Not I, but my neighbor in Houston Stan Adam's raced for them for about 4 months in 82 or 83 ish. He moved on to Navajo Bikes, which was the last known bike I recall because my family moved in the summer of 84.
Had one handed down from older brother and I rode it for a 3-4 years before it got stolen outside a 7/11. It was the lightest BMX bike i ever owned and losing it still burns 30+yrs after.
I've had a few Kuwahara BMXs over the years. One year it was quite cold here, and the ditches froze over. On my walk home from school, I saw a pedal sticking out of the ice. I came back with an axe and got the bike out. It was a factory Kuwahara! I called the police to report the bike, and they came back a few days later to let me know that the bike was stolen, but the owner had already been paid back from insurance. The owner told them that I could keep the bike. I learned who it was, and rode over with ~$50 (paper route money) as a thank you to him. I have the best memories on this bike.
I had a 87 Freestylin' magazine were they tested a Kuwahara flatland bike that was gloss black with multi-color paint splatter all over the bike. sweeet!
The movie 'E.T.' made a BIG impression on me as a 10yo kid, and seeing those BMX bikes ride 5:25 - 5:45 I knew that's what I WANTED! Now early 50s, I made it through the ranks with several BMXs and mountain bikes, and I'm still riding ✌
Same. Im 40. But after seeing the film I knew what the cycling in BMX plus pages and such looked like at fullclip without being in the scene as a 6 year old. Wild the E.T. game did poorly and the Bike... Insane that Mikes Bike from Stranger things flew off the shelf. 😂
How many times did you watch Rad growing up!? 51 Here. Had a Kuwahara I got after seeing Rad. It was what my parents could get me at the time. I remember really wanting a Haro or Redline. But I loved my Kuwahara. Wish I had it. Never knew they used them in ET til this video. But then I saw Back to the Future and skated for the next 35 years til my body was so broken I cant anymore. People our age had the best childhoods out of any generation tho. We knew 3 channels on tv. We knew being sent out in the neighborhood from dusk til dawn. Besides dinner at the table in my house. Without our parents having to worry about us. Besides coming home scraped and bruised everyday. Broken bone here and there. It really was the last generation where we can appreciate both sides of what life was like. Before and after technology. Well besides an Atari 2600 or a Commadore 64. LOL
@@notmillionaires Never watched Rad, way back in the 80s, all these trends came waving over in the Netherlands from the US - I was lucky to have a (cheap) BMX at some point, and a skateboard at some later stage - but I felt like the king! And yes, had a C64 too, still sth later 😆
Cool video, thank you!! In ''82 or '83, a Kuwahara E.T bmx was on display in the front office of the local *orphanage* in my hometown. It was going to be a christmas gift for one lucky kid resident from a place that has has since been closed down. I only saw it twice as a young boy, but I probably think about that bike more than any other bike I've ever owned. Core memories.
I was lucky enough to have a Factory Kuwahara E.T. in the 80s, replete with a set of black Kuwahara pads with lightning bolts. It wasn't as good as some of the other Factory models because the rear triangle wasn't chromoly (it was a loop tail, though) and some of the components weren't as good (e.g., it had a one-piece crank and KKT pedals, and it didn't have the Dia-Compe "MX" brake but a lower-tier Dia-Compe rear caliper) but it was still a very sought after bike because of the movie, and I got beat up several times defending it from being stolen at the BMX track. I wish I still had it as today it is such a classic; I'd just have it hanging on the wall in my garage. I'm 50 now and was a pretty serious road racer in my 20s, but I recently acquired a 22" Wethepeople Audio and use it at the pump track to mix up my workouts and keep my bike handling skills sharp. (It took until I was ~50 to stop giving a fuck about what people think and get another BMX. To think I could have been having this much fun all along!)
I got my first (and last) real BMX at age 20. I wanted a GT pro series which was the TOTL back then. A guy at the bike store recommended I take an unknown 24" cruiser for a test ride. It was only $20 less than the GT. Hesitently, I did, and it BLEW the GT away. Lighter, faster, just rode better. But it wasn't a GT, and I wanted a GT. The salesman asks which one I wanted. I said the GT. He then asked ,"But which one rode better?" I said the other one. I paid $500 for the Balance Killer B 24. 1994's bmx of the year? They were around for only 5 years before they got bought out by...GT. I STILL have and ride it today!!
My first and only bmx I owed was a Kuwahara it was a neon pink with the plastic 5 spokes rims, shimino brakes and the brake lines going inside the Ritter so I could do 180/360 routens while doing the kick flaps. I payed around $1500.00 in Canada/ $1100.00 in usd funds back in 1984. It got stolen while it was locked up in my bedroom while I was at summer camp back in 1986. I loved that bmx
Oh man, this brings back great memories! My friends and I rode our BMX bikes everyday at what we called the “Dirt Course”. We had Redline, Schwinn Predators, Hutch Pro Stars, etc. It was a great time to be a kid!
Back in the 80s I raced a kuwahara for my local team in the UK. It was a way better bike than my previous race BMX which was a blue Raleigh burner which was heavy and dull to ride. I scored a 3rd place in regionals the first year I had the kuwahara and 4th the next year which was better than the 8th I got from the Raleigh burner. Great video, thank you for all the great information, I always wondered where this bike started life
I still have my 1982 24" kuwahara cruiser. Restored it about 10 years ago. Still all original frame stickers, araya rims, kkt pedals, diacomp brakes, lightning bolt elina seat. I raced the cruiser class in 85/86 on this bike. I'll never sell it. I still ride it regularly 👍
Kuwahara came back in the early 2010s to American BMX racing with a strong team racing a modernized Kuwahara, sponsored a few top pros, but vanished again by 2015
The last year of the US Factory race team was actually 2017. That team was owned & operated by the Daniels family who also imported & sold that generation of Kuwahara BMX to the US. Troy Daniels was a top Pro & Factory Kuwahara racer in the l80’s who travelled the world representing the brand in BMX’s heyday.
@@zachreed2303 , I don’t believe so. Former AA Pro now Vet Pro Jeff Upshaw who was the USA alternate Elite Men’s rider for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio was one of their Pro Riders as well as single A pre Alan Hudson. Funny enough they also had a Factory Team Rider by the name of Zach Reed.
I grew up in Canada and Kuiis (Kuwahara) was the most popular premium brand name BMX where I lived. They were everywhere. All the kids with the big box bikes dreamed of one, and all of the serious riders started with one and moved on to more bespoke or obscure brands like GT, CW, Mongoose or Patterson.
I grew up in Canada also, kuwahara were definitely something I dreamt about while riding my crappy tire Raleigh. I remember wanting a Redline pretty bad at one point. CW became Revcore didn't it?
Did I grow up with you in Surrey BC? We also rode Kuwies, as well as Redlines, Haros, GTs, Diamond Back etc ... The chromoly frames with the mag wheels were so dope!
While I didn't own a Kuwahara, there were a few in the old neighborhood. I lived through the dawn of BMX, when we would alter 20" bikes and build BMX tracks in any open lot we came across. The whole thing became a movement and it wasn't long before BMX styling would appear in the bike shops. I did own an OG 1'st year Diamond Back that was freakin' awesome. That one, I wish I still had to this day.
