History Of Kawasaki Bikes
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 |The history of the Kawasaki company extends back to the mid 1920’s, when in 1924, Kawasaki were a major player in some heavy industry projects, as well as playing a key role in the production of a variety of aeroplanes.
It wasn’t until 25 years later that Kawasaki made the move into designing and manufacturing motorbikes. Their first step into the motorbike industry was, as with many new manufacturers of the era, producing small engines that could be attached to push bikes, allowing for a quicker and easier ride. Manufacturing three different size engines for this purpose – a 60cc, 150cc and 250cc – it was 6 years later in 1954 before Kawasaki offered their first ‘full’ motorbike.
1962 saw the demise of one popular bike manufacturer, Meguro Motorcycles, much to the delight of Kawasaki bikes. Realising that Meguro were going down hill in 1960, the two companies joined forces and 2 years later Kawasaki took off Meguro Motorcycles completely. From this point forward, Kawasaki where to become a motorbike manufacturer of tremendous ability.
A lot of motorbike manufacturers at the time made the point of simply designing and producing one engine size of bike. Whether it was a small 60cc scooter or a powerful 700cc cruiser bikes, each company could be defined by the size of the motorbike engines they produced. Kawasaki, however, decided to take things an extra step forward. With the recent take over of Meguro, Kawasaki’s production capabilities were immense, and so with this, they began producing a wide variety of motorbikes. From small engined scooter for riding around town to highly respected, 650cc powerhouses for the quicker rides on the motorways, Kawasaki had a motorbike to suit everyone’s needs. This soon became one of Kawasaki’s primary values, to offer a selection of motorbikes to the masses, which still remains their focus to this day.
Throughout the 1970’s, Kawasaki began work on several high-performance motorbikes, with the first produce being a respectable 500cc engine – the H1. Liked amongst youths, due to its construction the H1 was a great show off motorbike. It handled well, was capable of performing stunts easily and looked ‘rough and ready’.
More Superbikes were created throughout the 1970’s, including the popular Z1, which, for 1973, had a staggering 903cc engine. Given the name ‘King’ by its many adoring fans, the Z1 is noted as a classic motorbike to this day, and should you be able to purchase one, it can still compete up along their with the current Superbikes.
Continuing this production throughout the next two decades, the 1990’s saw a fierce competition between all Japanese motorbike manufacturers, namely in the Superbike class. For the winner, enormous success would come there. Kawasaki produced the 1052cc engined ZZR-R1100 and took every bit of success that came their way.
Kawasaki are renowned for offering a wide selection of high quality motorbikes, allowing most people all over the world to own a Kawasaki. Not detracting from their quality, Kawasaki motorbikes are affordable and reliable, comfortable and, most importantly, respected. Respect your Kawasaki by investing in Kawasaki Insurance in a timely manner to avoid any regrets later.
