The American Spectator : Why The King Died

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Why The King Died

By Eric Peters on 11.9.11 @ 6:07AM

If not for government, you’d still be riding the ever so fast two-stroke Kawasaki.

This old Kawasaki motorcycle I’m trying to resurrect has a neat little engine of a type you don’t see anymore — unless you’re in the backyard weed-whacking, that is.

I’m talking about two strokes.

In the late '60s, Kawasaki cleaned the streets with its fearsome H1 triple, followed later by the even more fearsome H2 — which upped the cc ante to 750 and gave those brave enough to twist the throttle all the way and hold it there low 12 second quarter mile capability. For some perspective, that was almost as quick as a 2012 Corvette — only 40 years ago, when nothing was even close to that fast that wasn’t a specially-made racer.

Hunter Thompson wrote with respectful dread and awe about the Kawi Triple’s capabilities — and of the song of The Sausage Creature its rider might hear as the tach swang past 7,000 and the front wheel rotated skyward like an F4 with both afterburners ripping holes in the sky.

Best of all, these menacing triples were cheap or at least, affordable. For the cost of a few payments on a new Hemi ‘Cuda you could own an H2 — and mop the floor with the ‘Cuda.

Not even Kaw’s own (and much better-known today) Z1900, which was a four-stroker with dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder and 150 more cubes (250 more by ‘77-‘78 when the 900 engine was punched out to 1,000 ccs) outperformed the Terrible Triple.

And that was stone stock.

With a set of Denco pipes (remember those, anyone?) you could pull 120 head-kicking, ball-stomping and totally untamed horsepower out of a 750 cc Kaw triple.

Even today, decades after the last two-stroke triple was uncrated and put out on the showroom floor, they’re still unbeatable. A two-stroke holds the record for the quickest quarter-mile on two wheels: a 7 second pass that makes a ZR-1 Corvette look like an 180k Pinto with bad compression and two dead cylinders.

So, as they once said about another King… what happened?

I’ll give you a guess and it starts with a “G.”

Two strokes are outlaws, off the reservation, not so much because of their anti-social performance but because of their anti-social exhaust. Two strokes are designed to burn oil on purpose. Many an uninformed victim of an H1 or H2’s bumblebee fury has rolled up on one, seen the blue haze pouring out of those three pipes (two on the right side, one on the left) and thought, easy meat. He’s got a tired engine. I can take him. Only to find himself with a big WTF just happened? expression on his face a fraction of a moment later, after the light goes green — and the Kaw checks out on him.

But, alas, the government is even quicker. Emissions laws felled the Kaw triples — all two strokes, in fact. Or at least, all street-legal ones. There are still two stroke off-road/motocross bikes — for the moment. It is the last redoubt of the Engine That Has No Valvetrain.

All of which is too damn bad, because, like another oddball engine — the Wankel, or rotary — two strokes are much more efficient at making power than four-strokes. For a given displacement, you can get twice or more the output. Example: I have a single cylinder, but four-stroke, dual-sport motorcycle. It makes about 15 hp. Stack that up against the little S1 triple I’m resurrecting. It’s also a 250 cc engine (though three cylinders — the smallest such machine ever mass-produced, in fact) but it makes about twice the power. It’s also much simpler — the cylinder heads are a simple one-piece casting with no holes in them other than the one for the spark plug. There are no valves to adjust (or seats to recede), no cam chains, pushrods or shims — nothing. Just three pistons riding a common crank, sucking air (and oil) and exploding the mix in a synchronized ballet of mechanical mayhem.

It is a magnificent thing.

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About the Author

Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (80) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Mike Austin | 11.9.11 @ 6:20AM

Dear Eric: I had one of those Kawasaki 750s way back in 1973 while in the USAF in west Texas. I bored each cylinder out 50cc and slapped on some expansion chambers. It was not fast; it was not damn fast; it was bat-out-of-Hell faster than a rabid cat scratch fast. Quarter at 11.9 and 113 mph. I topped it off one early morning at 3 AM between Big Spring and Abilene at 132 mph. I could burn rubber at 70 mph. Sure it scared me. But I was young and invulnerable.

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 6:22AM

Ring ding machines we used to call them. Granted the Japanese two stroke engines from Yamaha and Kawasaki made for rapidly accelerating bikes, but what an awful sound from within. If a rider were unfortunate enough to be stopped in traffic anywhere near that blue exhaust, the stench was enough to gag a maggot. Good riddance to the two stroke Jap crap.

Hunert Seesee Thompson| 11.9.11 @ 7:31AM

As long as it's not a Harley.

