Kawasaki W, H & Z

The big air-cooled machines By Brian Long ISBN: 978-1-787112-17-9 Hardback: 160 pages Published by Veloce 2019 Contact: sales@veloce.co.uk www.veloce.co.uk Price: £30 UK Contact Renniks Publications (02) 9695 7055. www.renniks.com for date of Australian availability An interesting preface in this high quality book is how the giant Kawasaki concern, famous for its aircraft, locomotives and ships, got into motorcycles, which it did via motorised bicycles following WW2. Initially, Kawasaki made engines supplied to other manufacturers, but soon found itself directly in the motorcycle business after acquiring the assets of its biggest customer for engines. The book traces the various paths down which Kawasaki ventured, such as acquiring Meguro, prior to attaching its own badge to bikes, and subsequently launching its highly original designs. This book takes us through the early two stroke twins and triples, to the much-lauded launch of the Z1 (or KZ900A) in 1972, and follows the evolution of this design up to the launch of the new GPz series. Other models such as the W650/W800 are also examined. An appendix covers production figures for the larger bikes, and sheds new light on the rather complex story of one of Japan’s ‘big four’ motorcycle manufacturers.