Kawasaki Motorcycles

About Kawasaki

Kawasaki motorcycles are manufactured by the Motorcycle & Engine division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

The Kawasaki Company was founded in 1896 by Shozo Kawasaki as a shipyard meant for building oceangoing steel ships. At the beginning they constructed marine steam turbines, locomotives, freight cars, passenger carriages and bridge girders. In 1918 the Aircraft Department is established and after prolonged research Kawasaki succeeds in building Japan's first metal aircraft. Then came 1949 and they turned towards the motorcycles industry by making engines suited for motorcycles.

Kawasaki Aircraft initially manufactured motorcycles under the Meguro name, having bought out an ailing motorcycle manufacturer called Meguro Manufacturing Co. Ltd with whom they had been in partnership earlier, but later formed Kawasaki Motor Sales. Some early motorcycles display an emblem with "Kawasaki Aircraft" on the fuel tank. Kawasaki motorcycles from 1962 through 1967 used an emblem which can be described as a flag within a wing.

Kawasaki came out with their first bike in 1954, called Meihatsu. This bike had Kawasaki's own KB-5 engine. An improved model of the Meihatsu, called Meihatsu 125 Deluxe, was introduced in 1956.

Kawasaki was producing bikes for a while without much popularity, but technically progressing. Kawasaki started to be noticed as a big player on the motorcycles market due to the release of the 500cc H1 model (also known as Mach III). In 1973 Kawasaki introduced their first superbike, the Z1 which had a 903cc engine.

One of the most notable bikes in Kawasaki history, the GPZ900R came in 1983. This was the first model ever produced by Kawasaki to have a liquid-cooled engine and to reach 250 km/h. A year later they started to sell this bike in the US and they renamed it Ninja, thing which proved to be very benefactor, registering huge sales.

Their first ever motorsports victories were obtained by Dave Simmons in the FIM World Road Racing 125cc Championship. He won the West German and the Isle of Mann TT races and the series championship riding a KR-1. Then came 1981 and Kawasaki won the manufacturer's title in the FIM World Road Racing 250cc Championship, courtesy of A. Mang who was riding the KR250. Kawasaki's most notable win in their motorsports history was the Le mans 24-Hour Race back in 1983. The model which participated in that race was the ZXR-7.

Moto blog

Kawasaki Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Z1

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the ground-breaking Kawasaki Z1 which made its public debut in 1972, becoming what many would regard as the world’s first superbike. Kawasaki’s first large-capacity four-stroke multi-cylinder motorcycle took center stage at the 1972  IFMA, the precursor to the INTERMOT show in Cologne, Germany. Together with the Honda CB750, the Kawasaki Z1 helped spearhead the popularity of the Japanese Inline-Four.

Attack Performance Announces MotoGP CRT Effort

Attack Performance officially announced it will race in the 2012 U.S. Grand Prix and Indianapolis Grand Prix on a Kawasaki-powered Claiming Rule Team machine. Reports the Huntington Beach, Calif., racing parts manufacturer was granted a wild card to the two American MotoGP rounds surfaced last week, the AMA Pro Racing regular officially confirmed the news just as the 2012 MotoGP World Championship got under way.

Police-Spec Kawasaki Concours 14 Recalled

Kawasaki is issuing a recall on the police-spec version of the 2009-2012 Concours 14 because the add-on equipment may overload the electrical system. Police motorcycles are typically loaded with accessories such as sirens, radio equipment, and additional lighting. To support these accessories.

Report: Steve Rapp and Attack Performance get MotoGP CRT Wild Card

RoadracingWorld reports California-based Attack Performance has been granted a wild card entry to the 2012 U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca and the 2012 Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. According to RoadracingWorld, Attack Performance’s entry lists Steve Rapp as its rider and the parts manufacturer itself as constructor, suggesting it will enter as a Claiming Rule Team.

AMA Supercross: 2012 Houston Results

Ryan Villopoto has captured the 2012 AMA Supercross Championship with a dominating performance at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The Monster Energy Kawasaki racer took the lead early in the race after passing holeshot-taker Davi Millsaps on the opening lap. Villopoto would lead the rest of the way for his eighth win of the season.

Teaser: 2012 Japanese Literbike Shootout – Video

The last time we assembled the superbike offerings from the Big Four Japanese manufacturers to determine the alpha male model was 2009. The CBR won that confrontation, but a lot’s changed since then. For 2012 Honda revamped the CBR1000RR, Yamaha added traction control to the R1, the GSX-R1000 lost a muffler and last year Kawasaki introduced an all-new ZX-10R.

AMA Supercross: 2012 Toronto Results

Ryan Villopoto moved one step closer to repeating as AMA Supercross Champion with his seventh win of the season at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. With his chief rivals not making the trip north of the border due to various injuries, Villopoto can clinch the 2012 championship as soon as next weekend’s race at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, if they continue to be out of action. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider has 271 points with five rounds remaining.

Lady Moto Gymkhana: ‘You Ride Like A Girl’ – Video

A time-tested putdown among boys and adult males is the “You throw like a girl” insult meant to highlight the targeted male’s inability to throw some object with the appropriate force needed to get the object moving and continuing along the correct trajectory. In other words, as the male of your species you should posses the innate ability to throw a ball, but instead you lob it overhand like a female that’s never thrown a pitch or a pass in her life. Of course, the action verb throw is replaceable with just about any action the insulter wishes.

AMA Superbike: 2012 Daytona Results

Josh Hayes and Blake Young picked things up where they left off by trading wins at the 2012 season-opening AMA Superbike round at Daytona International Speedway. Reigning champion Hayes of Monster Energy Graves Yamaha took the first race handily, leading almost right from the start of the 15-lap race for the win. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Young, who finished second to Hayes in the 2011 AMA Superbike Championship, responded by taking the second race, but only by a slim 0.002-second margin.

AMA Sportbike: 2012 Daytona 200 Results

The 2012 Daytona 200 delivered another fairy-tale finish with underdog privateer Joey Pascarella and the Project 1 Atlanta team fending off a pack of three other racers to win by a slim 0.048 second margin. Competing in just his first Daytona 200, 19-year-old Pascarella from Victorville, Calif., held the lead for 41 out of 57 laps to finish first ahead of a last year’s winner Jason DiSalvo while Cameron Beaubier squeezed by 2010 Daytona Sportbike Champion Martin Cardenas in a photo-finish to take third. For the Project 1 Atlanta team, the win marked a dramatic turnaround from a let down in 2011.