Difference between a Harley and a Hoover: the location of the dirtbag.

oldfart| 11.9.11 @ 8:00AM

LOL

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 8:43AM

That is an old joke that I laughed at 30 years ago, but has no relevance today. Guess how many manufacturers have developed v-twin motorcycle engines to compete with the old dirt bag magnet. Unless you ride, you can not discern if a rider is astride American iron or a Japanese label. During the shortage of manufacturing capacity in the 1990s, Harley-Davidson sold most of their bikes to a higher income clientele. The bloke driving his station wagon in the seventies watched the dirtbag riding his hog and wished he could do that. After the kiddies grew up and flew the coop, the citizen cashed in equity on his house and bought the Davidson of his dreams. So many of them grew a pony tale and a beard, added a few tattoos then said,"Now I am a biker." Welcome to all new riders, let's share the road. Be safe.

BMW R69| 11.9.11 @ 8:40PM

From what I heard Harely Davidson is beginning to send much of its work to China.

Harely made a comeback after it was sold by AMF. It's still a crappy bike built for aging fatass hippie wannabes.

skip| 11.9.11 @ 9:12PM

I don't know how crappy they are. I do know they were bailed out way before government bailouts became mainstream policy. I do know you could always tell where they sat by the oil stains. And I do know my 700cc riceburner is undefeated against every 883cc Harley that has had a go at it.

John Navratil| 11.9.11 @ 8:23AM

Moe Blotz,

I had an H1. It seemed to have a hinge in the middle, was a bit boggy just at the start, but once it started rolling all one could do was hang on for the ride. I don't recall a foul smell, that was the smell of victory.

Unfortunately, Houston is NOT a good place for bikes. When last I saw my H1, it was entering the rear passenger door of a Chevy sedan. I could see the riders, from my vantage point above, watching that H1 trying to climb into their laps.

I woke up on the way to Ben Taub hospital where, bruised, but otherwise undamaged, I spent a wonderful evening between a "bar fight" with a sucking chest wound demanding to be released and a part girl who couldn't remember the color(s) of the pills she grabbed from the fish bowl.

Oh, to be young again!

Occam's Tool| 11.9.11 @ 9:37PM

Yes, but at least you were treated by University of Texas Medical Students!

John Navratil| 11.10.11 @ 9:11AM

Occam's Tool,

My niece is studying there today! Ben Taub is perhaps the best trauma center in existence. It truly was an eye-opening experience.

I'll have to admit that being catheterized by that quite pretty doctor was not the way I had hoped the evening to end.

Now I stick to airplanes. They're safer.

Brian Mc| 11.9.11 @ 6:45AM

I'm with Moe on this one, but for one thing; I once had a serious craving for the Kawasaki Kz650SR. With big carbs and a Kerker out the back it was simply the best sound I've ever heard come from an engine. On the other hand, my right towards the "Pursuit of Happiness" is retarded whenever I hear and feel Harleys attempting to break the sound barrier.

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 8:22AM

Any finely tuned engine makes a sweet sound when being run in the proper venue. High rpm or low, unmuffled exhaust belongs on a race track. When I was young and foolish I ran straight drag pipes on a souped up 1947 Knucklehead. My ears took a beating so I installed shorty mufflers to take the bark out of the exhaust note and make the sound more mellow. Plenty of hose heads out there who want to attract attention by rattling the citizens with decibels from their Big Dogs.

Mike Hawk| 11.9.11 @ 9:54AM

As the aging rider who rode foryears with staight pipesonce said, " Hah, what?? I can't hear you. Speak louder."

NedB| 11.9.11 @ 8:22AM

Is that when they're parked and the moron on it is gunning the engine? I do believe that sound waves, no matter how hard these clowns try at 3am, will not violate the laws of physics.

SC Mike| 11.9.11 @ 6:54AM

I’ve a fondness for the two-stroke banshees with four wheels, particularly the Saab Sonett II three-banger with its column shift, fiberglass body, and full roll cage, but the 60-hp engine was good for 0-60 of 12 seconds and a top speed of 93 mph until US smog regs forced Saab to switch to a four-stroke Ford V4 in 1967. The durn thangs could beat any of the Brit cars its size and even the larger Corvette in a slalom where its absurdly low weight made it more manageable in the transitions.

Tiddly| 11.9.11 @ 12:47PM

My first car was a 3-cylinder 2-stroke Saab in 1970. Small, simple engine with plenty of power but not much top speed. I had to put oil in with the gas on every fill-up. I carried six-packs of small oil cans with pop-tops in the trunk--one can per fill-up. Great little car. The late ones had oil tanks under the hood that injected the oil into the gas automatically, eliminating the mess at the gas cap. Then California smog laws banned importing 2-strokers, so Saab went to a V-4 four-cylinder Ford engine in the same body. Looked the same, but you could tell the 2-strokers by the oil smear under their gas cap doors.

Leveut| 11.9.11 @ 10:40PM

"two-stroke banshees with four wheels, particularly the Saab Sonett II"

Ah. That explains the freewheeling device on our Sonett III--it was a carryover. V4 had too much torque, so had to have it neutered.