I had a Kuwahara tandem at one time. Purchased in 1987. White base with rainbow paint scheme. Suntour drivetrain, entry level parts.. Got it up to 40 mph on the flats once (with a tailwind). Good bike.
Back in the day like 88 I rode a GT Profreestyle Team Tour but a really good friend of mine rode the Kuwahara. I switched with him quite a few times on certain landscapes. Was such a nice bike.
I do have my first BMX bike which is a 1979 Kuwahara. Rode daily and raced on the weekends. I still love all the anodized components from back in the day which I refer to as the bike candy.
I was always the Redline guy back in the day. One of my best friends had a green Kuwahara and it was a really nice bike. He had it decked out for freestyle riding. Skyway mags, MKS Grafight pedals, etc... Sadly the entire BMX industry went belly up in the later part of the 1980's but thankfully it came back. Nowadays I'm a HUGE Se Bikes fan and have a 26 inch PK Ripper that I cruise around on from time to time.
I use to own a kuwahara not sure what model. I bought as a frame only put tange forks and acs z rims and changed rims out to araiya rims later on. I wish I had pictures of it and kept it. Beat the hell out of it and never broke anything. Love the channel and you bring back great old memories. Just wish I kept all bikes I had.
There was nothing like living in the moment as a kid at the end of the 1970’s riding on your friends Mag Scrambler. It was such a good looking bike! Then there was Kuwahara and Mongoose and no one mentioned Hutch cause they were far out of reach. Talking about it is awesome but living and riding those fresh bikes back then was a feeling I’ll never forget.
Here in the UK, we progressed from Raleigh Grifters to Raleigh Burners, which were the most popular BMXs at the time; Mongooses were considered pretty fancy. I cobbled together a BMX and fitted a new set of Acorn mag wheels, but they were terrible compared to Skyway Tuff II ones, with way too much flex!
I still have an 82 aero frame Kuwahara Laser Lite. When ET came out I had a chrome and blue KZ1. Our local bike shop only had one from memory and it was purchased and chrome plated as the kid hated it. Hi from New Zealand
Love these vids. I'm 54 now and I rode a Hutch Pro Raider on Araya Turbos back in the day (had a set of Z rims too!) A couple of kids in the neighborhood had Redline and Skyway bikes, but they were too pricey for my parents 😂. AME grips! Man, I haven't heard that name in frikkin decades. They were the best, and after looking at the website, they haven't changed much at all in 40 years. They were awesome grips. Great videos. Any possibility of a Hutch vid In the future?
I had a Robinson during this time, with Turbo wheels and Suzue hubs with DB Turbo cranks . It was really light. I believe I had ODI and AME.. Those were the days!
I raced a Kuwi back in 77-82 i broke my first frame which is at 4:41 it had the single gusset my new frame is the one at 5:02 with a gusset on both sides but I upgraded to a PK Ripper in 79. I gave my Kuwahara to my best friend's kid in 2017 when I moved, I'm pretty sure he still has it.
In 1983 I really wanted an ET for my birthday. Instead my parents bought me a Free Spirit 24” cruiser from Sears. As it turned out, I really loved my cruiser. It was fast and did well on long distance riding. I still have it.
I was 12 years old when E.T came out and was already big into BMX. The way I remember it being was we all wanted a Kuwahara but simply didn't have that kind of money. One kid had an E.T one but of course he didn't let anyone ride it so I never got to experience one until 2 years ago when got a 40th anniversary model just because I could lol. I ride modern BMX now so I still have actually never rode even the one I own but it looks cool.
Need to do a video on the "NOMURA" bmx frame. One of the most unique frame ever made...aluminum with an big oval down tube..20in and cruiser only made in 1980 to 1984
In 1986 I was in junior high and had a neon pink Kawabara Magician. Super rad with white tires/rims, seat, and grips. I believe they also came in a neon green and neon blue version as well. Was stolen then recovered then stolen again. Still great memories riding around town and to the mall in Southern California. Can’t get more 80s than that.
My first BMX was a 96 DYNO VFR, then a 97 GT Interceptor, then a 97 Diamondback Reactor. My friends had many different brands. Auburn, Robinson, DYNO, GT, Fatboys, S&M, DK, Mongoose, etc, etc. One bike I always desired from the magazines, but that no local store to me sold was ELF. You should do a video on ELF. I haven't heard of them in many years. I also used to want a HARO, and a Redline, but never got one. I got into motocross as I got older.
I had a Kuwahara mountain bike back in the late 80's. I loved that bike. I lived in Japan for a couple years aroun 2004/5. The brand Nishiki was mentioned in this vid. I had a Nishiki mouintain bike while I was there and it was awesome. Very light, very fast.
That was the FIRST BMX I ever rode. It wasn’t mine, a lad in our street got it, it was rage first BMX in our area from memory….. Ohhhh man I was hooked and spent the next few years pretty much obsessed with BMX…
I had a Kuwahara Laserlite and a Kuwahara 24inch (dont remember the model) I loved them so much. The laserlite was amazing, unfortunately i lost them both in a fire when it was stored at my parents house when I was at University. I still think about it sometimes, I really miss that ugly pink and chrome beast laserlite!
I never knew how much i loved these bikes and bmx in general. I always had to settle for huffy and or "piece bikes"....yes blue frame angle wing handlebars with you guessed it a yellow bannana seat with a sissy bar i thought i was so cool
I had a Panther Stud that I stripped down and repainted and turned into a fake Kuwahara in 1990 with a sticker set from my local bike and lawn mower shop because I thought the name sounded cool. When it got all scratched and shity looking I did it all over again. I have no idea what happened to that bike but I sure as hell rode the crap out of it for 3 - 5 years including doing a news paper run, riding it on a vert half pipe, a failed BMX racing stint and daily transport to school. Awesome times! Thanks for the vid!
Very cool! I had a chrome frame/fork that I traded other parts for and built it up with parts from my old Mongoose. Chrome with blue Tuff II's, Ashtabula cranks (I was poor, no Flights for me) and KKT pedals. It was an awesome bike, but I ended up trading it for a Thruster. Edit to add: For the life of me, I couldn't recall the name of the Thruster and it just came to me. Vanishing Point! It was light as a feather with Araya alloys and aluminum 3 piece cranks. Partially stripped freewheel made sure I cracked my nuts or knees on a daily basis.
My parents bought me an Apollo Kuwahara back when I was a kid in Canada. I could have chosen the Factory model but the one one the floor was gold and I like the silver Apollo better. I did my first race on it, cased it over the first table top and bent the front forks haha
I have a 1987 Kuwahara Magician EX that I bought new and my brother's 1986 Bravo KT - he bought that as a holdover in 1987 for a pretty sweet deal. The frames are very similar, although the Magician is trimoly and the Bravo 100% chromoly. The Magician also has an extra tube between the downtube and seat tube. I ultimately cracked a weld on the seat stay and seat tube, but that was in the early 2000's doing flatland as about a 210-lb adult. They came with those horrible foot-destroying little fork pegs like the Redlines had. Component-wise, the Kuwahara line matched pretty close to what GT and Haro were doing at their respective price points. The Bravo has an ACS rotor, Peregrine mags, Dia Compe 880 side-pull brakes, Tech 6 levers, Cheng Shin Panaracer-style tires, and horrible hard plastic A'ME tri knock-offs. The Magician, as more of a budget model, has Lee Chi placebo brakes and levers. I broke the original brake levers and plastic pedals that first summer of ownership, but all in all that bike took a lot of abuse over the years. I never significantly bent the steel 48-spoke wheels, I did slightly tweak the original handlebars (replaced with Peregrine Q bars), slightly bent the seatpost, and that was really about it. I restored the Magician about 20 years ago now, and it's pretty much been hanging in the garage since then.
