Kawasaki Triples Club

Thursday I found myself wondering around the Autoshow at NEC, this was trade day, but my mate had a couple of passes and invited me along
Although I had a great day, the best was yet to come, after we had finished looking around we went back to my mates house, he has a great interest in early 500's
Amongst his collection is a UK 69 H1 !!
I was very privileged to be the 1st triples guy to see his bikes, his attention to detail great, if something was chromed at the factory it gets chromed again, to (crap) factory spec!! nothing is over polished, if he can't find a part he makes it & it looks like NOS!!!
here's some pictures, not very good quality, but we were busy talking bikes
this is his dining room

UK 69 H1

the bikes in his garage



did you know their are 3 types of early kickstart boss ?

I have no idea if they are all Kawasaki because I forgot to ask
oh and I took no pictures of the bike in the kitchen !!
Altogether he has 11 pre 72 triples, one H1B, H1D & an F
8 yrs ago he knew nothing about early triples, he has done lots of research & a lot of time looking at bikes and taking pictures, his bikes are stunning & I have persuaded him to come to one of our rallies
next time I'll take some better pictures :up

Gary T

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I'd be VERY Interested in the numbers off the Brit H1 I am assuming that the '69 is restored? I am still yet to fathom out what was on the later U.K. (and European) '69s oil tanks that came without the Electronic ignition

Where did he find all these early triples Gary for if he has only been at it for 8 years.

Eric wrote:Where did he find all these early triples Gary for if he has only been at it for 8 years.

imported a few from the US & sine from importers around the UK

Gary T

Rick
the bike was bought as a box of bits in the late 80's
I'll PM you the details, I have the details of most of the other bikes too
Gary T

looks like "Bens" stuff?

El Presidente wrote:
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I'd be VERY Interested in the numbers off the Brit H1 I am assuming that the '69 is restored? I am still yet to fathom out what was on the later U.K. (and European) '69s oil tanks that came without the Electronic ignition

nothing: the oïl tank was white without anything (french 69 wo CDI were like this)

malc87 wrote:looks like "Bens" stuff?

yep, one of my customers

Ben , rang me and said I knew you would guess whose it was
Ben told me he did not do clubs when we first met but once he had his first triples mag he was hooked
i know he looks on here so we just need to get him to post

I mentioned to Rick that I'd seen a couple of new midnight white H1's outside a dealers in the Kew area of London back in the day. Remember that I was in a car in a traffic queue and probably only had a few seconds uninterupted veiw.
I'm still convinced that the oil tank on the more visible one had a 500 decal in the same colour as the blue stripe. The 5 of the 500 had a tail similar in style to the 5 on the H1a. I remember that I was suprised that there was no mention of the 2t oil lube system in decal form as my bike of the time, a yam yds5e, had a prominent AUTOLUBE sticker as did my mates yds3.
Now I know that memories can be wrong but the memory of those bikes sitting GLEAMING in the sunshine is strong as I'd been reading a write-up on the H1 in an American Bike Mag not long before. Here was the real beast and I WANTED one badly.
Is it possible that the few bikes that trickled into the country had a range of oil tank decoration from nothing to what I remember?
I've just found a picture of the "Brit" H1 that was for sale by the Greenford shop that had the wrong engine, (If you remember that one). The oil tank has the 500 decal but I cant see how to upload the picture. Sorry.
Steve.

Steve, did you live in the Kew area in those days? Three current club members were all in this area back then. Nick Joy, Rob White and Andy Pretty.

Hi. No I lived in Beckenham near Bromley, then in kent.
A friend was driving, but I cant remember why we were in that area on that day. I seem to remember getting lost on both the north and south circular roads. Oh! the things we did for fun.
Steve

There was a Kawasaki dealer on the Lower Richmond Road & also one in Cheam.
(Godfreys ?)
I'm pretty sure there wasn't one in Kew...

Others were E&S Motors in Chiswick High Road, about 2 miles from Kew Bridge, & Motorcycle City in Bedfont
I don't think Blays in Twickenham ever sold Kawasakis.

I've been trying to workout a rough year for my "vision". The Yamaha was an "E" reg so was registered between Jan and July 1967. I bought it off a friend at college in spring/summer 1969. There was a Honda dealer near to me but no Yamaha anywhere near and Kawasaki's seemed to be a case of looking for ad's to see if anyone had one. I seem to remember sourcing parts for the Yam via MCN.
I had the Yam for about 2 years so the bikes I saw must have been 1969/70 and yes, summer.
Did any of your dealers have a Kwak dealership then?
Steve

I don't think so - reason I say that is I wasn't really interested in bikes till 1973 - + I thought that Kawasakis were sold then via Agrati Sales, so dealers were few & far between

I remember seeing a new unregistered S2 in Barrets of Redhill when I was about 12. My dad was shopping for a bike and took me there when he went to look at their Guzzi's. It was only a small high street shop by the station and Kawa's were not their primary product. I still recall being impressed by how modern it looked and also the dinky sweet looking pillion footrests of all things.

There was also Harvey Owen on the Walworth Road just be the Elephant & Castle, who I think were selling Kawasaki's fairly early on.

Ah yes - Harvey Owen - went there quite often for pistons/rings for my Kawa A7...
Didn't seem to last very long !

I guess about 8 miles from Kew though.

Mentioning bygone dealers reminded me of my saturday morning excursions up to Tooting and Elite Motors or Pride and Clark just up the road. Do these 2 still exist? They were massive in the 60's.

Steve Rowden wrote:Mentioning bygone dealers reminded me of my saturday morning excursions up to Tooting and Elite Motors or Pride and Clark just up the road. Do these 2 still exist? They were massive in the 60's.

Snide & Sharks, they seemed to take up the whole street with their red frontage, long gone. Elite changed their showrooms to Honda Cars way way back, and then it became a cheap food shop.

My Dad used to work for Pride & Clarkes back in the 60's.
Yep, Red and Cream and owned most of , if not all of Stockwell Road.

Do remember going there when I was a lot lot younger

mal71 wrote:My Dad used to work for Pride & Clarkes back in the 60's.
Yep, Red and Cream and owned most of , if not all of Stockwell Road.

Do remember going there when I was a lot lot younger

Found this 1968 picture


..on this site
http://www.realclassic.co.uk/opinionfil ... 53100.html

Steve Rowden wrote:Mentioning bygone dealers reminded me of my saturday morning excursions up to Tooting and Elite Motors or Pride and Clark just up the road. Do these 2 still exist? They were massive in the 60's.

Tell me more about Eilite Motors. I have a Suzuki AP50 supplied by them in 1977, still fitted with their dealer number plate and key ring.