My name is Scotty G and I have never owned a Kawasaki. That was painful to admit publicly, but it feels good to finally get it out in the open. I need to work on that character flaw and one good way could be with this 1973 Kawasaki 500 H1 Mach III. This incredibly enticing bike can be found listed here on eBay in Forest Lake, Minnesota. Wait, what? That’s less than a half-hour from my house which is scary. The current bid price is $2,950.
This example appears to have a bit of a rake to it, chopper-style, and the seller mentions that the forks and handlebars aren’t original. That’s super unfortunate given the rise in the value of these bikes over the last few years. The seller says that this is a one-owner bike which is incredible since that’s almost five decades now and it only has 3,363 miles on it for cryin’ out loud! I wonder what the bids would be if it didn’t have those Easy Rider forks? Double the current bid maybe? Mecum just sold a beautiful example in Las Vegas with 2,000 more miles for $25,300 which was most likely bidder’s fever since Hagerty is at $9,500 for a #2 excellent condition example. You can see how crazy the market is right now.
The 500 H1 Mach III two-stroke triple was made from 1969 to 1975, the sweet spot for any recreational vehicles for me – motorcycles, pedal bikes, snowmobiles, boats, campers, etc. I have never ridden one but those who have usually report that they’re fast, scary fast. I’ve really only ridden one scary fast motorcycle and that was my brother’s former 1983 Honda XL600r, a single with more power than it needed and more than most riders could handle, me included. The seller says that this one-owner bike has been parked for a couple of decades inside, so out of the elements, and it really does look great in the photos, other than the extended forks. It isn’t currently running, of course, but they show a video here on YouTube of it being kicked over and it’s as free as a birdie.
The photo above is exciting for me and any others who like to find old bikes that mainly need to be cleaned up, have the fuel system cleaned out and the carb cleaned, maybe a few new jets, some tires, brakes, cables, and the usual items. It’s nice that the seller hasn’t tried to clean it up under the seat, I think it gives a level of excitement to the folks who are dreaming about getting this one back home and getting started working on it for the spring riding season.
The engine needs to be cleaned up but it looks good. It’s Kawasaki’s 498.75 cc inline-triple which is a two-stroke with about 60 bloodcurdling horsepower. There are enough videos online showing how to get a bike like this back on the road again and how to polish those engine cases and everything else. Hagerty is at $6,500 for a #4 fair condition bike and I don’t know what those forks and handlebars do to the value but they don’t help it. The 500 H1 was a bit squirrely in the handling department anyway, I can’t imagine it with those extended forks but I did see a set of correct outer forks on eBay for $150. Any thoughts on this one? Yea or nay?
Somewhat flawed handling stock, I’m pretty sure extending the forks didn’t help….
They had a noodle for a swing arm and pasta for a frame. When you launched it, you never knew what direction it was going to go..but that engine! For a 500 it really had giddyup-and also 25 mpg.
Disagree – I’ve owned and ridden a Kawasaki 250 triple, a 350 triple, a 400 triple, a 500 triple along with the 750 triple. Only lost one friend in 1974 on his 500 when a dump truck pulled out in front of him on Westmoreland but hey I’ll let the experts like Howard explain these bikes to y’all.
This will go to Japan where those guys are still crazy about them and ride the begeezzz out of them.
We go through this everytime with these. You simply won’t find a “high mileage” one of these,,for 2 reasons. 1) the rider had the bejeezus scared out of them, or 2) the motor stuck. I had the,,um, experience, I’ll say, to ride one of these. I realize what I said on the “crotch rocket” post, this was, at least, what I consider a “normal” motorcycle, just sales demand preceded proper engineering. It was the Asians duty to supply the wants of American consumers need for speed, and all, except maybe Honda, hastily stuffed big 2 cycle motors into older designed frames. This was Kawasakis answer until the Z1 came out later this year, and spelled doom for the “ring-dings”,,,for ever. I think Suzuki was the last holdout with 2cycles with the Water Buffalo. It’s a neat find, a real piece of motorcycle history, just not that pleasant to ride, for good reasons.
yamaha held down the fort for two strokes till sometime in the mid 80s, the rz watercooled bikes allowed tighter engine clearances, along with exhaust valves helped performance, and emissions. But the cb750 and Z1 had indeed spelled doom for theses bikes…..
