HISTORY OF SKYWAY: Tuff Wheels & TA's

HISTORY OF SKYWAY: Tuff Wheels & TA's
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The official Skyway Movie from way back in 1982. Includes some great footage of how the 'Tuff Wheels' are made. SKYWAY, based in Redding Ca. The makers of the original 5 spoke "Tuff Wheel". Although mainly Mag wheels, they also made frames and complete bikes for a brief period. Skyway had a great race team for many years. The company still produces a variety of products today.
Founded in 1963, Skyway is alive and well, enjoying decades of thriving business.
With Skyway's growing involvement with motocross accessories, they thought they could make the industry's first composite nylon wheel. After some thought, they realized that it wouldn't work due to the heat that is expelled from a motorcycle wheel, so they decided on the next best thing - a composite bicycle wheel for BMX use.
In 1974, Skyway entered the BMX history books by "re-inventing the wheel" with their brand new "Tuff Wheel 1". This first Tuff Wheel was available in black only and featured a coaster brake. The demand and popularity for these wheels steadily increased as the first few years rolled along. Then, in 1977, Schwinn contracted Skyway to provide yellow Tuff 1's as their "stock" wheel for their "Scrambler" bicycle. This was Skyway's very first of many "OEM" customers. Red and Blue Tuff 1's were immediately introduced into the BMX market at this time as well. With their success in the BMX wheel market, Skyway decided it was time to do something different and introduced the "Tuff Fork". Shortly after that, they decided that they wanted to remain just "a wheel company" and decided to halt production of the fork just 6 months later.
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#stuntabiker #skyway #bmx #bmxfreestyle #oldschoolbmx #tuffwheels

[@flyzeyefab]

Thanks for posting! SKYWAY was (and still is) a huge part of my life. I just recently purchased another BMX bike - long live the glory days!!!

[@1995RangeRover]

Skilled American workers making superior products...enjoying the video because this is something that is no more.

[@e.v.frederick3598]

These guys knew how to ride. They had full control of the bike when jumping and landing. Awesome flashback, thanx. Also wanted to add my son and i rebuilt a 96 diamondback reactor pro with red skyways. Rides so smooth and fast.

[@PatrickMichael2002]

Thanks for sharing. I didn't know anyone that raced with Tuff Wheels, unless they were sponsored. You could see the same thing in the video.

[@JoseTorres-ep3rq]

Great times never forget👍💪!

[@TRSwanVideos]

Thanks for sharing. 82 was my favorite year for racing, always wanted a set of graphite tuffs - they were Campy Equipped!!! Still have my Mongoose Two/Four from that year....

[@Allentox]

This is when they had pride in their products. SkyWay PLEASE fix your quality issues! I have a bike I can't complete without you!

[@colinmumford6843]

Andy Patterson doing his 360 on the quarter pipe was a cutting edge trick at the time. What the current riders do nowadays is amazing, but it needed guys like Andy Patterson to get the ball rolling in that direction..... and you Andy of course with your front hops on top of a quarter pipe..... I wasn’t a fan of Skyways (wheels or bikes), but now I’d love to have an 84 TA 🤓

[@michaelhughes3302]

Got an electric blue Raleigh Burner with yellow Tuff ll's and matching pads for Christmas 1981. Loved that bike.

[@jose.rodriguez8588]

Hola Jesús

[@skylarsoper241]

I had tuff wheels in red , on my skyway ta , then in 2000 or so I got a dirt bros patriot and put em on my patriot , still have em to this day 2023 , but my patriot has Alex supra J triple wall’s since 2002 or so , got a red tuff on front and a cp Alex supra j rear rim , BMX for life ❤😊

[@typ044]

I mowed so many lawns to get a set of these as a kid!

[@ghadrackpotato960]

I'm a bit slow just posted on the Mongoose video asking for this to see you already did it. Great memories. I actually cracked a Skyway mag on a street ramp when I was 11, little dab of super glue and kept riding it like I stole it for another half dozen years :)

[@michaelbanks4005]

I wear them on my 84 Hutch Pro Raider.

[@brettwhitney718]

I used the 1's, 2's and the O.E.'s. The good old days! I remember Miami hop hops would break them. Great wheels!

[@diogoteixeira4263]

my left ear enjoyed the video

[@stuntabiker]

yeah sorry about that, its from a VHS and we missed the audio issue😇

[@TroubadourJuggernaut]

As a kid very few of us in my neighborhood had Tuff Wheels, and couldnt talk our parents into springing for the newest "fad" we just all wished for them !!

