Grand dredge, but it's worth it for me - This question has haunted me since about 1989 when I got this magazine and instantly wanted the mint green Kuwahara on the cover.
At the time I had an '83 Laserlite, but it was a bit small for my height and the club coach suggested that I'd be better off with something with a longer frame. I desperately wanted a new, XL sized, mint green Kuwahara, but eventually discovered that they didn't exist and Kuwahara had just recently stopped making BMX frames! I ended up with a great GT, but it never really satisfied the urge to have a mint green Kuwahara.
I've wondered about this bike many times since and have trawled the internet for many hours without getting any closer to an answer until a few days ago when I found green Novas and Laserlites in the BMX Museum website. Then I found a big, clear picture of this magazine cover here:
http://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=601685Cutting to the chase - if you look very closely at the full size image, on the number plate there is a sticker that says "85 Laserlite". The "85" is in pink and "laserlite" is in black over the top. It also appears that the forks are skinny from the front, so possibly the original oval shaped ones. The stickers are the older style with the Japanese flag on the K.
The bikes archived in the BMX museum website from 1985 include green Bravos and Novas, but most are a different green. One Nova is similar, but not identical green, but it also has the new style stickers, dropouts and round forks, so not the same as the cover bike:
http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/kuwahara/87756Laserlites and Novas from '85/'86 seem to be pretty much the same frame/forks, but with different hardware and stickers fitted.
My money is on it being a KZ83 with a custom paint job and fresh stickers. If not, then maybe a KZ84/Nova style frame, possibly with the '83 oval forks.
If there's anyone in the UK who can contact and ask Gary Wallace about it, maybe we'll finally know for sure?
In the meantime, I'll keep looking for parts to build my dream bike - a mint green Kuwahara. Maybe old school, maybe new school. Laserlite or even better, a Champion Series!
The 3000s did come in green but I think they didn't come out until '86.
Gary Wallace.
Thanks for that. I just did a quick search online and read that his dad ran the factory Kuwahara team, so if that's the case I presume that the colour was a one-off or at least a special paint-job for Gary.