What killed the 2 strokes was the EPA. In the mid 80s yamaha gave it one last chance in the us with the catalytic converter equipped rz350, at least in the us. Other places could get the much more potent RZ500 2 stroke 4 cylinder, and as also seen here recently on BF the wickedly powerful Suzuki RG500 Gamma.
For the general public the flatter power curve of 4 strokes are probably a better solution but to an experienced rider nothing beats the rush of a well tuned and piped 2 stroke.
These Kawasakis have a well deserved reputation for great performance, although the aforementioned comments regarding handling are somewhat true.
My first experience with these bikes came in I think 1972, my father had picked me up from my summer job and we were on our way home. I heard something come up behind us and look back an see a bike I’d never seen before. Soon enough we came to a straight spot in the road and he downshifted and flew by us, on the pipes, smoke belching, and that glorious 2 stroke racket. It jumped my father right up in his seat and the words that came out of his mouth I’ll never forget, lol…..right then an there I wanted one. It ended being an H2 an older kid in town just bought. I never did own one but got to ride an H1 couple yrs later one of my buddies bought. It was his pride an joy so I wasn’t allowed to ride out of his sight…….probly smart move on his part
Scotty, I know you are into vintage snowmobiles, so take it from a 66 year old, who grew up with Kawasaki powered vehicles with both tracks and wheels, you owe it yourself to ride one of these. I have owned five Kawi triple motorcycles, two of them new. While the newer four cylinder screamers are certainly more civilized, nothing will prepare you for the feel of laying into the throttle of an H2 or H3. My H3 was so quick. Nothing could touch it, until we got to the corners, then yes, they were scary. I never had an engine problem with all five I owned. Mist idiots would go down a hill with the throttle closed. Duh. You cut off the oil flow to a drip. They were oil injection. The tank was under the seat. Other than blasting on the road past our house, or showing off to my friends, I rode them all somewhat conservatively. I also owned a 72 Arctic Cat EXT 440 triple MOD, the only year Kawi made a 440 3. Talk about fast out on the lake, til the neighbors called the cops with those expansion chambers. I want this green 500.
George, I had 72 340 ext when I was senior in HS. The dealer put the optional light kit on it and I used it for my every day trail sled for 4 yrs…never had a problem except for the 6000 rpm clutch engagement taking off in soft snow, lol. In 73 they came out with the el tigre an guy I knew bought a 340 an wanted to race, I could beat him by 4 or 5 lenghts in a couple hundred ft an then he’d just give it up…..I’ve looked for one to buy, upwards of 10k for a real nice one if you can find anyone that would sell….outa my price range for a sled to just take on vintage rides .
No such thing as a Kawasaki “H3”.
Sitting in class in high school,you could hear Marty’s Mach III
winding it up.That sounded pretty cool back then.
Scotty, nows the time, you can stop going to those support group meetings, buy that Kawi, lol
Some early risers here to comment on this TFTBP. That’s OK, just a little earlier than I was THIS morning.
I remember one of the first editions of these that showed up in Sweetgrass back in ’69. The guy that bought it was one of those youngsters that must have inherited a pile of money or something like that. He was a couple of years older than I was and he had a new Buick Wildcat 445 that he had the back end lifted to astronomical proportions. Then he added a new Honda 350 Scrambler, which turned out to be his FIRST two-wheeler. I don’t think he had a chance to discolor the chrome on the exhaust outlets before he went to Great Falls and came back with one of those 500 Kawi’s. Well, with about 200 miles on the clock he was showing it off to a bunch of sidewalk commandos in Shelby. He really turned it on and must’ve hit a crack in the road or something. Anyways he fishtailed it a bit and when he got it back under control he went through a stop sign and T-boned the circuit court judge’s new Cadillac. The bike stopped suddenly while Dave continued up the street for another fifty yards or so. When he recovered it was Vietnam and I never saw much of him after that. I heard he headed for the coast and never came back.
