Kuwahara Exhibitionist. 1984

I remember back in the days when I was hanging at the TWS BMX shop in Märsta (runned by Stefan Ekwall) and the swedish team rider for Kuwahara; Andreas Nyberg had one of these Kuwahara “FS” Exhibitionist and how jealous I was of the bike. Ever since then, I have always wanted to get one of these frames with the extraordinary twin top- and downtubes. Since I started to collect old school BMX bikes, it have been my absolute number one holy grail to find, but I thought it was impossible to find one in chrome and in very good condition. In the autumn of 2012, I got an email from a guy called Bosse here in Stockholm who had heard about my collection and asked me if I would like to buy his Exhibitionist which his brother imported from USA in mid 80´s. I went there to buy it as soon as I could. It was like winning top prize in Lotto!

It must be one of the best preserved Exhibitionist frames in the world, and it still got the original decals in very good condition. I could only use the frame, fork, headset and headset-lock from the bike. The other parts I have collected elsewhere. The Kuwahara “LaserBar” and the KKT SMX pedals are mine from back in the days. The genuine Kuwahara “LaserPost” seat post comes from Patrik “Döskallen”. The Takagi cranks are the same as the correct Kuwahara cranks, but they are stamped “Tioga” instead of Kuwahara.

Later on, I found an old test from BMX freestyle Action magazine from 1984 where they tested the Kuwahara FS Exhibitionist bike. I have tried to build my bike exactly like the specifications in the test. There’s just some tiny things that’s differ.

Huge thanks to Bosse who make my dream came thru! 🙂

FRAME	Kuwahara Exhibitionist, chrome (used)
FORK	Kuwahara Exhibitionist, chrome (used)
STEM	Redline Forklifter/Suntour – potts mod, black (refurbished)
HANDLEBAR	Kuwahara LaserBar (stamped), chrome (used)
HEADSET	Hatta 1” threaded, black (used)
HEADSET LOCK	SunTour 1“ threaded, black (used)
GRIPS	A’me Tri, 2’nd gen, black (NOS)
DONUTS	Flite, white (new)
CRANKS	Takagi (Tioga Task force) 175mm, chrome (used)
BOTTOM BRACKET	Hatta 24T, loose ball bearings, silver (used)
CHAINRING	SunTour 42T, black (NOS)
POWER DISC	“Unknown” Power disc, polished (refurbished)
CHAINRING BOLTS	Sugino (stamped), chrome (used)
PEDALS	KKT SMX 1/2¨, black (refurbished)
CHAIN	D.I.D. 1/8¨, chrome (used)
SEAT	Elina Flyte tech, black (used)
SEAT POST	Kuwahara LaserPost (stamped) layback, chrome (used)
SEAT POST CLAMP	SunTour Broken Arrow, black (used)
REAR BRAKE	Dia-Compe MX 900, Weinmann adjuster, black (used)
FRONT BRAKE	Dia-Compe MX 900, Weinmann adjuster, black (refurbished)
BRAKE PADS	Dia-Compe, gum (NOS)
BRAKE GUARD	California Racing Designs, white/red/blue (NOS)
BRAKE LEVERS	Dia-Compe Tech 3, black (used)
BRAKE CABLES	Dia-Compe, black (NOS)
RIMS/WHEELS	Skyway Tuff Wheels 1, Bendix coaster brake, black (refurbished)
COG	SunTour 16T, silver (used)
TIRES	Tioga Comp ST, black skinwall 20×1.75” (NOS)
TUBES	Kenda (used)
DECALS	Original (repop for fork legs)