I had a diamond back viper dk gooseneck, “now called a stem”, CW bars, laid back seat post, I also had some one piece cranks and extremely light rims. But what I really wanted was a Hutch trickstar. My mom bought me the frame and my dad made her take it back 😭😭😭 that bike is worth “I’ve seen 12 to 15,000$,” and I’ll never get over it lol. I’d love to see something on the hutch trickstar.
My first nice bike was a Kuwahara back in ‘79. The dealer sold it as a jumping bike that was as light as a BMX race bike. I jumped and raced the crap out of it for about 5 years, till I could drive. I don’t remember any other Kuwaharas in Oklahoma City at the time. They were rare.
I am 52 and have fond memories of Kuwahara. One of the bike shops I frequented had one in the shop. I got to test ride it quite a few times. I remember it was one of if the lightest BMX in the shop. Not sure if it was due to frame weight or components, but it stood out to me.
I only remember 1 kid with a Kuwahara when I was young. We were all interested in it because it was such a cool name. Also, How about a video on "Retro" BMX bikes??
I knew a factory rider here in the UK later 70's/early 80's. Kuwahara (or the UK importer) use to give him bikes & parts for free to race! All the kids were in awe of him at the local track.
Im a Kuwa nerd. I have searched out and restored a 86 Bravo KT and 87 Bravo Team. The full chromo frame/fork and geometry are the best freestylers ever made in my opinion…(and I also have a PFT and Trickstyler..)
Dude.. I recently found your channel and subbed instantly. I was just about to request a Kuwahara video. Dropping my comment before viewing. I used to have a Kuwahara RF. It is a quad tube frame from the neck to the seat post. Pictures of it can be seen in freestylin magazine from 1984. I was told it was only one of fifty such frames ever made, but I could have been lied to about that. Joe Sosa was the pro rider who sold it to me long long ago.
My brother rode a Torker & I a Redline. Later a black Hutch pro racer that got stolen & then a PK Ripper in 1989/90. We worked for all our bikes & some parts. Dad foot the bill for our ABA memberships, gear, food & to all the tracks. 1979-87 we raced almost every weekend. Now I ride a 30th Anniversary Proline Pro 24, Hutch Pro 24, Skyway TA 24 & a SoCal Flyer 24. We tried out a new Fugi BMX bike once back when they were new. Wow they were heavy duty 😊. No one raced Kuwahara here in Minnesota much.
@ that 82 mongoose is highly sought after now but not by me. If yer huffy was a Stu Thomson version it’s highly sought after as well. Old school BMX is a real big thing, been for a while now. There are plenty of Hutch available on EBay at ok prices. Some are hi end builds & prices others not but they are all cool and available still
The only place I ever saw the Kuwahara ET-1 80's BMX was at my local TGI Friday's (hanging on the wall). When the restaurant closed I tried to get through their DM to buy it, but had no luck.
I snapped kuwahara frame in half right behind the headset going over the pro doubles during nationals in Huston Texas… I picked up the forks and frame that was in two complete pieces and ran to the finish line for 3rd place…
Just discovered this channel . If you are interested when I was part of the whole bmx scene from around 81-88 in the U.K. most bikes were in order of common to rare (and people who had rare bikes were the cool guys lol) Common 1.raleigh burners 2- Gt 3- mongoose 4- firebird 5- skyway 6- hutch 7- diamond back 8- torker Rare Se quadrangle pk ripper Vector (I had a vector mk2 in smoked black) Vdc changa Profile Robinson GHP
Remember it like yesterday , i was ll in 1982, ended up getting a Redline 600a, great bike.. Redline V bars and Ukai Rims. I regretably sold it 5 years later for 40 Uk pounds to a friend.
I remember one Kuwahara in the neighborhood. Nice bike, but all the other kids swore that it was a top of the line Kawana Haro, a combination of different companies. I tried & tried to explain, but it just never sunk in with any of them, haha.
Back in the day, in my grade school circles, Kuwaharas were thought of as exceedingly exotic and almost unattainable. More than anything else, everybody wanted their bikes to be as light as absolutely possible. And the word was that Ks were at or near the top of the list of BMX brands for lightness. I rode a lead sloth of a Schwinn Stingray. 😆
I was sponsored by a local bike shop and the day before a big meeting the owner came to me and said I want you to ride this bike to get it some exposure. It was the first Kuwahara in Australia. It looked good. Had all Shimano components, nothing top of the line, but good quality and the chrome frame looked good. It looked like a pretty good bike and it was cheap. Everyone called it the Japanese Mongoose. For some reason, I couldn’t get this bike to wo4k for me. I used the same hearing I had been practicing on during the week and I just couldn’t get it off the line. I really should have changed the gearing after the first race , but persisted. That brand never really took off. I don’t know if it was because it was Japanese when all the cool bikes were American and I think it was priced to cheap. It wasn’t considered a race bike but as an everyday bike and it had the stigma of a Kmart bike.
Good research. Wild story about why we don't have gobs of ET bikes all over. Recently ordered some Kuwahara stickers, to "cosplay" my Race Inc 26" as a Kuwahara. Not sure if I'm doing the fade paint job. Also bought a front basket and an ET mask. So do the math on that.
My bike shop sold Kuwahara BMX and a few ET bikes in those days, and in the 80s, sold a fair number of their road bikes. Decent Japanese quality for the time, a steel wheeled 10 speed called the Duke, and a much nicer cromo bike with interesting little touches that seperated it from all the other Japanese bikes. talked to Howie Cohen on the phone a few times. Very nice man. We had an interesting conversation once about why his bikes weren't featured in Bicycling's Buyers Guide that year. I learned a lot that day about paid product placement and what a fraud the buyers guides were back in the day. I WAS young and naive then.
Just a note to say to you, Mossie, that there is no shame in any fundraising game as giving platforms are voluntary and people like to give in different ways. And I like support a handful of channels at like two bucks a month and I see it as the price of a good magazine subscription, 24 dollars a year. And whether it is Patreon of RUclips channel membership, it's coins in the guitar case for the busker and I like your songs about bikes and the people who crafted them for us. And as with your Skyway story, it is great to know that a couple of machinists who rode motorcycles cooked up Tuff-Wheels for kids to fly like eagles on their BMX bikes. Incredible. Kudos, too, to this Kuwahara importer who put a great bike into the hands of kids in the '80s. And I'm looking forward to seeing some photos from your viewers and I'll have to find a couple. But hey, give me credit for representing, my thumbnail is me at age 15 on my Sting-Ray, doing my Evel Knievel thing all by my lonesome when my Dad happened to walk over and snap a few photos. And I'm so glad he did, otherwise people would think I'm fibbing when I say I rode the wheels off a Sting-Ray from '67 to '75. And that was in Frankfurt, West Germany, a military housing area. And to think that Ignaz Schwinn was a bike-builder in Frankfurt before he emigrated to Chicago to set up shop in the late 1800s. And Schwinn bikes, all those colorful Sting-Rays, empowered a generation of kids to ride their bikes like motorcycles and the beat goes on with BMX and MTB bikes to this very day. 😀
It’s so funny I wanted a Kawahara after seeing ET and by the time I ended up getting a bike of that caliber, you couldn’t even find them anymore, or at least not at any of the shops in my area on the East Coast. and I got a hutch pro-star instead which I ended up being very happy with.
