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T-Day 12/4/24 - Torker is re-launched.
Our relationship with TORKER goes back to our very beginning. Chuck Robinson introduced us to the Johnson family on a trip to California in April 1981 and ALANS BMX were the UK importer for TORKER and MAX until they went into administration at the end of 1984. We attended the auction in February 1985 and purchased all their remaining frame stock and while we didn't buy the rights to the name we did register it in the UK and continued to run a Torker race team and sell the brand through the 1980's and into the 90's. We even sponsored riders on aluminium Torkers under the SBS ownership in the later 90's. We are absolutely stoked to be a part of Torkers new chapter and it couldn't be in better hands with Bill Ryan and his team.
You can find out more about the new Torker products here.
12/4/23
I realise that there are still some riders that I haven't managed to cover in this history of Torker in UK series but I can't sign off without saying something about Steve and the rest of the Johnson family.
I first met Steve on our trip to California in April 1981, we were over there with Chuck Robinson and were looking for another brand with an entry level price point bike to run alongside Robinson Racing, so Chuck took us to meet Steve and the Johnson family. I came away from that trip as the UK distributor from not just Robinson but also Torker, Max, Haro, A'ME, Sabre (number plates) and Premier helmets - all at the ripe old age of 16.
Steve did everything he could to help us make Torker a success in Europe, coming over later that year with Clint Miller, Dave Marietti & Jason Jensen for the Anglo-American Cup. He also listened to what worked for us and what didn't and taught me a lot about business. We stayed at Steve's flat in Fullerton numerous times as well as the Johnson family home in Yorba Linda, I'll never forget Doug letting me use his water bed!
The relationship with the Johnsons lasted right up to the end and beyond as we remained friends with John, Doris, Steve and Doug years after they left BMX and I have very fond memories of that time. I can’t believe 43 years I’m still as excited to be part of the Torker legacy as ever and that the legacy will continue with Bill Ryan whose custodianship I am sure would have made Steve proud.
8/4/24
Our second entry for Liverpool's Terry Jenkins and although he was only on Torker for a relatively short time, Terry's impact and influence was considerable, at a time when freestyle was South-biased. This spread is from the "BMX Hot Shots" book, produced by the BMX Action Bike team with photos from the Kellogs BMX TV series, which along with the Ford BMX Challenge shows, made Terry and others household names.
Freestyle was really taking off in 1984 so we decided to launch a two man Torker Trick Team. Andy Irwin, a skater-cum-BMX'er from Southport and Terry Jenkins. Andy attacked everything full speed and was always great to watch. Terry was definitely more finesse and his smooth rollbacks were as good as Bob Haro's. Both riders were on the new-at-the-time Pro-X frame and did some drawing works and supplied ideas for the Torker Freestylist to Steve Johnson at Torker, although they never got to ride it Andy did test it for Freestyle BMX (see entry 6/4/24).
Terry went on to ride for Haro and developed his own Space bars.
7/4/24
Our ad from BMX Action Bike, March. 1984. Launched at the end of 1983, the Pro-X was the new Torker frame that we had been waiting for, with every feature we could want. With a longer 19.5" toptube, double butted 4130 tubing, machined BB and headtube, rolled dropouts and new Redline-style headtube gusset (it was a shame that they all cracked). Available only as a frame and fork set in either chrome or white. Described here as the first frame "that can handle the demands of both the racer and freestylist". AW Distributing was our new limited company, handling Torker, Robinson, Max, A'ME, Mirage, SunTour, MKS and more. Also, as you can see we were (rightly) excited at the news of Tommy Brackens and Mike Miranda joining Torker.
Sadly, the Pro-X was too little too late as by November 1984 the company had filed for bankrupcy.
1985 Torker UK Pro team: Tony Holland, John Lee, Alan Woods.
6/4/24
Andy Irwin testing the Torker Freestylist for Freestyle BMX magazine, October 1984. Andy along with Terry Jenkins were our original Torker Trick Team until mid-way through '84, they had a hand in the design of the Freestylist, but never actually got to ride it. After the break-up Terry went to Haro and Andy rode his Pro-X for a while until getting picked up by GT. Andy lived in Southport, home of one the last concrete skateparks in the UK and one of the first BMX race tracks and this test is conducted at Southport Pleasureland.
