The N100 Plan was the

corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

code name for the top secret concept, engineering, and development of an entirely new

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

engine by Kawasaki Motorcycle Corporation, a division of

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (or simply Kawasaki) is a Japanese public multinational corporation manufacturer of motorcycles, engines, heavy equipment, aerospace and defense equipment, rolling stock and ships, headquartered in Chūō, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is ...

in 1966.

Goal

The goal of Kawasaki engineering in the N100 Plan was to create a large bore, fast motorcycle engine for entry into the American market, the largest market for motorcycles.

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

had already introduced its successful

Honda CB450 The Honda CB450 is a standard motorcycle made by Honda from 1965 to 1974 with a 180° DOHC straight-twin engine. Producing 45 bhp (some 100 bhp/ litre), it was Honda's first "big" motorcycle, though it did not succeed in its goal of competing di ...

in 1965 and Kawasaki desired to enter that larger bore niche.

Kawasaki directive

The N100 Plan called for an

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

standard motorcycle The six main types of motorcycles are generally recognized as ''standard'', ''cruiser'', ''touring'', ''sports'', ''off-road'', and ''dual-purpose''. ''Sport touring'' is sometimes recognized as a seventh category or integrated with the ''touring' ...

with an engine capacity of 500 cubic centimeters. The power output was set at no less than 60ps (equivalent to a per liter horsepower of 120ps). The performance minimum was to make a 13-second standing start 1/4 mile run (0–400 meters).

Development

Three cylinder development

The Kawasaki engineers approached the N100 Plan in two ways. (1) Use an existing, tried and true Kawasaki A7 350 "Avenger", a 350 cc parallel twin-cylinder, rotary-disc engine, bored out to 500 cc or (2) develop an entirely new engineering layout, building an inline 3-cylinder, or create a new and groundbreaking "L-triple" design. All of these engines would be

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...

and

. The development team decided to utilize both twin-cylinder and triple-cylinder engines together as test engines. The largest concern was development of the 3-cylinder design and whether it would be a inline or a new "L-triple". The concern over the 3-cylinder design was cooling cylinder #2, the middle cylinder in either application. Osaka University's laboratory belonging to the Faculty of Engineering performed a number of tests on cooling of the engine as a whole, optimum length of cooling fins, and optimum cylinder pitch. It was determined that an inline configuration would not impair cooling.

Two-cylinder development

While testing the 3-cylinder, Kawasaki also went forward with the development and testing of its current two-stroke twin-cylinder rotary disc valve engine. The preliminary test results pointed to a very promising outcome. One possible advancement in the twin over the triple was keeping the rotary disc valve fuel/air intake which produced more horsepower than the conventional piston port or reed valve approach, which had been the case in other Kawasakis. The Kawasaki technical team at the end decided on a conventional piston inlet port engine, with three inline cylinders.

Road testing

The initial part of the 2nd test of the N100 was between

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in late 1968 with the test rider Tony Nicosia. A new engine was installed at Las Vegas and the bike was run to

Yuma, Arizona Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...

under normal road conditions with a return trip to Los Angeles. Improvements were reported at low speed, better electrical performance, and improved oil consumption @ 350 to 400 miles per quart. Problems were listed as bad piston and clutch noise.Report (.jpg file) dated December 2, 1966. N100 Second Test, by D. Krause

End results

In 1969, Kawasaki debuted the

Kawasaki H1 Mach III The Kawasaki H1 Mach III was a two-stroke 500 cc sport bike made by Kawasaki from 1969 through to 1975. History By mid-1960s, the US had become the largest motorcycle market. American riders were demanding bikes with more horsepower and hig ...

, dubbed the world’s fastest bike for its quarter mile time. The success of the Mach III lead directly to the development of the Kawasaki Mach II S2 350 in 1971, the Kawasaki S1 Mach I and Kawasaki H2 Mach IV 750 in 1972.

References

External links

* {{Citation , url= https://www.motorcycle.com/features/kawasaki-comes-to-america-jeff-krauses-dad-and-the-69-h1-mach-iii.html , website=Motorcycle.com , editor-first=John , editor-last=Burns , first=Jeff , last=Krause , date=October 7, 2020 , title=Kawasaki Comes To America, Jeff Krause's Dad, And The '69 H1 Mach III , orig-date= April 7, 2020

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...