What happened to Skyway BMX Tuff Wheels?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ย. 2024
- What happened to Skyway BMX Tuff Wheels?
The Skyway brand is synonymous with the injection molded Tuff Wheels that made their brand so popular within the BMX world. Skyway is much more than that though, today we did a quick dive into what happened to Skyway.
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Who here had or currently has a set of Tuff Wheels? If I'm doing an old school restoration, I want a set!
Planet bmx
Yes I have a white pair with black alloy hubs with Skyway 45 year anniversary written on the hubs them 24”.
i have a blue anniversary set for sale.
I had a pair of blue ones on a baby blue colored Mongoose in the 80s.
Original set of 20 inch black tuffs on a 83 scwinn predator...
In 1982 I was 17. I was big time into BMX freestyle. I kept tweaking my spoked rims on jumps and tricks. I finally found Skyway Tuff Wheels. They are super tough. I never had another problem and I used them until I grew out of it which wasn't long after. Those were good days. Politics? What the hell is that? Jobs? What jobs? The days were so long I can't even believe it now. I truly miss the world before 1990.
I totally agree with that
do you still ride bikes? I started riding BMX around 1980, then stopped for a couple years in 1987 when I got my drivers license. In 1989 I got my first mountain bike and I've been riding ever since. Now I own 3 mountain bikes including an electric mountain bike. I still get those same feelings when I ride. Nothing matters except the ride. You should get back out there.
I was into bmx back in the 80's when I was a kid and Tuff Wheels and Z-rims were pretty all the rage back then.
And yeah, the 80's were the absolute best! Sometimes I wish this world could go back to that way of life.
I rode until I got into my mid teens when other interests took over like dirt bikes and cars. Looking back, I wish I would have ridden more.
I Was 8 In '82!! Mom And Dad Bought Me A Diamond Back For My Birthday. Gen X, We Were The Last Of The Old World. The 💩 That Came After Us Was/Is Indeed S.H.I.T 🤷🏿♂️
As someone who was a teenager in the 80's, I had forgotten about Skyway; this brought it all back. Thanks for the memories
I was inadvertently part of their R&D. The very first wheels were shinny,but had little to no bead lip so the tire would actually pop off the wheel, I came out to my bike after summer school to 2 flat tires 5 days in a row! I called Skyway and ,I believe,one of the owners lived in Simi Valley Ca ,as I did. He delivered 2 new wheels ,tires and tubes. The new wheels were the now well know flat black ruff looking wheel. The new wheels never lost a tire
In the 80's my hooligan BMX buddies and I never ran mags on our bikes because they were heavy. We would make launch ramps and jump our bikes into oblivion. No helmets, no shirts, no fear. One of my friends had DG and i used to dream that I could get one one day...what a great time that was
My first BMX was a white Skyway TA with white Tuffs. I was the happiest boy in the world.
Did it come with Redline cranks?
@@DCat007 lol
I remember when I got my super goose with skyways !!!
@@DCat007someone stole my mongoose with skyways in Indy when I was a kid
Those were the best bikes of all times!
Black skyways on a chrome BMX looked so badass
I have a black set on a restored chrome Redline with red wall tires and found an old school ‘Redline’ decal set on eBay and it looks amazing now from the boring spoke wheels and no decals it was for years before I decided it deserved an fresh lease on life.
@@rickybobby5950Yep looks awesome, I have swept back tri spokes on a chrome Redline 340, street white walls with the old brick pattern tread. Sweet as Bro!
Damn right
My 1978 RedLine MX-II didn't have Skyway's, but has the more rare Webco Magnesium Mag Wheels. I still own this bike.
Weighs more that spokes but isn't as strong. BMX people were good consumers and bought a lot of crap that was engineered by drunks.
Had a Webco "curb jumper". Those alloy wheels were the heaviest. Luckily my bike had Araya rims with ACS hubs. Ashtabula 1PC. crank, with KKT "lightning bolt" pedals. Tuffneck doubleclamp on fluted bars, with matching seatpost. DiaComp side pull racing brakes with custom aftermarket pads of some sort. Kashmaxx racing seat. Snakebelly tire in the back with giant black knobby up front. The Tuffwheel had Suntour hubs. Soft as butter.
@@andrewbecker3700 EVERYTHING weighs more than spokes.
