Need schooling on a KAWASAKI H2 750

[SYKO]

Looks like im getting one, a freind of mine has one sitting in the shop it was running but fell off the back of a truck while unloading and messed up something on the right side of the motor he said and they never started it again. Any way he wants me to paint another car for him so I said Ill do it and take some off the top for the bike.

Now I only did some minor research on these bikes and came up with the fact that they can become street monsters real quick.. I mean a 750 tripple cyl 2 stroke on the street? I mean WHY NOT?! lol.

Any one own one or had one? or know of the best places for parts? I allreay looked up custom tuned expansion chambers that seem reasonable for three for 500.

looked at some draged out bikes, I would kinda lean towards a cafe' racer style with it

any ideas?

[jb2wheels]

Way back in the old days you could buy a hard tail 3 wheel frame for them using 90/110 forks, axles, etc.

The H2 bikes are the original evil handling widomakers. Fast in a straight line, tho ..

[Vealmonkey]

The original widowmaker was the h1 500, but the name stuck to the 750s also. The frames were poorly designed and they were known for a "high speed wobble" that killed many a rider. Kawis remedy was a steering stabilizer that did alot to help alleviate the problem, but not totally eliminate. Most later riders knew what to expect and just dealt with the wobble. The main problem was once in the wobble most people would try and just stop or shutdown the bike which is what caused the problem, but the best recourse was to slow the bike down gradually through the wobble and not panic. Those who chose to keep riding the h1 and h2, loved and swore by them. The 750 would stomp the early cb750 4, but the honda was alot kinder to most riders and became the early hands down favorite due to it's more docile nature and reliability. A 2 stroke triple is not a fuel efficient bike. Stock bikes maybe a best of 26mpg and most bikes less. Their transmissions are a known weak point and gear shimming is super critical. Most affecianados seem to prefer the original oil injection even though some people do away with it. There were aftermarket hop ups. Pipes, cylinder heads and even places that provided big bore cylinders and pistons and complete kits. There were frame makers that built aftermarket frames and drag bike frames that would hold 3 engines. Several makers made pipes. There are diehard h1 and h2 fans nowadays just like the trikers and people are making parts to keep them alive. Handmade pipe sets, gear shift forks, modified transmission and clutches and other products. Your h2 will attract attention where ever it goes, believe me. There are websites and forums just like for the trikes. They have an annual 2 stroke meet in Deals Gap Tenn. too. There are also very serious h2 collectors. You can still get alot of parts but some of the parts are gold just like the trikes. Once you start doing some searching, you'll be amazed. Good luck with your new bike. I have an h2 750 in a h1 500 frame, an old hotrod. Mine needs some trans work though. I pick up a nice part here and there when I can find it. Also the 75 and 76 h2s were rubber mounted, very desirable. But you'll learn all that soon enough.

[SYKO]

Thanx veal, Ive dabbed around tripples owners forum a bit, alot of cool info on them! Kinda liked the uni rear shock upgrade and fork upgrades to bring up the handling to date some and eliminate the high speed wobble. Ive been an experienced sport bike rider since 16 and turned a few laps on road atlanta back on my ninja900 in the 90s even. Im going to go look at it personaly tomoorow from the pics Ive received allready it appears to allready have some sort of aftermarket pipes and some other things. Also from the pics the pickup on the right side appears to be damaged but I wont be able to confirm the actuall damage untill I see it. Im not worried about the mileage issues as I only plan on driving it back and forth to work and possibly a few high speed runs every now and then, plus I only work 10 miles from home so no biggie...

[Vealmonkey]

One of the biggest suggestions people make to help make them handle better is to raise the back end of the bike around an inch or so. Also some people talk about tire sizes. If you use a single shock, you will have to reinforce the frame some. There are some swingarms you can change out with minimum mods and you can run mag wheels and have a rear disc brake as well. Plus if you don't mind modded over stock, you have alot better choice of better front brake calipers too. It's pretty wild to see what all people are doing with the bikes after all these years. Best of luck with your new bike.

