by Davey Coombs
The List: Cool Kawasaki Things
Thursday, January 19, 2012 | 3:15 PM
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Yesterday I took my kids, Vance and Sloane, on a field trip to Kawasaki's HQ in Irvine, California, where we were given a guided tour by Kawasaki Team Green's Ryan Holliday. Ryan took us through both the company museum as well as the race shop, where the mechanics and engineers were preparing for this weekend's Los Angeles Supercross. Vance is doing a paper on it for school—how cool is that for a homework assignment?—and also some of these photos. In no particular order, here's a few of the cool things we saw, many of them curated by Norm Bigelow, about the company and its history in motocross.
Kawasaki's original factory motocross team lined up for a race in Japan, sometime in the 1960s.
This is a 1966 Kawasaki B8M that must sound amazing when it's fired up. Known as the “red-tank Kawasaki,” this bike was first put into development in 1962. It was based on a 125cc street bike.
Photos: DC
And here's the company's latest piece of green machinery, Ryan Villopoto's 2012 Monster Energy Kawasaki KX450F, tuned by Mike Williamson.
When we spotted the name on this crate outside the race shop, Ryan explained that it's used to send RV's bike back and forth to Florida, where he lives and trains for much of the season.
“Ricky Carmichael has his own cereal?” asked Vance.
This was the KX125 piloted by Mike Kiedrowski in 1991, when he won the AMA 125cc National Motocross Championship.
This is the famous race shop refrigerator that has collected decals for about forty years at Kawasaki. It may not work, but it's now a work of art.
“RV doesn't like getting second-place trophies, so I usually end up with them,” Mike Williamson explained as he showed us Villopoto's Southwick trophy from last August. As for the #1 plates, those belong to the team.
The very rare 1973 F11M was the first 250cc motocross bike homologated for AMA Motocross competition, but just over 200—the minimum number of units required—were made by the company.
This was apparently the first computer that was used at Kawasaki Motor Corporation here in the California office. Now it's an artifact!
And speaking of artifacts, here's the bike on which Mike LaRocco won the last AMA 500cc National Motocross Championship back in 1993. He only got to race the bike with #1 once, and that was at the 1994 Motocross of Nations in Roggenburg, Switzerland, where Team USA was upset by the British.
This outfit was always synonymous with Team Green staff at the big amateur races back in the day, which made them the only clothes many of us saw guys like Jeff Chambers, Steve Ransbothom, Jose Gonzalez, Mark Johnson, and the late Dane Leimbach wearing back in the eighties.
Jeff Ward's championship-winning works Kawasaki KX125, which he used to dethrone Honda's Johnny O'Mara for the '84 outdoor title.
Here's a sweet Kawasaki bicycle, and that’s just a random little girl who wanted to ride it.
This was the company's first KX80, cobbled together with some old parts found in the garages of people who used to work at Kawasaki. First guys I saw riding there were “Fast” Eddie Warren and Randy Jones, way back in 1979 or '80.
One thing Norm Bigelow and everyone else added to the museum was the memorabilia collected over the years, now proudly displayed behind glass as if they were diamonds. And to sticker collectors like myself, they are diamonds!
James Stewart’s last minicycle. I told the kids that watching Bubba ride that bike meant watching the fastest minicycle racer of all time, in my personal opinion.
The early 1970s Centurion was apparently the bike where the company decided to switch base colors from red to green.
One of “Bad” Brad Lackey's bikes—or maybe it’s “Jammin'” Jimmy Weinert's.... Either way, they don't make nicknames like they used to.
Finally, my personal favorite: Ricky Carmichael's 1997 Splitfire/Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX125. This was the bike on which RC announced himself to the pro motocross world. What followed in the ensuing decade is motocross history, but how it all got started in 1997 remains in the hands of Kawasaki.
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Kawasaki: the brand that breeds champions
I'm with you on the nicknames... I mean, RV2, BT101, etc. are so boring!
rode honda for so many years, one day decided to switch things up and try something new, brought home a new kawasaki (only because thats what my local shop choices were honda or kawasaki) and haven't looked back. i have owned all generation's of their 4stroke bikes 450 and 250's. its been 8 years and i havn't even thought about riding another color, strange!
Hmm, the riders can`t keep their number 1 championship plates? If i won a championship, i`d wanna keep that thing for sure.
WOW ...What a cool place...Racer should do a fan giveaway/tour!!
I loved watchin' Kiedrowski rip around on the #4 KX 125......
Stewart on 80's I agree was something to see....
The plastics on RC's #70 appaer to be fading....must be UFO plastic..
RACERX that is....
I knew randy jones back in 79 , he played on dads ball team. He was super fast on that kx 80! I think he won a national title for team green, love all the old Kwai pics.
2-strokes,god I miss the GOOD OLD DAYS.
nicknames RV2 " Jammin Ginger"
The shop I worked at (Twin Falls Sportscycles) got TWO of the F12M's (450 prototype) in '73. They were FASSSTTTT! They came equipped with a plastic brake pedal, but we soon swapped them out with the steel replacement! Man, I loved the feel of that bike. That thing would 'grunt' around the track like an angry bull !!
I have one of those centurions (baby green streek),started the resoration about 15 years ago,even have the stand.Think I will go put it together now.Cool stuff.
Those Greenstreaks were so loud and shrill they would make your inner ear buzz. Fast for their day. It's cool to see one again.
how CLEAN all the bikes were before the (current) days of 10,000 stickers.
Great stuff - I could spend all day in there.
That is one fast refrigerator. Wonder why there is a Hannah sticker on it though. Somebody must have been giving the Jammer a hard time.
very very cool, Almost fergot about eddie warren jr
I'm always amazed when I see those "Works" bikes from the 80's! They look as good or better then the modern bikes of today!
I remember a guy with one of those F11m's in 73 he was pretty good I think his last name was Neeley from Illinois or the St louis area. he would run away with the 250 clss on it.
A very ineresting article DC, thanks for the memories.
Checkout the 1979 kx 250 works bike on denver craigslist
"bmotox wrote: Those Greenstreaks/Centurions were so loud and shrill they would make your inner ear buzz....."
Hell yes. Once upon a time it was widely agreed in any MX/scrambles pits that nobody had any interest in somebody warming up a 100cc Greenstreak or doing a plug-chop on one anywhere NEAR the pits. It was THAT bad. It was bad manners to do it. Look at the exhaust stinger stinger on that thing. Just gave me a piss-shiver.
Without doubt both the loudest AND the shrillest-sounding 2-stroke ever. What a horrid combination. It is not possible to exaggerate this. It was like somebody ran 50 of those Cox .049 engines off-tune and ran em all wide open without a prop. Yes, very fast for a 100cc but a powerband about 200rpms wide, all high. Was really a flat-track bike and not meant for MX (also very small, almost a mini).
Great write up I love the grips on the #29 red tank .
I had the privilege of getting to ride both the F11M and F12M in the early 70s. Needless to say I was the only Team Green rider in my area (Houston). The bike was incredibly fast but the handling was so so.. I still proudly stand by my Lime Green brand as I now have stated riding again on a 99 KX250L1. A bit of trivia here.. The production run of 200 bikes never made it to the US, Only 20 of them were given to American riders and the rest stayed in Japan. For some more pictures of The F11M see my Facebook page, Jerry Friedrich. GO BIG GREEN!!!!