Cycle Magazine list of "Quickie Kings"

I copied this from another forum....but I'm sure the poster won't mind.

From [reply to]a letter asking for a list of the fastest bikes tested over the1/4 mile;

[up to 1976]

1973 Kawasaki 750 H2----12.28 /110.29---------------------------------------
1975 Kawasaki Z1A ------12.37/107.39-----------------------------------------
1973 Kawasaki 903Z1----12.39/110.70-----------------------------------------
1976 Kawasaki KZ900Ltd 12.52/110.29-----------------------------------------
1970 Norton "S"-----------12.69/103.68-----------------------------------------
1970 Dunstall Norton------12.70/102.65---------------------------------------
1973 Triumph Trident------12.72/106.00----------------------------------------
1970 Triumph Trident------12.78/103.92---------------------------------------
1969 Kawasaki 500 H1-----12.80/99.5-----------------------------------------
1970 Honda CB750/4-------12.98/102.27--------------------------------------


and if you just can't get your fill of reading about the way it really was back then, written by the guys like us who were actually there....this is a fantastic read.


http://www.kawtriple.com/mraxl/articles ... bikes1.htm

Edit- This article will set the record straight on so many of the myths that have grown about some of these bikes. Any of us that rode these bikes back then can attest that the article is factually true. If someone disputes something, chances are he or she never actually rode the bike in question but is simply believing a myth that was told to him or her back in the day......an all too common occurance.

jeff

 

No mention of the Z1 TURBO?? While not built at the factory, it WAS dealer-available.

What about the Amazon 1600?? Or is this only USA (available) bikes?
Built in Brazil, used as a Police bike, it had a 1600 dual port engine.
Jay Gleason tested one, but I can't remember the times.

 

Z1r-TC was '78-79.....as the list stated, it was only up to '76! I'm surprised at you TTR for not catching that<LOL>....you're sharper than that!!

I remember Gleeson (Peewee) writing about that bike....but I don't remember anymore about it then you do.....

I actually rode my first turbo bike in '78 (I think)at Daytona....a turbocharged XLCR....or Booming Black Flash as it was called. Amazingly fast with torque to pull tree stumps at 2500rpm!!!

Pretty cool article though....warmed my heart seeing the Mach IV coming out on top....about the last time a big 2 stroke ever did.....I said BIG 2 stroke....not forgetting all the RD tests where it won.

jeff

 

Well, at least I gave a couple "close, and viable" to the throne, but another one, pitted against the Superbikes, was the 1975 Honda GoldWing - meant to be a sport bike initially.

How did it fair??

 

I graduated high school in 1970. I remember the original article, and all the (heated) teenage porch-monkey cigarette-smoking bench racing discussions about the results. We poured over it, argued as to how the Commando was faster than the Triumph while the "Sporty" chewed it, etc., but none of us paid any attention to the Kawasakis or Hondas. It was though they didn't even exist; they were simply KNOWN to be somehow inferior (musta been cheating.) Remember, WWII ended only 25 years prior; a lot of our dads fought in the PTO.

Oh, to be 17 again. Youth really is wasted on the young.

I'm really glad I kept my Norton.

 

I have been trying to get a commando for years. I'm always looking for a basket case to make my next project. Most of my friends still have the kz's from years ago. The quality was overkill. at the end of the world there will be kz 1000 crankshafts littering junkyards long after everything has rotted away. I just never liked them. I have a buddy who weighs like 120 who has a punched out 1000. He will kick start it and it damn near throws his over the bars every time. It's pretty comical.

 

Re-reading that old article got me to poking about the internet, and I found a memoir from Cook Nielson, editor at Cycle at the time of those tests. The idea of "pitting" one manufacturers' product against another was radical at the time, as it affected advertising revenues if they said bad things about a particular bike. Trash a product, the manufactuurer pulls their ads.

Here's an interesting excerpt, in regard to their "battle" with Kawasaki over the H2:

"I remember one time, after we'd published a particularly scathing road test of an H2 Kawasaki 750, I decided that I'd show the Kawasaki people exactly what I was talking about with regard to handling instability. There was this one corner on Mulholland Highway that was perfect for testing: fast and bumpy (it was on a section of that highway that became known as Racer Road). The Kawasaki guys showed up; I showed up. So I was whistling this 750 through this one very high-speed turn when it started to wobble. When that happened, the suspension started to oscillate, then the muffler on the left side started banging off the ground, then it high-sided me through a barbed wire fence and I ended up in the hospital ("Charge it!") for a little while. I certainly hadn't intended to be that dramatic, but the point was, as far as I was concerned, Kawasaki was selling a bike to the public that was fundamentally unsound, and we wanted them to either fix it, or get rid of it.

