Definitely agree with the beautiful condition of the bike, and especially with the comment of when society was a much better place. I truly hope that one day we can get back to that, but sadly, as the months go by, it seems like we keep getting further and further, from the normalcy and patriotism that we used to have. God Bless Brother. Take care.
Love these old creatures, was lucky enough to own two, one of which I bought brand new, 1972, these are actually called the F-9, the Bighorn was the first variant.
I had one that I converted to a psuedo care racer. Installed an engine that was prepped for flat track racing. The thing was a freaking rocket to 70 mph. The crappy drum brakes made things interesting
I restored the same bike in 2010. People had no idea what it was. It was fun to ride on & off road except at night, the 6 volt system didn't throw much light. Sold it to a collector in 2015. Loads of power.
I ran a compression release in the second sparkplug hole. Great for getting the rear end to come around and pivot the bike on the really tight stuff. A joy to see. *I went with the green one!
Knew someone that had a later 1980's KE125 with the rotary valve. -Great on the street, but not the best torque -so heavy mud was the worst. Very clean running in the upper revs with the rotary valve. -So this 350cc 2-stroke rotary valve or even the 250cc rotary valve should be pretty awesome. **Beware that many mechanics don't know how to tune rotary valves**
Had a 1973 F9 350 Bighorn in green. Bought it without a jug,head and expansion chamber. Fixed it and rode till my dad sold or traded it. This was in 1975 ,I went into the Military
First bike I rmemeber my dad riding to work on was this one {but green}. Also the 1st bike I remember sitting on the tank down the freeway with him on.. Unique rattle sound and I remember him and his buddies having a ball on them.
All the old DTs and trail bikes from the late 60 70s always had rear trials tyres on that would take half a day to prize off because the tyres lip was so thick and beasty.
Rotory valves made good power I had a few and I cut the valve and milled the head put a good expansion chamber on it made way more power and played with the rear sprokets HELLO MR POWER WEE HAW
Beautiful and powerful mint looking big bore 2 stroke. I bet that bike is fun and enjoyable to ride. Blows my mind that the bike looks so good, for being 50 YEARS OLD! I love how you put gold chains on your bikes. Before I started watching your you tube channel, I wasn't even aware that they made gold chains.
My father had the F-11 250 which looked exactly like this bike but, with 100 less cc's. He started letting me ride it when I was 13 & I couldn't believe how much power & torque that 250 had.... This 350 must be a total rocket ship.
Have a gold '74. BH's (and rotary valves in general) had the advantage of early intake opening (110* btdc), but timed to close at a still very, very mild 50* ATDC, for huge duration advantage over the other mildly tuned street/trail (piston ported) 2t bikes of the 70's. (reed valve design had not yet come into it's own). The sheet steel rotary discs could be trimmed to whatever tuning range you wanted, (like selecting an intake "cam" profile for a 4t) If you f'd...up, no problem, just install another disc. BH's were heavy bikes, also had heavy 3 ring pistons, non-squish band heads, small/restrictive transfer tunnels, wide cases drawing hot case heated air though a tiny 30mm carb, all equaling a street tractor motor. Search Can-Am TNT (Rotax) street/trail series for the rotary valve engineering route I wish the Kaw F series would have taken.
Hi Ken wow nice Big Horn! The rotory vavle intake was quite unique in its day! A guy brought one too the shop one day with a locked up counter shaft in the tranny! Turned out the right hand crank seal had went bad and sucked the tranny oil and burned it leaving the tranny without oil and seased up the countershaft bearings! Crazy stuff! Great find Ken!
I owned one of these back in the 70s, unfortunately A car hit me at an intersection, I jumped off the bike just in time. When the car hit me the gas tank flew off like a bullet and I landed in the middle of the intersection butt first with no injurys.