SE racing quad angle 😊
Those were hawt!
I had some Z-rims and a bud had some peregrines,i always liked the twist they had in comparison to the skyways.
Z-rims were fun to watch flex on a hard kickout😂
Seeing those yellow wheels the first time changed my life. I was 13 in 1977 when I walked past a bike shop and saw a black BMX bike with yellow tuff wheels in the window, stood there in awe who knows how long, I did everything I could everyday that summer, cut grass, washed cars, walked dogs, etc I made enough to buy it and rode it to school the first day of school. Then rode it a billion miles. Getting that bike with those wheels started my entrepreneur career path 48 years ago… I live on the beach now.
The late 70’s through the 80’s was the best time to be alive. I lived and died for BMX. I really miss that time and the companies that built the best BMX products.
died for BMX? ..... ok
Spent a year saving paper route money in 1979 for a Redline chrome frame/fork, gold parts and yellow Tuff wheels. Built up the whole bike. Won 3 first place, a 2nd and 3rd place trophies at the Manchester CT BMX track. Won 1st place at the Lime Rock race too. Loved that bike!
Had those with snake bellies on my mongoose, Redline V bars, and three piece cranks, Oakley grips, Kashimax seat, Dia Compe curved brake lever, MCS neck and white/blue checkered pads, those are the days I will never forget, Great time to be a kid👍
80s kid i got through 4 sets of Tuff wheels replaced under warranty. They weren't nearly as Tuff as the name suggested they'd snap, crack or break off the hub riding skateboard bowls, they didn't handle lateral forces well. It wasn't until the 90s that BMX bikes were really built for such extreme use. We got through frames, forks and cranks not just the wheels. Good times.
Yh your right I had stunt pegs on mine & did the hubs in
Building and tricking out bikes in the 90s was so fun. My first one was a GT Dyno frame that I slowly turned into a whole bike over a summer.
I broke several sets too back in the late 80’s early 90’s… Either snapped at the hub or cracked through near the tyre after a crash. Did half pipe stuff so if i was crashing i ditched the bike. I would say 10 sets either broken or so buckled they wouldnt bend back. Still a good wheel though, i was rough.
Very cool video! I had an original chrome Schwinn Mag Scrambler and a few years later got a sky blue Schwinn 36/36 Mag Scrambler with yellow Tuff Wheels (I still have it, and I’m 57!), so this video not only brought back memories, but provided a ton of information I didn’t know about it. Really enjoyable!
What no mention of Bob Haro, much like him I ran a Tuff wheel coaster. Fun times, I worked in the industry from 1976-1999, in the hub of the San Fernando Valley, several name brand bike manufacturers were minutes away. Met tons of people. We still ride only the bikes got bigger, die hard GT guy, and met and chatted with Gary several times about the good old days of BMX. Cool video, I have the same SKYWAY sticker on my bike tool box amongst others. Cheers Mickey.
Im 49 yrs old now, but my favorite bike i ever saw was in 1982 when my neighbor got a polished all cromo Skyway with the baby blue logo and white tuffs. I have never been more jealous of anyone in my life as i was that day.
Spent every penny I could save on parts for a Skyway TA build for over a year, finally got it done ,rode it for a couple weeks ,met a surfer at the dirt track and went surfing the next day. Parents couldn't afford a surfboard so I sold the bike asap and have been surfing non-stop since 1984 and pretty much rode bikes I scored out of the metal bin at our town dump, some nice bikes , too! Great vid, thanks for the memory hit!!!
That’s a wavey! 🌊 🤙
I did the exact same thing, except it was 1985, mine was a Pro-Performer w/ GT mags (that SUCKED), and I started skating. Still skating and I picked up surfing a couple decades ago. One of my neighbors had a TA though. I'd still like to have one of those.
@@w.l.h. yup, skating and snowboarding too, early on saw bike guys get HURT on our ramp, so stayed on the boards...it did hurt seeing what my bike would have been worth today, but I woulda trashed it in a yr or 2 anyway!
Sold my painstakingly built Gt for Bon Jovi/Ratt tickets. Metal girls, no regrets!
And yes Bonjovi OPENED for Ratt. It was that long ago!
Love the tough wheels.
