KADI  |  1924-30  |  Germany  : KADI motorcycles were manufactured in Germany from 1924 to 1930. The company built motorcycles using 198cc and 498cc three-valve OHC Küchen engines. KADI motorcycles were produced in Mannheim, Germany, from 1924 to

  KALEX  |  2008-12  |  Germany  : Kalex Engineering gmbh, founded in 2008 in Bobingen, Bavaria, Germany, by Klaus Hirsekorn and Alex Baumgärtel, is known for designing and manufacturing high-performance motorcycle parts. Kalex began providing its chassis to the Pons

  KANE-PENNINGTON  |  1895  |  USA  : The Kane-Pennington motorcycle was produced in 1895 as a result of a partnership between Edward Joel Pennington and Thomas Kane in Racine, Wisconsin. Pennington, who coined the term ‘motorcycle,’ designed the vehicle, which

  KANTO  |  1953-60  |  Japan  : Kanto Auto Works Co., Ltd., produced a line of small two-stroke motorcycles ranging from 90cc to 200cc under the Kanto brand name from 1957 to 1960. The company was an assembler, using engines

  KANUNI  |  1987-  |  Turkey  : Kanuni is a Turkish motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1950. The company bought the MZ distributor in 1987, which was considered the first step in building a powerful Turkish manufacturer. Since 1995, Kanuni has

  KAPTEIN  |  1922-70s  |  Netherlands  : Kaptein was founded by Willem Kaptein in 1922 as a bicycle repair shop. By 1925 he was an importer of Ariel and later dealt in Calthorpe, Imperia, Puch, Norton, Husqvarna, TWN and possibly

  KARCHER  |  2001-  |  Germany  : Karcher AG of Birkenfeld, Germany, was founded by Horst Karcher in 1968 as a trading company with activity in consumer electronics, household products and vehicles. The various independent companies within the Karcher group

  KARMELI  |  1904-05  |  Austria  : Manufactured by Manuel Mahn, Maschinenfabrik & Gießerei, Vienna, designed by Felix Karmeli. Mahn owned a foundry which made the castings. The two-speed 3½ h.p. Parallel-twin was mounted adjacent to the rear wheel, and

  KARNAN  |  1956  |  Sweden  : AB Ernst O. Jönsson, informally known as Cykelfabriken Kärnan, began manufacturing cycles in 1901 from a workshop at Drottninggatan 102 in Helsingborg. The business, which also covered machine and motor components, expanded continuously,

  KARPATY | 1981-97 | Ukraine (USSR) A note on the header: the Karpaty was manufactured in Lviv, which is in Ukraine, not Russia. At the time of production the city was part of the Soviet Union, but the factory

  KARU  |  1922-24  |  Germany  : Karu motorcycles were manufactured by Stockdorfer Motorenwerke AG in Stockdorf, near Munich, from 1922 to 1924. The firm built motorcycles powered by Douglas horizontally-opposed twins produced in Germany under licence, and also BMW

  KASEA | 1989-2006 | USA Steve Leighty founded Kasea Motorsports in 1989. His original idea was to import affordable, quality-built, street-legal scooters from China into the US, enabling enthusiasts to own and ride them at a lower cost. He

  KASINSKI | 1999-2014 | Brazil : Abraham Kasinski was a Brazilian industrialist and founder of the auto parts company Cofap. In late 1998 he acquired the Brazilian subsidiary of the South Korean assembler Hyosung, gaining control of its industrial

  KATAKURA | 1950s-1980s | Japan : Katakura Industries launched its silk manufacturing operations in 1873 and contributed to the modernisation of Japanese industry through silk. The company began producing bicycles after the war in a factory near Yokota, in

  KATHO  |  1923-25  |  Germany  : Katho built lightweights with 198cc Alba engines. The Alba engine was a four-stroke unit manufactured at Stettin by Alfred Baruch’s Alba-Werke GmbH, formally established on 3 August 1918. Alba produced engines of 198cc,

  KAUBA | 1953-56 | Austria : Otto Kauba was born in Vienna on 11 September 1908. On the outbreak of the Second World War he was selling luxury cars and had become friends with Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, head of

  KAWASAKI  |  1949-  |  Japan  : Kawasaki Heavy Industries was founded by Shōzō Kawasaki on 15 October 1896. The company built ships, then aircraft, before turning to motorcycle engines. In 1918 Kawasaki turned towards aircraft, building the first metal