Following the current trend for mini's I thought it was time to out my next wee project for your viewing pleasure. Are we sitting comfortably then i'll begin...
Ever since I came back home to BMX in 2005 I have wanted a Kuwahara Mini, among others. After seeing Bodamus's on Jamie's Kuwahara site my longing began. I approached Ian a few years back about buying it from him but he wouldn't entertain me. Finally, the night before leaving for MK08 I won a semi complete bike from USebay and subsequently got shafted by the seller who never sent it and promptly disappeared from ebay and paypal with my hard earned.
As you can imagine I was well fooked off and gave up on the idea.
Anyway, about a year later a NOS frameset appeared on Ebay from Germany and with seconds to go I was sniped. Aaaaargh!
Fast forward to a few months ago while chatting to my bro and surfing US ebay I noticed a NOS frameset and decided to take a closer look. It turned out to be Juan @ BMX Addicts that was selling it and had decent Buy It Now price. At this point my finger took on a mind of its own and the button was rapidly pressed. I promptly paid and crossed my fingers that this time I would get my hands on PRECIOUS!
Well two weeks later with a trip to the Parcelforce Depot to pay £32 import duty. I finally owned my KM1 mini... almost 5 years from that first yearning.
So to wet your appetite here are a few pics as it currently stands... Bit of OS trivia for ya! These framesets were actually made in the US for Everything Bikes the Kuwahara distributor under licence by GJS.
The project begins.....
I have decided to build this as a factory replica of early 80's Kuwahara Pocket Rocket - Deric Garcia who rode longside Clint Miller on the Kuwie team, aged 11. It has taken me a while to gather pics and info on this little dude. However , I am now in a position to start and have been slowly gathering together the correct parts, as a fair few a rare vintage Italian Road components. Anyway, I still have a few to find, however, have quite a bit of restoration to do on some of the bits I have so far. This will hopefully give me enough time to source them. So stay tuned as my little project diary progresses as parts arrive and are fitted. Hopefully, one day it will resemble Deric's bike
Deric's Micro Spen Moto MachineFrameset - Kuwahara KM1 Cromoly
Bars - Junior Aluminium Powerlite Powerbend
Stem - Junior Pro Neck (clamps drilled for lightness)
Grips - Black Oakley B-1B's (sleeves removed as he had small hands and 10 donuts on each to keep his hands at the ends of his bars)
Headset - Aluminium Galli Superlite
Rims - Aluminium Ukai 20 x 1" 1/8
Spokes - Alpina 0.80" Stainless with Aluminium Nipples
Hubs - OMAS 36H Serie Mozzi with Hollow Titanium Spindles (cone nuts used instead of axle nuts for lightness)
Tyres - IRC ZII 20 x 1"1/8 Sew Ups (think these will be hard to find)
Brake - Weinmann Type 500
Brakepads - Scott Mathauser Finned
Lever - Dia Compe Tech 3
Brake Cable - Dia Compe Rear
Pedals - Suntour XC-1
Cranks - Sugino Mighty Tour 170mm with 110BCD Fixed Spider
Bottom Bracket - OMAS Big Sliding with Titanium Spindle
Chainring - Sugino 110BCD 40T
Chainring Bolts - Sugino
Freewheel - Suntour 16T
Chain - Sedisport Nickel 3/32"
Seat - Uni Mini
Seatpost - Carbon Fibre integrated with Seat
Seat Clamp - Sugino integrated with Frame
Pads - Kuwahara California Lite
Plate - Haro Mini Series
