Sounding like it’s been restored or at least refurbished a bit, the seller says this two-stroke triple has a mix of original, NOS, and aftermarket parts on it. This 1971 Kawasaki H1-A 500 triple can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in Holmen, Wisconsin, and the seller is asking $10,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to NW Iowa Kevin for the tip!
Weird, there are two exhaust pipes on this side but only one on the other side! You already know this is a three-cylinder by the title, if not for the reason that most of you are also vintage motorcycle fans, so you know the legend of the Kawasaki two-stroke triple monsters from the late 1960s and 70s. This is only the fourth Kawasaki H1 500 that we’ve seen here on Barn Finds, and it sure seems like there have been more of them shown. Maybe I’m thinking of the 750, which was also a three-cylinder and even scarier to ride.
Kawasaki made the H1 500 triple from late 1968 for the 1969 model year through 1975. The 1971 models are known as the H1-A, and they had a few differences, such as the Candy Blue color, a black chain guard rather than chrome, and the side covers received decals rather than badges. An unfortunate nickname was “The triple with the ripple,” due to the bike’s unsavory handling characteristics. The seller has this one priced right between Hagerty’s low and high range, which seems more than fair to me. Speaking of Hemi Cudas (what the), this bike is a hair quicker in the 1/4-mile than a 1970 Hemi Cuda. Although most big-displacement motorcycles are quicker than most cars, so there’s that. I just think it’s a fun fact.
What a jewel, though. I’m assuming the odometer was turned back to zero after this one was restored or refurbished, showing only 12.7 miles now. It appears to have been done very nicely, and I’m certainly no expert on these motorcycles, but nothing stands out as a glaring omission or addition to me. I know a lot of you have owned these bikes, so you know them much better than I do. Please let us know what you notice here, if there have been any liberties taken during the restoration. Not that it matters if anything was tweaked a bit, come to think of it. Here’s a brochure on the 1971 Kawasaki H1 Mach III.
The engine is Kawasaki’s 498-cc two-stroke triple-cylinder, with around 60 horsepower, backed by a 5-speed manual transmission that was a bit different. Neutral was on the bottom, below 1st gear, which wasn’t the favorite of a lot of riders. The seller says this is one of two Kawi 500s that they own, and it has a rebuilt crank, new pistons, rings, clutch plates, brake shoes, and more. The $10,500 asking price doesn’t touch the amount they have in this one, and if I could count the number of times I spent much more on a motorcycle or car than it was worth, I’d… er… be doing a lot of counting, or somethin’. Anywho, any thoughts on this gorgeous two-stroke triple?
“Triple with a ripple”-good stuff right there, Scotty G.! Another often repeated sarcastic reference was that the frame had actually been made by Tupperware.
Nice one here! A chunk of change and time invested here but still cheaper than that ‘66 Stang “project” (?) we’ve seen here lately. What do you want to bet that the odometer reading is due to it being rebuilt too?
Scalding performance from a 500cc bike running the 1/4 mile in 12.7/secs at 103 MPH on a 4” wide tire-and crazier yet that the later 500 (1987 Ninja twin) was 12.8 at 101MPH on a 5” tire!
Then think about the H2, with the same evil handling frame and enough power to turn 11.93 sec at 115 MPH..and some of us are still alive to talk about it!
Did that wind up in your garage there, NW Iowa Kevin? More than a few of us would be jealous, y’know.
And Howard-any of these show up in your neighborhood, and what’d they think?
Enjoyed my 1972 H1 but really didn’t like that disk brake…sold it because I just didn’t ride it that much….loved the sound of the Demco pipes, the smell and the ride.
Here’s your chance to buy it & become a Darwin Award Nominee.
I remember sitting in class in high school,& hear an H1 rider winding
it up through every gear,& lived to tell about it.
Did a ride on one a friend bought -that was all it took for me.
There are folks that have actually ridden one of these monsters, and those that haven’t. I was one of those mishugas that rode one. I realize many younger folks may say, they have all kinds of really fast bikes. This kids, was the pioneer to all those crotch rockets that came after.
With 4 stroke, 4 cylinders on the horizon, multi-cylinder 2 strokes were unquestionably the fastest, most unpredictable bikes made. While the Suzuki “Water Buffalo”( that was a triple with 4 pipes, perhaps what the author is thinking) was a docile bike compared to this, Kawasaki pulled out all the stops, and wanted to go down in history as the fastest production bike you could buy at the time and did.
