Those were the first and forerunners of today's Japanese crotch rockets - amazing performance for the day. I remember a shootout between the Kawasaki 500, the new three cylinder Triumph 750 Trident and Norton 750 Commando sometime around the early 70's. The Kawi had the fastest time through the quarter mile, the Triumph had the highest top end and the Norton was in between both of them. - second fastest quarter mile and second highest top end.
I'll be 65 this year and a few months ago bought a bright red Yamaha FZ07 700 cc twin (689 to be exact), so I'm not exactly helping Harley's longevity.
The Mach IV came out when I was in high school and I actually put a small deposit down on one that winter. Luckily the little dealership went belly up before delivery and I ended up buying a Yamaha instead. Had a few close calls on that one, but I probably would have killed myself for sure on that Kawasaki bullet.
