Giacomo Agostini checks out a Trident in 1969
The Trident was as fast as the Honda in
a straight line, and could outperform the
Japanese bike with its better handling,
but the Honda was bristling with features,
which until then had been considered
luxury extras, seen only on works race
bikes. The Superbike era had begun.
Meanwhile on the race track, the late 60s
and early 70s belonged to the Italian 350
and 500cc MV Agustas. The three cylinder
350 appeared in 1965, when the four cylinder
was beginning to show its age. The 500
appeared the following year. The cylinders
of the 350 were bored out to 377cc, then to
420 and again to 497.9cc. The three cylinder
bikes heralded one of the most successful
periods in the history of Grand Prix racing.
Giacomo Agostini rode the 500 to his first
world championship win in an unbroken
series of championship wins that lasted until
1972. The 350 won four consecutive world
championships from 1968 to 1971. The 350
MV triple produced 62.5bhp at 13,500rpm
and the 500 78bhp at 12,000rpm. The
350 weighed 116kg and the 500 118kg.
Another Italian machine that made
an indelible impression on sports bike
62 KIWI RIDER
connoisseurs was Laverda and, more
specifically, the Jota. The three cylinder
model appeared at the Milan Show of 1969,
and was the first Laverda with more than
two cylinders. Production didn’t begin until
1973, and it wasn’t until 1976 that the title
Jota, the name of an energetic Spanish
dance, was given to the model. It turned out
to be a fiery 981cc triple producing 79bhp
with a top speed of 225km/h. The British
Motor Cycle magazine of August 1976 said
it was the fastest bike they had ever tested.
Production of the Jota ended in 1982.
One of the most sensational triples of the
late 1960s sent the sports bike market reeling
with the Kawasaki H1 500 or Mach 111. It was
noisy, smoky, anti-social, very thirsty, but
extremely fast, especially on acceleration
(standing quarter mile in 13 secs or 0 to
96km/h in 4.3 secs). Top speed on the first
models wasn’t remarkable. Some road
tests quoted 178km/h, but it soon changed
to 193km/h. Many riders at the time were
critical of the bike’s handling characteristics,
and as so often happens it was on the race
track that the H1 began to get the attention
and development it obviously needed.
In 1971 Kawasaki launched the H2 750 which
also benefited from race track development.
The factory also produced 250, 350,and
400 two-stroke triples. The production of
the legendary triples, which began in 1968,
eventually came to an end in 1980.
Giacomo Agostini on the 500cc MV at the Dutch TT 1966