@@BastardX13 Deadhead here but yeah, woulda done the same , sold and traded some valuable shit to go to shows, dont miss the stuff , would give anything to see the shows again!!
I’m in my 50’s and rode tons of bmx bikes, both freestyle and racing with old school TuffWheels back in the day and I currently own 2 sets I bought recently, a black 20" set on a restored 90’s vintage chrome Redline freestyle bike and a white 24" set on a red and white Redline MX24 with all white accessories. People freak out when I ride them around in the city and the mags are always a conversation starter!
I still have my 1982 Skyway TA with Tuff II mags. I actually still ride it often. I don't thrash it like the old days, but it still sees air.
I have a Klein Attitude in the Dolomite DuPont Imron tri-tone paint exactly like this. 6:38 It was the top of the line technology of the day and still a massive collector's item. Fast, incredibly light, stiff, and reliable, I raced and rode that bike over 33 years.
Had a 1st gen SE Racing California Freestyle back in the mid 80’s. Funky looking frame. I rocked Skyway mags for a short while then swapped them out for ACS Z-Rims. It was a weight saving decision. Thanks for the video! Brought back some great memories of the old days.
I was born in Redding California 1966 .Skyway was located in the southside of reading up on the Western Hillside. me and my buddy James would sneak up there and get in the dumpster and get blemished Wheels. at 12 years old we had several sets so everyone in my neighborhood had some .we were all poor kids and we're not BMX riders, but man they were cool. it was rumored that if you bent one you could put it in the freezer and it would pop back into shape. I wish I had all those Wheels now.. LOL.
Awesome...this brings back memories....I had a sponsorship from them back in 1980-1984 when we were racing and free-styling...Our friend and team mate, Matt Hoffman got picked up for their ramp freestyle team at one of our shows....Thanks for the video!
I haven't heard the Skyway name in a really long time. Thank you for this video! It brought back a lot of my 80's childhood bmx memories.
I'm 50 and have multiple sets of these on my multiple Skyway TA's. 20 & 24 inch. That bike just fits me. And was the first frame I didn't and never broke.
I am 54 years old and I remember Tuff Wheels although I never had a set because I went with the graphite nylon Z-Rims that still utilized traditional spokes and hubs. Those things were amazing at the time you could flex them to the side to the point the hub almost touched the ground and they would pop right back. They just took some occasional adjusting of the spokes to get them back in line.
I grew up in the 80’s BMX and freestyle was life. I had a chrome huffy for BMX dirt riding and a Raleigh shock for freestyle. I remember freestyle magazine. I would look at the pictures of the riders wishing I could be just like them.
54 yr old Australian- had a diamond back silver streak 3 piece cranks in 83, spoked wheels harry Leary my hero. My younger brother a redline with tuff wheels, stu Thompson his hero he thought them too heavy. Nice memory trip.
I raced a Silver Streak, loved it! Always wanted to get the Harry Leary turbo!
I had a diamond back silver streak , but unfortunately it was stolen back in the day , ride it for about 4 months.
Awesome bike. The only thing I had mongoose wheels on it the ones with holes in between the spokes.
Im 54, And my '85
white GT Team Series looked so good with skyways
I seem to remember 'Z rims' being a thing.... pretty floppy but.
"harry Leary my hero"- This
When BMX was getting going in the 70's my dad bought me an orange Centurion BMX bike with yellow 5-spoke Tuff Wheels. It was heavy but I loved that bike! One day it wasn't where I left it, but it was good while it lasted. I liked those wheels a lot.
The Skyway TA was the most beautiful BMX I had ever seen. I couldn't afford one, so I just bought the stickers and put them on my BMX that I built from many donor parts. My passion for bikes would lead to working on cars and ultimately fixing pretty much everything I could get my hands on.
Sounds familiar.
I still my BMX bike with the Skyway Tuff Wheels. I was hurling me and my bike at every conceivable jump possible. The Tuff wheels were the only thing that could handle the extreme amount of abuse I put them through.
Unbelievable stout and in blue, matching my gooseneck, break/ break lever, grips. I got this bike in ‘82 and will never sell it. Thank you for the opportunity to relive my youth.
I had a chrome Kuwahara Bravo with Black tuffs, Red Line forks and checkered pads and also a white ( frame )/lavender ( Tuff wheels,pads and accessories ) Kuwahara with Fiero wheel covers. Both had Bear Claw pedals, rotor, pegs.
