While it's known for making motorcycles today, originally, Kawasaki started out as an aircraft company. However, it was during the acquisition of the Meguro Manufacturing Company in the early 1960s that they started releasing motorcycles under Kawasaki name. Meguro had been suffering from hard times and declining sales, and Kawasaki bought them out as a way to try and experiment on mass producing a four stroke engine for smaller vehicles. During their early experiments with motorcycles, the bikes the produced were marketed under the Meguro Works name. This was to help make sure that if there were problems with the bikes, popularity, the blame would not fall on Kawasaki and damage its reputation.
When Kawasaki did start branding their motorcycles, the logo was very distinctive, and it featured a black wing with a flag nestled on the interior. The bikes that were released during a five year period in the mid 1960s feature this motorcycle logo, and it is something that collectors and motorcycle enthusiasts will check for on vintage bikes. If you are looking to buy a Kawasaki motorcycle from this era, be sure to check all of the motorcycle patches or badges to be sure they are intact and that they display the previously mentioned logo.
In the beginning, the motorcycles that Kawasaki put out were not widely used because they lacked power and didn't perform that well. However, they were able to work on this problem, and before the end of the decade, they were successfully exporting quite a few motorcycles into the expanding American market. They were not able to compete with established companies like Harley Davidson, but by worked on developing a better racing motorcycle, they were able to attract a different crowd. They are now are a major contender in sporting motorcycles.
