A 1981 Kuwahara BMX bicycle made for Universal Pictures, custom built to the style of the bike that Elliott (Henry Thomas) rides in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Universal Pictures, 1982).

This bicycle was originally custom built (circa August / September of 1981) by Howie Cohen and Robert Cardoza of Everything Bicycles in Torrance, California. They built and supplied the 25 original bicycles for the production of the film (five duplicate bikes for each of the five characters). Each character's bike had its own custom paint scheme, styling, and customization.

This bike was one of the five originals created for the main character Elliott and delivered to Universal Pictures for use in the film. The now iconic red/white style bike that Elliot rides can be seen in various scenes throughout the film. Most notably, the iconic chase scene that culminates with E.T. lifting all the bicycles into the air, allowing the kids to fly through the sky to escape the policemen after them.

Following principal photography of the film, Universal returned the majority of the 25 bikes back to Everything Bicycles (including this Elliott bike). Most of these returned bikes were dismantled and sold off for parts or were repainted to return them back to standard factory appearance Kuwahara bikes and also sold off. However, this specific Elliott bike was uniquely customized after production to create a promotional bike that was used in the very first Kuwahara E.T. ad that appeared in BMX Action Magazine in July 1982. A copy of that magazine is included. This one-off promotional bike customized by Cohen and Cardoza was never offered for sale in this configuration and differs quite a bit from the retail versions that were eventually sold to the public.

A few months after being photographed for the promo ad, the bike was given away as a prize in a contest. The winner of this bike had it in their possession from around December of 1982 through September of 2019. It was confirmed by the original owners that the bike is still equipped as it was when they won it back in 1982 and that all of the parts on it are original. They also mentioned that it got very little use and that it sat in their shed for most of its life. The original owners sold the bike in September of 2019 and the current owner had had it since then. Once the current owner acquired the bike, it was given a well needed cleaning, and the original (now dry rotted) tires were replaced with newly purchased "new old stock" (NOS) tires from 1982. These NOS tires are the same exact tires as the originals and the original dry rotted tires were retained.

Apart from the NOS tires and the passage of time, this bike is 100% original, just as Cohen built it for Universal Pictures and then modified it subsequently for the promo ad. The bike does have scratches and marks on it from use and nothing has been touched up or repainted on it.

It was confirmed by Cardoza, who personally inspected the bike in March of 2024, that the frame of this bike is one of the five original Elliott bikes that he built and customized for Universal Pictures. Only one other Elliott bike is known to still exist.

This bike features an Elina BMX brand saddle with lighting bolts painted red with yellow borders on both sides, two white Shimano plastic side brake line fasteners, black rubber O.G.K. 77-17A handle grips, a faded "FACTORY KUWAHARA" decal affixed to the head tube, a California Bicycle License decal numbered 515524 and a California Bicycle Renewal decal numbered 0178747 with an expiration date of Dec. 31, 1984 affixed to the seat tube, and gold-tone rims, seat post, chain rings, pedals, Dia-Compe MX handle brake and side pull caliper. The serial number located on the underside of the bottom bracket reads TOL0090. The driver's license number of the bike's previous owner is etched into the down tube; this was done for identification purposes in case the bike was ever stolen.

As previously mentioned, there are differences between this bike and the retail bikes. The retail bikes featured a looptail style frame with the logo for the film on the seat stay and seat tube, as well as containing foam covers with the film's logo for the top tube, the V-cross in the handlebars, and stem; none of which are present with this bicycle.