I had a neighbor with a 305 Honda Scrambler, came home one day with one of these. It was orange. I was just a punk kid with Honda 50 roots, but he let me ride it. 1st thing I noticed, it was side tippy with those cylinders hanging out each side,( later revisited with my GWs) and noisy. Off I went,,slow at 1st, I was warned about the explosive power band at 5000rpms. Nice and easy, got out of sight, stopped, and let ‘er go. I’m sure he heard me. GM CHRYSLER,,,what a racket, and slid back on the seat, and sure enough, 5000rpms, the front wheel comes off the ground, backed off, 2nd gear, same thing, 3rd, got into the dangerous “speed wobble” ( 75-90mph?) these were known for, and that was enough for me. Thing is, I believe the frame was way too flimsy, and while the 750 enhanced the experience, it was really a poor bike. These were cheap. They sold for right around a grand new, when the all-new Honda 750 was almost $500 more and these were a gamble on most buyers part. Some say less than 2,000 were sold in the US in ’71, and very few bought another. Many found out the Honda 750 was a much better bike.
Don’t feel bad for Kawasaki, as the Z1/900 that came out in ’72 put all rumors to rest about Kawasaki, and these faded pretty fast.BTW, I believe those are aftermarket gauges as images I saw had the word “Kawasaki” on the dial face. Incredible find, most were dumped, but here’s your chance to relive motorcycle history, if you have the grapes, that is.
Gauges are legit for the year. Faces plate may have been restored thou as they show little signs of UV fading over 50+ years
Nice find Scotty. When I was about 17 a friend had a 750 two stroke that bike scared the hell out of me they were nicknamed the widow makers. One ride and you understood how they earned that name they would pull so hard just hanging on was scary.
my father’s exact bike. my sister flew off the back more than i can remember LOL. awesome machine.
A good buddy had a Mach lll when we were seniors in high school. He let another friend go for a ride on it and never came back. T boned a car at high speed, died instantly. Darn right they were called the widow maker!
Where was that at? White city?
Fast forward 30 years, and a friend’s family had a motorcycle dealership, and sold the Hayabusa, which in its day, was nearly a 200 mph motorcycle for $10,000.00. Shades of the Kawi, the first guy who bought one dumped it in the parking lot. The second guy who bought one dumped it leaving the parking lot. The third guy who bought one made it to the first stoplight before he dumped it…
But the Hayabusa’s just such a big, comfy, well-mannered thing that you can’t tell how fast you’re going – the fairing is really good. And then you glance at the speedo…
With the triple, you know all about it. Box-section swingarm and some frame bracing helps, apparently.
Never had one of these but had a Suzuki 72 GT 550, it was a 3 cylinder 2 stoke as well. It was a beast,,,
Mine was the Suzuki GT 380 with Bassani Chambers. I’m sure the 550 was fun!! Fun bikes once you got on the pipe!! The 2 strokes made riding much more fun!! It sounds like a lot of us were high school age when we rode these!!
Mine was a green one. I remember the fat cushy throttle grip. It had an adjustable steering damper that was always adjusted to max. I always blamed the shimmy on the swingarm bushings but who knows. Like riding an old yankee clipper in the snow, fast and liked to go straight.
I never had a 3 cylinder Kawasaki, but I did have a green stingray bicycle that was paid for.
We knew what these were when they came out. That unmistakable sound it made when you would one up. I never even rode one. My CB-750 somehow felt just a notch or two “saner”, and I was okay with that.
Correction: That unmistakable sound it made when you wound one up.
No title and $10,500?
I don’t believe the 750 was scarier than the 500. It was more planted, without the lifting front wheel. (Had both versions, over 50 years ago.)
Me too. The 500 was a killer and a lot of this bikes crashed. The 750 also was a beast, but in a saver frame – first bike got over 200 km/h.
By the way: I’m alive and still keep both in my collection and a 250 as well
Exactly MrF! The 750 was made with less compresion so if you compare the output you will see that it’s not 50% greater from the 500 as it should. With less compresion it was more civilized in manners and just a bit faster. Friends of mine with the 750 said that the frame was weak because of the added weight of the 750 compared with the 500. You had to use more throttle to get away from the trafic lights which made it even more fast, without you wanting that, because of people passing 100 meters ahead not aware of how fast the thing was. Its sound above 5,000rpm was insane, intoxicating and that was not good for a young man. Mine was the brown-yellow 1975-6 model with a very good front disk brake. Standard cruising speed was around 170k/h (110m/h) attained in seconds. Once with then girlfriend, she started holding me tighter than usual, i turned my head and saw her literally flying like a flag hanging from a pole, my middle. I kept my cool and lowered speed gradually allowing her to get back to the seat (land essentially on the bike). Scaired i was, because if she lost her cool at that speed… wharever. Many such stories with people asking for a ride and getting terrified afterwards or people i knew that ended badly, so the speak. U see ‘widow maker’ or the bike that killed the most bikers in history.