Amazing bikes these were. About the only thing that could complete with it was a Norton Commando R which nosed it out in the quarter-mile by 2/10(?) of a second. That was official times by Cycle Magazine in the Super Seven Competition. Then Kawasaki came out with the 750 version to which I started hearing the term: ‘Kamakazi.’ Not for me; I liked to see the countryside go past when I rode, not a blurry dotted line…
East coaster here, What? 3hrs rising time earlier than you?
Wild hi winding machines. This one looks cool w the bars and rake. I could see my crazy buddy on this, wearing his old sparkly 70s open face helmet and just ripping down the road w a grin.
I still have that magazine! The Harley Sportster was disqualified for having a racing cam and thunder heads. Didn’t matter. It still wasn’t as quick or fast as the Norton, 750 Honda or the Kawasaki.
That’s the one. I was (and still am) disgusted with HD on that one. I remember they ported the heads but I don’t recall them changing the cams. However, you have the magazine and that was a good article. I was a little surprised to see the Norton beat the Kawasaki but since then I saw some showdowns where it did similar things. My own Norton Ranger completely humiliated a Honda 750 shortly after that. I don’t think the Honda owner has spoken to me since, and that’s closing in on 50 years now…
Wow, great comments, guys!
Was also surprised by how well the BSA Rocket 3 did in that test. Was faster than the Triumph Trident. The slowest bike was the Suzuki 500 Titan which was a very good machine
Didn’t Allen Milyard make a 5 cylinder out of one of these? He’s done a few cylinder add-on motors but, I could be wrong.
This one seems like it would be worth the effort but, at my age I’m no longer a bike guy.
I like these…
The forks and ‘bars can get tae, though. If the engine turns freely, the price is fair, I think. A crank build and new rings (or rebore, depending) should sort it out.
A box-section swingarm helps with the handling evils.
And a heavily-gusseted frame. These and the 750s were death on two wheels due to being overpowered for their frame.
I believe part of the handling problem on the first ones was the rear wheel being slightly offset to the right. The engine was uncustomarily wide and they had to move things around to align the transmission sprocket with the rear wheel.
Also, they smoke a little less when using modern synthetic two-stroke oils.
…or maybe to the left!
Hi Stu,
Was on an H2 a couple if years ago. Modern tires seemed to tame a good deal of the squirmy out of it.
Yes. Someone made a 5 and 6 cylinder out of them. He was afraid to let it rev above 3 or 4000 rpm
Can I bid on the Mystery Machine?
You could’ve, if it hadn’t been for those pesky kids…
I had the H2 and H1 in cafe style
Both modified with Denco chambers and larger carbs. Sold the pair for $1200 and bought a Honda because girls Wouldn’t ride on them. The 750 Honda handled bettet
Love the Triple two strokes! I initially learned to ride on a Honda 350 but went through high school riding my buddies 500 and 750 Kawi triples! Bought my first bike in 1978 , a KH400 right out of the crate. Had a ton of fun with that bike, quick off the line but not a high top end. Bike is still in the family, my nephew has it now as I have had a Sportster for the las 13 years!
Thanks for the memories Scotty!!
This one is a bargain if it doesn’t go too high in bidding. The frame is not raked, it just has about 6 inches to much in the fork department.
Fix that, get the right handle bars and get it runnin!
Speaking of which, if you have ever heard one of these wound up, you won’t forget it.
Just as scary as the handling were the brakes. I had a 69 500 with drum brakes all around, yikes, Never crashed it but came close more than once. Smoked so bad I could only ride it in town at night. WingaDingaDing.
Had an H1 and my cousin had an H2. They were fast and fun. If it is as good as it looks in the pictures pick it up. Will be fun to clean up and ride. If you are looking for a two stroke to ride an RD400 is a much better ride. My favorites are the RZ350. Light weight, handle well, with a brake upgrade stop well and difficult to get in over your head.
The H1 and H2 is easy to get in over your head as the motor is way ahead of the rest of the bike.
As to the 25mpg, don’t think I ever got that high a mileage.
I had a 1975 one of these, it was a hand full on the launch but it was a screamer with the high rev and light weight. The only problem I had with it was it was prone to fouling the center plug. It was fun but I later went to the dealer in 79 and came out with a Z1.