Still missing them 40+years later
I rode BMX so much growing up that the cumulative time I rode a bicycle by the time I was a teenager exceeded an entire year (counting hours as 24/7). I envied guys with better bikes. I had a Mongoose. Nothing special. Although I might have run MotoMags for a while. (Those were cast aluminum wheels--pretty badass). I honestly can't remember for sure, but I think I did. I'm going to look next time I'm in my parents' basement, just in case they might be in there.
But here's the thing: My boy, Beau M, I still remember this well, circa 1980, he was trying to jump across a staircase which descended underground into an overpass, and he didn't clear it. His back wheel fully hit the sharp concrete edge of the side, and his TuffWheel pretty much exploded! Fortunately, he didn't get hurt. He was tough as sh't. He went on to become a great college rugby coach and financial tycoon. Incredible guy. But I do believe he went back to spoked wheels after that incident.
This was a fun little trip down memory lane... raced box back in the early 80's and had a set of red tuff wheel ii's on my chrome cook's brothers. I loved those wheels and loved that bike. Thanks Mossie!
thanks for the video... brings back the good times... when from racing bmx right into drag racing cars... at the age of 53.. still nothing has changed...
I had three sets of 5 spoke tuff wheel 2 s blue white and orange. I freakin loved those wheels. Im 51 now and still love bmx.
Man, I had built a se racing quadangle frame and forks with a set of redline flight cranks and a set of skyway tuffs, I wish I still had it or even a picture of it to show my kids u know oh man the good ol days.
Thank you for making and sharing this video. It brought back so many good memories of being a kid and my bike with Skyway rims. ✌️
I've raced Bmx from 1978 to 2016!! Spent my childhood chasing Richie Anderson and he ran Graphites!! Beat him once at Waterford Oaks track in Michigan!! What a great childhood!!!
In 1986 i bought a Schwinn Predator Free form Z freestyler in powder blue. The original Araya rims were nice, but I had to have white skyway tuff wheels.
I had a 1985 Skyway StreetBeat, in 1991 I upgraded my wheels to Peregrine 100 spoke. I miss those days
Had white Tuff Wheels on my chrome Skyway T/A. Sold them and put aluminum rims with GT hollow axle hubs. Was the lightest bike I ever had.
Wow! I remeber i built my own bike little by little doing side jobs after school. 1988 i was in middle schooland bought my Diamondback frame, SkyWay Tuff wheels in white, blue GT tires, GT gyro, GT pegs, and the list goes on. Still had it up to 2007 when i got my 1st divorce and the X sold it at a yard sale.
I got yellow skyways on my original Raleigh tuff burner in 1983, only had it a matter of weeks when the rear hub internals collapsed. The shop lent me a standard spiked wheel while I waited for a warranty repair. That never happened and instead the entire bike got replaced for a MK2 tuff burner that came with french 7 spoke simplex wheels. They were horrendously fragile and I was forever bending axles due to the off-centre hub design. I saved all my money until I could afford to buy some acorn mags with sealed bearings 👍🏼
Haha , yes OG Tuff burners were rad , mk II not as cool - funny watching this I was trying to remember the name of my first mag wheels Acorn Mags , saved my paper round money to buy them £25 if I remember right , then got skyways the next year - and a must have to be cool CW bars
This was a great video, well researched and presented. These wheels were a big thing for me as a kid. My first set of Tuff wheels was on my Mongoose. It was around 1982 and I had a blue Mongoose with Blue Tuff Wheel II's. I remember riding down the street thinking everyone was looking at my bike as if it was a Lamborghini. I did have some other pairs later on a Torker and a PK Ripper. But I will never forget my first pair.
One of the things I remember about Tuff Wheels was word on the street was, if they got out of true you could put them in a freezer and they would got back to straight. They usually cracked before they bent though.
Yeah,just don't leave your bike in the California sun in the summer time when you go to play video games. You'll come out to mushy wheel's. I had black ones.
Never needed to, but still trying to figure out if the freezer thing is real?
@@adrianzmajla4844 I don't know,back then I didn't have money after getting those tuffies to afford a big enough freezer😂
I miss my Tuffy. Rode it to junior high a lot, and played a little light solo BMX in the dirt patch on the other side of the levee across from the school, right under the SFO final approach.