I had a Kuwahara mountain bike back in 1984(?) wasn't a "diamond back" frame damn good bike! the gun/bike shop I worked at sold Kuwahara and Apollo bikes I assembled hundreds! great bikes
So strange. I can’t recall seeing the Red and White ET Kuwahara. They were popular in the early 80s and I had several friends that had them (black and chrome). Boy, what a miss by them to not cash in on the volume sales opportunity. On a different note, I have another video idea. I picked backed up MTB riding a few back and purchased and Intense Primer. I had the opportunity to try a lot of different brands and liked the Intense the most. We were up riding at the trails in Bentonville and I came across another mountain biking family and the dad liked my bike and told me the back story of Intense in BMX. His son was apparently sponsored by them and things went sideways so he was a little bitter about the relationship but liked the bikes. My knowledge of BMX bikes is kind of frozen in the late 70s to mid 80s. If Intense is of interest to you, maybe you could do a video on them. Thanks again for the awesome content.
I had never heard that sad story, Mossie, thanks for telling us and yes, those bikes would've been perfect all lined up and ready for kids everywhere to see them on shopping trips with their parents. And I respect the man's loyalty to local bike shops, but when you have crates of bikes which those shops rejected, it is time to pick up the phone and let your fingers do the walking. And yes, I can understand teen BMX riders being not really drawn to a bike in E.T. colors at the time, but younger kids who liked the movie would have gone nuts about it, no doubt.
Would love to see the late 80’s episode on this. They did do alright with the core scene. Bill Neuman anyone? Saw him riding at a 2 Hip in Waterloo, in Canada. Hoffman famously pulled the first 900 that day, but watching Bill Neuman roll in circles without ever needing to correct in any way that would slow him down. While doing the hardest tricks. That frame was long ass.
I can remember in the mid eighties, in a very small town in far north Queensland Australia, two brothers Scotty and Michael, each had a kuwahara BMX. Oh man I was so jealous of their bikes.
I’m in NSW and one of my favourite bikes, and a bike that is my grail bike is a TBC Cobra, did you ever encounter any of those? I had a heap growing up and they’re probably my favourite bike ever.
@@andyrails9742 yeah made in Toowoomba (Bicycle Company) as Australia’s answer to the Mongoose (Mongoose/Cobra) and was a pretty cool bike. I always wanted a metallic green one, I thought they looked wicked, but I now own a completely original chrome first gen, a chrome second gen frame and forks I’m restoring and also a badass race frame that is pretty rare. I still want more though haha
@@Mardy72 nice! Mine were all used, I was poor and got mine from either the dump or on council clean up day. There seemed to be a heap of them in my area for some reason, I had about 6 frames at one point and a friend had another 3 or 4.
Can you please make a vid on the history of diamondback. I know diamondback wasn't started by a dad or a welder. It was started by a businessman. And could you also do a video on Bassett? I thought Bassett was a new company but it turns out they've been around since the '70s
My brother had a Kuwahara ET ., he left it in the back garden to long with out care , so dad took it to the dump one day end of . .. Back in the nineties he did pick up a Laserlite , he still has that but it hangs in a garage getting surface rust ...
Anyone here actually own one of the E.T. bikes? I'd love to hear about it!
Not I, but my neighbor in Houston Stan Adam's raced for them for about 4 months in 82 or 83 ish. He moved on to Navajo Bikes, which was the last known bike I recall because my family moved in the summer of 84.
I have the 40th anniversary edition, not exactly the same but scratches the nostalgic itch.
I got a factory.....then went to the quad angle.
Had one handed down from older brother and I rode it for a 3-4 years before it got stolen outside a 7/11. It was the lightest BMX bike i ever owned and losing it still burns 30+yrs after.
I live in Belfast Northern Ireland and had my first bmx bike in 1983, it was the red and white ET bike without basket..
I've had a few Kuwahara BMXs over the years. One year it was quite cold here, and the ditches froze over. On my walk home from school, I saw a pedal sticking out of the ice. I came back with an axe and got the bike out. It was a factory Kuwahara! I called the police to report the bike, and they came back a few days later to let me know that the bike was stolen, but the owner had already been paid back from insurance. The owner told them that I could keep the bike. I learned who it was, and rode over with ~$50 (paper route money) as a thank you to him. I have the best memories on this bike.
I wanna find one in the ice, but there's no ice here unfortunately. I been looking
Such a cool story, your integrity at that age is commendable.
@@robbchastain3036 I had a few bikes stollen by that time, and knew how much is sucked to lose a bike that was properly loved.
Curious if your Kuwahara was really lightweight? The one that I saw/rode was really light.
How do I send you a pic of me on my Kuwahara?
factory kuwaharas were such sweet bikes in the 80s never had one but always loved the way they looked
I had a 87 Freestylin' magazine were they tested a Kuwahara flatland bike that was gloss black with multi-color paint splatter all over the bike. sweeet!
The movie 'E.T.' made a BIG impression on me as a 10yo kid, and seeing those BMX bikes ride 5:25 - 5:45 I knew that's what I WANTED! Now early 50s, I made it through the ranks with several BMXs and mountain bikes, and I'm still riding ✌
Same. Im 40. But after seeing the film I knew what the cycling in BMX plus pages and such looked like at fullclip without being in the scene as a 6 year old. Wild the E.T. game did poorly and the Bike...
Insane that Mikes Bike from Stranger things flew off the shelf. 😂
How many times did you watch Rad growing up!? 51 Here. Had a Kuwahara I got after seeing Rad. It was what my parents could get me at the time. I remember really wanting a Haro or Redline. But I loved my Kuwahara. Wish I had it. Never knew they used them in ET til this video. But then I saw Back to the Future and skated for the next 35 years til my body was so broken I cant anymore. People our age had the best childhoods out of any generation tho. We knew 3 channels on tv. We knew being sent out in the neighborhood from dusk til dawn. Besides dinner at the table in my house. Without our parents having to worry about us. Besides coming home scraped and bruised everyday. Broken bone here and there. It really was the last generation where we can appreciate both sides of what life was like. Before and after technology. Well besides an Atari 2600 or a Commadore 64. LOL
@@notmillionaires Never watched Rad, way back in the 80s, all these trends came waving over in the Netherlands from the US - I was lucky to have a (cheap) BMX at some point, and a skateboard at some later stage - but I felt like the king! And yes, had a C64 too, still sth later 😆
Cool video, thank you!! In ''82 or '83, a Kuwahara E.T bmx was on display in the front office of the local *orphanage* in my hometown. It was going to be a christmas gift for one lucky kid resident from a place that has has since been closed down. I only saw it twice as a young boy, but I probably think about that bike more than any other bike I've ever owned. Core memories.