[@canadaeast8358]

When I was a kid they were the coolest looking wheels. Still are I think. Could be nostalgia idk

[@Artburg]

Still have my wheel on my 35yr old St.Tropez 240

[@Dropthetop36]

No way I have a Saint tropez too! The aerolite model! How’s yours?

[@MrROTD]

Amount of customisation was unreal back then, most of the parts were standard so you could build a bike out of 10 used up ones.

[@braindrain8922]

That was brilliant , thanks for posting Andy x

[@stuntabiker]

Wasn't me, thanks The Stuntabiker Team LOL

[@Kashed]

I’d rather have a set of Araya 7X’s with Bullseye hubs! 👍🏻 I miss those days. Great video though, it’s proof that once upon a time kids went outside!

[@stuntabiker]

The Stuntabiker has to be honest here - Araya 7X all day long even from 1981 LOL

[@313barrygmail]

What about the Ukiah??? What about the z-rim ?? Phil cook hubs

[@jjdtierney]

Excellent comment! My first BMX bike was a rather unremarkable Norco Spitfire Turbo. It had a frame made of ovular hi-tensile steel tubing that superficially resembled a Skyway TA and a one-piece crank. The best thing on the bike were its Araya rins. These weren't perfect as the braking surface wasn't great (painted), but they were strong and light and they lasted for years even though I rode them every day and they made it onto my upgraded GT frameset and lasted almost two years on that bike until it was stolen from me. Skyway must've made a mint off tough wheels, but they were too heavy for racing and maybe too flexy for freestyle. They sold a helluva lot of them though. Wizend 11year old me would trade both my Norco and my GT for a Skyway TA with alloy Arayas any day though! Imagine how high Mike Dominguez would've spared above the skatepark if he'd had another sponsor?

[@Kashed]

@@jjdtierney That’s awesome! 👍🏻 My first BMX was a Diamondback and I had several in between, Redline etc but, my fav was my last which was a Hutch Pro-Racer frame with all kinds of great parts I searched out for it. CW bars, Mushroom grips, DK mini neck, GT laid back seat post, KKT lightning pedals, Comp II tires and of course those 48 spoke Araya 7x rims with Bullseye hubs. Man that bike was super light! It was the only one that didn’t get stolen from me. Of course I sold it to a buddy for his little brother and yes it got stolen. I wish I hadn’t of sold it, especially for only $150 but, I was doing him a solid and I had moved onto cars. I wish I still had it to just hang on my wall. The only other frame I always wanted was a Race Inc. But they were hard to find and outrageously expensive!

[@davidmaltone4812]

The music in the very beginning is like he’s telling a sad story 😂

[@ClayKirby-sj3zy]

Put some reissue skyways on a rebuild .. as a kid I had some yellow knockoffs on a huffy.. all my friends had skyways on there redlines and we still had fun ..they were older than me and had paperroutes to buy there bikes..

[@roberthatfull3816]

I loved the skyway ta i had bout 10 of them in all it was a good dirtjumping bike i had loadsa tuffs in a variety of colours but found the alloy hubs to bend after some abuse they where strong tho and i bought loads of replacement hub kits .

[@thornyturtleranch6152]

Had skyway tuffwheel II on my schwinn predator my grandparents bought for me in kentucky. The also bought me a bike lock ! When I sold the bike the guy who bought it left it on his front lawn in deland florida it was gone.

[@stuntabiker]

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[@raleighburner1589]

I had a set in 82 and in 84 I got a coaster brake for my rear wheel in Holland park London right on the high street near the tube station I can't remember the name of the shop

[@jackshittle]

I remember getting purple Tuff Wheel II's for Christmas to go on my neon green Haro Master frame & forks lol. I always got a kick out of any brand whos racing jerseys says "FACTORY TEAM". What's that mean? People who actually work in the factory during the work week race their bikes on the weekends? The word "factory" isn't necessary & sounds dumb. Also, "Skyway Recreation"? Why in the heck would they choose that for a logo? If I knew nothing about Skyway and saw that I would assume it's a recreation company that sells pool tables, volley ball equipment, above ground pools, boating supplies, fishing poles, etc. We have a recreation store in town and that's the kind of stuff they sell. Why would they not just leave it as "Skyway" or "Skyway BMX" or "Skyway Racing" or "Skyway BMX Bikes"? Same thing with Oakley. What exactly does "Oakley Factory Pilot" mean? These BMX companies were obsessed with making sure "FACTORY" was emphasized for whatever reason. Tuff Wheels were cool until some kids approached me and were laughing & said "So wait, you put an old persons wheelchair wheels on your bike? lol". I later took them off and then slammed them in the dumpster while saying "I hate these crappy wheels. Stupid wheels!" like Danielson did.

