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Meet the Kawasaki Triples: affordable two-stroke rockets with explosive power, wobbly handling, and a fearsome “Widowmaker” reputation. From the Mach III to the wild Mach IV, discover how these legends raced, terrified riders, and vanished as the world changed. A wild ride through motorcycle history!
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0:00 - The Kawasaki Widowmakers
1:21 - The Blue Streak Project
3:34 - The H1 and Its Deadly Reputation
8:22 - The H1 Goes Racing
9:28 - The H2 Mach IV
12:21 - Smaller Kawasaki Triples
13:24 - The End of the Two-Stroke Era
16:39 - The Triples’ Lasting Legacy
Subscribe for more stories from the road.
Comment what you liked most about the video!
#Motorcycles #Kawasaki #MotorcycleHistory
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@krasmoto
0:00 - The Kawasaki Widowmakers
1:21 - The Blue Streak Project
3:34 - The H1 and Its Deadly Reputation
8:22 - The H1 Goes Racing
9:28 - The H2 Mach IV
12:21 - Smaller Kawasaki Triples
13:24 - The End of the Two-Stroke Era
16:39 - The Triples’ Lasting Legacy
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SportsTranscript
00:00Greetings dear viewers.
00:01In this episode I will tell you about one of the craziest, most vivid and dangerous
00:05chapters in the history of the global motorcycle industry.
00:10In 1969 the management of Kawasaki decided that natural selection was working too slowly
00:15and the H1 model with a two-stroke three-cylinder engine went into production.
00:19And a few years later an even crazier H2 model followed, along with a number of other models
00:25with engine displacements of 250, 350 and 400cc.
00:30These motorcycles sparked a true revolution, offering riders explosive performance at an
00:35affordable price.
00:36Because of the incredible combination of excessive engine power and an imperfect chassis, they
00:42earned a sinister yet legendary nickname, the Widowmakers.
00:46This entire family was united by one common feature, the engine architecture and inline
00:52triple.
00:52Because of this characteristic, they became known collectively as the Kawasaki triples.
00:57Their story is what this episode is all about.
01:00You're on the Krasmoto channel.
01:01Enjoy the video.
01:20In the first half of the 60s, the Kawasaki brand wasn't yet associated with speed and sports.
01:27To capture the promising and most lucrative American market, the company's engineers began
01:32developing a new motorcycle under the strictest secrecy.
01:35They wanted to conquer that market with the fastest accelerating motorcycle in the world.
01:41The project was named Blue Streak.
01:44It is said that this name was chosen because of the signature white paint job of the fuel
01:49tank with a bright blue racing stripe, as well as the signature plume of bluish two-stroke
01:54smoke that this blisteringly fast motorcycle left in its wake under acceleration.
02:01Another codename for the project was N-100.
02:04The development process kicked off in 1966, Kawasaki needed to introduce something big-bore
02:10and ideally bold.
02:11In fact, the N-100 was essentially being built as a dragster.
02:15And not without reason.
02:16By the 1960s, this type of racing had exploded in popularity across the US.
02:21And the measure of cool wasn't the top number on your speedometer, but how many seconds it
02:26took you to blast through a quarter-mile.
02:29The plan called for building a standard motorcycle with a 500cc engine putting out around 60 horsepower.
02:38The main requirement was hitting the quarter-mile in 13 seconds flat from a standing start.
02:43Kawasaki's engineers approached project N-100 from several angles.
02:47First, there was the idea of boring out the twin-cylinder engine from the A7 350 Avenger.
02:54Second, there were thoughts of creating something completely new.
02:57The plan was to develop an engine with a fresh layout, either an inline triple or an L triple.
03:02Based on the test results, the engineering team agreed that they needed to go with an inline
03:06triple featuring a 120-degree firing intervals.
03:09This layout allowed them to reduce the piston weight compared to a twin and achieve insane
03:14high RPM performance.
03:15On top of that, the engine didn't end up being much more complex, unlike the L triple.
03:20The cooling fins for the middle cylinder were carefully calculated to provide sufficient
03:25cooling.
03:26In late 68, the N-100 prototype was already undergoing final testing on the roads of California, Arizona
03:33and Nevada.