They kinda sucked, I had many sets, never broke them, but as soon as I switched back to alloy rims I instantly went a foot higher on our halfpipe. They look cool, though.
Back in 78 myself and some friends used to help with the development for their different prototype wheels to get the right formula to keep them from warming and stress cracking 😂😂❤
When I was about 11 in the late 1970s, I had a knock off BMX bike, that wasn't a Schwinn nor a Mongoose. I was just happy to have a bike, but some of the local kids would make fun of me. My dad saw my grief and one day he came home from work a little late, but with some Skyway Tuffy 2 wheels. He also took my BMX frame to a welder friend of his and had all the welds on the bike beautifully redone. Then he took it to an auto body shop and had the frame painted a lowrider candy apple red. After my bike was done, no kid made fun of my bike. It was his way of giving all the local kids a big middle finger. I wish I still had that bike.
Good onya mate, your Dad is awesome.
It was 1978 and I bothered my mom enough to buy me a Schwinn scrambler in blue with black tuff wheels. I was so stoked. Thanks mom.
Had the same Schwinn, but candy apple red with black rims. Loved that bike
I have a blue 79 scrambler that had black mags I bought new. I still have the frame, would love to find some Skyway 2’s for it!
Mom's are great aren't they? My mom pesterd pops to buy me for my 15th. birthday a Bright yellow Stroker with black aluminum mags...it was a gorgeous bike. This bike got me into bmx (it was tooo heavy obviously?)... good memories...thanks mom 😂.
I had Skyway rims on my BMX bike around 1982, they looked cool but they were very heavy.
As a 9 year old in 1983, I lusted after Skyway mags. I never got them but I'd still take a pair...red please!
I had a red 1978 Schwinn Mag Scambler with yellow Tuff Wheels. Later I got a blue 1979 Mongoose with yellow Tuff Wheels for thrashing and used Cook Racing Wheels for racing. Good times!
Webco 1977 with og tuff wheels. My old man was sick of respoken my wheels then on my DG. .Memory Lane Awesome
As I post this I currently have 7 sets of skyway tuff wheels and absolutely love the 70-80’s bmx scene… great video 👍👍
Thanks, this reminded me of my first bike that didn't come from a chain store. A blue Webco with matching blue Tuff Wheels bought new from a bike shop. Late 70's or early 80's, seems like. I graduated high school in 1984 and I was driving a car by then so must've been before that. Loved that bike, was so proud of it. Good times! Thanks! ✌ Cheers! 🍻
Man, them old skyway mags were always my favorite back in the 80's early 90's. Lightweight and looked really cool and if they warped at all you could put them in a freezer and the cold would straighten them back out. 🤙
I had several bikes growing up. GT, Dyno, Redline, Haro, Skyway, Auburn, and more.
My favorite of all was a rare quad-tube frame by Kuwahara. I had Rickman freestyle forks, single piece Vector Bars that mounted into the fork without a gooseneck, Peregrine 48's, had the rear brake Gyro, Hutch Bear Trap pedals, and a seat with a roller on tbe back under side.
I miss those days. My Skyway was a chrome TA. The one with tapered frame tubes. But... I never owned a Diamondback for whatever reason.
My brother had a light blue BMX huffy bike when they made good quality BMX bikes in the 1980's. It had white skyway wheels. It was a beautiful color scheme at the time.
I’m not even in to bicycles but you dismissed a great job with this video. I could not stop watching/ listening
I recall back in the early 80’s that a friend bought (well his parents did) a Diamond back Harry Leary turbo!
Sick bike,he put black tuffs on it later down the track and it looked mint. I was so jealous 😂
Inhad a Skyway T/A with blue tuff wheel II's with white tires. That bike was slick! My mother gave it away after I joined the Navy.
I had Tough Wheels Twos on my Schwinn, then I got the brand new Mongoose Pro Class Frame and Fork in black chrome, and got a set of graphite mags for it. Loved them!