I was lucky enough to have a Factory Kuwahara E.T. in the 80s, replete with a set of black Kuwahara pads with lightning bolts. It wasn't as good as some of the other Factory models because the rear triangle wasn't chromoly (it was a loop tail, though) and some of the components weren't as good (e.g., it had a one-piece crank and KKT pedals, and it didn't have the Dia-Compe "MX" brake but a lower-tier Dia-Compe rear caliper) but it was still a very sought after bike because of the movie, and I got beat up several times defending it from being stolen at the BMX track. I wish I still had it as today it is such a classic; I'd just have it hanging on the wall in my garage. I'm 50 now and was a pretty serious road racer in my 20s, but I recently acquired a 22" Wethepeople Audio and use it at the pump track to mix up my workouts and keep my bike handling skills sharp. (It took until I was ~50 to stop giving a fuck about what people think and get another BMX. To think I could have been having this much fun all along!)
Nice memories (:
Imagine having to defend a GT proline at 8, it was a mess my big bros got it back for me once 😅
You weren't beat up cause they wanted to steal that ET bike .p
@@andrewp7509 Whatever you say, clown features.
I got my first (and last) real BMX at age 20. I wanted a GT pro series which was the TOTL back then.
A guy at the bike store recommended I take an unknown 24" cruiser for a test ride. It was only $20 less than the GT. Hesitently, I did, and it BLEW the GT away. Lighter, faster, just rode better. But it wasn't a GT, and I wanted a GT.
The salesman asks which one I wanted. I said the GT. He then asked ,"But which one rode better?"
I said the other one.
I paid $500 for the Balance Killer B 24.
1994's bmx of the year?
They were around for only 5 years before they got bought out by...GT.
I STILL have and ride it today!!
56yrs and looking for a bmx, 11yr old grandson challenged 🤔😉
Got a Kuwahara Bravo II for Christmas in I believe 1987 (I was 11). I still have it in pieces in my shed. I have always dreamed of restoring it.
Oh. Man. Theyre sweet. I have two. You should find Porkchop BMX and get that thing rolling again!
You should man. I wish I had what I sold, got stolen, etc
Oh man I wanted a Bravo that year, ended up with a Scamp.
My first and only bmx I owed was a Kuwahara it was a neon pink with the plastic 5 spokes rims, shimino brakes and the brake lines going inside the Ritter so I could do 180/360 routens while doing the kick flaps. I payed around $1500.00 in Canada/ $1100.00 in usd funds back in 1984. It got stolen while it was locked up in my bedroom while I was at summer camp back in 1986. I loved that bmx
These videos are great. Who would have thought someone would do a history piece on legendary BMX bicycles? I was obsessed with BMX bikes in the 70s...
I drooled over Kuwahara. Parents bought me a Team Murray. I worked and bought a 1982 Skyway frame @ fork.
Dude..my parents bought me a Murray as well, changed all the parts and frame within 6 months w allowances..go figure!
I got a Kuwahara 86_87 a Magician ex id selĺ it for 500
i forgot how cool the bike scenes were
Oh man, this brings back great memories! My friends and I rode our BMX bikes everyday at what we called the “Dirt Course”. We had Redline, Schwinn Predators, Hutch Pro Stars, etc. It was a great time to be a kid!
Back in the 80s I raced a kuwahara for my local team in the UK. It was a way better bike than my previous race BMX which was a blue Raleigh burner which was heavy and dull to ride.
I scored a 3rd place in regionals the first year I had the kuwahara and 4th the next year which was better than the 8th I got from the Raleigh burner.
Great video, thank you for all the great information, I always wondered where this bike started life
I still have my 1982 24" kuwahara cruiser. Restored it about 10 years ago. Still all original frame stickers, araya rims, kkt pedals, diacomp brakes, lightning bolt elina seat. I raced the cruiser class in 85/86 on this bike. I'll never sell it. I still ride it regularly 👍
Hey where did you race back in the day..i was in brisbane boodall back in the day,85-87😊 good times
@@Jackjack-zl4nt I raced around the NSW mid north coast from about '84 to '88
Kuwahara came back in the early 2010s to American BMX racing with a strong team racing a modernized Kuwahara, sponsored a few top pros, but vanished again by 2015
Yeah..can remember seeing a few at this time in Scotland too.
The last year of the US Factory race team was actually 2017. That team was owned & operated by the Daniels family who also imported & sold that generation of Kuwahara BMX to the US. Troy Daniels was a top Pro & Factory Kuwahara racer in the l80’s who travelled the world representing the brand in BMX’s heyday.
@@FBTRCanada Nice thanks for the correction
Kim hyashi ride for them at one point right?
@@zachreed2303 , I don’t believe so. Former AA Pro now Vet Pro Jeff Upshaw who was the USA alternate Elite Men’s rider for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio was one of their Pro Riders as well as single A pre Alan Hudson.
Funny enough they also had a Factory Team Rider by the name of Zach Reed.
My first expensive bike was a Kuwahara that I bought with money from mowing yards. I had the coolest bike in the neighborhood!
I didnt have a fancy bike like this but man, i did love my sick white and black huffy!
I grew up in Canada and Kuiis (Kuwahara) was the most popular premium brand name BMX where I lived. They were everywhere. All the kids with the big box bikes dreamed of one, and all of the serious riders started with one and moved on to more bespoke or obscure brands like GT, CW, Mongoose or Patterson.
I grew up in Canada also, kuwahara were definitely something I dreamt about while riding my crappy tire Raleigh. I remember wanting a Redline pretty bad at one point. CW became Revcore didn't it?
Did I grow up with you in Surrey BC? We also rode Kuwies, as well as Redlines, Haros, GTs, Diamond Back etc ... The chromoly frames with the mag wheels were so dope!
While I didn't own a Kuwahara, there were a few in the old neighborhood. I lived through the dawn of BMX, when we would alter 20" bikes and build BMX tracks in any open lot we came across. The whole thing became a movement and it wasn't long before BMX styling would appear in the bike shops. I did own an OG 1'st year Diamond Back that was freakin' awesome. That one, I wish I still had to this day.
I had a Kuwahara tandem at one time. Purchased in 1987. White base with rainbow paint scheme. Suntour drivetrain, entry level parts.. Got it up to 40 mph on the flats once (with a tailwind). Good bike.
Back in the day like 88 I rode a GT Profreestyle Team Tour but a really good friend of mine rode the Kuwahara. I switched with him quite a few times on certain landscapes. Was such a nice bike.
I do have my first BMX bike which is a 1979 Kuwahara. Rode daily and raced on the weekends. I still love all the anodized components from back in the day which I refer to as the bike candy.
I was always the Redline guy back in the day. One of my best friends had a green Kuwahara and it was a really nice bike. He had it decked out for freestyle riding. Skyway mags, MKS Grafight pedals, etc... Sadly the entire BMX industry went belly up in the later part of the 1980's but thankfully it came back. Nowadays I'm a HUGE Se Bikes fan and have a 26 inch PK Ripper that I cruise around on from time to time.
I use to own a kuwahara not sure what model. I bought as a frame only put tange forks and acs z rims and changed rims out to araiya rims later on. I wish I had pictures of it and kept it. Beat the hell out of it and never broke anything. Love the channel and you bring back great old memories. Just wish I kept all bikes I had.
