Kawasaki triple

The Kawasaki triples were a range of motorcycles from 250 to 750 cc that Kawasaki made from 1968 to 1980, all built around an air-cooled three-cylinder two-stroke engine with piston-controlled inlet ports, two exhaust pipes on the right and one on the left. They were the first production street motorcycles with capacitor discharge ignition. The first, the 500 cc H1 Mach III of 1968, was a sales success with almost unmatched acceleration and an air of danger for inexperienced riders. It came out of the N100 Plan, begun in June 1967 to design the most powerful production motorcycle engine in the world, and total production eventually exceeded 110,000 units. The 748 cc H2 Mach IV 750 arrived in 1971, followed that year by the S2 350 and in 1972 by the S1 250. The four-stroke Z1 of 1972 showed that more buyers wanted a fast bike that was less obnoxious, and stricter noise and pollution rules helped end the line.