Over time the dynamic between Cycle and the industry changed. It wasn't that Kawasaki/USA didn't know the H2, for example, was dangerous; their problem was trying to convince the manufacturer that changes had to be made."

Sorry, Jeff.

 

Many years ago "Bike" trashed the original Goldwing - and Honda pulled their advertising!

 

No offense taken Fitz and I don't even disagree although I'll comment on what you had written. They actually did 2 of these tests, as the article indicates. The first of which was written in '70 I think, the later one is the one that I posted. I think that some time ago I had shared that when we first began racing, it was with an H2 but after countless cranks and handling that we couldn't resolve(read: scared the shiet out of us) no matter how many tubes we welded to it, we switched to a GT750 with it's consistant water cooling, I could build an engine that would not only make enough serious power to go 180-190 but actually lasted a whole race! Believe me, the bike was far better than the rider<LOL>!

I've never denied that the H2 was more then a handful and a very violent bike in general. They shake, rattle, are cheaply made, make lots of noise and were built for one purpose, to go fast in a straight line. In fact back in the entire decade of the '70's, the Kawasaki triples, all of them, were really considered "throw away" bikes as you'll remember. They were far cheaper then anything else of equal size and so cheap in fact, that if one locked up or seized, many riders simply parked them in a shed or barn and bought another bike. That's one of the reasons there WERE so many "barn finds" for many years. Now, not so easy to find although they still come up.

The final revenge does belong to Kawasaki though since their old "throw away" bikes, now command the highest prices of any bikes of the 70's, bar none. I have been very recently offered over 20K for my '75 H2 and Rick Brett has a NOS H2 still in the factory crate that he was offered over 100K for! That's one of the reasons that I began switching my own collection of bikes over to 2 strokes a few years back. The myths far exceeded the reality driving the prices way up.

I will share a very little known fact about the H2 and 900 Kaws......when the original H2 was about to be introduced, Kawasaki was already deep into the Z1 900 project code named New York Steak or something like that, I forget right now...but anyway, Kawasaki wanted the 900 to be the new king. They were very aware that 2 strokes were being targeted and they also realized that Americans in general, liked 4 strokes. They knew from the testing that the H2 would be flatout, the fastest bike on the American roads BUT they wanted it to be a LITTLE slower than the 900 so the 900 could inherit the "throne" when it was introduced in 73. Sooooooo.....the 32mm carbs that the H2 wore during testing disappeared when it finally hit the streets. The fact was that with the 32mm carbs, no matter of cam timing would have allowed the 900 to beat it in a straight race so when the H2 was introduced, it wore the 30mm carbs......just to slow it down a little. Further reductions in speed were accomplished in later models by carb internals and the transfer cut-outs on the bottom on the cylinders.

Here's some food for thought.....with the 32mm carbs and blue-printed STOCK cylinders....the original H2 WOULD have broken into the 11's......in 1972!!

jeff

 

I found some info on Jay Gleason - looks like he lives 150 miles south of me.
http://www.wendyj.net/?p=98

All my serches for the Amazon 1600 are hogged-up by "Amazon.com"
But I found a German equivalent, available since the '60's that installs a VW Bug motor into a BMW - including the kick-start!

http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/BMW-VW/index.htm

It seems that it only takes a custom adapter plate and some frame work.

 

Thanks for posting the link on Pe...uh Jay WFO Gleason. It's 4 years old so I hope that he's been doing well since then.

We have a hero of the triples, you might have heard of him, Tony Nicosia( THE DRAG – ON – FLY ) . We're trying to get him inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame for all the records he set. He lives in Fla too....must be something in the water huh?

jeff

 

RE: The H2: I remember one weekend trip to Toronto (from the Detroit area) "back in the day" when I was on my Norton, in the company of another Commando, a Triumph Trident and a buddy of ours on an H2.

What stood out in regard to the H2 was when we were all running along at about 75~80mph, the guy on the Kawasaki had to lean foward and grab onto one fork leg to stop it from wobbling so he could keep up.

Fast bike though.

 

Amazonas. It actually did have a 1600cc vw motor. Built in Brazil, originally for police use.

Back in the late 70s, my roommate had a 750 two sroke kawi. I still think it was one of the baddest bike i've ever been around. I owned an 84 GPZ 750 Turbo until i got too many tickets with it. Bought it used for 1900 and sold it for 1600. I regreted then and now.