Kawasaki - The Illustrated Motorcycle Legends

Who can catch a Kawasaki? 

Is just one of the well-remembered and fully merited slogans used by the firm that has always offered performance. A major company in Japan, they adopted motorcycles as a means of promoting their name, quickly establishing a base of small models to support the more exotic.

Hot twins and thirsty triples, all two-strokes, began the assault but it took their first big four, the fabulous Z1, to gain them the accolade of ‘King of the Road’. It stayed that way for a long time as the boundaries moved out to sports, super-sports and hyper-sports.

Alongside the performance models ran the commuter and trail machines, small but essential. There was also a custom line and, as the classic look returned, the retro style. Plus excursions onto the three balloon tyres of the all-terrain vehicle and the jet ski for those who preferred to do their riding on water.

Here, in words and many pictures, mainly in colour, is their story.