There was nothing like living in the moment as a kid at the end of the 1970’s riding on your friends Mag Scrambler. It was such a good looking bike! Then there was Kuwahara and Mongoose and no one mentioned Hutch cause they were far out of reach. Talking about it is awesome but living and riding those fresh bikes back then was a feeling I’ll never forget.
Here in the UK, we progressed from Raleigh Grifters to Raleigh Burners, which were the most popular BMXs at the time; Mongooses were considered pretty fancy. I cobbled together a BMX and fitted a new set of Acorn mag wheels, but they were terrible compared to Skyway Tuff II ones, with way too much flex!
A friend's dad had a small bike shop here in South Australia about 15 years ago, and he was a Kuwahara dealer.
These videos are so informative keep em coming I’ve learnt so much about the bmx days, brands & riders
I still have an 82 aero frame Kuwahara Laser Lite. When ET came out I had a chrome and blue KZ1. Our local bike shop only had one from memory and it was purchased and chrome plated as the kid hated it. Hi from New Zealand
Love these vids. I'm 54 now and I rode a Hutch Pro Raider on Araya Turbos back in the day (had a set of Z rims too!) A couple of kids in the neighborhood had Redline and Skyway bikes, but they were too pricey for my parents 😂. AME grips! Man, I haven't heard that name in frikkin decades. They were the best, and after looking at the website, they haven't changed much at all in 40 years. They were awesome grips.
Great videos. Any possibility of a Hutch vid In the future?
I appreciate the support! Hutch is definitely on the list of future projects.
I had a Robinson during this time, with Turbo wheels and Suzue hubs with DB Turbo cranks . It was really light. I believe I had ODI and AME.. Those were the days!
That hutch was still miles better than skyway and most redlines
Hutch was the rich kids bike 😂
MUSHROOMS!
I raced a Kuwi back in 77-82 i broke my first frame which is at 4:41 it had the single gusset my new frame is the one at 5:02 with a gusset on both sides but I upgraded to a PK Ripper in 79. I gave my Kuwahara to my best friend's kid in 2017 when I moved, I'm pretty sure he still has it.
In 1983 I really wanted an ET for my birthday. Instead my parents bought me a Free Spirit 24” cruiser from Sears. As it turned out, I really loved my cruiser. It was fast and did well on long distance riding. I still have it.
They do have US distribution to this day. I know because I can purchase them in my shop and I live in Idaho.
Oh that's awesome. I tried emailing them to get clarification but haven't heard back. I appreciate the update!
I know they were still in the US in 2015 cause I bought a new 24" cruiser to race.
I was 12 years old when E.T came out and was already big into BMX. The way I remember it being was we all wanted a Kuwahara but simply didn't have that kind of money. One kid had an E.T one but of course he didn't let anyone ride it so I never got to experience one until 2 years ago when got a 40th anniversary model just because I could lol. I ride modern BMX now so I still have actually never rode even the one I own but it looks cool.
Dude ride it.
I still have my 1981, KZ1. I have a couple of videos on my channel.
Need to do a video on the "NOMURA" bmx frame. One of the most unique frame ever made...aluminum with an big oval down tube..20in and cruiser only made in 1980 to 1984
In 1986 I was in junior high and had a neon pink Kawabara Magician. Super rad with white tires/rims, seat, and grips. I believe they also came in a neon green and neon blue version as well. Was stolen then recovered then stolen again. Still great memories riding around town and to the mall in Southern California. Can’t get more 80s than that.
My first BMX was a 96 DYNO VFR, then a 97 GT Interceptor, then a 97 Diamondback Reactor. My friends had many different brands. Auburn, Robinson, DYNO, GT, Fatboys, S&M, DK, Mongoose, etc, etc.
One bike I always desired from the magazines, but that no local store to me sold was ELF. You should do a video on ELF. I haven't heard of them in many years.
I also used to want a HARO, and a Redline, but never got one. I got into motocross as I got older.
I got all those bikes se too and mongoose decade g6 vfr 91 vfr 81 prothunder a 84 pro thunder 86 kwua Magician ex
In The ET Film all the BMX Riders that used Kuwahara`s changed the components for the chase .
Interesting Do you have any more information on this ?
I had a Kuwahara mountain bike back in the late 80's. I loved that bike.
I lived in Japan for a couple years aroun 2004/5. The brand Nishiki was mentioned in this vid. I had a Nishiki mouintain bike while I was there and it was awesome. Very light, very fast.
I've still got my Kuwahara Roc D'azur great bike. Loved the Nishiki Alien.
That was the FIRST BMX I ever rode. It wasn’t mine, a lad in our street got it, it was rage first BMX in our area from memory….. Ohhhh man I was hooked and spent the next few years pretty much obsessed with BMX…
I had a Kuwahara Laserlite and a Kuwahara 24inch (dont remember the model) I loved them so much. The laserlite was amazing, unfortunately i lost them both in a fire when it was stored at my parents house when I was at University. I still think about it sometimes, I really miss that ugly pink and chrome beast laserlite!
I never knew how much i loved these bikes and bmx in general. I always had to settle for huffy and or "piece bikes"....yes blue frame angle wing handlebars with you guessed it a yellow bannana seat with a sissy bar i thought i was so cool
i miss the 80s so much
I had a Panther Stud that I stripped down and repainted and turned into a fake Kuwahara in 1990 with a sticker set from my local bike and lawn mower shop because I thought the name sounded cool. When it got all scratched and shity looking I did it all over again. I have no idea what happened to that bike but I sure as hell rode the crap out of it for 3 - 5 years including doing a news paper run, riding it on a vert half pipe, a failed BMX racing stint and daily transport to school. Awesome times! Thanks for the vid!
Kuwahara...I still remember the adds in 1979-80 BMX Plus magazine
I won a kuwahara bmx from a competition on the back of a sugar puffs packet. Part of an E.T promotion. Wish I'd kept it. Loved it
Very cool! I had a chrome frame/fork that I traded other parts for and built it up with parts from my old Mongoose. Chrome with blue Tuff II's, Ashtabula cranks (I was poor, no Flights for me) and KKT pedals. It was an awesome bike, but I ended up trading it for a Thruster.
Edit to add: For the life of me, I couldn't recall the name of the Thruster and it just came to me. Vanishing Point! It was light as a feather with Araya alloys and aluminum 3 piece cranks. Partially stripped freewheel made sure I cracked my nuts or knees on a daily basis.
My parents bought me an Apollo Kuwahara back when I was a kid in Canada. I could have chosen the Factory model but the one one the floor was gold and I like the silver Apollo better. I did my first race on it, cased it over the first table top and bent the front forks haha
I have a 1987 Kuwahara Magician EX that I bought new and my brother's 1986 Bravo KT - he bought that as a holdover in 1987 for a pretty sweet deal. The frames are very similar, although the Magician is trimoly and the Bravo 100% chromoly. The Magician also has an extra tube between the downtube and seat tube. I ultimately cracked a weld on the seat stay and seat tube, but that was in the early 2000's doing flatland as about a 210-lb adult. They came with those horrible foot-destroying little fork pegs like the Redlines had. Component-wise, the Kuwahara line matched pretty close to what GT and Haro were doing at their respective price points. The Bravo has an ACS rotor, Peregrine mags, Dia Compe 880 side-pull brakes, Tech 6 levers, Cheng Shin Panaracer-style tires, and horrible hard plastic A'ME tri knock-offs. The Magician, as more of a budget model, has Lee Chi placebo brakes and levers. I broke the original brake levers and plastic pedals that first summer of ownership, but all in all that bike took a lot of abuse over the years. I never significantly bent the steel 48-spoke wheels, I did slightly tweak the original handlebars (replaced with Peregrine Q bars), slightly bent the seatpost, and that was really about it. I restored the Magician about 20 years ago now, and it's pretty much been hanging in the garage since then.
