Kawasaki Heritage Hall

Well, you might say it’s both. The Meihatu brand was an offshoot of Kawasaki Aircraft Industries, which oversaw motorcycle production during the 1950s, until, by 1966, American Kawasaki Motorcycle Corp. had established a distributorship in Chicago, the goal being to market their motorcycles in America, an endeavor that Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki had already undertaken in 1959, ’60, and ’64 respectively. Kawasaki essentially invited themselves to the party in 1966, paving the way for the Kawasaki motorcycle marque in America as we know it today — Kawasaki Motor Corp. As for the Meihatu KB-2 in Heritage Hall, its overall condition suggests that it’s all original, right down to its 60cc two-stroke engine and two-speed transmission.

“As near as I can tell,” adds Norm Bigelow, Heritage Hall’s curator and the KB-2’s current custodian (read: owner), “even the tires are original.” A single glance confirms his observation; the tires — once composed of freshly vulcanized rubber — are aged and hard as rock, yet brittle enough to crumble if carelessly rolled over pavement. In addition, the well-worn solo seat is permanently ruffled and disheveled, and rust abounds on metal surfaces. Brass vehicle identification tags on the engine case confirm the two-stroke was manufactured by Kawasaki in 1954, and the frame, a product of Kawasaki’s off-shoot motorcycle brand, Meihatu, indicates its year of origin as 1955.

Norm recently gained possession of the bike, ending a quest that began many years ago when he learned that this KB-2 was in Australia. The owner had listed it on eBay, but before Norm could make a bid, the bike sold, purportedly to a buyer in Indiana, until that owner later listed it on eBay for auction. Among the bidders was motorcycle collector Charlie Finney, who made a futile last-minute bid, losing out by $1 to a buyer in Norway, where it resided for a few years before its owner reached out to Finney in Illinois, who bought it. Once in his possession, Finney put his long-sought trophy on a special stand in his living room, and later in the bedroom! When he felt it was time to pass along the KB-2, he reached out to Mark Mederski (now editor of this magazine!) for help locating a buyer. As Finney explained, “I knew Mark through the AMA, and he put me in touch with Kawasaki, as they had a museum coming along (in California). He said they might want this rare, super-early machine that was part of their heritage.” But the bike didn’t quite fit Kawasaki management’s plans, so Bigelow, with Kawasaki’s blessing, purchased the bike from Finney for his personal collection and for display at the Kawasaki Heritage Hall.

Truly, this particular Meihatu KB-2 belongs in America! And erasing any further doubt, Finney figures the bike was originally brought to these shores by a G.I. who was stationed in Japan and later returned with it to America following his overseas deployment. As Finney pointed out, the bike “carried stickers that suggest it was initially brought to the States by a serviceman.” To the best of Norm’s knowledge, the KB-2 traveled from Japan, to America, to Australia, to Indiana, to Norway, then back to Iowa, and finally to California and Kawasaki Heritage Hall. No doubt it’s been quite a ride for the 60-year-old “Kawasaki.”

B8M 125: The Red Tank Kawasaki

As the 1960s approached, Meihatu remained the driving force in building early Kawasaki models, but by the time the B7 model appeared during the early 1960s, the company had regrouped to create a much improved, and rather conventional, design, the B8, a road model powered by a 125cc two-stroke engine with an integral 4-speed transmission. The B8 platform also served as the basis for a new, purpose-built motocross model created specifically to compete in the 1963 Japan Championship. A few minor modifications was all it took to prep the street bike for off-road duty, creating the B8M motocrosser.

By today’s standards, the B8M’s pressed-steel frame is crude, but when coupled with improved suspension and a 12-horsepower two-stroke engine in 1962, the B8M proved especially suitable on race track duty. Result: Kawasaki’s factory team swept the first six places in the 1963 Japan Championship.

Looking back today, the B8M formed the basis for Kawasaki’s deep racing heritage. It’s also safe to say that Kawasaki’s need for speed officially took hold in 1962 with this special motocrosser.

This particular B8M has an interesting history that can be traced to a Southern California sports car racing team owned by Porsche dealer the late Bill Yates, who used this and another B8M to serve as pit bikes for him and his wife at the race track. Shortly before Yates retired from racing, he offered the remaining bike to Norm Bigelow, but before the two men could connect to make the transaction, Mr. Yates passed away, and his collection of bikes was sold as part of the estate sale, which Norm didn’t know about either. Turns out that, by chance, an acquaintance of Norm ended up buying all of the bikes. When Norm and his friend had gathered all the facts, they agreed that Norm would have first purchase rights of the B8M should it ever be sold. And it did sell, and Norm promptly cinched that deal. He figures this bike belonged to Yates’ wife due to its near immaculate condition. From what he’s been told, the other bike had been ridden rather hard, suggesting that it was the one favored by Yates himself.

