so close

[Seeker]

I can almost smell it:



This is the latest pic of my H1F from Neil at Triplesworkshop. It's not a purist's refurbishment because the H1F didn't come in green, this bike was blue when it arrived from the US. UK bikes can be distinguished by the large chrome rear mudguard which imports don't possess. The paint style has been changed too, this style is known as "cutlass" whereas it was "chainsaw" when it arrived which is more rounded at the front (like a chainsaw). Neil has had a lot of problems with the exhausts - you can't buy H1D, E, F or KH500 exhausts and although they look the same each model is different. The bike behind mine is an H1A and you can get new exhausts for it, maybe because the H1, A, B and C all had the same pipes. Incidentally, the H1, H1A were the quickest and the bikes got more refined (relatively speaking) and slower with each successive model but they all have a dramatic powerband between 6k - 8k rpm.


Good condition H1A are selling for £13k and up, there was an immaculate "F" on ebay last week for £7500 which, in a moment of madness, I nearly bought. My bike will be fired up tomorrow for the first time, registration has been applied for and I'll get my grubby fingers on it the first week of August, hopefully (it was supposed to be the end of May).
I may get a set of Higgspeeds (expansion chambers) for it - I don't like losing the centre stand but I contacted Abbastand and they will make an adapter kit if I tell them the swing arm bolt sizes. I asked Higgs if he would consider making a set of standard pipes but he said no - chambers only!
The triples had a habit of boiling their batteries (like a lot of 70s bikes) which is why you see so many acid stained exhausts but Lakeland (USA) make a reg/rec which is guaranteed not to do that - I spoke to the owner and he hasn't had one fail yet, so I bought one and a replacement CDI unit from him too. I'll fit those myself.



I've been wanting a green H1 for 40 odd years...

[Craig380]

Oh man, that looks so sweet. As I understand it, the big restriction on the later H1s after the H1B is mostly the intake snorkel on the airbox ....

[Seeker]

the exhausts became more restrictive and between the "D" and the "E" the porting was changed slightly too. The "D" didn't have a rubber mounted engine all later models did. The "D" also shared the same CDI as the 750 H2 but they changed that again for the "E" (don't know why). By the time they got to the KH500 the power was down to about 52bhp from the original 60bhp H1.
Another bit of trivia - the H1C was a bit odd and seemed to be made up from left over parts whether this was because they were going to cease production or whether the "D" was due is unclear but some reference articles don't recognise it as a distinct model.
According to an American magazine that first tested the H1 Mach3, Kawasaki designed the engine to be disposable, it would be replaced rather than repaired - I'm still skeptical about that.
There's a quirk with the H1 if you let it roll backwards in first gear it can damage the kickstart mechanism - there's a washer that can stick which gums up the mechanism, it requires the engine to be stripped to repair. Oh, another quirk - neutral is on the bottom, it's not till the KH500 did they adopt the 1 down 4 up "traditional" pattern.

[maviczap]

Never wanted one myself, but always loved the smell and sound of the Kwak triples

Someone I knew back in the 80s had a 250 with the best Silver Sufer mural airbrushed onto the tank, until one night outside the pub some cnut took a knife to the design. Broke his heart, and we never saw him again.