Chuck Raudman had a number of outside interests which ultimately led the company in a new direction. First BMX Tuff Wheels Tuff Wheels were the first 20' wheel to be molded in the world. Skyway saw the possibility of making a contribution to this rapidly growing market in the form of a.
Maurice's info is excellent, but can we expand on it any and add more photos etc? Then I was searching for a photo of flanges that I'm pretty sure was posted here. I couldn't find it though. However I did find this on Vintage, and it's either exactly the one that was here or one very much like it. A couple of questions.
1) Does the flange generation strictly match the wheel generation. If there is a square flange, is that ALWAYS going to be paired with a wheel that has the patent and skyway logo on the sidewall? In other words has it ever been the case that there would be a wheel that has the patent and branding in the spoke area, but also has a square flange and not a star flange?
2) How about the patent no. Is D244272, ALWAYS a first gen tuff II in graphite, or is that the number on all square flange Tuff II's? 3) How about this pat no. I know this is also associated with Tuff II. But which ones? Second Gen only?
Square flange possible, or only star flange? I have never studied Tuff wheels, and now that I have begun, I find that despite some great info out there, there is still some ambiguity. At least in my mind. A lot of this could be addressed if people would illustrate their discussion posts with photos.
Please add photos if you can. Hosting them here where it is easy and free would be an added plus!
I know the flange shape is a key. Also, as Pat pointed out recently in the 'every mag wheel' thread, thickness of the flange may also be a criteria. We need some specifics on that if possible and if it's illustrated - all the better. Photos of the hardware, not just the flange, would be useful, but that's hard to get the shot. Graphite 1st Gen's are all Pat.
D244272, have three sets Graphite 2nd Gen's are Pat. 4280736 Sold my 3rd Gen's and can't confirm. Here's some history and some dates on the Graphites/Campy hubs before offered to the public. October 1979 Minicycle BMX Action magazine test of Skyway Tuff II's and notice the Campy hubs in a 'to me colored' Tuff. Shot of PK in 1979 with a Campy hub in a Tuff. November 1979 BMXA, should be a metal flange hub but they used the Campy picture PK raced the first Graphite/Campy Wheels at the December '79 Jag World championships 1980 August BMXA announcement of the Graphite/Campy wheels. Graphite 1st Gen's are all Pat.
D244272, have three sets Graphite 2nd Gen's are Pat. 428036 Sold my 3rd Gen's and can't confirm. Here's some history and some dates on the Graphites/Campy hubs before offered to the public. October 1979 Minicycle BMX Action magazine test of Skyway Tuff II's and notice the Campy hubs in a 'to me colored' Tuff. Shot of PK in 1979 with a Campy hub in a Tuff. November 1979 BMXA, should be a metal flange hub but they used the Campy picture PK raced the first Graphite/Campy Wheels at the December '79 Jag World championships 1980 August BMXA announcement of the Graphite/Campy wheels. Your answer to both questions is true.
I have sets where the patent and serial number are on the rim as well as the spokes. Both sets use a first gen squared hub and are graphites. I know the sets with the serial and patent on the rim were sold over the counter and available to the public.
The other sets I have where they use a first gen squared flange but the patent on the spoke area and not the rim I am not sure if they were sold over the counter and available to the public. Reason being, these sets I use to get from Richie Anderson himself (that being the ones with the patent on the spoke area and not the rim) after his races in Stockton on friday nights. He would sell them for $100 after he was done using them for the night. Most were brand new until he used them that night.
Now, they could very well be custom made wheels for the factory riders only. I remember being at Richie's in Vallejo one time and seeing what was almost a half of a garage full of graphites. Dude swore by these wheels. I was lucky enough to hang with Bob Medrano and his crew back in the day and had access to these wheels at any given time. Of course if you had a bag of weed, graphites were a dime a dozen.lol.
Cool story, and interesting info. Just did a speed read, will revisit to let it soak in deep later. If it's convenient to post pics later, please do. Do you still have in your possession the spoke area patent with the square flange?
If so, what date is in the rim strip area (only visible with the tire off)? With that being said, I know that the 2 sets of second gen campy hub graphite 24' tuff wheel 2 sets I have are definitely factory issue only. I will check those out also for the patent number placement. I also still have two sets of 1st gen and 1 set of campy second gen 20 graphites to look at the patent numbers and report back. Maurice's info is excellent, but can we expand on it any and add more photos etc? Then I was searching for a photo of flanges that I'm pretty sure was posted here. I couldn't find it though.
However I did find this on Vintage, and it's either exactly the one that was here or one very much like it. A couple of questions.
