Kawasaki H2 750 Mach IV Triple - Chainsmoker

back in 1972 kawasaki didn't pull any punches in the brochure for the new h2 mach 4 750 triple they said "we've just pulled a fast one on the competition of all the world's production models it's the fastest thing on two wheels". They really weren't exaggerating. The h2 is designed for one thing and one thing only: speed. Noise. pollution, fuel consumption and even handling were all secondary. Its predecessor the 500cc h1 mach 3 triple set the benchmark for road bike performance. But the early 1970s were a numbers game and the key number was 750. Everyone had to have a 750 superbike in their range. Norton had the Commando, Ducati had their 750ss and of course there was the Honda cb750. But when Kawasaki entered the race with the mach 4 they tore up the rule book and the tarmac together with it. Because it wasn't just the fastest two-stroke it was the fastest accelerating bike. When I was 17 the bikes that we rode were two strokes. They were fs1es and I had a Malaguti Monte. it's a 50cc two stroke. Two strokes are in our blood and they're in our nostrils. When you progress onto the bigger bikes, a 750 stroke is nuts! A 750 version of what we had when we were 17. Loads of torque, loads of power, loads of aggravation. I mean the things you know they put this enormously powerful engine into a bike which wasn't really wasn't ready for it. And the cycle parts on this aren't an awful lot different to a 250 and yet you've got a load more power. As well as the frames being fairly inadequate for the power that these bikes had the tyre technology back then was pretty basic as well. This one is actually a fabulous bike. It's completely unrestored with 10 000 miles from new. It's still got, amazingly it's still got its original front tyre. I doubt if the back tyre is original, as most of those miles were probably done with the front wheel in the air. So that's why it's managed to survive. So you've got to treat it with respect because not only is that an original Japanese tyre but it's now a very old Japanese tyre. Compared to let's say the Z1, a little bit later most of us gravitated towards four-cylinder four-strokes, they're sophisticated they're much better mannered. I mean the Z1 Kawasaki is is still a beast of a machine but it's a lot lot more civilized and a lot more usable and you could go places on it. I mean to be perfectly honest with you if these are a lot of fun on a shorter a shorter ride but if you wanted to do 50 60 miles or more you're going to get on a Z1 Kawasaki every day over an H2. But I think the key thing with these h2s apart from all those other things is the oral and the nasal nostalgia. Nostrils full of two-stroke and the noise of a two-stroke triple cylinder bike is it's a unique experience. In many ways the Kawasaki h2 is the essence of the pure unadulterated superbike concept. It's about exhilaration and performance with very little else allowed to interfere. It's also a motorcycle that for some was a lot safer to look at than to get on. Whilst they tried to make it easier to handle as it evolved it was still a machine to take very seriously and demanded razor sharp reactions from a rider that knew what they were doing. A rider that was most likely a mustachioed leather jacket wearing hairy chested chain smoker. Just like the bike.

Channel: Brightside Media

Views: 318,975

Keywords: classic motorcycles, classic bikes, kawasaki h2, kawasaki h2 Mach IV, Kawasaki H2 Mach IV 750, Kawasaki Triple, Kawasaki 2-stroke, 2-stroke, 2 stroke motorcycle, motorcycle, motorcycles, motorbike, seventies motorcycles, story of seventies superbikes, seventies superbikes, vintage motorcycles, vintage motorbikes, vintage bikes, classic motorcycle, superbikes

Id: wkqfwfjdCJ4

Length: 5min 37sec (337 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 06 2020