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

Blake Young to Ride Attack Performance CRT in Three U.S. MotoGP Rounds

Blake Young may not have a full time AMA Superbike ride this season but he will get the chance to compete in some high-profile races. CycleNews reports the former Yoshimura Suzuki rider will race for Attack Performance on its Kawasaki-powered CRT racebike at the three U.S. MotoGP rounds.

Kawasaki May Soon Reveal Naked Ninja 250 for Asia

Kawasaki will unveil a new naked version of the Ninja 250 this month, reports TMCBlog.com. The Malaysian Indonesian blog first published a sketch back in October of a new motorcycle believed to be a new model based on the Ninjette to be called either the ER250 or the Z250. TMCBlog.com now reports Kawasaki will be announced before the end of January, quoting Freddyanto Basuki, marketing manager of Kawasaki Motor Indonesia.

2013 AMA Supercross Phoenix Race Report

Justin Barcia led all 20 laps to earn his first career victory in the 450cc class of the AMA Supercross Championship. The Team Honda Muscle Milk rider took the holeshot and never looked back to take his maiden win in front of 50,109 fans at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz. “I can’t tell you how excited I am right now,” says Barcia.

Report: Dorna to Replace Superstock Classes with More Stock-Inspired WSBK and New 250cc Class

The coming World Superbike racing season may be the last to feature Superstock classes as series promoter Dorna tries to differentiate its WSBK and MotoGP properties. According to Italian outlet Motosprint, Dorna plans to rewrite the World Superbike and Supersport class rulebooks for the 2014 season to make the race bikes closer to their respective production models. This would create further separation between WSBK and MotoGP, with Superbike racing moving closer to its production-based roots while prototypes racing in the GP series.

Malaysian Police Launches Fleet of 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 250 Patrol Bikes – Video

The Royal Malaysian Police has upgraded its motorcycle patrol squad with a fleet of police-spec 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 250 sportbikes. The law agency’s Unit Rondaan Bermotosikal (Malaysian for motorcycling patrol unit) will receive 1000 units of the Ninja 250 which received a substantial update for 2013. Essentially, it’s the same as the Kawasaki Ninja 300 with ABS and fuel injection but with a 249cc engine.

Attack Performance, GPTech to Race All Three US MotoGP Rounds in 2013

Attack Performance Racing and GPTech made history this year as the first teams to build and enter motorcycles under MotoGP’s Claiming Rule Team rules as a  wild card entry. Both teams will race again, receiving wild card invites to all three U.S. rounds in the 2013 MotoGP season.

Onboard Lap of 2012 Macau Grand Prix

Get the Flash Player to see this player. When it comes to motorcycle races, there are two that separate the men from the boys: the Isle of Man TT and the Macau Grand Prix. Both races are held on public roads with little to no margin for error.

Kawasaki Reports Q2 2012-2013 Results

Kawasaki reported an operating loss of 2.2 billion yen (US$27.1 million) from its motorcycle and engine business for its second quarter ended Sept. 30, 2012. Despite the loss, the quarter still represented an improvement from the same quarter last year which saw a loss of 2.3 billion yen.

Kawasaki Producing 599cc 2013 Ninja ZX-6R for Japanese Racing Homologation

When Kawasaki announced it was upping the engine displacement for the Ninja ZX-6R to 636cc, the immediate question on many Team Green fans’ minds was what it would mean for the company’s supersport racing efforts. Kenan Sofuloglu won the 2012 World Supersport Championship on a Kawasaki ZX-6R, but under the regulations, he may not be allowed to defend his title next season on the 2013 model as homologation requirements in Supersport racing series limit Inline-Fours to displacements smaller than 600cc. Fear not however, as Kawasaki will be producing a special version of the ZX-6R with an engine displacement of 599cc, the same as the 2012 version.

Will the road-going RCV look like this?

Honda announced in a dry-as-you-like press release that a new bike was coming.  Not another motorcycle-cum-medical aid like the DN-01 or Integra, this is going to be a proper bike. A bike in a similar vein to previous bikes in the RC series, the RC30, RC45 and RC51, aimed squarely at winning races. So what's it going to look like?