1983 Kuwahara “Cotton Candy” 24

The “Cotton” Candy 24 – Probably my favorite color scheme BMX in my collection and one of the coolest projects I’ve worked on.

A 1983 Kuwahara 24” BMX with the 5” head tube and double thick dropouts. Not to be confused with the Kuwahara 24” Cruisers that they made as well. The Geometry is completely different than the cruiser and totally BMX.

The Original chrome plating on the Tange Japan made frame set is untouched under the custom Candy Blue transparent paint job. When I started this project I envisioned a candy blue paint job but I did not want to ruin the chrome so this was the best solution as I can always remove the paint down the road if I ever chose to.

This build has a lot of stock components on it but in different colors than what were offered from factory. And there are some era correct and reproduction parts on it in order to achieve the look I was going for. Plus this will be my rider this summer, so I had to take those wear and tear items into consideration.

Blue Cheng Shin Comp 3 tires wrap the Pink 24” Skyway Tuff II mag wheels and the Nitto “Kuwahara Laserbars”,are the 24” version being .75” shorter in height than the 20” Laserbars. Of course the width is still 27.75” wide and it’s stamped which is still visible considering the Candy paint on top.

Building this BMX was a lot of fun as I got the chance to stray away from Factory Correct. The NOS Tuf Neck Stem (used on 84 Bravos) in Original pink was a perfect match to the NOS Tioga (Tange) SC-2 seat clamp and NOS Sugino Power Disc in original Pink as well. The Custom blue chrome decals with Pink blended in nicely and wrapping the Elina Aero Turbo seat in Blue Suede was probably the most challenging of all.

And on this build, the icing on the cake, rather than some IRC tires.. has got to be the Custom pink and blue pad set based on the Original 80’s Osaka designs.. and not the newer reproduction styles.

Licensed Factory Correct Reproduction decals by Vintage Steel BMX (@vintagesteelbmx).