Adds Norm, “This B8M is unrestored, a real survivor. In fact, there’s only a small number of them in the U.S. today.”

And finally: “For obvious reasons,” says Norm, “the B8M earned its nickname ‘The Red Tank Kawasaki.'” In fact, red was the dominant color for most Kawasaki race bikes throughout the 1960s. We might add that, in an indirect way, the B8M 125’s bright red tank might have played a role in Kawasaki adopting its patented and radical Team Green racing color in 1969.

Kawasaki Racing Green became the official color for Kawasaki’s racing teams debuting at the 1969 Daytona Bike Week when the green-and-white team bikes rolled onto the racetrack. Several key Kawasaki employees played a role in the color creation. KMC national sales manager Don Graves, national marketing manager Paul Collins, and Akashi designer Chris Kurishima brainstormed with custom painter Rollin Sanders to conceive the final color tones. You might know Sanders, who passed away a couple years ago, by his trade name, “Paint by Molly.” He also helped create Yamaha’s yellow, black, and white racing colors during the 1970s.

The Kawasaki Jet Ski Model WSAA — Like Riding In The Dirt…Without The Dirt

If there was a watershed moment in Kawasaki’s engineering and product development success, it was 1973. That was the year Big K launched the Jet Ski, a stand-up-style personal watercraft that made a big splash in the power sport industry, creating a whole new form of water sport.

The Jet Ski traces its roots to a talented innovator named Carl Jacobson II, who then helped Kawasaki’s engineering group develop a watercraft consisting of wood bulkheads to support a sleek hull made of hand-laid fiberglass with a gel-coat finish. The craft weighed 220 pounds, measured 6 feet 10 inches stem to stern, and was powered by a twin-cylinder 400cc two-stroke engine that was, fittingly, water cooled.

Two hull designs were initially prototyped and tested — the WSAA with its flat bottom hull, and the WSAB V-hull, which, of the two, proved easier to control, and would continue into future production. About 550 of the stand-up watercrafts were manufactured on a trial basis to test customer response. Within a couple years, sales were so promising that Jet Ski production settled into Kawasaki’s new assembly plant in Lincoln, Nebraska, the long-term goal being to flood dealerships with this new product for recreational water play.

Naturally, Jet Ski racing competitions followed, and among Kawasaki’s national team members was our host for this tour of Kawasaki Heritage Hall, Norm Bigelow. His motocross experience gave him an inside track in mastering this new form of competition, enabling him to help with R&D, too. As you can imagine, he experienced some fun times back in the ’70s, competing against many of the top Jet Ski competitors in the world. He and his Kawasaki team members also used their “training” sessions to enjoy some good times, plying their Jet Skis when “practicing” in the water near the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor. Among their favorite stunts was to cross the wake of passing fishing boats and cargo ships that left large wakes. Those wakes created the perfect launch pads for Jet Skiers to “jump the wake.”

Eddie Lawson was on Kawasaki’s Superbike team during those days, and he sometimes joined his fellow Kawasaki-sponsored Jet Ski racers on their ocean forays. One day he found himself on a prototype Ski powered by a newly developed — and bigger — 500cc engine that was much more powerful than the current 440cc production model. Bigger engines spell bigger speeds. Mix that with a young man accustomed to going fast, and… results may vary.

“Eddie got up to speed, then hit the wake, launching him straight up in the air,” recalls Norm. The future world GP champion came splashing down hard, wrenching his back and leg (but not seriously). Norm continues: “Gary Mathers was the Superbike team manager, and when he found out what happened, he came storming into the race team shop, and he came straight over to guess who.” That would be Norm Bigelow. Fortunately, and as the saying goes, no autopsy, no foul. But even so, Norm experienced firsthand that the team boss didn’t like what could have happened to his star racer.

History tells us that Lawson went on to win four AMA National road race championships and four 500cc Grand Prix world championships. History also reminds us how Kawasaki’s odd-looking Jet Ski set the course for a new personal watercraft industry that still exists today.

1997 Kawasaki KX250SR — McGrath Who?

Supercross historians often refer the 1990s as the “Jeremy McGrath Era.” Other SX fans labeled McGrath himself as “King of Supercross,” and for good reason. He was practically unstoppable when AMA motocross racing took to the confines of those stadium arenas, historically the sites of some terrific Supercross battles.

But come 1997, Kawasaki’s Jeff Emig set things straight when he dethroned the King once and for all aboard this bike that’s now a figurehead in the Kawasaki Heritage Hall. For that very reason — subduing the wrath of McGrath — Norm’s pick-six for our story includes this 1997 KX250SR, essentially the same bike that Kawasaki customers could purchase from their local dealers. This is the bike that Emig rode to the 1997 Supercross Championship.