03:34In 1969, Kawasaki introduced the Kawasaki H1 Mach 3 motorcycle.
03:39It was a sensation.
03:41The three-cylinder 500 became the fastest production motorcycle on the drag strip.
03:47The new Kawasaki cleared the quarter mile in 12 and a half seconds, crossing the finish
03:52line at 124 mph and from 0 to 60, the H1 rocketed in 4 seconds flat.
04:00And naturally, the new model sparked immense interest among the public, including those who
04:05until recently had been sitting behind school or college desks.
04:09The bike was relatively cheap, so it was bought in droves by young, inexperienced guys craving
04:15speed, which led to an avalanche of tragic accidents.
04:18It was precisely because of the Mach 3 that insurance companies in the US began sharply hiking
04:23rates for owners of powerful motorcycles.
04:25The H1's success was overwhelming, and it led directly to the development of the Kawasaki
04:31S2 350 Mach 2 in 71-250cc, Kawasaki S1 Mach I and the Kawasaki H2 750 Mach I in 1972.
04:49It is not known for certain whether any of the Kawasaki Triple's designers harbored hatred
04:54toward US citizens, or perhaps felt the outcome of World War II was unjust.
04:59That we'll never know.
05:01But Kawasaki's widow makers turned out deadly.
05:04The manufacturer's motto could have sounded something like this.
05:07We need a vicious 500cc bike that will smoke everyone on the quarter mile.
05:12Handling, brakes and rider survival be damned.
05:15They dropped these crazy two-stroke triples into an extremely flimsy chassis, which in essence
05:20wasn't much different from the frames of 250cc bikes from the mid-60s.
05:25The frame would flex and twist, struggling to handle the massive torque.
05:29At high speeds, the bike would often get a tank slapper.
05:32The sudden surge of power from the two-stroke engine at high RPMs almost always sent the
05:38front wheel into the air.
05:39This was also helped by the short wheelbase and the rearward weight bias.
05:43The frankly weak front drum brake did a terrible job of slowing things down.
05:49These factors left inexperienced riders with little chance of survival.
05:53But there was one more thing driving up the death toll.
05:56Affordability.
05:57A one-way ticket to the next world could be had for just $999 completely legally without
06:03having to text or register.
06:12The H1's inline triple 500cc two-stroke churned out a peak of 60 horsepower while the bike
06:20weighed a ridiculously light 174 kilograms.
06:23For just a thousand bucks, the buyer got a rocket whose standing start acceleration made
06:28muscle car drivers green with envy.
06:30The Mach 3 hit the US in 1969, sporting a sculpted white fuel tank with a blue racing stripe along
06:38the bottom and special Dunlop K77 tires.
06:43According to many sources, the 500cc bike's handling was pretty awful.
06:48Logically speaking, the Kawasaki H1 had plenty of flaws.
06:51The chassis just couldn't keep up with the engine's potential.
06:55The bike's handling was mediocre in every situation, except when it was parked with the engine turned
07:01off.
07:02And the Mach 3 also had a transmission with a weird shift pattern.
07:06Neutral was at the very bottom, and the other five gears were all shifted upward.
07:12Riders often crashed to death on these machines, and pretty soon the Kawasaki H1 earned its sinister
07:18and very fitting nickname, the Widowmaker.
07:22For the first couple of years, the design remained unchanged.
07:25The H1s from 69 to 71 were the meanest and most uncompromising.
07:29As early as 1972, the H1B version got a front disc brake, which somewhat improved the riders'
07:36chances of survival.
07:38However, more radical changes to improve safety and handling occurred on the later H1 versions
07:44and the KH500 model that followed in 1976.
07:48The frame was reinforced, its geometry altered, a sturdier fork installed and the engine slightly
07:54detuned to 52 horsepower, to make the bike more docile and friendly for everyday riding.
08:01On the KH500, they also redesigned the gearbox to follow the classic pattern.
08:06One down, the rest up.
08:08Despite all their potential, Kawasaki's Widowmakers were mechanically quite simple.
08:13For the H1, a major achievement was the use of a CDI ignition system, which provided a
08:19powerful spark at any engine speed.