POST American| 11.9.11 @ 6:58AM

----------------------FUKISHIMA------------------------
---------Tavistock DENIAL OP DIS traction---------
-----------------designed as '70's Show'-----------------
--------------------------ALERT!--------------------------

Need we say more?

KuroShinzo| 11.9.11 @ 9:30AM

Please don't.

P.Smith| 11.9.11 @ 7:26AM

Another two stroke that has virtually disappeared is the two stroke diesel which has some very good qualities. Such nearly double the horsepower over a four stoke engine of comparable size. With modern technology these engines could be powering automobiles with much improved efficiency if it was not for onerous government regulations.

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 8:30AM

The two stroke Detroit Diesel became uncompetitive against the vastly improved four stroke engines of Cummins and Caterpillar in the late 1980s. Detroits had oil consumption problems and sucked more fuel than the four strokes. Caterpillar and Cummins engines made gobs more torque than the Detroit Diesels, whilst burning less fuel. Roger Penske bought the ailing Detroit/Allison and set about developing a four stroke diesel engine. The two stroke died a natural death as technology advanced in a free market.

Mike Hawk| 11.9.11 @ 9:56AM

As a trucker I know once told me, " A Deee-troit is like a 3 inch pecker, OK for local work, but you don't want to take it out of town."

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 7:00PM

Yes, the old double breasted Yamaha known by its horsepower rating of "318". Juice them up and you could rev the damn things to 2,500 rpm, then fly down the super slab. Once you hit a hill, the torquey four strokes would blow past on the upgrade. 1693 TA Cats in the lead. The 12V71 Detroit had some balls, but few could afford the fuel bill that came with it. Running a 318 was like having the clap, point it downhill and it would run like hell.

WalkingHorse| 11.9.11 @ 7:18PM

One two stroke diesel application that survives is merchant marine propulsion.

Kevin| 11.9.11 @ 7:40AM

I had a '78 Yamaha RD400. Not as smooth as my Honda CB360 but a lot quicker. It got pretty poor gas mileage compared to the Honda too.

POST American| 11.9.11 @ 7:52AM

--CORRECTION-- we meant

---------------------TAVISTOCK -----------------------
----------------FUKISHIMA DENIAL------------------
--------------'70's Show' DIS--traction----------------
------------------------------&------------------------------
----------------------rectum worship--------------------
-----------------------------OP-----------------------------

--------------------------ALERT!--------------------------

KuroShinzo| 11.9.11 @ 9:31AM

You did.

michigander| 11.9.11 @ 7:54AM

My first vehicle was a Bridgestone 125 cc, well used and abused, but still functional. Then on to a Suzuki 350 and etc. etc. Ah, the world of smokee exhaust and instant power. I've still got the burn scars on my fingers from trying to change fouled spark plugs on a hot engine, to make the next race!

oldfart| 11.9.11 @ 8:03AM

I was a straight up, fairing and bags touring biker. Road on of those two strokes once - scared the hell out of me.

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 8:53AM

AMA types was the term as opposed to outlaw types. Somewhere along the line I eschewed the wind-in-your-face ride when I discovered that riding with a windshield on the handlebars reduced the stinging of rain and ingestion of bugs. Also, with my tour pack and panniers I can carry five cases of beer. The scariest ride I had was my buddy's ZL 900, almost blew me off the seat when I sat up nearing a buck on the speedo. A valuable lesson there, what?

oldfart| 11.9.11 @ 8:59AM

I can relate to that - I went the windshield route after I got smacked in the face by a june bug at 65 mph. Almost knocked me off the bike and it hurt like hell. Lucky I did not loose an eye.

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 9:06AM

Another old joke: You can recognise a happy biker by counting the bugs on his teeth.

jivebomber| 11.9.11 @ 10:27PM

Having no windshield, I took a locust to the forehead at 70MPH. And if that wasn't bad enough, the bug fell in my shirt and was only stunned. He started kicking and scratching and I began slugging myself to try and kill him. I must have been quite a sight with one hand on the throttle and the other thumping my chest and stomach. (Never occured to me to actually stop) My girlfriend sitting behind me was politely screaming in my ear "what the hell are you doing????" When we did stop, she insisted I had a locust-shaped dent in my forehead.

Mark Shepler| 11.9.11 @ 8:46AM

Back in '77 I bought a used '76 Yamaha RD400 with a really nice typical '70s airbrush painting of a buxom Viking chick and snow tiger on the tank. It was the spirit of the times, as they say. A group of us in the wilds of NW PA all got bikes that year and all two-strokes. One guy had the Kawi 500cc triple-cylinder and foolishly added longer forks to give it some rake. He could never keep the front end down after that an lost much of what that bike had to offer.

