AS THE DUST SETTLED FROM THE SHAKE-UP OF Japan’s motorcycle industry in the early 1960s, a handful of manufacturers were left from the 77 that had existed in 1959. By 1963, as well as Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha, those still fighting their way into the showrooms included Bridgestone, Marusho, Tohatsu and Meguro, but soon these too would be gone. And one manufacturing behemoth was starting to appear in US showrooms: Kawasaki, or in those days, Kawasaki Aircraft.
Kawasaki was making ships, trains, aircraft, tunnel-boring machines and all manner of heavy and light engineering products, including motorcycle engines, which were used by the Kawasaki subsidiary company, Meihatsu Industries, based in Kobe, for a range of machines in the 1950s. In 1959, Kawasaki opened a motorcycle R&D department and then opened a new bike factory at its Akashi manufacturing complex. It partnered with Meguro and then took over the company and launched the first Kawasaki in late 1962, the B8 125cc single. It was a well-made but basic commuter machine. Meguro’s main product, a BSA A7-based (licensed by BSA? We cannot find any proof of that – Matt) 499cc OHV twin, was rebadged as the Kawasaki W1. Kawasaki opened an office in Los Angeles in 1966 to see what the US market was like for its products and soon worked out that economy 125cc singles were not what the Americans wanted – and neither were well-built but dated old twins. Americans in the 1960s craved speed and excitement.
The Samurai arrives
To meet that desire, the Kawasaki designers came up with a 250cc twin-cylinder with disc valve induction and tuned expansion chambers – concepts they borrowed, like Yamaha and Suzuki, from