08:22Thank you for your attention, and now let's get back to our main topic.
08:26Soon after its debut, a racing version called the H1R was developed based on the H1 500 with
08:33its engine boosted to 82 horsepower.
08:37In 1970, Ginger Molloy took second place behind Giacomo Agostini on the dominant MV Agusta in the
08:43500 CC World Championship.
08:45In 1971, Dave Simmons claimed victory on an H1R at the final Spanish Grand Prix in Jarama,
08:52when Agostini, having already won the championship, sat the race out.
08:57That was Kawasaki's first Premier Class 500 CC victory.
09:02By the way, it was the first multi-cylinder, two-stroke racing motorcycle sold commercially
09:06to privateer racing teams.
09:10As for the stock bike, the H1 Mach 3, ridden by Keith Martin, won the 500 CC production
09:16class at the 1974 Isle of Man TT.
09:27With the dawn of the 70s, riding the wave of the H1's success, Kawasaki's management
09:33rushed to roll out an even crazier bike.
09:36In September of 1971, the H2 750 Mach 4 debuted before the public.
09:41The three-cylinder 750 CC bike was designed to smoke any production street vehicle in a
09:47straight line, and in real life it did that exceptionally well.
09:51At the time of its debut, the Mach 4 became the quickest accelerating motorcycle.
09:55It ran the quarter-mile in exactly 12 seconds flat and could reach a top speed of 2 Son
10:01Kifold-per-hour.
10:03The machine became even crazier and inherited the nickname Widowmaker.
10:08The 750 CC triple pushed out a maximum of 74 horsepower and 77.5 Nm of torque.
10:16At the same time, the Mach 4 differed from the Mach 3 with much greater low-end torque, with
10:22a massive surge starting at 3500 RPM and peaking at 7500.
10:28It might seem that for the H2 they simply bored out the inline triple to a larger displacement,
10:33but that wasn't the case.
10:35The engine was developed from scratch, even though it shared the same architecture as
10:38the 500.
10:39While the H1 suffered from downright terrible chassis geometry with the Kawasaki H2 750, the
10:46engineers tried to fix those mistakes right from the factory.
10:49There was a disc brake on the front wheel, the same one as on the H1B.
10:54Kawasaki offered an optional second brake disc and caliper that owners could buy and install.
10:58As standard, as many as two steering dampers were installed, friction and hydraulic, designed
11:04to dampen steering oscillations.
11:06However, it didn't always save you from the speed wobbles, and even though they tried to
11:10fix some of the flaws in the H2, it was still a wild, untamed beast.
11:15In the first three gears, the H2 would easily lift off, and to a wheelie, riders literally
11:20had to lie flat on the gas tank just to keep the front wheel on the tarmac.
11:24The frame was still like rubber, twisting constantly at speed and flexing, triggering speed wobbles.
11:36Just like with the H1 model back in the day, the 750 also found its place in racing.
11:42Kawasaki developed a racing version of the H2 model dubbed the H2R.
11:46Its engine churned out around 100 horsepower.
11:50At first, riders often retired without reaching the finish line, because no tire and no final
11:57drive chain could handle that kind of power.
12:00The American Motorcyclists Association introduced its first official production class road racing
12:05category as a 750cc support class, which served as the forerunner to the AMA Superbike Championship.
12:12And, who won in this class?
12:15The H2 Mach Arve piloted by Ivan Duhamel.
12:21As I mentioned in the intro, there were also smaller three cylinder models, entry level
12:27versions of the Widowmakers, so to speak.
12:29They were intended for a wider audience and retained that signature charisma.
12:33A 3x3 exhaust system with two mufflers on the right and one on the left.
12:38The specific power output remained at a decent level, but due to their smaller displacements,
12:42they differed from the H1 and H2 with a slightly more predictable and friendly character.
12:48The 250 coming off the line with 70 horses, H2 until 73, pushed out a maximum of 32 horsepower.
12:55The 350, it was produced between 73 and 74, and could boast a herd of 45 horses.
13:03The potential of the 400 dropped slightly to 42 horsepower.
13:06The S3 model was produced only in 75.
