Kuwahara?

after my last frame was too big (25", lol) i got searching for something that'd fit me that wasn't made out of lead, which lead me to this fella.....

made out of a magnesium steel and perfect size-wise (not to mention the flounder on the head badge!) i handed over £50, but not really knowing anything about it, so now i turn to you kind people to see what you know? i've searched on here and on the net to very little avail, there's a few bits about the tubing (ishiwata magny V) but not much else.

i've a kashimax saddle to go on it to keep it nice and japanese but i'd like to know a bit more about the brand so i can keep a bit of continuity with the rest of the components.

anyway, some more pictures :D

Should really be in current projects but it was nice to see.

Kuwahara's are pretty rare over here. They had their boom with the E.T film for making the bike that elliot rode.

£50 is a good price for any second hand lightweight steel frame. But thats pretty novel. The badge especially is a corker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwahara_(bicycle_company)

from reading about it seems the hirame is a japanese flatfish, hence the badge- they appear to have been imported to some extent into britain in the 80's - the serial number should tell you the age of the frame yy-mm-xxxx - and here is what appears to be a rather better conditioned example:

i think this frame was previously owned by Mr Bump - try asking him for more info.

The world would be a better place if you could still get Hirame frames. I had two of the cheap Tange 0245 ones (think my dad is still using one for shopping) and my "expensive" (£120 in 1986) Ishiwata 022 one. Can't remember the exact sequence of model names, my gold one is definitely an Osaka Pro, and the lower priced ones were Kando, Sumo, Kyoto and one other IIRC. I think the cheapest one had Tange 0265 tubing and pressed dropouts, I had the second one up with 0245 and forged dropouts.

Hirame was the brand name used by the British importer of Japanese built Kurahawa road frames.

didnt think to put it in the projects thread as i'm just after a bit of info for now, when i start building it up i'll be sure to put some pictures up for you.

according to the part number decode it's a july 82 frame.

that looks awesome, not too keen on the fonts but i'll definately try to keep the chrome, however it's pretty knackered.

Nice. I was going to bid on that, but forgot! I bet it'll build into something nice :)

kuwahara made old school bmx's back in the day
isn't that a harame frame ?

V nice!

http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/kuwahara/

More here

woah that's awesome. thanks :D