“The magician” was homeless in the mid ‘00s I gave him a job and a chance. Lost touch with him around ‘08
I have one same year blue would sell
Everybody wanted a Kuwahara Bravo back in the day. I settled for a Super Goose laced with red alloy everywhere. Those were the days lol
I had a diamond back viper dk gooseneck, “now called a stem”, CW bars, laid back seat post, I also had some one piece cranks and extremely light rims. But what I really wanted was a Hutch trickstar. My mom bought me the frame and my dad made her take it back 😭😭😭 that bike is worth “I’ve seen 12 to 15,000$,” and I’ll never get over it lol. I’d love to see something on the hutch trickstar.
Me too, Diamondback F1. DK neck, Arayas, Ame grips etc..Wish I still had it.
I ❤ Kuwahara and grew up to them and owned them. Laser lite etc…. Thanks for this. ET
My first nice bike was a Kuwahara back in ‘79. The dealer sold it as a jumping bike that was as light as a BMX race bike. I jumped and raced the crap out of it for about 5 years, till I could drive. I don’t remember any other Kuwaharas in Oklahoma City at the time. They were rare.
I am 52 and have fond memories of Kuwahara. One of the bike shops I frequented had one in the shop. I got to test ride it quite a few times. I remember it was one of if the lightest BMX in the shop. Not sure if it was due to frame weight or components, but it stood out to me.
Buy mine Magician ex 500
My boy had this bike… Miss those days riding all over in Honolulu 85-86
Nostalgic for me, weird to think when my friends and I had our bmxs and someone had a kuwuhara, the presenter wasn't even a twinkle in his mom's eye!
I only remember 1 kid with a Kuwahara when I was young. We were all interested in it because it was such a cool name.
Also, How about a video on "Retro" BMX bikes??
I knew a factory rider here in the UK later 70's/early 80's. Kuwahara (or the UK importer) use to give him bikes & parts for free to race! All the kids were in awe of him at the local track.
Im a Kuwa nerd. I have searched out and restored a 86 Bravo KT and 87 Bravo Team. The full chromo frame/fork and geometry are the best freestylers ever made in my opinion…(and I also have a PFT and Trickstyler..)
I got a Magician ex 86to 87 kuwa 500 would buy it
Dude.. I recently found your channel and subbed instantly. I was just about to request a Kuwahara video. Dropping my comment before viewing.
I used to have a Kuwahara RF. It is a quad tube frame from the neck to the seat post. Pictures of it can be seen in freestylin magazine from 1984. I was told it was only one of fifty such frames ever made, but I could have been lied to about that. Joe Sosa was the pro rider who sold it to me long long ago.
My brother rode a Torker & I a Redline. Later a black Hutch pro racer that got stolen & then a PK Ripper in 1989/90. We worked for all our bikes & some parts. Dad foot the bill for our ABA memberships, gear, food & to all the tracks. 1979-87 we raced almost every weekend. Now I ride a 30th Anniversary Proline Pro 24, Hutch Pro 24, Skyway TA 24 & a SoCal Flyer 24. We tried out a new Fugi BMX bike once back when they were new. Wow they were heavy duty 😊. No one raced Kuwahara here in Minnesota much.
I always wanted a Hutch. I had a Huffy at like age 8😂 I finally got a used '82 Mongoose by age 11 in '89
@ that 82 mongoose is highly sought after now but not by me. If yer huffy was a Stu Thomson version it’s highly sought after as well. Old school BMX is a real big thing, been for a while now. There are plenty of Hutch available on EBay at ok prices. Some are hi end builds & prices others not but they are all cool and available still
I loved my kuwahara
Never had one, but i always wanted one
The only place I ever saw the Kuwahara ET-1 80's BMX was at my local TGI Friday's (hanging on the wall). When the restaurant closed I tried to get through their DM to buy it, but had no luck.
The scene in et where they would ride up the bank in the alley to get to the forest was my jump we made lol.
I had a Dyno, but had a buddy who had a Kuwahara. Seemed like a legit bike in ‘88.
I snapped kuwahara frame in half right behind the headset going over the pro doubles during nationals in Huston Texas… I picked up the forks and frame that was in two complete pieces and ran to the finish line for 3rd place…
In the 80's I had an old friend with a wicked proto Kuwahara 26" mountain bike, ridgid, in aluminum, it was sweet.
Ive got 14 Kuwaharas, all spanning the 80's
Amazing. Which non freestyle Frame would you say is the best? I only have 1😂
@@Seolfor007 84 laserlite. No question. Hands down the best bmx ever built! 😉
Just discovered this channel . If you are interested when I was part of the whole bmx scene from around 81-88 in the U.K. most bikes were in order of common to rare (and people who had rare bikes were the cool guys lol)
Common
1.raleigh burners
2- Gt
3- mongoose
4- firebird
5- skyway
6- hutch
7- diamond back
8- torker
Rare
Se quadrangle pk ripper
Vector (I had a vector mk2 in smoked black)
Vdc changa
Profile
Robinson
GHP
Remember it like yesterday , i was ll in 1982, ended up getting a Redline 600a, great bike.. Redline V bars and Ukai Rims. I regretably sold it 5 years later for 40 Uk pounds to a friend.
I had a Cycle Pro Macho bmx bike. Can't believe I remember that
I remember one Kuwahara in the neighborhood. Nice bike, but all the other kids swore that it was a top of the line Kawana Haro, a combination of different companies. I tried & tried to explain, but it just never sunk in with any of them, haha.
Back in the day, in my grade school circles, Kuwaharas were thought of as exceedingly exotic and almost unattainable. More than anything else, everybody wanted their bikes to be as light as absolutely possible. And the word was that Ks were at or near the top of the list of BMX brands for lightness.
I rode a lead sloth of a Schwinn Stingray. 😆
My buddy had a Kuwahara. I remember it as a pretty good bike~
I was sponsored by a local bike shop and the day before a big meeting the owner came to me and said I want you to ride this bike to get it some exposure. It was the first Kuwahara in Australia. It looked good. Had all Shimano components, nothing top of the line, but good quality and the chrome frame looked good. It looked like a pretty good bike and it was cheap. Everyone called it the Japanese Mongoose. For some reason, I couldn’t get this bike to wo4k for me. I used the same hearing I had been practicing on during the week and I just couldn’t get it off the line. I really should have changed the gearing after the first race , but persisted. That brand never really took off. I don’t know if it was because it was Japanese when all the cool bikes were American and I think it was priced to cheap. It wasn’t considered a race bike but as an everyday bike and it had the stigma of a Kmart bike.
