Have just pulled the trigger on this Kawasaki H1F 500 . A California import of a few years back. 1975 bike and really take's me back to my yoof...same year as my first bike a Honda CB125S.I can remember visiting Peter Williams Kawasaki in Southampton and drooling all over one of these back in the day. Hopefully with modern tyre's it won't me quite the 'widow maker' it used to be. It will be a couple of weeks before I get my hands on it and looking forward to the sound and smell of 'the old days'
Beauty!! Not sure how original the paint scheme is though?? Bikes of that era are so cool now, so evocative of our youth, as you say it was nicknamed “ the widow maker” ...it will probably feel very tame compared to a 200+ bhp Panigale mind But that’s beside the point,..love it One of my earliest biking memories is of being on the back of my brothers new “ kettle” ..Suzuki GT 750 watercooled 2 stroke , it was the metallic turquoise blue colour, the sound, the smell of it, ..still as fresh now as it was about 45 + years ago...nothing since then has left such an indelible impression on me I think that was the start of my life long bike addiction... I was lost forever after that! Enjoy it mate...just perfect
Lovely, rode a KH400 once & loved the “rawness” & as you say the smell. It did however have the worst brakes it’s possibly to imagine on any bike, never mind a fast little bugger like that was
Looks good. Candy Sky Blue was a paint option for the H1F. http://3cyl.com/mraxl/paint/triple_colors/ws_mod07e.html
my mistake..can’t remember seeing that colour in the UK Mind you,... I am old and smell of wee, so maybe my marbles are going!!
I had a turd brown KH500 with Denco exhausts years ago and sold it for something like £1300. Engine was willing but handled like a shopping trolley with a square wheel and as already mentioned the brakes were scary. Looked the part and made the right noise though.
They had disc brakes. You need to try the drum brake two strokes that preceeded them for a real thrill stopping!
That’s a beautiful bike, congratulations. Did you get it from Classic Bikes? I sold them my Z1B a few years back, not one of my best decisions!!! You’ll have to let us know what she’s like to ride.
yes, that's the one..Would love one of their ground up rebuilt Z900's but the misses would kill me !!!
Not lost them completely mate if you can be the proud owner of a stonking classic like that... Be prepared to be “swamped “ when you take it to your local bike stop...Panigale’s,..pah, two a penny!!
Beauty, I had an H1B 500. Brakes were brilliant on the front anyway, as it had a Joe Dunphy twin leading shoe drum. Should've kept it. But who knew back then eh??
I've seen a twin disc conversion somewhere so maybe that would make it only half as bad , although I want to keep it as original as possible.
Don't worry. The disc brakes of that era didn't work too well in the rain anyway and since we are here in the UK...