I have had 1979 nickel Mongoose that until earlier this year rode on a set of black Tuffs. I probably put a million miles on that bike. I recently did a full color change to all the components on the bike and ordered a brand new set of blue Tuffs with the silver alloy flange hubs from Planet BMX. They look fantastic. My vintage black ones, which are in perfect shape, are gonna go on a new build one day. I love the simplicity of Skyways. Virtually maintenance free. Long live Skyway!
In 1978 I got a new bike (my first real bike ) and it had yellow tuff wheels on them. It was a gorgeous Huffy frame in automotive grade black with micro flake in it, yellow frame pads and those yellow wheels. It made me feel like the king of the streets and the pathways of the woods of our neighborhood
Growing up in the UK in the 80's, anything American was SO new and futuristic and the American culture was everything. Sadly, my parents didn't have the money to buy me a brand new BMX, so I had a second hand one with pedal back brakes, aluminium 'Skyway' wheels and it weighed a tonne. My hero was Eddie Fiola and catching him on the TV, in sunny LA doing these amazing tricks on the coolest looking bike ever … wonderful memories. I've been so tempted over the years to buy a reissue or second hand BMX (when they were a lot cheaper) but being 6' 3" and well into my 40's - it would not be a good look.
Get one, you know you want to.
I had a Raleigh Burner with tuff wheels. Blue+Yellow. (Yummy) 🤟🏴
@duncanmacphee200 sounds like you may have had Mongoose Motomag wheels, they looked similar to Skyway Tuff 1s but webs in between the 5 spokes. They were cast metal and had a coaster brake.
Get a 24” bike, it’ll be more comfortable since it’ll fit your physique better. I stopped riding my mountain bike about a decade ago, but plan to start up again soon. I was still riding my 1994 26” rigid mountain bike, while everyone else on the trails was riding 29” hardtails or full suspension. I have another ‘90s 26” rigid mountain bike with slicks for the street that I’ll probably put composite wheels on if I can find them in 26” because I had a spoke snap off the rim. Either way it needs new wheels so I might as well get something cool. By the way, I’m slightly older than you, don’t let your age stop you from enjoying yourself.
My brother had the red base spec burner hos rich freind had the mag burner and a puch cross bike mini 😂😂😂 I had the latest oval framd burner custom made from scratch from burner parts at the shop... due to are rich grandmother and me being her favourite.... metallic purple frame red front tyre yellow back tyre mag rimmed spoked custom race wheels tw0 color brakes and cables and levers red race spec handle bat's mushroom grips two colours the Raleigh shop man who built it called it the roundness mackintosh burner And I got it and everyone was my bitch.. I never lost a race at western Park track Leicester not once even beating champions with utter ease one kid was so famous his dad ran a bmx shop and funded his kids career I beat him every race without even a hint of him coming close my names audie his was Aubrey whitch we all had a great time bullying him for... I said the only reason your champion and I ot is I'm poor and your rich I will smash everyone of you on a pro track.. dude was tv paper radio star and yet I beat him every race with utter ease.. my brick ramp record on the street was 15 kids laying side on in a row again no one could touch me
Loved skyways we also called them mags for some reason in England. Got sum for a falcon pro in the 80s brilliant video. Everyone knew who Matt Hoffman was aswell
I'm wearing my Profile Race Cars hat right now, which is an odd synchronicity for me. I grew up going to the dirt track with my dad who built dirt modifieds. I also got into BMX as a kid, and of course ran Profile stuff on my bike. Years and years later now, I'm an amateur dirt track racing historian, and here I find out that the company that built my bike parts was building race cars just like my dad, for the same people, at the same tracks, right around the same time.
I thought they just made bitchin' BMX parts my whole life, I had no idea!
As a former "husky" BMX freak back in the 70's and 80's, Skyway saved my love for BMX by making the ONLY set of wheels I could not destroy instantly. Between Tuffs and Flight cranks, I was able to ride as hard as I was able without constantly bending wheels and cranks. My RedLine ProLine had a set of blue tuffs, and it was literally bulletproof. I tried Zrims when they first came out, and the first time I did a 306 they folded over and ripped half the spokes right through the rim. I relaced them using washers under the spoke nipples, and they held up after that. Was a lot lighter than Tuffs, but nowhere near as tough.
Oh I forgot about these. I remember getting my first set of these for my mongoose BMX bike. I loved these rims but only thing was here in Texas it got so hot that they would get soft if you left your bike in the sun and made some crazy riding. Thx for bringing back a memory.
