Was poking around on google etc. today looking for information about heated clothing (12 volt, not battery pack).

During the course of doing that, I came across a link to a list of Kawasaki H2 Mach IV two-stroke triples for sale, in various states of restoration.

One of them could have been mine, the color was right, the expansion chambers were the same. I got a real case of nostalgia. Good thing I don't make much money, or I'd do something stupid.

But if the Department of the Interior or the Veterans Administration offers me one of those GS13 jobs I recently went "referred to hiring official" on, there will still be time (and money) to do that stupid thing.

I'd ride the darn thing more than I ride my ZX14.

There is just something so sweet about a two-stroke triple wound up to 12,000 rpm coming out of a corner. Its hard to explain to someone who has never owned one of them. Sure, they didn't stop for shit, and in the corners the frames flexed so much they wanted to buck you off.

We'd taken my H2, and removed engine, oil tank, gas tank, and front end, and put her in a jig and welded gussets and cross braces all over the place. Then sent it to be blasted and powder coated. When it was back together you couldn't tell the difference from stock, hardly.

And she still didn't stop worth a darn.

If I can round up a picture, I had a 750 with the winkers taped up, then took it out for a race and who knows why I did that? I guess I was hard up to race something. I remember the work pants incident rather than ever prepping that bike for a romp on a closed course.

And you know what to do when that frame snaps, right, privateer? It's morning traffic. I'm at a busy corner and the light turns yellow. I took a handful to get out of that X as fast as I could. The frame snapped so wicked, it was automatic for me to jump off the seat and peg the bike; to let the frame shake itself out.

My pants flew I don't know how far back in the X marks the spot, I had to pull over, run back to the intersection, grab the pants, bungee it back under the back seat and if that bike didn't try to spit me off every time I'd unload that frame... Well, priva, are we not privy to that bike or WOT!

You weld

I unload

I get your point about the H2 kicking and flexing.

Not sure what you think the distinction is between the frame work we did to increase the rigidity (which it did, that bike would actually handle almost safely after) and trying to make it handle with a stock frame is, though.

My ZX11 was the first bike I ever owned which I didn't strip down to bare frame and gusset and truss to increase rigidity.

And I know this, for a fact, nobody could have road raced an H2 unless they made major frame and front brake improvements. It just wasn't going to happen. :)