kuwahara bikes

The early years
Kuwahara was founded in Osaka, Japan in 1918 by Sentaro Kuwahara. It was a family run business with help from his wife and eight children that made and sold bicycles and bike parts at first in his neighborhood, then growing and expanding more. In 1925 Kuwahara began to export bicycles and parts to Russia, China and Southeast Asia. Kuwahara closed their doors for business temporarily from 1940 till 1945 due to World War II. In 1947 Kuwahara reopened again for business and Sentaro Kuwahara became the first chairman of the board of directors of the first bicycle wholesale association in Japan. In 1959 the very first and small shipment of bicycles were delivered to the USA. Sadly in 1960 founding company president Sentaro Kuwahara passed away and his Son, Masao Kuwahara took over in his place. In 1962 Kuwahara sent it's first shipment of APOLLO brand sport (10speed or 12speed road racing) bicycles to Canada. In 1968 Kuwahara started exporting bicycles to the USA as private label bikes for other companies such as Schwinn, Takara, Puch, Concord, Apollo, Azuki and others. Kuwahara had never produced their own Kuwahara brand bike outside of Japan until 1972 when Kuwahara began developing BMX bicycles for the US, Canada, European and Australian markets. During the middle 1970's the BMX boom had started and Kuwahara was regularly exporting Kuwahara brand BMX's to these countries.

1979
In 1979 Takuo Kuwahara became the new (and present) President of Kuwahara. He started up a Factory Kuwahara BMX team each in The US, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Howie Cohen started Kuwahara distribution through Everything Bicycle, a distributorship that Howie himself started. Everything Bicycles coincidentally was located just around the corner from Wizard Publications, the folks responsible for Bicycle Motocross Action magazine.
The first BMX model ever made under the Kuwahara name had no model name and was simply known as the Kuwahara bike. It was sold around 1979 until very early 1980 before the introduction of the new KZ models. It could be easily distinguished by the single front gusset which had four little holes near the front of the frame. The frame and fork were made of 4130 Cro-Moly steel and featured all the top components from SunTour, Dia-Compe, Ukai and Taihei Elina. Colors were available in blue, white and black.

Kuwahara KZ-1 BMX
1980
KZ-1 : The second model which was improved with a lighter and stronger frame, better geometry for increased handling. Forks made by TANGE and frame made by KOIZUMI. This bike played an active role in the U.S. BMX scene and many of them were painted in the E.T. Elliot colors. Made in Japan.

In 1980 Kuwahara also started developing and exporting Mountain bikes to Canada and Australia.

1982
In 1982 Steven Spielbergs hit movie E.T. featured Kuwahara BMX's and famous riders of those days including Bob Haro.

E.T model, ET-1 or KZ-2.5 : Kuwahara's most famous model that was featured in the hit E.T. movie. It used a KZ-1 frame which was painted a two-tone color like the one Elliot rode in the movie. Two models were sold, one was the Factory Kuwahara with top of the line components (rare) and the cheaper version that was mass produced and sold in department and toy stores.


1983
Nova : The Nova went on sale in 1983. It was designed for high performance without breaking the bank.

1987
During 1987 team Kuwahara flatland riders included Mike Loveridge, Ron Camaro, Larry Manayan and Chris Obermeyer.

Kuwahara ended.
Racing was decreasing in popularity and Kuwahara switched its manufacturing to Taïwan and resorted to goofy-colored bikes and novelty features to try and sell bikes. Needless to say, it wasn't successful.

2006
Kuwahara press release, august 2006: 2007 Laserlite Team and Laserlite Team Ltd.Ed. The new Kuwahara Laserlite frames have been developed and designed utilizing crucial input from Kuwahara Factory Team AA Pro riders Matt Pohlkamp and Warwick Stevenson to bring you one of the highest quality and best handling frames on the market today.
Laserlite Team : Pro XL 7005 Series Aluminum frame with Hydroformed downtube, Funn Hooka-DH Hollow Axle Alloy Cranks, Internal Sealed Bearing Headset, Funn Thrilla-MX CNC Pro Stem, Sun Welded Rhyno Lite Rims, Sealed Bearing Cassette Hubs.
Laserlite Team LTD ed : To Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Kuwahara KZ 2.5 ET model released in 1982, a Limited Edition Laserlite Team model bike will be available featuring the ET Red/White fade Paint scheme and custom anodised Gold components. Specs as per Laserlite Team. This will be limited to 250 pieces worldwide.
The 2007 Laserlite Team and 2KZ series which includes Pro, Pro 24", Expert, Junior and Mini sized bikes will be launched at the upcoming Eurobike (Germany Sept 1st) and Interbike (USA Sept 27th) bicycle tradeshows. (source 23mag.com)