Mine was a twin-cylinder, twin-carb, six gear, 400cc screamer and hopped up RD's were also famous in their day as one of the baddest street racers, "cafe racers", out there. Mine was stock and setup more for the road with sissy and highway bars and foot pegs. I actually rode it from PA to FL in the summer of '78. Took me a couple of weeks to get the buzz outta my rear end. It was my primary transportation down here for the first six months until summer's afternoon showers and the daily near fatal run-ins with our ungodly traffic convinced me that four was better than two, wheels that is, if I wanted to live.

Now, I race a two-stroke '78 Suzuki RM400 MX bike in a Vintage club of mostly old guys on old bikes. It too was considered the bike to beat in its class in its day. A real monster designed by Suzuki at the behest of Roger DeCoster, their top rider, to deliver more low-end torque with a more even powerband all the way through and was one of the first retail bikes to come with factory "works" options. It makes 46hp on a single cylinder with only Boyesen Reeds as an upgrade. A modern, $8000 four-stroke 450 by any of the top four manufactuers makes about 36 but have the advantage of more low-end torque, generally speaking, than a comparable two-stroke. You dirt riders out there know what that means.

Mr. Peters helps to clarify some of the technical differences between four and two strokes but not so much the practical effects, say, like on your wallet. I paid $1600 for my RM400 fully restored vs. anywhere from about $2500-$6000 or so for a used 450. But it's in the ongoing maintenence where the real difference tells. Last summer I rebuilt the motor after a season and a half of racing, (about 20 race days, 120 race motos, couple hundred hours of practice) that had degraded compression by about 20%. This means I needed to bore the cylinder, throw in a new piston, ring, piston wrist pin and bearing, cylinder base gasket and...that's it. Oh yes, 33 year old factory Suzuki pistons and parts are still out there for as little as $50, rings a little harder to find but available and I can even get spare cylinder jugs. All told I spent about $250 and best of all, did the work myself. It was my first rebuild and I was never so proud of a project as when she fired up and I heard that lovely ninga, ninga, ninga, ninga..ning, ning, ning, ning, ning...

Top end work on a modern four stroke runs in the thousands and the factories recommend rebuilds after as little as 20 hours of serious racing. In the MX world the way the factories have gotten even the output they have from the modern motors is to max rpms with paper-thin cylinders that cannot be rebored, small flat-head pistons and rings and lighter, more fragile valve-train components, computers and magic electronics and all the rest of the modern wizardry that all add up to a triple-whammy to the wallet. They are far more complex, wear out faster and are more expensive to replace and few riders, me included, are competent to do the work. It's gotten so bad there is something of a revolt brewing and growing movement back to two-strokes.

Oh yeah, and as for the supposed green(er) qualities of the four stroke? Well, it seems our ever-reliable gov't got that pretty much wrong, too. Imagine that. There is a growing body of research that shows the exhaust from a four stroke motor is actually worse in some ways than two strokes especially factoring in the modern, near smokeless synthetic two-cycle oils like I use. Another form of pollution is noise and though two strokes are louder up close the much lower-frequency sound of four-strokes can be heard for miles. But, you just can't see four-stroke pollution and since so many of our "fact based" scolds are really little more than "seeing is believing" hysterics, that's enough for the chicken littles to condemn the two-strokers.

As for me, I love the smell of two-strokes in the morning!

Tiddly| 11.9.11 @ 12:55PM

My first racer was a 2-stroke 100cc Hodaka Super Rat. The whole bike, race-ready, cost me $350, and I got many hours of fun racing out of it. I know bike owners today who spend that much to replace their handlebars.

Mark Shepler| 11.9.11 @ 5:40PM

My buddy who got me into the VMX was a Hodaka nut. Had about 20 of them. Super Rats, Combat Rat, Super Wombat (did I make that up?)... you name it. Fun little bikes.

Me, I like the big bores. :)

Tiddly| 11.9.11 @ 8:17PM

It was the Super Rat, the Combat Wombat, and the Road Toad. All great competitors. They went quite fast enough for me.

Mark Shepler| 11.9.11 @ 9:13PM

Nah, it's not about speed for me, I'm not that good. In the beginning it was about low-end pull. I could tootle around in 3rd all day long. She's got enough torque to pull out of any turn or after a jump without me having to keep the rpm's at the crazy line.

Now, I'm better all around and power management but I still seldom get out of 4th and by then I'm going quite fast enough! :)

Cheers.

John Navratil| 11.9.11 @ 8:48AM

Actually, the two-stroke is alive and well in the locomotive and tug world. The EMD 710 diesel is 710 cu.in. per cylinder. It's a real rev'ver at 900 RPM. At twenty tons, it's not likely to make it into a motorcycle frame.

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 9:04AM

Massive hybrids as they are not direct drive, at least CSX promotes their locomotives as such. Low RPM with such mass makes sense to use a two stroke as a valve train would be too cumbersome.