Andy Irwin testing the Torker Freestlist for Freestyle BMX magazine, October 1984. Andy along with Terry Jenkins were our original Torker Trick Team until mid-way through '84, they had a hand in the design of the Freestylist, but never actually got to ride it. After the break-up Terry went to Haro and Andy rode his Pro-X for a while until getting picked up by GT. Andy lived in Southport, home of one the last concrete skateparks in the UK and one of the first BMX race tracks and this test is conducted at Southport Pleasureland.
By the looks of the spec it seems like the magazine swapped Andy's parts over to the Freestylist frame & fork and the Mirage Crossbars that we supplied them with. The bars were actually exactly the same spec as the Torker T-bars (8"x27.5") and made here in the UK by DEP (Derek Elwell products) which made motocross bars and still make pipes today. We remade these about 7 years and we do have plans to do another run in 2025, so keep yours eyes out for them.
I dont think Andy would mind me describing him as more of a "brute force" rider compared his silky-smooth team mate, Terry. In all these years I have never seen a rider wear through grips as fast as Andy, in fact I thought he was selling them, so asked him to hand me the worn out grips back before exchanging them for new ones :)
Andy now resides in the UAE with his family, is still in great shape and rides to this day with the occasional video of him popping up busting out a rockwalk or a framestander.
The Torker Freestylist lives again in 20” or 29” format in the new Torker line up launched 12th April.
5/4/24
Clint Miller on the cover of BMX Action, February 1983 on the Torker 24" just before he switched to Kuwahara and secured the World Championship in Slagharen, Holland. I was there at Torker when the news broke that Clint was leaving and the vibes weren't great I can tell you, Doris was particularily upset and talked about some longstanding issue with Howie Cohen and Everything Bicycles (Kuwahara's US distributor).
Nonetheless, Clint was a great flag bearer for Torker between the Eddie King and Mike Miranda years and appeared in many Torker ads including the infamous "Torker the Barbarian" ad. Steve Johnson brought over Clint, Dave Marietti and Jason Jensen for the Anglo-American Cup in Redditch in 1981 and they rode at Eastway before we drove up to Chorley in our old transit van.
BMX reached it's peak (in the UK at least) in 1984. We got the contract to do a Summer-long series of shows at Ford car dealerships in the North which meant a lot of driving and shows almost every day. Ford provided us with a brand new Transit van and a trailer that we hauled a 1/4 pipe and trick ramp around on. The tours started out with our Torker Trick team of Terry Jenkins and Andy Irwin, then midway through I had a holiday booked in Corfu, but there were still some shows to do and when I came back, I'm not even sure what happened but something did and we let Terry and Andy go and picked up two local unknowns who used to come down to the shop, Julian Parkinson and Andy Minshull - and we went on with the show!
By the end of Summer the Freestylist frames finally arrived (that Terry and Andy I. had a hand in designing) so Julian and Andy M. switched to these. After the "Ford BMX Challenge" we did a ton of shows still across the UK and spent a few days at the legendary Livingstone skatepark in Scotland. When the Freestylist came we were somewhat underwhelmed with the stickers so Julian redesigned them, we had these made in the UK with fluroescent inks and we recently found a box of these!
The new Freestylist lives again in the new Torker line up launched 12th April.
3/4/24
Torker's Dave Marietti from the USABMX archive of Chuck Robinson's photos, at the Anglo-American Cup 1981 being chased my me (Robinson, 214) and Pete Middleton on Mongoose. I'm running a Sabre plate here but I used a Wizard plate mostly which is the company that Marietti started that year. Dave later founded Hot Shoppe Designs (see bio is from their website below). Dave was over here with Torker owner Steve Johnson, Clint Miller and Jason Jensen, they also went to Eastway (see below) while here and John Lee's legendary Chorley track. Dave was always super cool to us took us riding to all his spots and man was he a rad jumper! I stayed with him at his mom's in Hacienda Heights with Tony Holland, I remember her making a huge pile of chipolata sausages for us for breakfast!
