These are pictures of my Kawasaki H1A MachIII 500cc 2 stroke motorcycle. This bike was the fastest thing you could buy in 1969. Out of the box it was capable of 12 second quarter miles, yet sold for only $995. Fast, smokey, and socially unacceptable, it cemented Kawasaki's reputation as the urban riders bike of choice. It also insured that there are few survivors of the original Biker Boyz bike. The more sensible riders bought Honda 750's which also debuted that year.
The H1 was a multi-billion dollar Japanese companies (Kawasaki Heavy Industries) attempt to gain name recognition in the US market. It had numerous features that were ground breaking like CDI ignition, and a 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine. The 69 H1 was all about the A. Accelleration. When a 69 H1 comes on the pipe you had better be hanging on. Unfortunately, brakes and handling were not given equal helpings of the pie, so this bike gained a reputation as a "widowmaker." Since it was so easy to wheelie the headset bearings did not last very long and headshake was common. A lot of the reputation also comes from people getting all tanked up at the bar and going straight when the road turned and hitting a tree.
I really love this bike and with some roller bearing headset bearings, bronze swingarm bushings, higher rate fork springs and Redwing shocks it handles fairly well. It sounds wonderful, and runs great as long as you remember you are riding a piston port 2 stroke with early VM Mikunis. No fuel injection here. Run it slow, and wack open the throttles: it will just puke all over itself. With as much port area as the Queen Mary, the 69 is the fastest H1 and probably the hardest to ride. Not that it is hard to ride, it just takes a smooth throttle hand and being in the right gear. Starting is easy, and ridden conservatively with good oil these bikes have made it to some high milages.
All in all, the '69 Mach III is as cool a bike today as it was when Hendrix was playing Purple Haze.
This bike was sold to make room for some other bikes and buy more equipment. This restoration hobby isn't free by any means.