Con Chef (NB) | 11.9.11 @ 9:08AM

I'll admit, I know jack about bikes. But I DO know about cars. And I remember in the mid to late 90's when Mazda was putting the Wankel rotary engine in their RX-7. And the turbo version of that car was competitive with a ZR-1 as well. And, to my recollection, they stopped making the RX-7 alltogether. Shame. It was a balls to the wall rice rocket that could compete with the best of the best in American muscle.

John Navratil| 11.9.11 @ 9:52AM

Con Chef (NB)

Before that was the RX-2. A sleeper if there ever was one. About the only thing which could leave it was the 'Vette. There IS no substitute for cubic inches.

It had a nasty habit of exploding unburned gas from the exhaust when you let the throttle snap closed (I forgot what they called their pre-catalytic convertor). Unfortunately, my automatic response to seeing a patrol car was to do just that. It gave new meaning to "blowing the doors" off.

Cabermon| 11.9.11 @ 10:45AM

My first (and so far only) new car was a '72 RX-2. Had a thermal converter (no cat) for emmisions; 2-layer cast stainless steel with air cooling between. After redlining at 7000 and shutting off, you got a BANG like a 12-gauge! Lousy mileage and primitive suspension, but buckets of fun.

John Navratil| 11.9.11 @ 11:10AM

Cabermon,

It was buckets of fun until the engine seized. Red-line was 10,000 as I remember.

Remember "tuning" the electrically controllable antenna to bring in weak FM stations? And pulling the choke so the air conditioning didn't shut off at idle?

Racing Beat will still race prep an engine for $50,000!

Scot Z.| 11.9.11 @ 11:47AM

There are still quite a few Wankel-powered Mazdas (mostly RX-7s, plus a few Formula Mazdas and Star Mazda Pro cars) running in club racing all over North America. Reading through the SCCA's General Competition Rules will give you some insight into how easy it is to get stupendous power out of a rotary; in Improved Touring, for instance, you are allowed NO modifications to the engine itself. Like a 2-stroke reciprocating motor, it responds very will to just intake and exhaust mods.

Leveut| 11.9.11 @ 10:48PM

Once I was "talking" to a guy who raced rotaries. If one modifies the inlet port a bit so it opens "earlier," it has the effect of allowing "more" fuel in the combustion chamber. And, if the inlet and outlet modifications are just right, apparently it causes a regular fuel pulsation to start so that not only is there "more" fuel going into the combustion chamber, but also it is compressed by the pulsations. Supercharged.

DM| 11.9.11 @ 9:25AM

Wow this bring back memories. I had a 1974 Kawasaki 400, the first year they upped it from the 350, I was a junior in high school. I was totally scared the first few days I had it. Sometimes it felt that it would slip out of my hands when the rpms would hit the "power band". A year later I had a minor accident and took the insurance money to have it bored out and added Denco pipes. (This really improved the sound of the bike) Fast doesn't describe what it was like. Alas I sold it when I needed money for college. What I would give to have kept it and have it in my garage today. I would probably be too afraid to lift the front wheel off the ground as I use to do!

toadold| 11.9.11 @ 9:33AM

Showing my age but I remember when a guy on a Yamaha RD 350 out dragged a guy on a early four stroke Honda 750. Every once in a while some one tries to do a design around the two stroke emission problem, direct fuel injection schemes and such. Nothing successful for a decent size bike though.

Tiddly| 11.9.11 @ 1:02PM

Talk about showing your age. I had the first Yamaha Twin 100 (2-stroke) about 1965, when I was in jr. high school (now called "middle school").

It was a true twin with two 50cc cylinders and twin pipes. Many old Harley and BMW riders stopped me to admire the tiny twin and I allowed a few of them to try it out. They always admired the quick acceleration.

Cookie Sewell| 11.9.11 @ 9:35AM

I had a 1968 Kawasaki 250 cc A1 Samurai before I went into the Army and loved it, but was forced to ditch it while in language school.

Later I got a 1973 350 cc S2 triple in California, and rode it for two years. Alas, what worked well for a 95 pound Japanese factory rider did not work well for a 250 pound American, even after I changed the gearing.

I did have one drag race at a track with a friend of mine who had an H1 750 cc and both of us wound up in a bracket. But both of us hit it a bit too hard and "busted" (he had something like a 12.1 and I had a 16.51) so some bozo with a Honda CB 350 won. Sigh.

Stammon| 11.9.11 @ 9:45AM

I started with Yamaha, went to Triumph, and ended up in BMW/2 by the time I was 17. My best friend and I would drive our two mid-60's BMW/2's side by side to listen to the engine noise synchronize. I have always wanted a quiet even Zen like ride. The rice burners and butt thumpers, while fast and cool, weren't my thing. Today it's even less HP and even older: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee2EftPq1nI
1937 K500 Zundapp. I could talk bikes all day.

A. C. Santore| 11.9.11 @ 10:03AM

I'll tell you what other motorcycles the government killed.

Norton [I had three at one time or another, a 750, an 850, and a 500],

BSA [I had one]

Triumph [I had two at one time or another, a '67 Bonnie and a '69 Bonnie, the greatest of the line].

