Kawasaki Mach III

KAWASAKI MACH III

RIDING IMPRESSION

The Triple, 17 years later

TALES OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ASIDE. I RODE A Kawasaki Mach III and lived to tell about it.

Actually, after a 125-mile ride on our 1969 photo bike, I wondered just how some of the "Killer Triple" rumors got started. I suppose the high-strung sound of the engine had a lot to do with it. Nothing else sounds like a two-stroke Triple: even at idle there's a kind of nervous twitch to the angry burbling.

A quick rip through the gears~p~oduced more inten sity from the three exhaust pipes. but left me a little disappointed. Even though the 50.000-mile bike had recently undergone a complete engine rebuild, there were no unruly explosions of power, just a strong. steady pull from 6000 rpm to the 9000-rpm redline. There were no throat-tightening wheelies. either, al though the Mach III can be provoked into lifting its front wheel in first gear-with a handful of throttle and a tug on the handlebar.

Certainly in its time, the Kawasaki must have had mind-bending acceleration. In 1969, drag racer Tony Nicosia scorched the quarter-mile with a 12.6 1-second run, making the Mach III the quickest production bike ever. Today. a typical Ninja-600-mounted surf geek, dressed in Bermudas and sandals, could beat that time on his way to the pizza shop.

Rumor did catch up to reality, though, on Ortega Highway, one of Southern California's hallowed canyon-racing venues. Here the front drum brake faded, the centerstand ground with ridiculous ease and the suspension—even with aid from aftermarket shocks— gave up the ghost at the first sign of pavement ripples. Ridden within its limits, the Triple is non-threatening, pleasant, even. It's just that those limits would have the rider of a modern-day motorcycle asleep with boredom.

So what did I learn from my half-day jaunt on the white-and-blue time machine? For one thing, don’t believe everything you hear about old bikes, be it good or bad. Far from being an evil widowmaker, the Mach III simply had an engine that was way ahead of its time, bolted into a chassis that was woefully mired in l 960s technology. And waves of nostalgia notwithstanding, I al so learned that, when it comes to motorcycles, l 969 may be a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

David Edwards