1 wrote:

Suzuki made the 550 triple two stroke. They made a 380,550 and the 750 water buffalo .750 was the first water cooled street bike I believe. Wayne

What a painful memory.

The nefarious 380 Suzuki.

The bike I was sitting on, idling, during a "good buddy" trade ride, while I watched the "good buddy" on my RD350 back in high school.

"Good buddie's" idea to trade ride. Sounded good to me, thought a 380 triple HAD to be more potent than a 350 twin.

"Good buddie's" idea to test straight line performance of a highly-tuned and slightly modified RD-350 in front of the high school we both attended.

Unlike his sorry 380 which had no performance, as I sat and watched in horror, "good buddy" wound my bike up and dumped the clutch.

It was kind of like watching the Challenger crawl into the sky, at first.

The crash to earth milliseconds later scattered parts of MY bike hundreds of yards. And LOTS of damaged shiney parts.

Ex "good buddies" words to me later were, "I didn't know your bike had so much power." "I thought the wheelstands were a stunt."

And then, later, when presented with an estimated cost to repair invoice, "It's your fault your bike got damaged. You shouldn't have let me ride it."

Years later, I see Suzuki makes cars. Ironic.

I've never ridden a GT380, but I knew a guy (16 yr old kid actually), that put close to 20,000 miles on one in 1 yrs time here in CO where weather can be not the greatest many months of the year. I guess at least one person liked the model, or else maybe just didn't know any better

I have to say, the several experiences I've had with the 380 and 550 GT's were dismal. Outside of the usual problems, their main, common problem was the cranks. The wear and slop made it impossible to time the motors (you time it based on piston position). One piston had over 1/4" of up-down slop. Of the half dozen friends I have with them, none work (the bikes, that is ). They all need crank replacement (not to mention pistons, rods, etc. etc.)

The 750 Buffalo's seem good, though. Every example I've worked on, or know of, is still on the road.