Look up “Purple Haze Racing” … and see what a horror (grin) these can be when modified …
KH 400 owner here, back in school. One of the best sounds, ever, on WOT! Had a problem with the dogs on second gear, a common issue back in the day. Rode it all year in southern Ontario, coming back from school in mid February for reading week, with two coats and two pairs of mitts on. Honestly, I wonder sometimes how we made it this far…..
good times..
bt
I had a 71 H1 in 71 in NYC, any color you wanted as long as it was blue, Cost $1100. I called it the first of the throw away motorcycles. The handling after my Ducati singles was interesting to say the least. Had bike for years, rode it up thru Canada on my way out west in snow and rain while at school in Oklahoma. Worst part was letting guys ride it that didn’t understand it was a bit different than their 650 BSA
This one brings back a memory or two. Had one right after high school, but before the Marine Corps. First week getting used to it, I washed it, made the huge mistake of Armor Alling the seat. Took it out for a spin and hit the power band with that slick seat. All I remember was my two feet sticking straight back and trying to back off the throttle. As others have noted, why are we still alive?
Great times. Cheers and good luck with the sale.
I owned one. A black 70 model. Never had any major issues as I took good care of it. Replaced the crank and 1st gear at 27,000 miles. Did all the maintenance a smoky 2 stroke needed and didn’t always race it. By the time I sold it in 74 it had 40,000 miles on it and was in great condition. No regrets owning it
I love these bikes! H1& H2’s I had 4 h2’s fastest things I’ve ever been on, and so easy to work on, put k&n filters a set of expansion chambers rejet the carbs and go crazy fast! wish I still had one the h2’s are going for crazy money now
Had one, except mine had a king/queen seat. These were made as racing bikes back in the day, could shift it on the oppitside also. As sed, scary fast, would do a wheelie W/O trying. Mine was fairly stable. We rode ours all over So. Michigan, economical. Traded for a Kaw 900, that was a cruiser, bought it W/frozen engine, fixed it then it ran forever.
Had a 73 H2 that would easily take the H1 on. Scary fast both. Strap on a set an be ready to back off when it would get out of hand!
my 1st bike.
A ?baby blue? tho (robins egg?). Hada lambreta 125 scooter 1st tho. A lill different from 1 another, eh? Glad it wasn’t the H1 (750 cc)
8^0
While being a mainly Harley family we have a love of all bikes and riding in general. My dad was a Harley employee for 42 years but before he bought his first Harley he dabbled in the other makes in his youth. Ive never seen it run but in his basement he still has his 500 triple. I believe it to be a ’71 H1 in the two tone blue. Beautiful bike i think has a cracked piston. One of these days we’ll fix it and get it back on the road. All of us brothers (his kids) are curious to ride it. The drum brakes worry me a bit but im sure its just something you deal with and figure it out. Not sure the mileage, guess ill have to stop and take a current peek at odometer. His stories dont defer much from these ive read, said it was a screamer.
One of my dads buddies bought the twin to this one brand new and had our local dealer deliver it to his house. He had never rode a bike and thought it would be a good starter bike. Wrong. After crashing it in his driveway/lawn numerous times he put it on his covered patio and let it rot to nothing. I know it had less than 100 miles on it. I had a 79 KZ1000 and it was fast, I rode my buddies 750 triple and realized mine wasn’t all that fast. Loved the sound of the triples almost as much as I loved the sound of my 79 CBX with open six into six headers, everyone in town wanted it, it sounded like a wide open Ferrari racer
“A good starter bike”?
In the immortal words of Frank Barone; “Holy Crap!”
My new 73 Kawi 350 triple cost $912 out the door and the day I bought it the dealer put the first 900 4 stroke on the showroom floor. Worst problem with mine was fouling plugs often in city driving and the 23 mpg with a slightly over 3 gallon tank. Not much range when the fuel embargo and closed gas stations the next summer.
I had two of these machines, a 70 and a 72, both blue and fast as hell! A friend had the 750 version and I could beat him in a straight line, but not in a corner. Blue smoke and hold on once the tach hit 6000 rpm’s because you had to lean over the bars to keep the front wheel on the ground. T-boned a car with the 72 version in 1974. Broke my leg and bruised just about every other part of my body. Lucky to have lived through it as the frame and my Bell helmet were both broken.
Auction update: this one sold for $7,900!