stroker ace Posted October 23, 2012 Share #1 Posted October 23, 2012 Both are 1977 models the blue one is mine and the red one a friend of mine. We still ride them quite a bit. This was from a ride we did last month. People sure can't figure out the 2 stroke street bike thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted October 23, 2012 Share #2 Posted October 23, 2012 Those are still pretty cool bikes. I ran across an RD350 a while back and gave it some serious thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncledj Posted October 23, 2012 Share #3 Posted October 23, 2012 Remember those old Kawasaki bikes...was it an H3 ? 750cc three cylinder two stroke. Those were FAST bikes:backinmyday: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tufftom4 Posted October 23, 2012 Share #4 Posted October 23, 2012 I had a 76 RD 400 back in the early 80's and wish I still had it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a1bummer Posted October 23, 2012 Share #5 Posted October 23, 2012 I come upon this one last fall. I like them. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainJoe Posted October 23, 2012 Share #6 Posted October 23, 2012 Wow that brings back good memmories. I owned a 1977 RD400 , it had a black seat though and was sort of a burnt orange in color. Only problem I ever had with it was, the speedodometer cable would twist off at about 118 mph. Although to be fair, I believe it only was suppose to go up to 115... LOL Believe EPA shutdown the street legal 2 cycles entirely in 1979. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainJoe Posted October 23, 2012 Share #7 Posted October 23, 2012 I come upon this one last fall. I like them. Bill That looks like maybe the seat off of a cafe racer kit.? for the rd350 rd400s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroker ace Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share #8 Posted October 24, 2012 Wow that brings back good memmories. I owned a 1977 RD400 , it had a black seat though and was sort of a burnt orange in color. Only problem I ever had with it was, the speedodometer cable would twist off at about 118 mph. Although to be fair, I believe it only was suppose to go up to 115... LOL Believe EPA shutdown the street legal 2 cycles entirely in 1979. You could still buy the RZ350 up through the mid-late 80's. I had a 84 RZ350 Kenny Roberts edition that I bought new, sold it like a DA in the mid 90's. I found the pair of 77's at a garage sale back in 2000 from the original owner been sitting for a few years. They still have the original paint, the seats need upholstered, tanks, carbs, brakes etc gone through. I've been riding the blue one since 2001 after my friend rode it he bought the red one from me. Last fall I found a RZ500.http://www.rz500.net/index_files/RZ500_1C.jpg This is not my Bike but what it should look like when done.... if ever My first new bike ever was a 1973 Kawasaki H3 750 triple at age 16 lived to tell about it. I traded it in on the 84 RZ350. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepy2 Posted October 24, 2012 Share #9 Posted October 24, 2012 My first bike was an RD350. It was a great bike and also almost bought one last year. Had it for 4 years until it needed rebuild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthandy Posted October 24, 2012 Share #10 Posted October 24, 2012 Loved those bikes. I had a black 1976 RD400 I bought new in '76 after reading the Cycle Canada road test. One fast (for its time) road machine with great handling except for one glaring fault. It had fixed foot pegs - non-folding! A buddy of mine once said that as he watched me pull away in a turn, I was leaving a trail of sparks from the peg. Sure enough, when I checked, the rubber was worn right through to the metal! Thank God I didn't hit a bump or have to tighten up the turn - I would have gone straight into the trees! In 1985 I bought a new RZ350. Road it for 5 years then went road racing with it. Some rookie went straight in a right hander at Shannonville and took me out at the back wheel while I was doing about 150 kph through the turn. The bike wouldn't have been too bad, but it slid onto the grass. Everything dug in and the bike started to tumble. What was left is still in my shed. I keep telling myself I may rebuild it some day. Hell, the motor only had about 200 km on it after a full rebuild, porting and shaving of the head - it could really move! On the street, a lot of the older 750 pilots would get quite a shock when trying to keep up with us. By the way, the 750 Kawi triple was the H-2. Fast in a straight line, but, like the 500, it had a fork that felt and acted like it was made from cheap plastic - really scary on a winding road or coming off a wheelie! My body couldn't handle that riding position for long anymore, but it sure would be fun to go for a quick run again. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squidley Posted October 24, 2012 Share #11 Posted October 24, 2012 Remember those old Kawasaki bikes...was it an H3 ? 750cc three cylinder two stroke. Those were FAST bikes:backinmyday: I had one, and your right, it was scary fast, wish I still had it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroker ace Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share #12 Posted October 24, 2012 By the way, the 750 Kawi triple was the H-2. Fast in a straight line, but, like the 500, it had a fork that felt and acted like it was made from cheap plastic - really scary on a winding road or coming off a wheelie! My body couldn't handle that riding position for long anymore, but it sure would be fun to go for a quick run again. Andy You are correct it was a H2 mark IV I think, the brain ain't as good as it once was. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrench Posted October 24, 2012 Share #13 Posted October 24, 2012 Man, does that bring back memories. There were 4 of us that came up thru grade school together, and when we got our license in '74 we all got bikes. Two of us got enduros, me a 175 Kaw, another a 250 Kaw, the other 2 guys got a 750 triple Kaw and a Z-1 900. We all split up our riding among each others bikes, then we would head to town on Saturday night to do the McD's thing and cruise the local hangouts. We rode 2-up on the street bikes, but that was before 2 guys on a bike wasn't "politically correct". I absolutely loved the smell of the old 2 strokers though, and they seemed at the time to be just monstrous in size. One of my cousins still has an old Kaw 500 triple that hasn't been ridden in at least 20 years, and it still could be a fixer. I've been working him trying to buy it from him, but no luck so far. Thanks for the good old memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthandy Posted October 24, 2012 Share #14 Posted October 24, 2012 By the way, the 750 Kawi triple was the H-2. Fast in a straight line, but, like the 500, it had a fork that felt and acted like it was made from cheap plastic - really scary on a winding road or coming off a wheelie! My body couldn't handle that riding position for long anymore, but it sure would be fun to go for a quick run again. Andy You are correct it was a H2 mark IV I think, the brain ain't as good as it once was. lol Actually, it was called the Mach IV since the 500 H1 had been called the Mach III - your memory's not all that bad. I still have a 1970 road test of the H2. Fun to read what they thought of its power back then, especially when most of today's 600's would eat an H2 for breakfast! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dano Posted October 24, 2012 Share #15 Posted October 24, 2012 77 H2 750 was my first bike at 18...... did an unintentional wheelie the first time out on the street..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradT Posted October 24, 2012 Share #16 Posted October 24, 2012 Remember those old Kawasaki 750cc three cylinder two stroke. Got my license on my Brother in laws 500 triple, not one I would like to spend all day on Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djh3 Posted October 24, 2012 Share #17 Posted October 24, 2012 I had an early RD350. Way scary fast, first street bike I owned. My brother in-law had the Kawi 250 triple. That was a scat cycle there man. His 250 would spank my RD out of the blocks to about 50. I knew a fellow that had one of the Mach 1 750 triples also. Talk about unsafe at any speed. Yikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainJoe Posted October 24, 2012 Share #18 Posted October 24, 2012 (edited) You could still buy the RZ350 up through the mid-late 80's. I had a 84 RZ350 Kenny Roberts edition that I bought new, sold it like a DA in the mid 90's. I found the pair of 77's at a garage sale back in 2000 from the original owner been sitting for a few years. They still have the original paint, the seats need upholstered, tanks, carbs, brakes etc gone through. I've been riding the blue one since 2001 after my friend rode it he bought the red one from me. Last fall I found a RZ500.http://www.rz500.net/index_files/RZ500_1C.jpg This is not my Bike but what it should look like when done.... if ever My first new bike ever was a 1973 Kawasaki H3 750 triple at age 16 lived to tell about it. I traded it in on the 84 RZ350. First time I've seen a (liquid cooled) RZ350, and it was street legal? I see after discontinuing the 2 cyscl streets in 1980 this one came back for a brief period. It was sold in 84 and 85, then the EPA shut it down as well. My wife sold my RD400 at a yard sle for $400. You gotta watch those women when they get to selling things.. Edited October 24, 2012 by CaptainJoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroker ace Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share #19 Posted October 24, 2012 First time I've seen a (liquid cooled) RZ350, and it was street legal? I see after discontinuing the 2 cyscl streets in 1980 this one came back for a brief period. It was sold in 84 and 85, then the EPA shut it down as well. My wife sold my RD400 at a yard sle for $400. You gotta watch those women when they get to selling things.. The picture of the red and white bike is a 1984 RZ500 liquid cooled V4 never sold in the U.S.A. it is street legal. I reckon a few got brought in back in the day, the guy I got it from had bought it from someone in California. The old RZ350 went liquid cooled somewhere in the mid 80's just not sold here. They did fit the engine into the banshee four wheeler though and then killed it off some time in the mid 2000's. I always wanted one of the mid 70's Yamaha TZ750, I think if you have enough funds you might be able to dig one up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie1965 Posted October 25, 2012 Share #20 Posted October 25, 2012 That brings back some memories, I had a 77 RD400 same color blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainJoe Posted October 26, 2012 Share #21 Posted October 26, 2012 Ooops my bad, no disrespect that RZ500 is fine lookin..... They had a TZ750 two cycle ? Probably was well out of my price range at the time... dang. now that one passed me by. Probably a good thing as at that time, I liked to trash speedo cables.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroker ace Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share #22 Posted October 26, 2012 Ooops my bad, no disrespect that RZ500 is fine lookin..... They had a TZ750 two cycle ? Probably was well out of my price range at the time... dang. now that one passed me by. Probably a good thing as at that time, I liked to trash speedo cables.... Yeah back in the early 70's not street legal race only bike even though I've seen several that were fitted with lights back in the 80's. It was the same bike that Kenny Roberts raced in AMA in the early 70's, it won the Daytona 200 8 or 9 times in a row. They had a dirt flat track edition also. I've heard different stories about them around somewhere around 350 pounds and around 150 horsepower. I actually got to ride one a couple years back at Barber's vintage bike bash. WOW!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEER30 Posted October 26, 2012 Share #23 Posted October 26, 2012 First bike I owned when I moved to Alaska was a 360RD. I saw the 350 RD at Barber's museum at my very first VR M&E. I asked the museum cureator about a 360RD and he said they had one downstairs being rebuilt. I sure would have loved to see it. BEER30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bummer Posted October 27, 2012 Share #24 Posted October 27, 2012 Remember those old Kawasaki bikes...was it an H3 ? 750cc three cylinder two stroke. Those were FAST bikes:backinmyday: Kaw also had a smaller (350?) three cylinder two stroke in the early '70s. I had a Suzuki T350J two cylinder two stroke and a buddy had the small Kaw 3. Another buddy had the 750. He did a wheelie showing off for his girl, lost it, and wound up with a bunch of road rash. The Navy was not amused. The rest of us were very very careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twigg Posted October 27, 2012 Share #25 Posted October 27, 2012 I had a friend at school who's Dad bought him a brand new RD400 in 1977. I was riding a 1958 BSA Bantam at the time. We all used to ride bikes to school, and go out weekends as a group. We only lived about 10 miles from the UK south coast, and would go off to the beach regularly. One day the RD owner (Ray), was showing off attempting to wheelie in the street outside the school. The chain snapped and punched a hole in the crankcase, to the merriment of all the onlookers. My bike got me home that night, his didn't I always liked that RD though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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