[Walkerallen]

Extremely fast bike. Wheelies in every gear at cruise speed, drop a gear and nail it and it will scare the sh*t out of you

[SYKO]

well since you own one... since I dont plan on riding mine for more then say 20 miles a day or so... shoulld I just go with premix? im kinda taking a likin to being able to have a loud street legal two stroke and like to take full advantage of it! I was searching and since lost the page were a guy took a late 90s ninja 650 when it was still a steel frame cna cut it apart and put the h2 cradle and engine in and rode out with it, it was sic to say the least. I hope the damage to thte right side isnt really that bad, the guy im getting if from is insisting that its a distributer...... ok .... any way its eather mono shock it and add better front end and cafe' tail or redo it as another style bike like a sportbike... duno yet gotta get it first.

[SYKO]

this is what I like

[HondaHarry]

Street Tracker

[Vealmonkey]

That purple bike belongs to a guy that goes by the name of Tomcat, great guy. And the streettracker, I wouldn't do unless I could get an aftermarket frame. If you saw old videos of the triumph triples racing flattrack and them wobbling down the front straightaway, then you wouldn't want to do that to a stock frame either. I'm talking flat scary. I wouldn't mind modding mine since it already isn't original. I would love to find an old Paul Tracey one piece fiberglass body. I would change the rear swingarm out too. And run mags instead of the wire spokes. I go on kawasaki triples worldwide, a great website. Alot of great info on there. Check it out.

[SYKO]

I dig that street tracker harry! damn!.. ok veal so what inhearent problems cause these bikes to wobble? seems like the wheelbase is adaquate... I sufferd a high speed wobble on my 900 at around 150 it was scary but I pulled it out... never knew what caused it went over everything in my bike and everything was tight. Ive been on that website veal, but I hate weeding through everything what swingarms are you using to swap out?... hell I shouldnt worry about it we make all kinds of stuff fit on our trikes! I thought about getting a newer street bike and putting all the stuff off of it onto it... its all there and original other then the custom paint, but im not into being original im into HEAT AND BEAT!

[jays375]

I'd check on the pre-mix thing first.Some of the old two stroke bikes had line that oiled parts in the motor.There is something but can't remember the details.They run fast but the don't wind up like modern two strokes,at least in stock form.Personally if it wouldn't take much to make it run and look good dump it.A nice one will fetch a good buck.

[Vealmonkey]

I've read about some flex in the frames and something about the front rake of the bike. Popular mods are fzr swingarm, which involves attaching rear shock mounts to the arm and using the rear wheel and disc brake and if I remember right using a gsxr front forks. Some have adopted the single rear shock, but it's way easier to mount to lower shock mounts to the swingarm. And you also eliminate to inner shims on the swingarm and it bolts up. Detail on the kawi triples website in the modified performance section. Updated shocks 1" taller and modern tires help alot and the 1" taller shocks helps to get the rake more in the right ballpark.

[SYKO]

yea ive been reading up on mods Veal, I read the wobble is caused by intense chassis flex, but with the right gussesting it can be eliminated. Ive also read the raise the rear 1 to help out the rake, and just about every front forks will work you just have to use the H2 stem, but the gsxr forks are a direct bolt on. The fzr arms are a direct bolt on, but are getting costly and hard to find so alot of other swingers are being used, yea I took in a whole lot of reading up on these things last night.

[3WW Star-Yamahondaman]

I've had several of the H-2's and sand dragged one in a Tri-Z (H-1) Frame for a year or so . it had an air shifter along with an over shift mechanical thingy that's welded on inside the motor .. Bart Spivey hooked me up with some Great Hint's from Paul Gast up in NY .. you can't unhook the oil feed thingy cause one line feed's the bearing on one side.. i had mine welded up and drilled my own oil holes like the newer 2-stroke motor's , then just mixed the gas and oil.. the thing about that is you just can't pull up to a gas station and fill up .. kinda like our 3-wheelers.. i had 1988 TRX250-R Carb's on it .. ran GOOD but my friend's 700 huricane beat up on it.... i made my own total loss "Dyna" ignition also cause it was a pain to find the stock part's.... GOOD LUCK !!