When is a Zed a KZ?

Anyone know why the US market models were KZ, but the euro models were Z ?

In uk we call them 'zed' ; zed nine. zed thou, sort of rolls of the tongue nicely. A zee thou maybe not so much. I've never known what the reason is though.

Another thing, the West German models with the German flag, that puzzles me too..anyone?.

I think Kawasaki didn't use kz in Europe so they wouldn't offend people with the kz and WW 11

Yes, heard that one but I think that is a myth. Bikes, heavy metal and WW2 are about all I know a thing about, a typically socially inept internet weirdo :laugh:

KZ for Konzentrationslager (concentration camps) would arguably be equally offensive to Europeans.

Could it be Datsun had the trademark for z in USA? I know Gibson guitars are 'Orville' for the japan market due to trademark issues.

Thanks for the history lesson, I am a WW2 history buff and didn't know that KZ also meant concentration camp.

In europe a kz1000 refers to a honda gl1000. Which came out in 1975, from what I heard once before. Dont remember where i read that

In a related question, does it say KZ anywhere on the original 73 Z1 or 74? ...Frame, title, or serial number?
Seems like some points in the early 70's, Kaw decided to phase in a "K" in front of all of their models.
KH KL KZ KE etc

I don't think the Datsun argument holds since we had the Z1 here without it being called a KZ.

I've never heard about the German flag issue? what is that about?

www.bike4sale.co/detail/oeuLeouuLPPVLVmP...asaki-Kerker-Exhaust

One the GPz550 and z1000R plus maybe others they had a West German flag on the sidepanel emblems. Why?

I suspect that it had something to do with marketing ploys...perhaps attempting to appeal to German nationalism...because of internal German politics, models sold in West Germany had considerably less horsepower than those sold, for example, in the US, UK, or France. In order to move those units, some gimmick had to be employed...perhaps the 'German' angle.

Wow, never seen the flag emblems, and did not know about the power restriction. But now it makes sense as to why the West German KZ550 models were listed as equipped with smaller carbs than all other KZ550's. I was always puzzled by that, and assumed it was a misprint in the manual. They shared the same carbs found on the inline-4 KZ400j.