E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the Kuwahara BMX — The Bike That Flew Across the Moon (1982)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the Kuwahara BMX — The Bike That Flew Across the Moon (1982)
A Legend Bike Co. story page. Sourced from Silodrome, Wikipedia, the British BMX Hall of Fame podcast, and Legend Bike Co.'s own Bob Haro and Eddie Fiola pages.
The most famous BMX bike in movie history wasn't built by a bike company chasing a marketing stunt. It was built by a Southern California BMX distributor on a studio contract, ridden by a handful of local kids who needed the work, and it ended up carrying an alien and a boy named Elliott across the face of the moon. That shot is one of the most-watched pieces of BMX riding ever filmed, and it made a Japanese bicycle brand almost nobody in America had heard of into a household name within months.
Getting the bikes built
Universal Pictures contracted Howie Cohen and rider Robert Cardoza of Everything Bicycles, in Torrance, California, to build the BMX bikes for Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. They supplied 25 bikes total — five identical builds for each of the five kids' bikes seen on screen. Each of the five had its own paint job and parts spec. Elliott's bikes were 1981 Kuwahara BMX models finished in red and white, with gold wheels and hubs, chrome handlebars, gold sprockets, and gold pedals.
Finding the riders
Spielberg and his crew found their BMX stunt riders at the Ascot track in Southern California. Bob Haro, already known around Torrance from his work at BMX Action and his own Factory Plates brand, spent five days on the set as a stunt rider, doubling for the kids in the chase. Robert Cardoza — who'd helped build the bikes in the first place — rode too, along with a handful of other local BMX riders. Some accounts name Greg "Ceppie" Maes and David Lee among the stunt doubles hired for the film's young cast.
The chase, and the shot everyone remembers
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial released June 11, 1982, and became the highest-grossing movie of the year. Its climax sends Elliott, his friends, and E.T. racing through the neighborhood on their BMX bikes, chased by government agents, until the bikes lift off the ground entirely and carry the group up and across the face of the setting sun — the shot that's stuck in the memory of an entire generation. The riders on the ground made that chase look real. What came after made the bike famous.
Kuwahara cashes in
The first Kuwahara E.T. ad ran in BMX Action magazine in July 1982, a month after the film opened. Howie Cohen had already secured the worldwide rights to sell bikes carrying the E.T. name, and Kuwahara put out red-and-white "ET" models in three price and quality tiers to meet the demand. That same year, Eddie Fiola and Bob Morales signed a one-year freestyle deal with Kuwahara — the same year the brand was riding the wave of the movie. The bike that started as a studio prop became one of the most recognizable BMX models of the early 1980s. Kuwahara reissued the ET model in 2002 for the film's 20th anniversary and again in 2022 for its 40th.
What happened to the original bikes
Once filming wrapped, the 25 bikes went back to Everything Bicycles. Most were dismantled for parts or repainted back to standard Kuwahara appearance and sold off. Of the five original Elliott bikes, only two are known to survive today. One of them was customized after production into the promotional bike used in that first July 1982 magazine ad, then given away as a contest prize a few months later — the winner kept it in original condition from late 1982 all the way to 2019. It went up for auction with Julien's Auctions in 2024, with a pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.
At a glance
- Film: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, released June 11, 1982, directed by Steven Spielberg
- Bike: Kuwahara BMX, built by Everything Bicycles (Howie Cohen and Robert Cardoza), Torrance, California
- Bikes built for production: 25 total — five duplicates for each of five characters' bikes
- Elliott's bike: 1981 Kuwahara, red and white, gold wheels/hubs/sprocket/pedals, chrome bars
- Stunt riders: Found at the Ascot track in Southern California, including Bob Haro and Robert Cardoza
- First Kuwahara E.T. magazine ad: BMX Action, July 1982
- Surviving original Elliott bikes: Two known today, out of five built
What we don't know
- The full stunt-rider roster. Sources consistently name Bob Haro and Robert Cardoza; some also name Greg "Ceppie" Maes and David Lee. We haven't found a single verified list of every BMX rider who worked the shoot.
- The final 2024 auction price. Julien's listed the surviving Elliott bike with a $40,000–$60,000 estimate ahead of the June 2024 sale. We couldn't confirm the final hammer price against a source we'd stand behind, so we've left it out rather than guess.
- Which specific character Bob Haro doubled for on camera. He's consistently credited as a stunt rider on the shoot; which of the five boys he specifically doubled isn't nailed down in the sources we checked.
Related Legend Bike Co. chapters
Sources
Silodrome — "For Sale: A 1981 Kuwahara BMX Bike From 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'" (Ben Branch, May 26, 2024). Wikipedia — E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; Kuwahara (bicycle company); Bob Haro. British BMX Hall of Fame Podcast with Robert Cardoza — "Steven Spielberg, Kuwahara & the Legendary E.T. Bike Chase" (June 22, 2026). Narratively — "The BMX Boys of E.T." by Emon Hassan (May 16, 2013; names stunt riders Robert Cardoza, Greg "Ceppie" Maes, David Lee). To the Power of X — "The BMXers behind movie stunts" (March 10, 2012). Legend Bike Co. — Bob Haro and Eddie Fiola brand pages. oldschoolmags.com BMX Action magazine archive, July and October 1982 issues (period Kuwahara E.T. advertising and coverage).