Kawasaki’s 1997 KX250 carries another rather bold distinction, too. Like the 1996 SR model, the 1997 KX250SR reported for duty wearing a new and rather flamboyant “Kawasaki Green” color combination. Gone was the original faded-drab Kawasaki Green, making way for what amounted to a florescent shade of “new” Kawasaki Green that Acerbis helped create for the bike’s plastic bodywork, consisting of fenders, number plates, side covers, and gas tank. It’s been that way ever since.

Indeed, the new shade of green was so foreign to photographers that Bigelow recalls practically every motorsport photographer failed to reproduce the same florescent hue in their coverage. That is, all photographers except one, who happened to be long-time Kawasaki employee and motocross photographer Joe Bonello!

Even though the bike’s importance and relevance rests on its own merit, there happens to be an interesting high point to its past, too. Shortly after the 1997 season got underway, Roy Turner, Kawasaki’s long-time motocross race team manager, abruptly resigned to pursue another career at Bock Shox, a bicycle suspension company. Meanwhile, and for the next three races, the Supercross team lacked a team manager. Norm happened to be the sole remaining full-time Kawasaki employee on the team; all other team members were contracted workers. So, Kawasaki management’s stopgap move was to give control of the team to Norm until a replacement for Turner could be found. Norm’s assignment was to maintain order, making sure that the team riders got to the starting line with minimum fanfare. You might say that Norm went beyond expectations, because the team immediately enjoyed three Supercross wins in a row!

“Yeah,” recalls Norm, “everyone [on the team] was already familiar with their own duties, so we just carried on as before, and next thing we knew, we had three wins!” It gets better; after Kawasaki hired a new team manager, the Supercross team lost the next race! So, to this day, Norm Bigelow qualifies as perhaps the only Supercross “team manager” to retire with a perfect winning record. Go figure.

As for Kawasaki’s successful KX250SR, Cycle World magazine proclaimed after its 250 motocross shootout that the 1996 Kawasaki was “hands down” the winner because “it took the least amount of work” to prepare for racing. As for the florescent green bodywork by Acerbis, it has remained a hit with Kawasaki motocrossers ever since.

1984 Kawasaki Ninja — The Top Gun: Maverick Ninja!

What’s the most sought-after Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle on our planet? Collectors might suggest 1984 Ninja #0001, the very bike this magazine featured in “The First Ninja — Bike #0001” (and a bike that resides in Kawasaki Heritage Hall). But Tom Cruise fans might challenge that choice, casting their votes for the Ninja known as “The Top Gun Ninja” that appeared in the 1986 original Top Gun movie, and most recently in the 2024 sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

But in truth, the Top Gun: Maverick Ninja today isn’t the same bike featured in the original Top Gun movie. The Ninja shown here, and that resides on loan in Heritage Hall, belongs to the museum’s curator, Norm Bigelow. It’s one of three 1984 Ninjas that were pressed into service by the production company for the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick sequel. Here’s some of the back story:

All three replacement Ninjas were prepped, paying close attention to the bike’s detail to represent Maverick’s original motorcycle as it would appear 18 years later. But when the original movie played out years ago, the original Top Gun Ninja featured in it was essentially abandoned, becoming a Hollywood has-been, its whereabouts unknown today. When the studio elected to produce a sequel to the original Top Gun movie, the project required a replacement Ninja, one that would look exactly like the original that Tom Cruise’s character rode in the first flick.

For that to happen, the movie company’s prop team singled out three 1984 Ninjas for conversion. Norm’s Ninja was deemed to be in better original condition than its two stablemates, so it was designated as the “A” bike to appear in static scenes, especially the scene when Tom Cruise’s character lifts the cover off it for the first time in the sequel. That, of course, led to the obligatory scene for Cruise to cruise at speed along the flight line, in essence, commemorating a similar iconic scene in the original movie.

To be consistent, a seasoned special effects team paid close attention to placing replica decals that match the originals on the bike precisely as they appeared in first movie. Result: Norm’s bike looks like the original Ninja. Well, sort of, because the prop crew also created their own patina to indicate 18 years of collected dust. The bike’s makeup also consisted of a few fabricated rust spots here and there, plus some minor scratches for good measure.

As Norm recalls, “Members of the film crew were taking all kinds of measurements to make sure the decals were properly spaced just like on the original Top Gun bike. They were, in effect, transforming my bike into how it would look 18 years later. Details like the handgrips, seat, everything needed to look no different on this bike than the original. Everything was taken into account.”

