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

Kawasaki Heavy Industries

is an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa....

 at plants in Japan, USA, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. The motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

s have been produced since 1954.

History

Kawasaki Aircraft initially manufactured motorcycles under the Meguro Works name, but later formed Kawasaki Motor Sales. Some motorcycles display an emblem with "Kawasaki Aircraft" on the fuel tank.

During the merger in 1962, Kawasaki engineers were engaged in the development of a four-stroke engine for small cars which ended in 1962 with some of the engineers transferred to the Meguro Works to work on the Meguro K1 and the SG, a single cylinder 250 cc OHV. In 1963, Kawasaki and Meguro merged to form Kawasaki Motorcycle Co.,Ltd. Kawasaki motorcycles from 1962 through 1967 used an emblem which can be described as a flag within a wing.

Work continued on the Meguro K1, a copying of the BSA A7

BSA A7

The BSA A7 was a British motorcycle manufactured by Birmingham Small Arms Company at their factory in Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham in 1946. There were actually two versions of the A7, the original 495cc version and an improved 497cc version launched in 1950...

 500 cc vertical twin. and on the Kawasaki W1

Kawasaki W series

-Antecedents: Meguro K series:In 1960 the Akashi-based Kawasaki Aircraft Company acquired an interest in the Meguro motorcycle company, which had obtained a license to produce a copy of the 500 cc BSA A7. Meguro had been Japan's largest motorcycle manufacturer but in the late 1950s its models had...

. The K2 was exported to the U.S. for a test in response to the expanding American market for four-stroke motorcycles in which case it was rejected for a lack of power. (Kawasaki Museum). By the mid-1960s, Kawasaki was finally importing a moderate number of motorcycles. The Kawasaki H1 Mach III

Kawasaki H1 Mach III

The Kawasaki H1 Mach III was a high-performance two-stroke 500cc production motorcycle manufactured by Kawasaki Motorcycle Corporation. It was sold in the U.S. and abroad from 1969 through 1975.-History:...

 in 1968 along with several enduro

Enduro

Enduro is a form of motorcycle sport run on courses that are predominantly off-road. Enduro consists of many different obstacles and challenges...

-styled motorcycles to compete with Yamaha

Yamaha Motor Company

, is a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yamaha Motor is part of Yamaha Corporation and its headquarter is located in Iwata, Shizuoka. Along with expanding Yamaha Corporation into the world's biggest piano maker, then Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized...

, Suzuki

Suzuki

is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu, Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles and 4x4 vehicles, a full range of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles , outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines...

 and Honda

Honda

is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...

increased sales of Kawasaki units.

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