They were motorcycles.

I got my first British bike [Norton 750] when I went to my Yamaha dealer to trade in what turned out to be my last two-stroker, and he told me to "buy your last motorcycle first," meaning that I should trade up to the biggest Yamaha. I thought about that on my ride home, decided that he was right, then immediately turned around and went to the Norton dealer and fell into motorcycle heaven - and stayed there until I could no longer ride.

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 10:18AM

The Prince of Darkness, Lucas, had more to do with the death of British bikes than any government intervention. The Japanese also built better and cheaper bikes that Triumph, BSA, and Norton could not compete with in the marketplace.

Tiddly| 11.9.11 @ 1:04PM

The Nortons always broke their transmissions anyway, sooner or later.

Tiddly| 11.9.11 @ 1:10PM

And the big British singles (thumpers), like the Matchless and the BSA 441, vibrated like crazy. I used to sit at stoplights and look down at my front tire bouncing up and down on the pavement as the engine idled. I also had to pull over and stop occasionally to scratch the itches in my butt and the palms of my hands, caused by all the vibration. Plus the fact that the British bikes shifted on the opposite side (with the opposite foot) and I had to be careful to remember that fact when riding one, lest I accidentally step on the shifter when I wanted the footbrake.

But the power and the deep roar of those engines was intoxicating,

Petronius| 11.9.11 @ 10:22AM

The number of individuals who enjoy life's pleasures is in inverse proportion to the prigs and weenies who want them prohibited. Back in the 80's a sporting personage here owned a small filling station which offered high octane and aviation gas to customers who drove mid 60's vintage big block Mopars and the like. It only took the EPA 5 years to find his sources of product and run him out of business. Today, restrictions on availability and the cost of AVgas has shuttered most private flight schools and recreational flying is strictly carriage trade.
My brother rode an H1 and when he got his first good job bought the biggest road bike Kawasaki ever made. He almost met the Almighty one night doing 100+ on Old 21, known as Blood Alley. He sold his bikes in 78 when we had a long string of horribly long winters which kept these machines garaged over 1/3 of the year. But the breaker in the end wasn't just mortality. Every guy who owns a bike must have the good sense not to fall for a girl who doesn't ride.

Tiddly| 11.9.11 @ 1:20PM

I have a Piper Cub, so I buy gas at the airport when I have to (I converted the Cub engine to run on car gas), but when I asked the driver of the airport gas truck to let me have some 100 octane avgas in a 5-gallon can (I wanted to put it in my car to help it pass an emissions test) he wouldn't do it. He said the government wouldn't allow anyone to put avgas in anything but an airplane.

And around here the owners of restored cars from the 1950s are having trouble with modern gas, since it's diluted with ethanol and worse. The octane rating isn't right for them, either. Some alternate their fill-ups with high and low octane.

Another thing about modern gasoline: if you let it sit in a gas tank for six months or more, it turns into a horrible black molasses-like goo that clogs fuel lines and carburetors.

Paul Kotik| 11.9.11 @ 10:57AM

The Kawasaki Mach III ( the 500cc triple) provided my first experience of motorcycling, circa 1970. The ruling speed king of the 'hood was a kid was a Norton Commando, a 750 twin. That kid went on to become a Navy F-14 pilot, a real Top Gun. But I'll never forget the look on his face when he first got smoked by the Mach III. What made it even worse was we were two-up on the Kawasaki!

DatsunMark| 11.9.11 @ 11:04AM

The Triple Kawies you never messed with back in my day....crazy fast, insane bikes. Even my Yamaha RD350 knew better. I was at a car show this summer and a guy had two beautfully restrored Kawies: 500 and 750. Nice memories.

Russell | 11.9.11 @ 11:21AM

I agree with Moe Boltz about Lucas....My Brother had a 1961 TT120 that always had some thing not working, Light's , Horn... allways something.....I find the same thing to be true with the Early Volvo Cars I wonder if Lucas is in their Blood too. allways haveing to spin the Fuse's or clean a contact for a bulb allways something. never had to do that to any GM or Honda I ever owned

Slacker| 11.9.11 @ 12:43PM

In reality, all new four stroke dual sports are sold “some final disassembly required.” They come from the factory with too much extra crap attached and detuned to placate the EPA. Any enthusiast immediately “fixes” their BRAND NEW bike. What a joke.

Thankfully tuning to pollute is only a minor inconvenience and the bike then works as it SHOULD HAVE IN THE FIRST PLACE! Makes one wonder what our cars are really capable of.

JimH| 11.9.11 @ 12:48PM

All this reminiscing about old Japanese bikes, I’m glad no one here subscribes to the old saying, popular among some a few decades back: I’d rather see my sister in a whore house than on the back of a Japanese bike.

