Anyone have a favorite story about the WidowMaker?

[fish]

Mine:
Saw a buddy with his brand new Mach III, like the one on the brochure, give it the beans for us in a parking lot at Ft Sam Houston Texas.
It reared up on its hind leg with an almightly howl - and he hit that parked car with the underside of the frame and pipes.
Don't remember much after that....as he and the bike went airborne over the car.
I knew 2-strokes were could be a little peaky....but that thing was crazy.

We heard not long after that dealers in San Antonio were advised by the American distributor to give close instructions to any new buyer of this thing.
Do you have a WidowMaker story?

Fish

[gn2]

When I collected my brand new shiny LC350 there was a row of five smashed ones outside the dealer workshop.

[Jge64]

I was selling a Honda’s and Kawasaki‘s when this 500 Mach 3 came out. We had more people hurt themselves because the power band was absolutely so razor sharp. It was a knife edge. And when the front wheel came up you couldn’t get off the throttle quick enough to get it back down.… 750 H2 was even worse. Kawasaki realized their mistake and this is when they started to transition to, their 4 strokes like the z1 900.
The 350 Kaw was altogether different, it was a very nice machine, I owned one of those for a year or two.

[Mel46]

I had a friend back in the day (long way around of saying when I was younger, but it sounds better), and one of his other friends purchased one of those. The first day out on it he wanted to see how fast it would go...because that is what you do on a fast machine. Well, he got the beast up there close to topend without any problems. Slowing down was the problem. As he was braking, using front and rear brakes as we were taught, the frontend seized up. We don't know if it was the brake or the wheel bearing, but he flew...without the bike. He spent quite some time in the hospital. I understand that the bike sustained some major damage and was not able to be rebuilt.

Many of us shied away from Kawasaki after that. I know that I will never get on one. Now Honda is a different story. When they built theirs, everything worked like it was suppose to, when it was suppose to. That is why I love Hondas.

[springer1]

Yes, I do. Not the 500, but my pal's 750. Came to a traffic light intersection, had slowed down into 2nd figuring to stop but the light turned green. I don't remember what I has fumbling with but I decided to continue in 2nd about 3,000 rpm through the light - not paying full attention.

Trouble was - the street I was crossing over had a serious crown to it that I underestimated - enough to compress the front end a bit. So when I crossed that crown the front compressed, lurched me forward which whacked the throttle - and that d*mn bike launched forward violently- front wheel seriously in the air. Scared the cr*p out of me; that kind of acceleration is fine for a race bike, but not a daily rider.

I wouldn't recommend that 2 stroke 750 to anyone, or any other bike with that kind of power curve. Look up the stories & videos of Kenny Roberts re-living the Yamaha 750 2-stroke flat tracker. After a win, I recall he had said they couldn't pay him enough money to ride it again.
https://www.cycleworld.com/2014/09/10/k ... hts-video/

[Old Grinner]

Back in college we had a bike club on campus. A mix of British, Harley, and Japanese machines mostly.

One guy had an orange '72 Kaw 500. Really fast. He kept saying it was a "straight away" machine . . . useless on curvy back roads.

There was also a Yamaha RD 350, very nice machine and could do it all and a Suzuki GT 360 in the crowd.

The 2-strokes always rode in the back of the pack when we hit the road "in formation". A half an hour of smog is not grin material.

I on the other hand with my Suzuki TC90 was just trying to keep up! LOL!!!

I did eventually get a Triumph Trophy 250 and then a Suzuki 250 X6.

The rest is history. I hadn't ridden another 2-stroke until 2015 when I bought a Genuine Roughhouse R50 (PGO). The 2-strokes were even perky at 49cc.

[springer1]

I should add that to me - Kenny combined intelligence. focus and strategy into his craft more than others. I recall an interview AFTER he retired where he was asked if there were any strategies in approaching a race track that he kept critical. I remember his response (at least in that particular interview) was along the lines of "Yes ..... it's not so critical how fast you enter a turn as how fast you exit it". Sounds obvious, but if you watch racing you'll notice how many riders / drivers enter a turn too hard and struggle with traction until the next straight.

[springer1]

I did eventually get a Triumph Trophy 250 and then a Suzuki 250 X6.

Did you swap out the rear 52 tooth sprocket on the Triumph for a smaller one from a BSA 250 or 411 to cut down on the RPMs?

[you you]

The 250s were dog slow and would oil the centre pot.

350s were pretty OK but an RD was better.

400s were mediocre at best but sounded great.

500s and 750s weren’t fast at all. Nippy when they cleared their throats at the very best.

All dog slow by today’s standards.

Are you remembering things through rose tinted glasses?

[you you]

Back in college we had a bike club on campus. A mix of British, Harley, and Japanese machines mostly.

One guy had an orange '72 Kaw 500. Really fast. He kept saying it was a "straight away" machine . . . useless on curvy back roads.

There was also a Yamaha RD 350, very nice machine and could do it all and a Suzuki GT 360 in the crowd.

The 2-strokes always rode in the back of the pack when we hit the road "in formation". A half an hour of smog is not grin material.

