1971 Kawasaki 500 Mach III

[Joseph Byrd]

Hello to all, this is my H1A, my second H1A, the first I bought and sold over thirty years ago. I have been riding since 1969 and have had 51 different bikes. I now own five, a Honda Valkyrie Interstate, a Kawasaki ZRX1100, a Honda XR650R, a Honda CR500R, and my Kawasaki Mach III. I bought the H1 a couple of years ago and rebuilt the motor completely, repainted the tank and side panels, recovered the seat, bought period correct Spec II chambers and had them chromed, rechromed the forks and rear grab rail and generally fixed everything under the sun, sometimes several times to get it to suit me. The old girl runs great, just like I remember. 6000 rpm and the front wheel is up in the air and then "Hang on Momma we are going to town!"
I had been to the Davenport meet many times and these last two years I brought the H1, it was quite a hit with the guys around my age. I joined your club this year and am looking forward to sharing some conversation around old bikes. Joe Byrd

[Paps]

Joe......that machine scared the livin hell out of me back then. My Buddy bought one at at a Penn State dealer new. Quick runner for sure ! I played with it too. I gave another friend of mine a ride on it. Being a five speed, I went through all the gears in a few seconds. Getting on it through town, I slowed to a stop, to find my friend no where ! I dumped him a few gears back ! I swung around and ran back down the street to look for him. He was lying on the ground with road rash everywhere ! Had that bike at 140 mph several times. LOL Paps

[koanes]

I bought a very low mileage 1971 H1 in the spring of 73 from a guy I was working with. The machine scared him bad a couple of times and it was sitting in his garage getting dusty. It was extremely fast, but no tuning remedy would get it to pull away from a stop at less than 4500 rpm and none of the girls I was trying to impress could keep their feet on the passenger pegs. It was fairly dependable, although I had some trouble with the charging system. When I bought a new CH Sportster in 75, I sold it to a friend. Not long after he bought it he wacked the throttle to pass some traffic and the rear hub separated from the rim, spokes snapping off. Put him down in the center of the four lane. I don't think the bike ever saw the road again, likely still stuffed in the corner of the machine shed.

[Joseph Byrd]

I bought my first H1 when a friend killed it with some creative wiring, I had it fixed in a couple of minutes but he said he would lose his license or his life if he didn't sell it, so never one to pass up a good deal I bought it. Cheap. A fine beast it was, too ….. six bend pull-backs, a foot and a half long luggage rack and a three foot long sissy bar. To say the least, it lost those fine accruements in no time and after cleaning out the baffles, it ran fine. At that time I was the sort to always be looking for a technologically improved bike, so I sold it to buy a 1978 GS550 Suzuki. The contrast was and is the Suzuki had the character of a kitchen appliance and the Kawi had all the character the Suzuki lacked.
When I got this latest one, it took about 5000 rpm to get it away from a stop sign and didn't have much top end either. It was a fine shade of fluorescent ear-plug green and had so many problems I could write a long book about them all. One thing that was an issue that I solved was the lack of bottom end power; the previous owner had sold off the air box and put on a set of chrome capped K&N style filters. I took me a while to figure it out but the K&N style filters set up a strong reversion wave from the intake blow back and killed the bottom end power. Now this sounds like a bunch of baloney but that is what it really was. I replaced the K&N filters with some sock type filters and then finally put on some velocity stacks ahead of the carbs. What this did was create a column of air that the intake blow back couldn't lift and increased the bottom end power ten fold. No kidding. I now can ride down the road, two up, at 3500 rpm and accelerate up hills. It isn't a four stroke but it is so much better it is hard to believe it is the same bike as before. My wife even notices it when we go out for a spin. She said the original configuration was pretty scary to ride on. Joe Byrd

[miker]

Its a beauty, loved those triple witha ripple!

Of course nowadays at 275 lbs I'd look as silly on that as I do on my 75 Honda 400F when I take it out around the block.

[HarleyCreation]

Very interesting about the peculiar 2-stroke tuning to gain some low end oomph. These bikes were period masterpieces of 2-stroke design and no mistake, even if built a little "light" for the power. (The story about the hub disintegrating made me cringe.) The blue restoration looks top notch too. My pal had one of these in the 1970s but didn't have it long. It was faster than a raped ape and with all peculiar 2-stroke smells, sounds, and smoke.

Did it actually smoke?

Can't remember for sure....but I think so...at stoplights a little???

The styling is also very attractive. More appealing to me than the weird "plumbing" mostrosities and freaks built today.

Would like to have one myself as there is something rather fascinating about 2-stroke motors and their simplicity and high-power output. My chainsaw arsenal (including a 90cc job) is the closest I have.....

The "water-buffalo" was another interesting period bike....

[Joseph Byrd]

About the hub disintegrating; I would think it would be more of an issue of loose spokes causing the hub to break as opposed to a weak design, I have not heard of too many hub failures among the faithful. But I certainly could be wrong.
The styling of the early triples has suited my eye since I noticed the first one in 1970. The low stainless fenders and the general European look is classical. Later 'plastic-looking-tail-section-with-no-rear-fender-all-integrated' ones are OK but lack the timeless style of the 69-71 models. Of course that is just jaded opinion.
The triples were notoriously over oiled with the stock oil pump settings, many turn them down so the smoke (do to the obligatory total loss oiling system) is not visible. With the money I spent going through the motor and the fact the plugs don't foul even in mosquito fogger mode, I just let her smoke. Thanks for the replies. Joe

[LarryHeil]

I helped a freind bulid up one of these as a Wera Cafe class race bike. I designed custom expansion chambers and had a race car fab guy make them up. Very fast MC. Never did handle too good. Lots of frame and swing arm mods, but still felt like there was a hinge somewhere in the frame. Top rpm (9,000) made the vibration so bad that the hand grips felt like they were 1 foot in dia. Told the owner rider to NEVER get the rpms above 9,000, (factory racers had crankshaft problems above this speed) one time he was too busy trying to catch the guy ahead of him, too many revs, blew the motor BAD. coasted into the pits and pulled the exhast pipes, poured many pounds of metal out of them onto the ground.

[Joseph Byrd]

Larry, as you said there is no lack of HP. I was just telling my brother the 500 Triples had a 60 HP motor in a 10 HP frame. I have not had much trouble with mine, a rare fit of headshake but generally OK, but I live in Iowa, perfect Triple country, there are lots of straight roads and not many corners! This H1 has a set of H2 shocks, new forks and two steering dampers. The handling is adequate but going down the interstate at 80mph feels like you're riding a 10 speed. Naked. Just around town with an occasional two lane trip, the old girl handles plenty good enough.

[INLINE4NUT]

Back in the day when that bike was brand new a friend of mine (only one not on a Harley) Had one and to this day wishes he would not have sold it ,MAN the things he did with it still make my hair stand straight up !!! He was CRAZY !!!!! still a nice bike glad you are enjoying it !!!