1) Does the flange generation strictly match the wheel generation. If there is a square flange, is that ALWAYS going to be paired with a wheel that has the patent and skyway logo on the sidewall? In other words has it ever been the case that there would be a wheel that has the patent and branding in the spoke area, but also has a square flange and not a star flange? 2) How about the patent no. Is D244272, ALWAYS a first gen tuff II in graphite, or is that the number on all square flange Tuff II's? 3) How about this pat no. I know this is also associated with Tuff II.
But which ones? Second Gen only? Square flange possible, or only star flange? I have never studied Tuff wheels, and now that I have begun, I find that despite some great info out there, there is still some ambiguity. At least in my mind. A lot of this could be addressed if people would illustrate their discussion posts with photos.
Please add photos if you can. Hosting them here where it is easy and free would be an added plus! I know the flange shape is a key. Also, as Pat pointed out recently in the 'every mag wheel' thread, thickness of the flange may also be a criteria.
We need some specifics on that if possible and if it's illustrated - all the better. Photos of the hardware, not just the flange, would be useful, but that's hard to get the shot. The only set of 24' graphite tuff wheels I have ever seen with the square flanges (hence first gen hub) were the set especially made for Ken who runs the colored turfs website. These were made sometime in 2010? Pulled out some Tuff's and thought would add the below about Patent #'s. 1974/75 Patent Pending Tuff I's Some Tuff 1's have the D244272 on the sidewall and have some Tuff 1's with no Patent, have five sets.not sure how far back they started the Patent on them? Tuff II Metal flange also some have D244272 and two sets that do not plus the sidewall on the ones that do not are thinner Tuff II Alloy flange have either D244272 or 4280736 (White) stamped on the spoke Graphite Gen 1 Campy D244272 Graphite Gen 2 Campy stamped 4280736 on the spoke Graphite Gen 3 Campy sealed not sure as I sold mine last year.
Want to know the different types of Skyway Tuff BMX Wheel? This post will hopefully give you all the information you need to find the type of Skyway Tuff wheels you have and when they were made. A BRIEF SKYWAY TUFF HISTORY In 1974 SKYWAY introduced the first of the composite Skyway Tuff Wheels made for BMX racing – ‘The Tuff Wheel 1’. Skyway Tuff BMX wheels were and still are fabricated using Skyway’s own secret composite blend. Skyway claim their composite Tuff BMX wheels are lightweight, durable and maintenance free.
Over the past 40 years there have been many updates to the Skyway Tuff BMX wheel design. Skyway have also made many limited edition retro wheel sets over the years. For example in 2011 Skyway remade their Tuff wheels with original 1982 (Gen 2) alloy hubs. Skyway only made 20 sets of black and 20 sets of white. The wheels were clearly marked with the 2.11 date stamp to differentiate them from the original 1982 wheels.
THE TYPES OF SKYWAY TUFF WHEELS Tuff Wheel 1 – The first Tuff Wheel, available in 20″ black only and featured a coaster brake. Tuff Wheel 1 OEM – The first of many OEM wheels to be produced, they were originally made in yellow for Schwinn in 1977 for their “Scrambler” BMX. Red and Blue Tuff 1’s were immediately introduced at this time as well. The Tuff Wheel II – Released in 1979.
The Tuff Wheel II was lighter and more durable than the Tuff 1. It featured the “Kool hub” flange design. A 5 spoked flange designed to keep the wheel cool as the hub heated up internally during use. The first production Tuff 2’s were available in coaster brake only, in black, red, blue, and yellow. At the beginning of the 80’s, Suntour provided Skyway with the first freewheel style Tuff Wheel hub. Each of the Kool Hub shapes differed slightly. You can check which hubs you have below (chart by ). At the same time, to make their factory riders stand out at the race track, Skyway introduced the famous Graphite Tuff Wheel with it’s bright gold anodised hub made by Campagnolo, commonly referred to as “Campy”.
In the early mid 80’s Skyway introduced the first 16″ and 24″ Tuff Wheels. And around 1985 Skyway improved their Tuff Wheel design, re-tooling their molding machines creating the Tuff Wheel design still available today. The modern version of the Skyway Tuff no longer had the metal or alloy Kool hub flanges, the hubs were molded directly into the wheel. Throughout the mid to late 80’s and 90’s Skyway made Tuffs Wheels for other bike manufacturers. These were called OEM Tuff Wheels.
Skyway OEM Tuff BMX wheels were made in both 5 and 6 spokes. I believe the mid to late 80s OEM wheels were made with a 6 spoke design and then in the early and mid 90’s the 5 spoke design was made. The fin or spoke design was quite different to the regular Tuff Wheels and featured a narrower inverted fin or channel. The 90’s 5 spoke Skyway OEM Tuff wheels – like the ones below, are date stamped inside one of the spoke channels near the hub. The earlier, late 80’s OEM wheels do not have any date stamping.
Have you got any more examples of Skyway Tuff BMX wheels that aren’t listed. Thanks for reading.
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