I had a 71 H1. It ate chains and rear tires and its flexi frame became apparent once you went beyond 100. But it was an exciting ride with a great idle burble. I dropped it once in a slippery turn – didn’t hit anything – and when I picked it, the front fork was tweaked out of alignment. I put it up on its stand and loosened all the fork bolts and shook the fork and tightened everything back up and all was good. Ahhh! The aroma of blue two stroke exhaust! I sold it to buy a Norton Commando, which I also sold. I should have kept them both.
$10k seems like a lot, but try to find one this clean cheaper.
My brother in law had one.. he bought it from the widow of the guy who died on it.. scary fast machine!
The 350 triple Kawasaki was no slouch either!
The shop i bought my 500cc have sold a 250cc triple the previous month. The new owner went for the 1st ride, never returned. It seems that a tractor driver couldn’t appreciate its speed and tried to enter the road. It was even more of a problem with people and cars when riding the H1. For me it was a sad reminder of what i was having in mind to buy. They couldn’t appreciate how fast the bike will get close, u have to be on the lookout for people and cars way ahead, hand tight on the brakes. The front disk brake though was good enough. In the 70’s people weren’t used to its almost like F1 at the time accelaration.
Took my license test on a new 69 500, did a wheelie and still passed.Said that I didn’t want to bog it going into second. Had quite a few 750’s and the 72’s were the fastest and worst handling of all. They stretched the wheelbase and lowered the power on the later ones. One wheelie at 100 mph and my girlfriend never got on again. Read Hunter Thompson’s Song of the Sausage Creature
The H1 had purposly 1st and 2nd gear with more teeth so that Kawa engineers could bit the 0-100km mark faster than the competion, that is without going to 3rd gear. I learned that in the 90’s and solved the reason why i had to get faster, with more throttle when out of the trafic lights.
‘1st and 2nd with less teeth’
I replaced the 5th gear with one with less teeth to impove top speed in the motorway! In the end, advised also by the local gas shop owner, we both filled up there, who lectured my dad on the bike, he payed me for a car in order to get rid of the H1!
About the final gear change, i’m not so sure. I certainly did that in my X1/9 that followed a few years later. 70’s stories!
A friend. had one for sale. One test ride and I lost interest in motorcycles.
In the spring of 1974, I walked into Proffers Motorcycles in Flint, Michigan, with the intent of buying a Kawasaki 750 triple. Sitting on the floor next to the 750 was a used Z-1, with only 3,500 miles on it. Both were the same price. I signed the papers for the Z-1, and never looked back! One of the better decisions I made in my life! And no ring-a-ding, too!
I sure admired the 900 and wished I had one. It’s never too late–or is it?
It’s never too late! The real question is how much money do you want to spend. The last one I saw go across the block at a Mechum auction, went for $12,000, and that was several years ago. It looked like it was right off the show room floor!
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/1976-Kawasaki-KZ+900-5041930273#sid=999783
Just one example of what’s out there.
Nd then there’s this-
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/2026-Kawasaki-Z900RS+SE+ABS-5038870969#sid=786563
My friend had a 750. At the time it was the fastest bike or car out of the box brand new in the quarter mile.
Small displacement, powerful 2 strokes can humble a man quickly. I learned that young on a friend’s RZ350 Yamaha.
100%; followed later with the coup d’ grace in 1980 with the wicked RD350LC. Smoked the early ‘80’s Honda 750’s and KZ650’s while laying the stomp to every cruiser under 1100cc’s. A nickel rocket on the track or canyon road, a friend with a Kenny Roberts replica shamed many a self-styled road racer with his girl “Elsie”.
Talk about FUN !!! I ripped a 500 and the 750 AKA The Widow maker through all 5 gears on a few occasions. Loved every minute of it !!!
I’m glad that you’re alive to tell about it!
These things were immoral to market for high school kids IMO I’ve had my share of Nortons, CB 750s, etc.
Reading the sales brochure was interesting: such hyperbole. 55 mpg at 50 mph? Haha, my new 73 350 S2 triple was lucky to get 23-24 mpg which during the oil embargo summer of 73 with gas stations closed on sundays meant I could not make it to my girlfriends college campus on the weekend because the range with the small 3+ gallon tank at 24 mpg. Can’t imagine the 500 was any better. Was a quick and wheelieing rocket though.
Identical to the one I owned back in the day! These were scary: cable drum brakes were iffy, weight distribution was terrible, and handling was shaky. But, it was fun! Traded it for a new 75 Kaw Z1 900. That was a much more refined and quicker bike! It’s the only one I regretted selling!