I on the other hand with my Suzuki TC90 was just trying to keep up! LOL!!!

I did eventually get a Triumph Trophy 250 and then a Suzuki 250 X6.

The rest is history. I hadn't ridden another 2-stroke until 2015 when I bought a Genuine Roughhouse R50 (PGO). The 2-strokes were even perky at 49cc.

GT380 I think. Great bike but not fast. Useful electric start.

[you you]

Back in college we had a bike club on campus. A mix of British, Harley, and Japanese machines mostly.

One guy had an orange '72 Kaw 500. Really fast. He kept saying it was a "straight away" machine . . . useless on curvy back roads.

There was also a Yamaha RD 350, very nice machine and could do it all and a Suzuki GT 360 in the crowd.

The 2-strokes always rode in the back of the pack when we hit the road "in formation". A half an hour of smog is not grin material.

I on the other hand with my Suzuki TC90 was just trying to keep up! LOL!!!

I did eventually get a Triumph Trophy 250 and then a Suzuki 250 X6.

The rest is history. I hadn't ridden another 2-stroke until 2015 when I bought a Genuine Roughhouse R50 (PGO). The 2-strokes were even perky at 49cc.

Was the 250 an X7 rather than an X6. Now they were good bikes.

[springer1]

500s and 750s weren’t fast at all. Nippy when they cleared their throats at the very best

LoL - ya gotta be trolling, you. Both would wheelie at the drop of a hat. But I do recall that they were tamed a bit in their later years of production.

[Old Grinner]

GT380 I think. Great bike but not fast. Useful electric start.

You are right. I stand corrected. It was a GT380, 6 speed. I think it had a gear indicator also. Back then if you didn't know what gear you were in it was felt that maybe you shouldn't be riding.

Was the 250 an X7 rather than an X6. Now they were good bikes.

1971 T250, Copper, Suzuki X6 Hustler. Just like the one in this video. I had put new Dunlop K81 tires on it just before it got stolen. Long story . . ..
Definitely not an X7.

[Old Grinner]

Did you swap out the rear 52 tooth sprocket on the Triumph for a smaller one from a BSA 250 or 411 to cut down on the RPMs?

I did not . . ..

Maybe I rode it too hard but I found it to be unreliable. I put a valve through the piston on it once. The mechanic said they were known for weak valve springs. He said the 200 Cub was a better machine. I had it rebuilt but had to chase down some of the parts myself.

Then a year later the low end started ceasing up and I sold it to a salvage yard. It would start up and run OK for a bit and then start bogging down. Bad crank bearing . . .. Under engineered I gather . . ..
It was just like this one . . . same color and I'll never forget that sound. It also had the separate engine oil (dry sump) and transmission oil.



I've still got the original manual though.

100_6129a.jpg

100_6130a.jpg

100_6131a.jpg

100_6133a.jpg

[you you]

GT380 I think. Great bike but not fast. Useful electric start.

You are right. I stand corrected. It was a GT380, 6 speed. I think it had a gear indicator also. Back then if you didn't know what gear you were in it was felt that maybe you shouldn't be riding.

Was the 250 an X7 rather than an X6. Now they were good bikes.

1971 T250, Copper, Suzuki X6 Hustler. Just like the one in this video. I had put new Dunlop K81 tires on it just before it got stolen. Long story . . ..
Definitely not an X7.

I think the engine in those was more powerful than the x7, it’s just the x7 was lighter. The T500 was good in its own way and you could pick them up cheap at the time.

I’d probably have any of these old two stoke bikes now.

[you you]

500s and 750s weren’t fast at all. Nippy when they cleared their throats at the very best

LoL - ya gotta be trolling, you. Both would wheelie at the drop of a hat. But I do recall that they were tamed a bit in their later years of production.

I’m not, they were nowhere near as good as their reputation even at the time. Same for the RD350. Disappointed.

I did nearly buy an H1b. It was immaculate.

CBX1000 was the most impressive bike I road when I was a spotty teenager. That would be slow now I suppose.

The only bikes that felt unmanageable were some off the two stroke motocrossers that some of the kids had. And sometimes the smallest were the worst. That’s when I started to get the feeling that I wasn’t talented after all.

There was an old Maico air cooled 440 twin shock that still sticks in my mind as genuinely terrifying me then I opened the throttle and kept it there....I was genuinely bricking myself.

[fish]

500s and 750s weren’t fast at all. Nippy when they cleared their throats at the very best

LoL - ya gotta be trolling, you.

Him? The Pontiff, a troller?

Fish

[Jge64]

The 1974 750 H2 tripe would do a quarter mile in 12.0 seconds… the h1 was 13.2....No matter what era do you want to choose, those are fast motorcycles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_H2_Mach_IV

[gn2]

SV650 will do a 12 second quarter mile. A bike that's fast enough but very far from being properly fast.

[Old Grinner]

A truly fast motorcycle . . . and it's scary for me to think of bikes that are faster than my Suzuki Bandit GSF1200S . . . will do this.