Good research. Wild story about why we don't have gobs of ET bikes all over. Recently ordered some Kuwahara stickers, to "cosplay" my Race Inc 26" as a Kuwahara. Not sure if I'm doing the fade paint job. Also bought a front basket and an ET mask. So do the math on that.
My bike shop sold Kuwahara BMX and a few ET bikes in those days, and in the 80s, sold a fair number of their road bikes. Decent Japanese quality for the time, a steel wheeled 10 speed called the Duke, and a much nicer cromo bike with interesting little touches that seperated it from all the other Japanese bikes. talked to Howie Cohen on the phone a few times. Very nice man. We had an interesting conversation once about why his bikes weren't featured in Bicycling's Buyers Guide that year. I learned a lot that day about paid product placement and what a fraud the buyers guides were back in the day. I WAS young and naive then.
I had a kuwahara factory royal blue and my budy Tim had an apollo kuwahara, fist frame i ever bought with my news paper job.
Nice simple times😊
I had a freestyle Kuwahara, the Bravo Pro. A bit on the heavy side, but the frame design was pretty sweet
Back in the mid/late 80's My neighbor had a Kuwahara that had Blue tires. I had a pinkish color Giant Impactor.
Just a note to say to you, Mossie, that there is no shame in any fundraising game as giving platforms are voluntary and people like to give in different ways. And I like support a handful of channels at like two bucks a month and I see it as the price of a good magazine subscription, 24 dollars a year. And whether it is Patreon of RUclips channel membership, it's coins in the guitar case for the busker and I like your songs about bikes and the people who crafted them for us. And as with your Skyway story, it is great to know that a couple of machinists who rode motorcycles cooked up Tuff-Wheels for kids to fly like eagles on their BMX bikes. Incredible. Kudos, too, to this Kuwahara importer who put a great bike into the hands of kids in the '80s. And I'm looking forward to seeing some photos from your viewers and I'll have to find a couple. But hey, give me credit for representing, my thumbnail is me at age 15 on my Sting-Ray, doing my Evel Knievel thing all by my lonesome when my Dad happened to walk over and snap a few photos. And I'm so glad he did, otherwise people would think I'm fibbing when I say I rode the wheels off a Sting-Ray from '67 to '75. And that was in Frankfurt, West Germany, a military housing area. And to think that Ignaz Schwinn was a bike-builder in Frankfurt before he emigrated to Chicago to set up shop in the late 1800s. And Schwinn bikes, all those colorful Sting-Rays, empowered a generation of kids to ride their bikes like motorcycles and the beat goes on with BMX and MTB bikes to this very day. 😀
I really appreciate the input and that's an awesome picture!
It’s so funny I wanted a Kawahara after seeing ET and by the time I ended up getting a bike of that caliber, you couldn’t even find them anymore, or at least not at any of the shops in my area on the East Coast. and I got a hutch pro-star instead which I ended up being very happy with.
Kuwahara had a pretty killer freestyle team. Dave Vanderspek and Jeff Cotter to name a couple of riders.
I had a Kuwahara mountain bike back in 1984(?)
wasn't a "diamond back" frame
damn good bike!
the gun/bike shop I worked at sold Kuwahara and Apollo bikes
I assembled hundreds!
great bikes
So strange. I can’t recall seeing the Red and White ET Kuwahara. They were popular in the early 80s and I had several friends that had them (black and chrome). Boy, what a miss by them to not cash in on the volume sales opportunity. On a different note, I have another video idea. I picked backed up MTB riding a few back and purchased and Intense Primer. I had the opportunity to try a lot of different brands and liked the Intense the most. We were up riding at the trails in Bentonville and I came across another mountain biking family and the dad liked my bike and told me the back story of Intense in BMX. His son was apparently sponsored by them and things went sideways so he was a little bitter about the relationship but liked the bikes. My knowledge of BMX bikes is kind of frozen in the late 70s to mid 80s. If Intense is of interest to you, maybe you could do a video on them. Thanks again for the awesome content.
I had never heard that sad story, Mossie, thanks for telling us and yes, those bikes would've been perfect all lined up and ready for kids everywhere to see them on shopping trips with their parents. And I respect the man's loyalty to local bike shops, but when you have crates of bikes which those shops rejected, it is time to pick up the phone and let your fingers do the walking. And yes, I can understand teen BMX riders being not really drawn to a bike in E.T. colors at the time, but younger kids who liked the movie would have gone nuts about it, no doubt.
Would love to see the late 80’s episode on this. They did do alright with the core scene. Bill Neuman anyone? Saw him riding at a 2 Hip in Waterloo, in Canada. Hoffman famously pulled the first 900 that day, but watching Bill Neuman roll in circles without ever needing to correct in any way that would slow him down. While doing the hardest tricks. That frame was long ass.
I can remember in the mid eighties, in a very small town in far north Queensland Australia, two brothers Scotty and Michael, each had a kuwahara BMX. Oh man I was so jealous of their bikes.
I’m in NSW and one of my favourite bikes, and a bike that is my grail bike is a TBC Cobra, did you ever encounter any of those? I had a heap growing up and they’re probably my favourite bike ever.
@@thesausage351 Before now I'd never heard of the TBC cobra. But I just checked out a couple online. The cobra was a sweet looking bike indeed.
I had a cobra in (I think) 84/85
@@andyrails9742 yeah made in Toowoomba (Bicycle Company) as Australia’s answer to the Mongoose (Mongoose/Cobra) and was a pretty cool bike. I always wanted a metallic green one, I thought they looked wicked, but I now own a completely original chrome first gen, a chrome second gen frame and forks I’m restoring and also a badass race frame that is pretty rare. I still want more though haha
@@Mardy72 nice! Mine were all used, I was poor and got mine from either the dump or on council clean up day. There seemed to be a heap of them in my area for some reason, I had about 6 frames at one point and a friend had another 3 or 4.
I was at Woodward with Greg Flowers. Super nice guy. He helped me dial in grip stands back in the day.
Good stuff nice video. What about Nichole Kidman's Malvern Star Super Max from BMX Bandits, some Australian Content.
Can you please make a vid on the history of diamondback. I know diamondback wasn't started by a dad or a welder. It was started by a businessman. And could you also do a video on Bassett? I thought Bassett was a new company but it turns out they've been around since the '70s
Diamondback... wow, a name/brand I haven't heard of in a long time. Would be interesting.
Me and my BRO had a red with blue parts and blue with red parts . We had them built for us by a shop called Denny’s Bike Shop . Fort Wayne IN.
I had a Kuwahara in 1986 with tear drop tubing. I was told at the time it was a Tange Aero frame.
Wow what a blown opportunity kids would have enjoyed the bikes if they were available. I was in elementary when movie came out.
Loved the vid and loved the comments.
I won one in a competition from sugar puffs cereal in the uk
Loved that bike as a kid
Still have the winners letter somewhere
Ah memories
My brother had a Kuwahara ET ., he left it in the back garden to long with out care , so dad took it to the dump one day end of . .. Back in the nineties he did pick up a Laserlite , he still has that but it hangs in a garage getting surface rust ...
Would love to see a diamondback video. Thanks
Those were good bikes
Had a Kuwahara and never even knew it was what was in ET. I would have loved that. It was a rad bike by the way. Sorta. Wanted a Redline. lol