13:09Nothing in this world lasts forever, and the era of the big two-stroke monsters ended just
13:12as quickly as it began.
13:16Nothing in this world lasts forever, and the era of the big two-stroke monsters ended just
13:22as quickly as it began.
13:24The reason was global events affecting the automotive and motorcycle industries.
13:29What was going on back then?
13:30The fuel crisis of 73 and the emissions reduction program launched in the early 70s in the US.
13:37Let's start with the former.
13:38In October 73, the Yom Kippur war broke out between Israel and a coalition of Arab states.
13:45In response to military support for Israel from the US and Western Europe, the Arab members
13:50of OPEC, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, imposed an oil embargo.
13:55They reduced production and completely halted supplies to Israel's allied countries.
14:00In just a few months, crude oil prices quadrupled from $3 to $12 a barrel.
14:06A global panic began with massive hoarding of fuel for future use.
14:10Huge, miles-long lines at gas stations became a symbol of the era.
14:15Gas-guzzling American muscle cars with V8 engines became an unaffordable luxury overnight.
14:21Consumers switched unmasked to small, fuel-efficient Japanese cars.
14:26Similar situation occurred in the motorcycle industry as well.
14:29You had to pay for the Kawasaki H2's insane character with a thirst of 13 to 15 liters per hour
14:35100 kilometers
14:36if you pinned it wide open, plus it burned through expensive two-stroke oil.
14:40By the mid-70s, such consumption was unacceptable.
14:44People needed more economical motorcycles, but that wasn't the main reason for the widow-maker's demise.
14:49The tightening of environmental regulations in the U.S. during the 70s became the major historic turning point
14:56for the entire automotive and motorcycle industry.
14:59By the late 60s, major American cities, especially Los Angeles, were literally choking on smog.
15:04In response, in December 1970, President Richard Nixon signed radical amendments to the Clean Air Act.
15:12The law forced automakers to cut harmful emissions by 90 percent.
15:16By 1975, a brand new agency, the EPA, was established to enforce the law.
15:23In the state of California, even stricter emission standards were established.
15:28According to measurements from that era, the average two-stroke motorcycle emitted 18 to 40 times more
15:34unburned hydrocarbons into the atmosphere than a passenger car from the same model year.
15:39The exhaust from Kawasaki's two-stroke triples was a toxic cocktail that the EPA simply couldn't ignore.
15:46Car and motorcycle manufacturers, including Kawasaki, had to think about the future.
15:51The company's management concluded that investing in upgrading large high-polluting two-stroke engines made no sense.
15:58By the way, at that time, there was a prototype Kawasaki KH 750-4 with a square-four engine layout.
16:05The motorcycle was supposed to produce massive power while running much smoother than the vibrating three-cylinder H1 and H2.
16:13However, due to the circumstances, the project was cancelled and the prototype remained in the factory museum.
16:19The focus shifted to four-stroke models.
16:221975 was the final year for the H1 500 and the H2 750.
16:28While the tamed KH 500 was produced up to and including 1977, new environmental regulations buried powerful two-stroke road
16:37motorcycles once and for all.
16:38That was the end of Kawasaki's widow-maker story.
16:41Though, that is not quite the right way to put it, their mass production ended, but the story of these
16:47motorcycles continues to this day.
16:49As early as the beginning of the 70s, clubs for Kawasaki triples enthusiasts existed, and they still exist today along
16:55with individual devotees of these bikes.
16:57Besides, quite a lot of them were produced by about 115,000 Kawasaki H1 motorcycles and 47,000 H2 models.
17:06Today, vintage motorcycle enthusiasts pay huge money for them.
17:10Bikes, in average condition, sell on online auctions for $20,000 to $25,000, but you can also find price
17:18tags just under $50,000.
17:20The original Kawasaki triples are monuments of an era when marketers kept quiet and engineers weren't afraid to unleash machinery
17:26onto the streets
17:27that genuinely wanted to kill you.
17:30It is also worth mentioning that the model designations H2 and H2R were resurrected in the 21st century with models
17:38of uncompromising supercharged sport bikes.
17:42And at this point my story comes to an end.
17:45Thank you for your attention.
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