Locksmith

We work on Kawasaki motorcycles built from 1979 onward whose locks take a KA14 or KW16 blade — the mechanical, pre-immobilizer bikes with lock codes in the Z5000–Z5999 series. If the original key was a plain brass blade with nothing electronic in the head, you are almost certainly in the right place.

On these machines we can reach every lock on the bike, not only the one that starts it: ignition and steering head, seat and helmet lock, fuel cap, and factory luggage that shares the keyway.

Keyways

KA14 / KW16

Code series

Z5000–Z5999

Model years

1979 and later

Wafer positions

6

For a bike this old there is no database to query and no dealer record left to pull. The lock itself still holds the answer, so we read it straight from the machine. Each of these locks reads 6 wafer positions, and the code that sets them is still sitting in the lock body waiting to be read.

We work through a graduated set of 32 try-out keys that spans the whole Z5000–Z5999 range. Each blade is cut to a different combination on each of its two sides, so one key tests two possibilities — try a side, flip it, try again, move on. Sooner or later a blade lines the wafers up and the lock turns.

Once something turns, the guessing is over. We read the wafer combination out of that lock, write the code down, and cut a clean key from it — two, normally, so the spare never has to go through this again.

Proof that the motorcycle is yours. A title, a current registration, or a bill of sale in your name. We do not open a lock without it, and there is no version of this where we make an exception.

After that: the year and model, a photograph of the lock face, and any code stamped on a surviving key or on the tag in the owner's packet. If the ignition switch or seat lock is already off the bike, bring the part — it is faster on the bench than on the kickstand.

• Other manufacturers. Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Triumph, BMW — a different keyway is a different trade, and we would only be guessing.
• Newer Kawasaki with an immobilizer. If the key has a fat plastic head with a transponder inside, cutting the blade is only half the job: the bike also has to be taught to accept the chip, and that is dealer work.
• Everything that is not a motorcycle. No ATVs, side-by-sides, or personal watercraft, and no cars, houses, or safes.