There’s been posts on a few other sites saying they never ever made one, and that the few you see labelled Kuwahara are just sticker jobs, but i think I have one. Maybe.
I’ll put up some photos tomorrow, but otherwise:
I’ve rescued an old track bike from my dad’s garden of rusting bike corpses. He raced a bit back in the day, built a few frames, and worked for a company (Hanley Trading) that imported Suntour gear etc into Australia in the early 80’s. They brought in 2 or 3 of these “Kuwahara” track bikes in 1980, my dad got one and liked it, but it was too tall so he modified it. Re-brazed the tubes into a triple triangle. So it’s kind of bastardised but still recognisable.
I’ve seen some pics of a Kuwahara road frame, and this has pretty much the same lug shapes, and has a similar serial no. stamped in the same place - on the side of the seat tube.
I’m getting it re-painted and I’m pretty tempted to stick a set of Kuwahara stickers on it, since they look pretty rad. But then again maybe it’s not one at all.
ive got a Kuwahara road bike that ive converted into a SS rack bike.
Its lugged with Tange tubing and is black with the APPLES rainbow gradient on the seatube
came with Sugino VL white cranks and shimano RX100 group.
My girlfriend also has a Kuwahara, it’s Pearl and made for 27 wheels. i have a feeling hers was branded as something else (maybe apollo?) i do know that Apollo were rebranding Kuwaharas in Australia and NZ.
many Kuwahara branded bikes in Aus were direct Imports and arnt very common.
Never heard of the Track Bikes though. Seems bizarre that they are Japanese made Track bikes but not registered with NJS.
simple answer yes they did
many japanese frame builders made bikes and still do with out meeting njs standards
kuwahara best known for their strong bmx racing bikes
I’ve got a track frame with small gold lettering which reads “by kuwahara” on the rear stay and and another sticker reading “kawahara osaka japan” at the very bottom of the seat tube. The main decals on the bike are some brand i’ve never heard of. It has suntour track ends and is a pretty nice frame. I also have a hillman branded kuwahara road frame which has exactly the same stickers in the same spots. I don’t see any reason why these wouldn’t be a real kuwahara frames.
My bike, which I bought a while ago off ‘Gypsy’, is branded(?) ‘Francesco’ but looks exactly like the bike in the link posted by SanEsteban. Mine also has a Kuwahara headset. Someone on Farkin toldme that back in the 80s somebody in Melbourne used to repaint old road & track bikes and put his own ‘Francesco’ stickers on. My bike also has the same sticker on the seattube as the bike in this link(except mine doesn’t say Kuwahara):
This my bike:
Now I am not really worried what my bike is, but for curiosity’s sake it woul dbe nice to know any extra information. It has the exact same lugs as the bike in the link I posted above and as the bike in link SanEsteban posted. It has the same tubing sticker “Ishiwata EX - made in japan” the bike above and it has a Kuwahara headset. Based on this evidence I woukld say I am riding a Kuwahara.
Anyway, if anyone has any info I would like to hear it!
Kuwahara just stopped production of their latest track frame, called the…um…I forgot…kikuichimonji, I think.
It is the part of a katana…that part that kind of protects your hand (flat disk part between the grip and blade)…
They were ok…built very well, by TOYO I think, in Osaka.
The best part was that they used Kaisei 8630R tubes…and the joints were either
fillet brazed, or tigged…I cannot remember.
The bb was a normal lug/shell, same as the fork (lugged)…and the stays were kind of aero-type.
The problem was the color range, limited to straight red, or white. The top tube sloped the wrong way, and the sizes only went up to about 53cm. The sticker kit was a modern type, not the nice old version, but you can have the old style for $20-30 extra.
The headset was the classic threaded 1 inch kuwahara branded Tange set.
For what it is worth, I have never seen a genuine kuwahara track frame in Japan.
Maybe they were produced, but maybe just as an OEM deal for other brands, either in Japan or abroad…
I go to Kuwahara at least once a month, and I see all kinds of weird frames there, include carbon/alumi hybrid road and mtb frames, all sorts of stuff. They are now selling a funny bike with a 20 inch front and 24 inch rear, and about to release a pista version of it, although the parts are a bit wack.
It is only being built in a 52cm size, unfortunately.
i got this old kuwahara frame from my dad, apparently he used to race on years ago,
branded as an indie hawk light weight
with full shimano 600 gear and crank sets
forks branded as tange-te
and a kuwahara headset and decal on the rear stay
pics
ive cleaned it all up sanded it back and spray painted it matt black now, unfortunately i couldn’t save any of the decals but if any one has any info on it i would be stoked
its had an angle grinder taken to it as well, to clean up all the cable holders and such, made it nice and clean