[@yellowveedub]

My friend dimmy had our local shop build him a skyway bike. Best of everything. Then didn't have the money to buy it ☹️

[@jacobjames1171]

Hot blonde running an engine lathe @4:00

[@alanfilip8896]

Love your product I had a pair of the tough ones If you made them for 26" mountain bikes I would put pair on that too but you don't I wish you did

[@v.rudeboy9829]

SKYWAY TA frames were sexy..

[@irvingfive7955]

Matt Hoffman started going big on those frames. Rad times.

[@5ynthesizerpatel]

The most beautiful single top tube bike of the early 80's

[@ryurc3033]

I saved a set of black 5 spoke mags for a chopper bicycle I built. I thought they were an early set of tuffs. They are later knockoffs from a Wal-Mart bike in the 90s. They look cool but im pretty sure if I ride it they will instantly shatter.....love the vid tho

[@lincbond442]

I have some unmarked yellow 5 spoke wheels with a Bendix 76 coaster brake in the rear. They have some writing in red marker on the inside of the wheel. They look just like Skyway Tuff wheels but they have no Skyway markings. Could these be the the 1977 Tuff Wheels that were used on the Schwinn Scrambler bikes?

[@angrykermit3192]

The way I remember it is I desperately wanted a pair of Skyway wheels but then every department store started coming out with cheap crappy bikes with cheap Skyway wheel knockoffs and those style of wheels became associated with cheap bikes.

[@ClayKirby-sj3zy]

Yeah my huffy pro thunder was black with yellow mags Ii think she got it at a toys r Us .. department store.. and I think there was a red and white one... All my friends had redlines and mongoose bikes with real skyways.. I didn't have a free wheel.. but still had fun on Saturday went to bmx track with my older friends and dad I got too borrow a bike and race..good times

[@diggindan1498]

Skyways wheels looked really good on a bmx but were too heavy. Especially for racing.

[@indigneouschupacabra43]

Are they easily breakable ? Im about to order some online and there coming from across the country im worried about them getting crushed lol

[@diggindan1498]

@@indigneouschupacabra43 Nah! They are Tuffs! lol Should be fine dude!

[@indigneouschupacabra43]

Do they spin fast like any other other regular rim ?

[@DnB-BMX]

@@indigneouschupacabra43 How did you get on? I have a pair here and they are solid!! and run smooth!!

[@wild-radio7373]

🥰👍

[@wild-radio7373]

That outro😆🤌

[@michaelmccormick7005]

i broke a tuff wheel, it sounded like a gun shot.

[@LuluBejot]

❤️ That’s a great bmx video to watch! How often do you upload your videos? By late the way, I just started my channel too 😃😅

[@Mainroad.Manjis101]

Lulu Bejot just check like 10 of the most recent videos. Also none of us want to see your commercial stuff in comments.

[@Bobbybbops]

Is the color a solid plastic all the way through.

[@mpetties9978]

No next gen was magnesium

[@bryanshiagetz7772]

Yep, solid thru out it

[@carolkelly6933]

Problem was they were always warped.

[@kudosbudo]

Here the thing, co sthey are waarped out teh box, you don't need to worry about warping em!, and no need to true em cos they never warp really bad, they snap first!

[@patcoston]

1:14 Gloves are a must in racing. Not!

[@danielaredes8573]

They still nice for impact

[@patcoston]

@@danielaredes8573 I agree. I ride with gloves 100% of the time. I just hate it when someone says something that's not true, just because it sounds good. Saying that gloves are a must in racing implies that they are required, or that you can't do it without gloves. I raced BMX without gloves for years, but once I tried them, I realized that I had better grip, especially when my hands got sweaty. The sweat remained inside the gloves so my hands didn't slip in the grips. Gloves are also better for wet conditions.

[@ChunkyChest]

narrated by brad pitt xDD

[@shanetiernan7657]

Complete BS! They forget to mention stealing the patent from the original four partners!