1976 Kawasaki KH500 Keeps the Vintage Two-Stroke Spirit Alive at No Reserve

Classic two-stroke bikes and the environment aren’t exactly best friends, but there’s just something about these machines that’s always enthralled old-school petrolheads. With their remarkable power-to-weight ratios, loud powerplants and smoky exhausts, motorcycles like this 1976 Kawasaki KH500 are a real blast from the past, despite their inherent disadvantages.

Although a two-stroke engine is basically a miniature Soviet factory when it comes to emissions and lubrication is, at the best of times, not great, our enthusiasm for such machines is unlikely to die out in the foreseeable future. On that note, we’ll get straight to the point and have you know the KH500 featured in this article is going under the hammer at no reserve.

The Japanese predator comes with an array of premium goodies for improved handling, such as top-shelf Dunlop rubber, a Kawasaki KZ650’s forks and a twin brake disc setup on the front wheel. Furthermore, we’re also greeted by an aftermarket exhaust system installed under previous ownership.

To make this whole ordeal even more exciting, the creature’s analog odometer indicates that it’s only been ridden for 9k miles (about 14,500 km). The auction will be open on Bring A Trailer until tomorrow afternoon (Friday, August 13), and you’d need a little over $4,600 to become the top bidder. Now, let’s examine what the KH500 is actually made of.

Its air-cooled 498cc inline-three mill is good for up to 52 hp and 39 pound-feet (53 Nm) of torque at optimal rpm. This force travels to a chain final drive via a five-speed transmission, resulting in a generous top speed of 113 mph (182 kph). When equipped with all the vital fluids, the ‘76 MY KH500 will tip the scales at 452 pounds (205 kg). Now that we told you everything there is to know about this two-stroke fiend, we'd say the BaT website is precisely where you should be heading!