Mark Shepler| 11.9.11 @ 9:21PM

Never heard that one but I do remember one from back in the day: "A blind guy is at a Harley and rice-burner race. As they tear away from the line he yells, 'Damn! Look at that Harley go!!".

WhiteBikerTrash| 11.9.11 @ 1:00PM

Bought a RZ 350 in 1985 Swapped the pipes and re-jetted the carb the first day home. crashed it in the first 2,500 miles sold it and bought my Harley. I remember that I could keep up with any 750 until the corners, then I would leave them well behind. which is why I crashed.

Luis Stecca| 11.9.11 @ 1:00PM

In 1972 you could purchase a brand new Kawasaki
H2 750 Triple for about 1350 bucks... I recently saw a fully restored, low miles H2 sell for 9 thousand bucks...
The seller of that bike was somewhat disappointed
because he felt he should have held out for 10 grand...
My problem with those old 2-strokers was the braking systems.. A drum brake in the rear and a single disk brake in the front just didn't provide enough stopping power..
They didn't call those H2 750's "widow makers" for nothing !!

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 7:05PM

An old riding mate of mine refers to the current iteration of crotch rockets as "kid killers".

Tiddly| 11.9.11 @ 8:21PM

A current nurse friend of mine refers to them as "organ donors."

steve bennett| 11.9.11 @ 1:21PM

A little perspective is in order--Kawasaki triples were very fast but handled horribly.I just sold my 130 horsepower Ducati S4RS Testastretta which at 400 lbs. was blindingly fast,handled as if on rails and would stop on a dime(once did a 40 mph stoppy avoiding colliding with the rear of an errant driver).Sold last week as this 71 year old decided not to go to the track anymore.Still riding though on a classic BMW and finishing restoration of a 1957 500cc Velocette .If I remember correctly HS Thompson was writing about a 900cc Ducati Super sport. Ride on

Dave| 11.9.11 @ 1:31PM

Taking some info from friends who also ride, I found and had rebuilt an old Yamaha RD350. It was not exactly the style of motorcycle I preferred (having enjoyed a Kawasaki ZX-10 that would power-wheelie through 3rd gear), but I was older and the nostalgia of the bike was not lost on me. Plus I heard it was fast. Really fast. "So fast you can barely hang on" fast.

Compared to my Ducati Paso 750 Limited Edition, or my ZX-10, or my soon-to-be broken-down Honda Magna V65 and it's 1200cc V-four monster - it was FAST!

Two strokes are faster, producing more torque. Sure. Common knowledge. But to have a bike with a 350cc motor 'pull' you to a ripping 50mph with just a flick of the wrist and leave you wonder two things; a) where's my shorts? b) did I just burn out the motor? Amazing.

I sold it to a friend who relished it until the day he tried to get it inspected and was told it was illegal. I will never know all the details, but what a useless end to such a great ride.

Government control of anything is usually bad for everything. Government is not for control, but for the common good. I pray that one day the Liberal idiots of the world realize that and our country is restored to its glory. But I fear it will be gone before any Liberal ever gains wisdom.

Crawler| 11.9.11 @ 1:59PM

Every time I crank my weed eater or my chainsaw I think of my 2-stroke 1970 Kawasaki 90.

I ride a Road King now but it sure would be sweet if I had that old Kawasaki 90, too.

Thanks for bringing a memory back, Mr. Peters. And thanks for the reminder about government, too...

Credit Man| 11.9.11 @ 4:38PM

It was 1970. I was entering a round-about north of Amsterdam. I heard the snarl of the tripple Kwa and saw it entering the round-about behind me. In a second it was beside me on my inside. A second later he had passed me and shot across the front of me exiting the round-about at three times my speed. As I entered the same exit I looked up and he was gone. Long GONE>

Stan Redmond| 11.9.11 @ 5:17PM

I resurected a suzuki 185 two stroker I found in a barn. Great little bike and it left a beautiful cloud of blue smoke behind me as I putted loudly along. Eventually the transmission blew and i sold it. Now I have a big 4 stroke Monster with fuel injection and computer controlled ignition. I can't say I miss the 185 two stroker....

Danny| 11.9.11 @ 5:30PM

1969, My brother has a 69 Dodge Super Bee. Use to street race every night. Berea Ohio.
One night thought he was king when he blew off a Triumph Bonneville 650. A few nights later some kid pulled up on some "ring a ding, dinger" bike.
My brother thought, "Good bye buddy!"
My brother first experienced a 69 Mach III first hand. My brother looked down at 20mph from the light and couldnt see the kids tailights!
He came home asking me for my Motorcycle Test magazine with all the bike tests. He went through it like an addict looking for dope. He stopped on the Kawi 500 test page and pointed and said, there's the SOB!! My brother said he had never see a person shot out of cannon before!
I later bought a new 1973 for about a grand even.
Fun to ride especially with the narrow power band. No need to try to pull a wheelie, when you were power shifitng from 1st to 2nd the bike was about 10" off the ground! When you lit into it, you were shifting 4 times as fast as you could till about 85mph. Then it was so far out ahead of everyone, you just hope they didnt catch you cause it was out of power. 0-80 in like 7 seconds flat!
This is 1973 and that version was a tad slower than the earlier ones!
As for all you Hog lovers, HD was the biggest piece of crap on the road. A lot like the British Leyland cars. You worked all week on it to ride it on Sunday for a few hours, then started all over again.
Thanks Eric on the great article!!

Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 7:32PM

In 1973 Harley Davidson was owned by AMF and motorcycles from the era were referred to by the faithful as "bowling balls". The rice burners fed the hunger for raw power and acceleration for a certain segment of the motorcycle riding public. The Japanese bikes were high quality and cheap, whilst American bikes were being cranked out by the thousands with little concern for quality. When management bought the Motor Company from AMF, Harley-Davidson was almost bankrupt. In mid 1990s Harley-Davidson had corrected the quality problem and sold as many bikes as they could make, whilst the Japanese all tooled up to make their own versions of the venerable V-twin. Harley-Davidson never again laid claim to having the fastest production motorcycle in the world after 1968, but they set the standard for the very competitive cruiser market many years later. Plenty of motorcycle manufacturers build faster machines than Harley-Davidson, but none of them has such a loyal following of enthusiasts.

John T. O'Connor | 11.9.11 @ 9:22PM

Same with outboard motors. No longer do you see the clouds of rich blue smoke that accompanied the firing up of the family floater. I kinda miss the pungent odor emanating from the back of the boat when you throttled down to shift gears.
Luckily, these old warriors are still plentiful from garages and basements across the country, and have become the stuff of an enjoyable hobby, the collecting and restoration of old outboards. You too can reminisce of older better times past when Evinrudes, Scott-Atwaters, Martins and Elgins were all made in the good old USA and puffed blue smoke like they were meant to.
You know, I've been boating for about 60 years and still run old 2 stroke Evinrudes and Mercs on the various lakes of Connecticut, and by golly, there's not an oil ring on any of them>

usndon| 11.9.11 @ 9:30PM

What about the Suzuki X6? 250 cc's, 6 speeds.

Occam's Tool| 11.9.11 @ 9:42PM

Thanks for the education, guys. Very interesting and useful.

Brian| 11.10.11 @ 12:25AM

I was at the Laguna Seca AMA Nationals in 1973 when the factory Kawi 750 triples --- the Green Meanies --- took all three podium positions. The late, great Gary Nixon, who made his name as on Triumph factory rides, took first place. What a change from the year before... Cal Rayborn won the race in '72 on a Harley-Davidson XRTT factory bike.

One of my college roommates had the 400cc triple... I took it out a few times, what a blast.

BTW, didn't know until reading this piece that there was a 250cc model.

Will| 11.10.11 @ 5:57AM

"ah, the smell of Castor in the morning" Nowhere is the death knell of the two-stroke felt more than at motorcycling's pinnacle of racing, MotoGP. The 125 cc tiddler class is now what's left, and will soon be replaced. Gone is the mad freight train of the beloved 250's and the frighteningly furious 500's. Some heresy called TTX was run over the holy hills of the Isle of Man recently, gone is the Maico 501, gone are Bultaco Pursangs, gone, gone, gone...

Dave| 11.10.11 @ 6:09PM

Wow, what a walk down memory lane.I bought a '71 Kawasaki 500 H-1 AND a '73 750 H-2 in 1976 with some $$ from selling my '67 Austin Healey 3000--what an error!
My brother and I would take them out in the country in central Calif and race them-(no helmets of course) till we teared up and couldn't see-incredibly fast, completely unstable, cornered like a drunk on skates.
Sold the 500, the 750 got stolen-(probably saved me some hurt) and then I got a '69 500. Also got and sold a Hodaka Ace 90, chrome tank, sweet.
Had the 500 for yrs, didn't run, so I ended up getting a '78 Kawasaki Z-1R ,the 1000 cc cafe bike.Very fast, but nothing in acceleration like the H-1 750.
Fast forward to the late 90's, a guy was traveling the country looking for those exact bikes to send back to Japan- (they became all the retro rage.) He gave me top dollar for the non-running 500, the Z1-R, and a 500 parts bike I'd picked. With that $$ I got a sweet deal on a '92 Yamaha v-Max.
Now, I gotta say, that even with all the time I'd spent on these old 2-strokes, I wasn't prepared for the 140 HP I'd gotten. The first time I hit V-boost on the V-Max I thought I was in a Deloren with a time machine at 88 miles an hour, and was going into another space-time continuim!! It has to be experienced, quite a difference between a 12 second and 10 second quarter mile bike. I sold it after several years of having it try to tear my arms off above 600rpm.
That being said, I'd rather have my old H-2 750 back, it really was an amazing bike.

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