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Review of the 1970 Kawasaki 500 H 1 Mach III:Great Times Great Memories Great Machine |
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Author: T. Parker, 2008-06-12, viewed 261 times. | ||||||
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My Black H 1 | ||||||
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I owned one of these historic machines from the summer of 1972 until the spring of 1975. Fun factor 9 out of 10.Reliability 9 out of 10. I bought it used for Dollars 500.00. It was owned by an upper middle aged man(55 something).It came with a wind shield and a rack with a back rest. It already had 13,000 mi. on it, but the old guy NEVER once reved it past 5,000rpm. When I bought it from him he said ´It feels about right for just a 500, just made an occasional ride on the freeway but pretty much took it easy´. I asked him about the power rush when reved past 5600 rpm all he sayd was he was affraid it would flip over backwards and never pushed it. I thought it for sure was loaded up but he said he frequently changed the flat gap plugs so it never really loaded up. 2 days after I bought it I mustered up enough confidence to push it past 7grand and was awestruck! I had a couple of 350 Hondas and aYR-2 Yamaha 350, and neither of those put out that power rush. I rode it thru the Mojave desert @106 degrees, then thru Yosemite national park that summer,not one single problem although I thought I dropped a cylinder doing 100mph in Yosemite on a 5 mile straight and met up head long into a 45mph headwind with a 250lb passenger behind me that slowed me down to 50mph in a few seconds. Thats when we watched a deer running in an open field 200yds. to my right. As it got closer and closer I decided to stand on and vice gripped the brakes just in time to stop and watch that deer cross the road right in front of us!!! Although the brakes were´nt quite the same after that Im glad I had the sense to stop before we could of got killed. I used that bike to move furniture,band equipment, scare a few girlfriends,the onlytime I had to push it off the road is when it thru a chain. I also had the longest ride I ever took was in Feb 1973 from L.A. to Portland. I was very fortunate that the weather was clear and Sisquew pass was 14 degrees just before sunrise and I just had an appendectomy a month before and moved to Oregon so I got a ride back to L.A.to get my bike. At 33,000 mi. I had the top end done,had 1st and 5th gear replaced and just before and after that was done-was it ran like crap and would not rev past 4500rpm. I discovered 2 things. 1 took off the mufflers since the baffles were impossible to pull out, I pounded on the mufflerswith a soft blow hammer and made a pile of carbon 10inches round and 4in. high from each muffler, then wondered where those 3 ignition wires were connected to find out those were part of a distributor cap and rotor. Immediatley replaced those ( no maintenance manual)and then it ran as good as or even better than it was when I 1st got the bike 2yrs ago. So I ended up with 44,000 miles on it I decided to sell it for Dollars 500, in great shape and well cared for to a 17yr old kid and said goodbye to it after a few close call accidents(one was a 4 to 5foot long truck muffler in the far left lane on the freeway I didnt see until I was behind a big camper and as I switched lanes, there it was. I did a front tire wheelie and a rear wheelie at 75mph but was ok and shook nervously at work all day not wanting to ride it home and was more cautious passing anyone after that occured) which was why I sold it. I really liked that charcoal black paint. Many great memories on that grand bike. Sure wished I kept and stored it. |
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