Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141053
Kaw asak i 75 0 stre e t bike. Th at w as h ow it co mpares to ot he r road racers I 've exper ien ced . By th e time I arrived a t the end of th e rathe r sho rt (shor ter still on th is bike) infield st rai gh t, all th e o ther ma chin es on th e track were getting blurry. B~ck in the pits, Mike made me an o ffer. If he co uld ride my production bike wh ich o ur fa ith fu l proofreader, Assistant Edit or, and sometimes wren ch had patch ed toge th er, I co uld ride the H:?·R for the rest o f the da v. At that point I would have given ' him m y production bik e to ride it. I was hooked . When the 35 0 through Open GP heat came aro und I rode the bike out to the line. I was still inclined towards caution since I o nly had one lap on it, but even with a cau tio us approach I had no trouble with the start. Entering the first tum I had over fifty yards in hand. I got passed on the infield again but the straights made it up f o r me . By the end of the ma in straight the other GP . machines were flas hi ng by like fence p osts. The thing is too fast to allow you to relax on th e straights. T he speed diffe ren tial is too grea t. ,. My I11-R w obbles so h orrendously th at I h ad always b een af raid to dri ve o n to th e bankin g in t op gear. Inst ead of the I - w ond er ' -wh o ' s kiss in g- h e r n ow / a sh o r t -lif'e bu t -a -ha iry-one attit ude need ed to get into tha t tu m fast on th e H I·R , I foun d that if I j ust kep t d o wn on the tank and kept the gas o n that I co uld re tain contro l co mp le re l y , A slight mo dification to the front suspension before the hea t had the b ik e hand lin g just about right for me . T he rear springs were still a ta d stiff, so it t oversteered sligh t1y. Handling over the bumpy infield tu rns was affected so me wh at also. Co mi ng on to the main straight, the rear end b roke loose in to a slide o nce in second gear. Wha t I was h avi n g the m ost trouble feeling out was the th rottle response. On p eakier ma chin es I often run thro ugh a t um with the bike j ust off the power band wi th th e inten tion of bringing it ' back on p o wer as 1 begin to exit. T he H 2·R d idn' t fa ll off th e p o wer band, tho ugh, and open in g th e th rottle would bring instantaneous response . A handful meant violence, So I spen t th e heat flyi ng d own th e stra igh ts, t rying to find o ut h ow to app ly 'th e p ow er, and search ing for brak in g , p oints. I j ust co uld n' t be lie ve that I co uld 'shu t o ff th at lat e fro m those speeds . Lo w sp ee d h andling was e xce lle nt. T he machin e didn 't wan t to fall in to th e tum in the slo wer co m ers, and it d idn "t req uire a lot o f muscle to work th rou gh any of th e co m ers. Onl y the bum ps were hurtin g the h andling an d tha t co uld be fixe d. My attempts to so lve th e ac celerating an d braking pro ble ms were b rough t to an end w he n the mach in e seized on the bank d uri ng the last la p . I h ad already seize d one bike that day an d felt it , coming. The jetting that Mike had chosen for Ontario (which req uires so mething a little different than Alb uquerque's 5000 feet) had been suitable fo r him, but I was more familiar with the co urse and co nseq uen tly got on the gas harder, and it had gotten a little lean.• The seizure had been light enough that we were able to co ntinue to run the bike. To " break it in" I we nt out in a comer of the parki ng Jot an d ro de it around slowly . With a lo wer first gear ratio it wo uld have be en to rq uey enough to ride on th e street. I was becoming more and more impressed . I missed the st art o f the main when a . pipe d etach ed itself (a spring had we ak en ed ) and so go t the ch ance to go o u t an d pl ay by my self for th e most part. By n ow I was de vel oping en ough co n fidence th at I could drag th e fairing in th e turns. I had fo un d th e right touch to the throttle and was finding that weight transfer with the front end sti ff ened w as working quite nicely. I was sh ifting it at just over 8,500 RPM , v .. M '" :. M .... '" o So « '" ;: w Z w ~ o >o v T he old sty le fairing, the source of ove rheating prOblems. w ill be replaced w ith a later " fact Ory st yle. No te nick el plated frame and stock H 2 front end. There are some experiences in motorcycling that can be considered ultimates. Riding an H2-R is one of them. co ns ide ra bly lower th an t he 9 ,500 on th e Hl ·R o r th e 10 ,000 on a Yamaha T R. I never. did ge t m y b raking points so r ted o u t. I w as j us t goi ng to o fast to wo rk up the courage t o sh u t off wh er e I kn ew th at I sho uld . It was so fas t! By n ow I had it well so r ted out. I co uld drive th rou gh the first tum fas ter than I ever dr eamed of with my H I -R , Except fo r the s tiff rear springs, everyth ing fit me quite well and too k a m oderate touch to opera te excep t fo r the th ro t tl e which yo u use gen t ly, very gently. Bra king was 'excellen t an d thoroughly ca p ab le o f handling the speeds involved . My rid e came to an en d whe n the timi ng slip pe d an d l ance again wen t bac k in to the pit s. Bu t I stayed pumped for about a wee k afte rwards and, like Mike, m y face ligh ts up evcry ti me that I recall it. by the mselves wi th n o facto ry hel p . Even though it was su p posed to be a b ol t- toge the r projec t, t hey en de d u p sp ending over a hundred hours on it and plenty of money. Their ch ances of ever making it back through Kaw asaki 's co nt i nge n cy pro gram are almo st n on -e xis tan t because th ey have to co m pete with the fa ct ory ra cing team that has all the factory developed par ts an d the fastest riders . T here is go od reaso n for the p opulari ty of Yam ah a 's pro du c ti on road racers. in there is an Hl -R exte rnal HOW·TO You can't buv an H2-R . You have to build it . Kawasaki will sell you a lot of the parts, notably the transmission, clu tch , and ignition. They will also sell you the basic H2 engine. The frame is mo re difficult . There arc some firms that will duplicate the m . T he front forks can be the stock H2 o r anyone of a variety of other sorts. Glass can be h ad from Brown , F ibe rcraft, o r Kawa saki. T he Mikuni carbs co me from almost anybody . A lt ho ug h he ex p resses so me rel uctance, Mike will mach in e and port your b ar rels fo r $ 350 a set. I mi ght poi n t out th at they would be suitabl e for a drag bike o r s treet machine . You can ge t hold of Mik e Van Bibber at Mik e 's Kawasaki, 5 4 0 0 Menaul NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico. T he rest is up to y o u. It will cost you a bundle. Mike and Kent built the bike entirely . When w e h ad first been d iscu ssin g th e bike, Mike had said tha t he would trade it for a good half-rniler, but I h ave my d oubts. Every tim e h e talked abo u t riding it, his fac e lit up... The right and left cylinders were sw itched and fins were shaved of f of cyli nders and heads. S pecial adaptors ha d to b e made fr o m ph eno lic bl ock to adapt 35mm Hl ·R carburetors . Each bl ock is diff erent to mat ch the po rt . Special adapto rs were made for expansion chambers which criss-cross each other like Hl ·R.