Kaplan got your ears on ? There seems to be something you do not know about two stokes . They are all supercharged . The piston creates higher than atmospheric pressure in the crankcase then forces the supercharged air and fuel through the transfer ports to the combustion chamber ...then the piston compresses the already supercharged air and fuel mixture again in the combustion chamber before the spark plug fires it off
Captain Ken Kaplan. Ever thought of maybe building like a scrambler motorcycle like that. I don't know what it would take to start up a small motorcycle like that with a powerful engine. I think he's so fucking millions of them down in Florida. Anywhere everybody likes a quick bike they can jump on just rip to the store life's getting a little too crazy you know just take a rip around town don't need to get on the highway and drive 300 miles. Just rub around town on BMX bike on steroids. I don't know about you but I have my BMX bike that I built as a kid a drug it along with me so 40 years. Anyways God bless man you're the shit hit me up I think this could be you very lucrative interest to us
Beautiful bike from when the world was somewhat normal...
Duck and cover era...
Always loved kawasaki idkw as a kid I had Hondas and suzukis but always loved the kx 125 and 250.
No doubt!!
Definitely agree with the beautiful condition of the bike, and especially with the comment of when society was a much better place. I truly hope that one day we can get back to that, but sadly, as the months go by, it seems like we keep getting further and further, from the normalcy and patriotism that we used to have. God Bless Brother. Take care.
Love these old creatures, was lucky enough to own two, one of which I bought brand new, 1972, these are actually called the F-9, the Bighorn was the first variant.
I had one that I converted to a psuedo care racer. Installed an engine that was prepped for flat track racing. The thing was a freaking rocket to 70 mph. The crappy drum brakes made things interesting
I restored the same bike in 2010. People had no idea what it was. It was fun to ride on & off road except at night, the 6 volt system didn't throw much light. Sold it to a collector in 2015. Loads of power.
I ran a compression release in the second sparkplug hole. Great for getting the rear end to come around and pivot the bike on the really tight stuff.
A joy to see.
*I went with the green one!
Knew someone that had a later 1980's KE125 with the rotary valve. -Great on the street, but not the best torque -so heavy mud was the worst. Very clean running in the upper revs with the rotary valve.
-So this 350cc 2-stroke rotary valve or even the 250cc rotary valve should be pretty awesome. **Beware that many mechanics don't know how to tune rotary valves**
I'm so honored to be the new custodian for this beautiful old girl! The team at Kaplan Cycle was a pleasure to deal with. 😀😀
One of my best friends had one of these. He rode it on some pretty long enduros in the late 70s. I respect the Hell out of these! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Incredible! The 2 strokes from this era were so advanced in design!
Good ol 70's 2 strokes , great machines 👍
a very cool bike..id ride it on road all day. gotta love those rotary valve engines.
Had a 1973 F9 350 Bighorn in green. Bought it without a jug,head and expansion chamber. Fixed it and rode till my dad sold or traded it. This was in 1975 ,I went into the Military
First bike I rmemeber my dad riding to work on was this one {but green}. Also the 1st bike I remember sitting on the tank down the freeway with him on.. Unique rattle sound and I remember him and his buddies having a ball on them.
All the old DTs and trail bikes from the late 60 70s always had rear trials tyres on that would take half a day to prize off because the tyres lip was so thick and beasty.
I rode a 1972 SL350 that was far from stock as a kid and I chased many a Bighorn 350. Like all ‘70’s Kawasaki’s, they ran off and left you.
They certainly don’t make ‘em like this anymore ! Dreams can come true !❤
Rotory valves made good power I had a few and I cut the valve and milled the head put a good expansion chamber on it made way more power and played with the rear sprokets HELLO MR POWER WEE HAW
Beautiful and powerful mint looking big bore 2 stroke. I bet that bike is fun and enjoyable to ride. Blows my mind that the bike looks so good, for being 50 YEARS OLD! I love how you put gold chains on your bikes. Before I started watching your you tube channel, I wasn't even aware that they made gold chains.
Insanely rare old KWAKA ,totally insanium unobtanium CLASSY GAL ❤😎
My father had the F-11 250 which looked exactly like this bike but, with 100 less cc's. He started letting me ride it when I was 13 & I couldn't believe how much power & torque that 250 had.... This 350 must be a total rocket ship.
