S
ome of us ‘older’ members can cast our minds back to the year 1969 with nostalgia and wonderment. We can all remember where we were as Neil Armstrong first planted his feet on the moon. Meanwhile, back on Earth, more amazing things were happening in the motorcycle world as iconic models were released to an eager buying public. In no particular order, the last gasp effort by the British Factories were the BSA Rocket 3 and its clone the Triumph Trident. Yamaha’s first four stroke with its venerable XS650 twin. Everyone wondered what were they thinking with this supposedly retrograde step but some 600,000 were consequently sold over the next 16 years. Kawasaki released its amazing Mach 3 500cc triple two stroke, that broke all the rules with its 60 bhp, 124 mph (claimed) top speed. Finally, the big one, the Honda 750cc four cylinder that changed motorcycling forever and dictated the style of bike we were to ride for many years to come. I want to focus on the Kawasaki Triple, the most controversial of this lot. They were raucous, loud and very anti-social as they mono’d and smoked down the road seemingly out of control by its petrified riders, the front wheel mostly in the air. They quickly gained a reputation as ‘flexi’-flyers’ or ‘widow makers’
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and this only made them all the more desirable to riders who thrilled in their evil reputation. They were cheap too!! Thin forks and frames ensured a memorable ride. Hit 5,500 revs on the tacho and all hell broke loose in an instant. Did they deserve this reputation? Not really, as they could be ridden sedately to work if the rider wanted. You could get away with speeding in those days – just as well. Two steering dampers added to the head stem, gave reasonable control back to the rider. I restored a 1972 HIB version in 1990 and I can attest that it was actually controllable. Amazingly, the motors held together even when thrashed but the big negative was the awful petrol consumption and the need to constantly wash your underwear on return from a spirited ride. The other ‘character’ point of note was the use of Capacitor Discharge Ignition (CDI) for the first time on a motorcycle. This negated the use of points and the timing was electronically set for the life of the machine. BUT, the CDI sent out bad vibes in the way of TV reception destroying radiation. Subsequent models reverted to a normal points system until the Factory got the CDI right some years later. Kawasaki were on a roll with thousands of 500 Triples going