I'm 54 and totally remember this. I live (and grew up) in the Southpark area of CLT. A kid down the street turned his entire back yard into a half pipe. It was as tall as their 2 story house. Most kids rode skateboards on it, but my friends and I hit with our bikes. I could never afford these wheels, but my best friend rocked them all through Jr, High. You could never get away with a backyard half pipe like that with today's liability. Won't give out the owner's name, but does anyone out there remember Bellechase Street? Good times.
Thanks for the memories. Love your videos.
57 and sure was crazy about it back in the day LOL
Haha I'm right in the middle at 55 between you and @matthewfurt1577 and the 1980's were a magical time for us junior high school students. Everything was new and needed testing by us. I had a Raleigh Rampar I could ride a wheelie on for about a block. It was made to wheelie ! Boy do I miss living in the Valley.
I still have my chrome preditor with red rims and my blue mongoose with black rims and my Fuji mountain bike with the old school spin rims 💪🏽🔥💯
I had a chrome TA with white mags and a Landing Gear fork and every bolt on freestyle part skyway made.Got jumped in my building by guys trying to steal it but I didn’t let go.Thank god my pops heard my screams lol.Gave it to my little brother when I got a car.He doesn’t remember what he did with it.I regret giving it to him to this day.
Blue skyway tuffwheels, probably around 1982! I had the five spoke model. What an awesome rabbit hole!
Cool video! I remember those awesome wheels back in the 80's, and I used to have a couple of scooters (with pneumatic wheels) with their nylon wheels on them. I wish I still had one of them. I loved and thoroughly miss my Redline BMX bike.. Pure chrome frame, no stickers or engraving (just stamped in the bottom with frame info) and I rode the crap out of that bike back in 95' and 96'. It was really a great bike. I keep hunting for an ELF, since I've wanted one since 94' (at age 11) when I first learned of them. A friend had one and you could pick it up with 1 finger like it was made of air. Those mid-90's and older bikes had style for days!
Wow, I had tuff wheels II on my BMX bike way way back when I was a kid. They were just soo cool. I remember Troxel too. What a blast from the past. The PK ripper was famous, a buddy had one. This was fun to watch.
I was a total tomboy as a kid. I had an early Red Line frame and dad got me a set of black Tuff Wheels. That first set melted in the NM sun. They didn't melt, melt but they got all wonky. I later had a red set with the vented hubs and they lasted me until I graduated to racing a Chenowth. The late 70s - mid/late 80s was so much fun. I went from a Schwin with a banana seat to a kind of early crossover BMX bike to my favorite bike, the Red Line and ultimately to a desert car. Haha, I even got to see Metallica play in a bar. Unfortunately that means I am old now and that sucks!!!!
😊i had yellow ones on my brown scrambler in the 70s
For freestyle riders,Tuff wheels and Z-rims had super crappy braking power. Rim brake pads just couldn’t grip them like aluminum. My buddy painted the brake surface with nail polish to make them work for a short while. If you want to bust a Miami Hopper, you gotta have decent brakes. Great vid!
In the 80s I had (still have) a black and gold Columbia pro am with spoked wheels number plates, pads.....basic entry level Sears BMX bike....one year at the beach on vacation my parents rented bikes and I got to have for a week a skyway that had a golden chrome frame with red trim red mags & tires cobra grips laid back seat....I really wanted that bike so bad but had to go home... for a few days I was a pretty cool kid
Wow how ironic as a 80s kid i still have a set of the blue tough 2s in my shed! Never thought anyone would do a video on them .. crazy stuff!
I used to race BMX when I was a kid in the 70's. I had a set of red Tuffwheels on my MCS Spyder. Ended up going to spoked for racing, just a little lighter.
I started restoring a bike two years ago and was able to get my hands on a pair of white tuffwheels. Not finished yet but it’s looking amazing.
Nice to see the history of the company 😎
I restored a Raleigh Burner in 2012 and used the original mags… on my first ride i noticed it was very bumpy. Turns out the original mags had shrunk back between the spokes and effectively made the wheels hexagonal 😂😂😂
With a little research i was happy to find out i could still buy new ones 🎉🎉🎉
Two new skyway mags were purchased and are still on the bike today. (I’m in the UK)
70's and 80's, last I remember in 82, had a redline with ofcourse red skyway mags, oooooooh! The memories,
I had a Schwinn with Tuffies as a kid! Best Xmas present/B-day gift I ever got.