I started on a F11 and my buddy had a Big Horn. Earley 70s
Have a gold '74. BH's (and rotary valves in general) had the advantage of early intake opening (110* btdc), but timed to close at a still very, very mild 50* ATDC, for huge duration advantage over the other mildly tuned street/trail (piston ported) 2t bikes of the 70's. (reed valve design had not yet come into it's own). The sheet steel rotary discs could be trimmed to whatever tuning range you wanted, (like selecting an intake "cam" profile for a 4t) If you f'd...up, no problem, just install another disc. BH's were heavy bikes, also had heavy 3 ring pistons, non-squish band heads, small/restrictive transfer tunnels, wide cases drawing hot case heated air though a tiny 30mm carb, all equaling a street tractor motor. Search Can-Am TNT (Rotax) street/trail series for the rotary valve engineering route I wish the Kaw F series would have taken.
Hi Ken wow nice Big Horn! The rotory vavle intake was quite unique in its day! A guy brought one too the shop one day with a locked up counter shaft in the tranny! Turned out the right hand crank seal had went bad and sucked the tranny oil and burned it leaving the tranny without oil and seased up the countershaft bearings! Crazy stuff! Great find Ken!
i not sure about that dt 360 statement that got me thinking your being close on that statement
I used to modify the fibre rotary disk to open sooner and close later, gained a few more ponies!
Yes, the F-7 had one of that type. Had to replace it when I rebuilt the one I got in (1987).
That's the Popa of the GT 80🤛
Perfect for an Australian sheep farmer cruising the outback all day 👍
I just bought one in showroom condition! 1390 miles
I owned one of these back in the 70s, unfortunately A car hit me at an intersection, I jumped off the bike just in time. When the car hit me the gas tank flew off like a bullet and I landed in the middle of the intersection butt first with no injurys.
I like that, if I was brave enough! I had a 100 with the dual range 4-speed when I was a kid. The rotary intake made carb work I little bit tougher.
Vintage mr.blister grips like a kaw kt250 i owned long ago
I rode a ''Pighorn'' when I was 10 and it seemed HUUUGE!....it looks downright svelte now!
I've got the gold one from the year before (1974) It's now restored and living in the UK. Also restored a 1969 F4 ( also on TH-cam)
Oh man I can smell my youth again 😁👌
I spot the ZRX in the backround!
New England 😎 that's a big taillight, 😳
Just curious-how much did this sell for?
Beautiful big horn🏆
The 175 version was my first bike at 13
Me too, '71 F7 in '71. I immediately converted it to a flat track/TT bike and ran the 200 class.
Very nice brother
Kaplan got your ears on ? There seems to be something you do not know about two stokes . They are all supercharged . The piston creates higher than atmospheric pressure in the crankcase then forces the supercharged air and fuel through the transfer ports to the combustion chamber ...then the piston compresses the already supercharged air and fuel mixture again in the combustion chamber before the spark plug fires it off
I had the gold one. Sadly no longer . Almost as fast as my 76 kx250. 1/4 mile motor🙏
Beautiful bike 😍
Sweet 👍
Captain Ken Kaplan. Ever thought of maybe building like a scrambler motorcycle like that. I don't know what it would take to start up a small motorcycle like that with a powerful engine. I think he's so fucking millions of them down in Florida. Anywhere everybody likes a quick bike they can jump on just rip to the store life's getting a little too crazy you know just take a rip around town don't need to get on the highway and drive 300 miles. Just rub around town on BMX bike on steroids. I don't know about you but I have my BMX bike that I built as a kid a drug it along with me so 40 years. Anyways God bless man you're the shit hit me up I think this could be you very lucrative interest to us
That's Kawasaki for you ...they lay back a couple of years then BAM ...hit you with a bike no one can touch . PK
😈😈😈😈 holy smoke 😈😈😈😈😈
Beast.......
Luv Honda but the rotary's kawi would out run my cr 250 and my Mr 250 lol but my cr sounded much better losing
U look like Rambo ;)
The bikes that replaced the enduro's don't look anything like those now.