Following the 2024 movie’s premier, Norm’s Top Gun bike was displayed at the EICMA motorcycle industry show in Europe, followed by a brief tour in Japan, beginning at the Kawasaki factory for moviegoers to enjoy. Today, the Ninja resides in Kawasaki Heritage Hall, and it’s currently changing ownership to Kawasaki so that it’s always on hand to represent the famous Ninja line today. “Maverick, out.”

1973 Z-1 24-Hour Record Bike

This is the Tale of Two Motorcycles. “Where’s the other motorcycle?” you ask. Good question — hold that thought while you read on.

The story begins at 9:30 a.m., March 14, 1973. Two identically prepared Kawasaki Z-1s are flagged off the line to start their 24-hour marathon of speed around Daytona International Speedway’s banked tri-oval. Each bike will have four different riders, each rider spending an aggregate six hours in the saddle during their record runs. The bike wearing the #2 plate will be ridden by Kawasaki factory team riders Gary Nixon and Art Baumann, joined by Kawasaki’s public relations director and head honcho of this record run, Bryon Farnsworth, and Motorcycle Weekly editor John Weed. The bike wearing the #3 plate includes Kawasaki team riders Hurley Wilvert, Cliff Carr, and Masahiro Wada, teamed with Cycle magazine’s celebrated editor Cook Neilson, who will write a follow-up article in his magazine.

The existing 24-hour record as it stood since 1968 was set on a bored-out Suzuki X-6 that averaged 90.4mph at the famed Monza road course in Italy. BSA had also set some high-speed records in 1969, but the Brits didn’t challenge the all-day record.

As for Kawasaki’s 24-hour pursuit in 1973, it ended when the clock struck 24, and both bikes had easily surpassed the existing record. The Z-1 with #3 plate rolled to a stop after accumulating 2,231 miles, for an average speed of 109.641mph, enough to earn that bike the official record. Unfortunately, bike #2 had encountered a few mechanical problems in the waning hours, but even with that minor setback, the #2 bike had also broken the existing record. But, it fell short of bike #3’s average speed, so Kawasaki #3 now held the official record of 109.641mph.

But at some point following the record run at Daytona Speedway, Kawasaki shipped the #3 bike to Japan for inspection, probably to determine how its parts and components held up after such a rigorous test. For whatever reason, the Z-1 wearing the #2 plate remained in America, sometimes used to help promote Kawasaki’s 1973 24-hour endeavor at dealer meetings and other functions. And for the past 53 years, speed fans have considered bike #2 as the Kawasaki Z-1 that established a 24-hour speed record.

The bike was given its “deserving” place of honor in Kawasaki Heritage Hall, and nobody questioned its past… until this magazine moved forward with this coverage of Heritage Hall, and during my research that included Neilson’s excellent article in Cycle‘s June 1973 issue, and the YouTube documentary video, So Far So Fast, I realized that it was bike #3 that set the record, not #2. So where is the real record holder now? Sadly, there is no official document or memo to confirm when and where it was sent for what we speculate to be a technical inspection of the bike’s well-worn parts. Farnsworth, who organized the two-bike record run, recently confirmed that Kawasaki sent the bike back to Japan, but that was about all he could offer.

Bigelow also contacted the caretakers at Kawasaki’s museum in Japan, but no record of #3 could be found… until someone at the museum notified Norm that bike #3 no longer existed. That all but confirmed my biggest fear: Back in the 1970s, the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers placed little significance on brand history. Bikes were bikes, and management among Japan’s Big Four manufacturers considered motorcycles simply as products that generated income. Basically, bikes (especially those in the R&D and pre-production prototype stages) were useful for their technical feedback that was (and still is) used to improve future products. My fear is, like Luca Brasi in the original Godfather movie, #3 “sleeps with the fishes,” its engine parts removed and scrutinized to offer priceless technological information for the motorcycles we ride and enjoy today.

Will this publication earn a Pulitzer Prize for our nosy journalism? Probably not, but as they say, the thrill is in the hunt, not the trophy. Here’s to the memory of ol’ #3, a bike that’s clearly one for the record books! MC

We thank Norm Bigelow for enlightening us on six key machines in Kawasaki’s history in America. The Kawasaki Heritage Hall is open for visitation regular business hours, but looking at the bikes and reading the labels is nowhere near as colorful as the conversation Dain and Norm had. While a couple of the early Kawasakis seem small and far from the high-performance machines Kawasaki began building in the late 1960s, it’s great that they’ve been chosen to explain the company’s motorcycle beginnings. Greater still is that the Meihatu has been left in its original condition. Somehow it exudes even more of the early passion the Kawasaki designers and engineers had for their work. If you’d like to plan a visit, call
866-802-8381 and confirm Heritage Hall hours.  –Mark Mederski