Loved Skyway bikes. Chrome, trimmed with black seat, graphites, and black grips. A couple buddies had Skyways, so I went Hutch Pro Racer. Graphites, Flights, black pads, lay back seat post, Hutch stem, and pedals. Wish I still had it.
This video is great brought back lots of emotions. Had a set of red 2’s on a mongoose in the 80’s. But they never got made Indiana. I worked for Custom Engineered Wheels for 2012 to 2018. I was a maintenance guy and worked in an engineering department. I was really excited when I heard they were buying Skyway probably the only one who new anything about bmx and new how big a deal it was. We thought they were going to be made in Warsaw Indiana then they decided to produce them in Mississippi. CEW had a fire around 2015 in Mississippi at the Tupelo plant so the Warsaw plant took all their production needs. They ended up moving to Baldwyn Mississippi and closed the Warsaw facility in 2018 I was one of three people left in Warsaw. Lots of poor decisions were made private equity groups suck sure the ceo at the time had no interest in California he was inching to go south. For me it all worked out for the better lots of people I worked with all ended up at the same plastics shop better money etc. I do miss some and that’s sad. Warsaw is cool I am a cyclist we had Sun Metal which made Sun Rims and later bought Ringle and Hayes group which meant being a mountain biker you had access to some really cool stuff. A good friend of mine was the sole importer for Kuwahara so I ended up with two xl 20 inch and a cruiser frame. I ended up selling them wish I would’ve kept the cruiser but they went to a good home got built and get ridden.
I have a 1983 Schwinn Predator with blue and yellow decals. I did a complete clean and polish of the original chrome and added a laid back post with yellow Kashimax seat and yellow Tuff Wheels with blue tires.
I use the bike at race tracks to get around the pits…and the looks and compliments it gets because of the yellow wheels is amazing.
I just bought a Hutch Trick Star to do a complete restoration on and it will get red Tuff Wheels.
As a kid in the 80’s I was always ahh seeing these rims on BMX bikes. Too cool! Thanks for the video! 👍🏻
Late 70's, I had a Webco with Astubula forks. The wire spoked rims were so heavy, but I was a kid. These Tuff wheels came out and they were light, but couldn't handle the abuse my friend put them through. LOL
Good times.
Had a set of those yellow tuffs on the blue Raleigh Rampar! What a time
My yellow Skyway mags will always be one of my favorite bday presents as a kid.
Excellent editing and presentation, You've got a great narration voice!
I appreciate that!
AWSOME flashback moments. Had a redline, haro and gt. Many good times I had freestyling
Fond memories here of Skyway, Haro and others during the halcyon days of the early to mid-80s but nothing, repeat nothing, will ever be as cool as Eddie Fiola riding his GT bikes!
I Guess it was 1977 or 78. I cherished my white mongoose with redline forks and black tuff wheels! Thanks for the great video.
The prototype 20" Graphite wheels had Shimano Dura Ace track axles, bearings and hub parts. Perry Kramer said an interview that the Head of Skyway asked him what brand of hubs he was using on his spoked wheels and he told them that he was using Campagnolo Track hubs. A few weeks later a set of update 20" Graphite wheels had Campagnolo Track parts in them. Only the factory Skyway riders had Campy 24" Graphite wheels.
Awesome addition to the story, thank you!
I’m 52. My first bike was a Montgomery Wards piece of junk with solid rubber tires. I quickly outgrew it and for Christmas 1977 or 1978 I got a CyclePro Blitz that came with Tuff Wheels. It was hanging from the ceiling in my garage until 6 years ago until I lost it in a fire. Originally came with coaster brakes (Bendix) but later converted it and put hand brakes on it. Funny how the town I now live in is 2 hours from Redding and the main road into our town is called The Skyway.
I had a red pair of them that I rode for many years. They were great because if they somehow got warped, or bent you could put them in the freezer for a few hours and they would straighten back out ! I never managed to break them !
I had a Schwinn all chrome bike w/black original Skyway’s in the late 70’s. Loved them for tricks, but they were heavy.