Key Figures · Companies · Maker

Kerker

Exhaust name on watercraft pipes in another pipe maker's 1990 flyer; SuperTrapp Industries registered KERKER in 1993 with marine exhaust goods, and Cycle News says it bought the Kerker company.

• a year printed above a fact on this page
• a year printed above no fact

Printed above the facts, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1991 and 1993. Printed above none, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987 to 1990 and 1992. 2 facts have no year printed above them and mark no box.

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What it made and sold

1986 · Likely

Passages of Cycle News of 12 November 1986, read only through the Internet Archive's search, read as an advertisement signed Kerker Exhaust Systems, Canoga Park, saying a champion uses Kerker on his street motorcycle and personal jet ski. It names no pipe, and the claim is the advertiser's.

Sources: Cycle News 12 November 1986

Likely

A Factory Pipe Products flyer, dated by the Internet Archive to 1990, names Kerker among the makers of aftermarket short-body watercraft pipes that its silencer is said to fit; the fitment line runs Kerker and Mariner together without a comma. No held text says which firm made the pipes it lists under Kerker (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-18).

Sources: Factory Pipe flyer 1990

Patents and trademarks

1980 and 1983 · Likely

USPTO records KERKER, in stylised letters, applied for on 18 August 1980 by Kerker, a California corporation, and registered on 17 May 1983 for motorcycle exhaust systems and for T-shirts, jackets and caps, with no watercraft goods. The registration was cancelled in 1990 because no acceptable declaration under Section 8 was filed. The registrant claims first use on 19 June 1976. Joining the corporation to Kerker Exhaust Systems of Canoga Park rests on the name, the exhaust goods and the state, and is the archive's inference.

Sources: USPTO record serial 73274719

1991 and 1993 · Confirmed

USPTO records KERKER applied for on 10 June 1991 by SuperTrapp Industries, an Ohio corporation, and registered on 9 March 1993, which the archive reads as this business's mark, below. Its goods included marine motor vehicle exhausts, namely head pipes, power cones and manifolds, a class later cancelled, and still include baffles, baffle caps and tips for land vehicles; the registration was renewed in 2024. For the land goods the registrant claims first use on 19 June 1976, the date the Kerker corporation had claimed in 1980.

Sources: USPTO record serial 74174217

The business on record

Likely

Cycle News wrote in 2017 that Kerker pipes are still made and that the Kerker company was bought by its longtime rival SuperTrapp in the early 1990s; the article does not mention watercraft (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-18). With the shared first-use date in the two registrations, it is what ties the SuperTrapp mark to the Kerker business, so the archive reads the SuperTrapp mark as the Kerker business's mark, an inference; no assignment record is held.

Sources: Cycle News Pipe Man 2017; USPTO record serial 74174217; USPTO record serial 73274719

Names as printed

Kerker Exhaust Systems (Cycle News 12 November 1986); KERKER (USPTO record serial 73274719)

Elsewhere in the archive

• History chapter: The aftermarket: exhaust pipes and engine parts
• Era: The early years, in print
• Era: The makers and their machines

What the archive has not read (3)

• No held document names a Kerker pipe model for personal watercraft, or says which firm made the pipes the 1990 flyer lists under the name (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-18).
• No held document gives the year SuperTrapp bought the Kerker company beyond the early 1990s, or says when marine goods stopped being sold under the name (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-18).
• No held document is an assignment or sale record for the Kerker company or its mark (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-18).

Documents cited on this page

• Factory Pipe flyer 1990 (archive.org): Factory Pipe Products, Pipe Dream (promotional flyer, 1990; archive.org OCR), Factory Pipe Products, held by the Internet Archive, 1990; manufacturer primary, medium. A promotional flyer, undated in its text but quoting magazine tests of July and August 1990, for a Kawasaki 550 pipe and a silencer. Its fitment line names aftermarket pipe makers by brand. Medium for what the advertisement prints, including the brand names; its performance claims and testimonials are the company's and are not used. The OCR is partly broken and the phone numbers are replaced in the held copy.
• Cycle News 12 November 1986 (archive.org): Cycle News, 12 November 1986 (archive.org full-text search for Kerker and jet ski: Kerker Exhaust Systems advertisement), Cycle News, issue held by the Internet Archive, 1986-11-12; enthusiast media, medium. Passages of the issue's OCR that the Internet Archive's full-text search returned, not the page; the issue's own text was not read. The first two lines read as an advertisement signed Kerker Exhaust Systems, Canoga Park, saying a champion uses the product on his street motorcycle and personal jet ski; the third line, which asks readers to call Kerker for a catalog, may belong to the same advertisement. Medium as a period advertisement for what the advertiser said, which shows the name beside a personal jet ski and names no pipe. A phone number is replaced in the held copy.
• USPTO record serial 73274719 (tsdr.uspto.gov): Trademark Status and Document Retrieval record, serial 73274719, registration 1238197 (KERKER, 1980), United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1983-05-17; government, high. KERKER in stylised letters, filed 18 August 1980, registered 17 May 1983 for motorcycle parts, namely exhaust systems, and for T-shirts, jackets and caps; cancelled on 17 September 1990 when no acceptable Section 8 declaration was filed. Owner Kerker, a California corporation; its address is omitted. The registrant claims first use on 19 June 1976, the same date SuperTrapp Industries claims for the land goods of its own KERKER registration of 1993 (uspto-tsdr-74174217). No watercraft goods. Read on 2026-10-05 and held since 2026-10-18.
• USPTO record serial 74174217 (tsdr.uspto.gov): Trademark Status and Document Retrieval record, serial 74174217, registration 1756442 (KERKER), United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1993-03-09; government, high. KERKER, filed 10 June 1991 and registered 9 March 1993, for exhausts and parts for marine motor vehicles (head pipes, power cones and manifolds; that class was later cancelled) and for baffles, baffle caps and tips for land vehicles, the land class showing first use on 19 June 1976. The owner is a corporation; its address is removed from the held copy. The record does not say the marine goods were personal watercraft pipes, and nothing in it ties the owner to the pipe maker other documents name beyond the name. The published date is the registration date.
• Cycle News Pipe Man 2017 (cyclenews.com): Archives, The Pipe Man (Cycle News, 19 April 2017), opening excerpt, Cycle News, 2017-04-19; enthusiast media, medium. A later retrospective by a magazine writer on the founder of Kerker Exhaust Systems. Its first paragraph says the Kerker company was purchased by a rival, SuperTrapp, in the early 1990s, and cites no source; the article does not mention watercraft. Medium for what the magazine reports, not as a contemporary record. Only the headline, byline, caption and first paragraph are held; the rest of the article is not copied.

Cite this page

“Kerker”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/key-figures/companies/kerker/

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