Two-stroke triples

For everything that was mad, bad and dangerous about biking in the 1970s, you need look no further than the handful of two-stroke triples from Kawasaki and Suzuki. Especially the Kawasakis

The cliché of the time went that there were only two kinds of Kawasaki rider, the quick and the dead. You can thank the KH500 H1 and the KH750 H2 for that charming saying. Here were two bikes with viciously potent engines and appalling frames. The power came in quickly, accompanied by blue smoke and the ring-a-ding of the massive air-cooling fins resonating at high speed. Wheelies came by accident and accidents came on corners, thanks to weak brakes and atrocious handling.

The Suzuki GT750 followed a few years later and promised similarly bad behaviour. Known as the ” kettle ” because it was water-cooled, the GT was actually much heavier than the H1 and H2, though a little better in the handling department. Instead of an unguided missle, it was more like an out-of-control combat missile.