From hotshoppe.com:
The mid-1970s was an explosive time for extreme sports, and after seeing a flyer for a bike race at his school in Hacienda Heights, CA, an 11-year-old Dave Marietti asked his mom to buy him a Stringray bicycle. From there, Dave went on to win races and he became a member of famed BMX Team Torker.
Dave became one of the top competitors in BMX (ABA National #6 Pro 1983), but he wanted more. In 1984, Dave Marietti founded Hot Shoppe Designs. Dave took his lifelong love for cycling as well as an instinctive talent for art and design, and blended these (along with lots of hard work) into one of the most elite custom action sports apparel brands in the world, Hot Shoppe Designs. Today, over 28 years later, Dave is still actively competing and racing mountain and road bikes. He lives in Dana Point, CA with his wife, Stephanie, and their three daughters.
ps/ After the Redditch race I talked Dave into selling me the Redline Flight cranks off his Torker, which were pre-pinch type, try finding a pair today....
From Hot Shoppe Facebook post 2019:
Today is the 50th Birthday of BMX!
July 10, 1969 - July 10, 2019
(BMX Roots - Hot Shoppe's Dave Marietti - Eastway, London - 1981)
Torker 280 ad, BMX Action Bike, 1983.
2/4/24
Here we have a great photo of Damon Parkinson on the cover of BMX Bi-Weekly in 1985 looking "Full Factory". We continued to sell the Torker stock we had bought from the auction backin February '85 and support it with a race team, although BMX was really on the wane here in the UK at the time. I can't tell from the angle of this photo if Damon is riding a 280 or Pro-X on this cover, probably a Pro-X.
From British BMX Hall of Fame:
Damon is perhaps another one of those riders that went under the radar that didn't win a National Number 1 plate in the UK but in a very short time in the sport accomplished some pretty impressive stats. Damon had only been racing a few years when he won the UKBMX season opener at Slough in 1986 (his first ever attended UKBMX National) in the highly competitive, 16x expert class passing Raleigh's Number 1, Darren Wood before the finish line.
Damon didn't stick around in the 16's long before turning himself Superclass and then Pro, becoming National number 3 before the eventual demise of the Pro Class in 1988. He always had good style & graced the pages of BMX Bi-Weekly Magazine regularly as a test rider and scored a cover (Sept - Oct 85 shown above) while riding for Torker.
Like Geth Shooter, Tony Feming & the last few remaining Pros of the 80s went back to racing Superclass in the late 80s early 90s spent some time in Australia racing and called it a day in 1990.
1/4/24
From Facebook 25/7/2015:
Here is possibly the rarest Torker frame in the world. It is a Torker Targa prototype and was to be a 1985 model showing the direction of how Torker frames would look in the future - unfortunately in November 1985 Torker went into liquidation and this never happened. This is one of only three I know that exist. The frame itself is basically a 1984 280X without headtube gussets and most importantly no toptube/seat tube gusset. Toptube is 20". I purchased the frame in the bankruptcy auction at their Fullerton premises in February 1985. The frame was brand new fully finished and is stamped with a frame number. I also have some fax communication with Steve Johnson regarding the Targa frame, if I can put my hand to it I will include it with the frame along with some promo shots we took of the frame in our Hindley premises in 1985. Originally powdercoated white, we had it painted Light Blue for our team rider Mark Cocks in 1986, then finally painted in team colours with unique team graphics for I believe the 1987 season. Mark then gave it back to us and it has been in storage since. The original Tange MX-125 headset and SunTour headlock have been removed from the frame since these photos were taken but are included in the sale. Letter of authenticity from Alans BMX included.
SOLD 2015.
One of 5 now known to exist.
Photos I found on Facebook, after we sold it the Targa appears to have been through a few owners:
31/3/23
Max was Torker's soft-goods sister-company run by Doris and Doug Johnson (mother and brother of Steve, with help from Harold "McGoo" McGruther), located in the unit right behind Torker on W. Commonwealth in Fullerton, CA (see map below). So as well as obtaining the right to distribute Torker on our trip in Easter 1981, the deal included Max as well. I have a clear memory of talking to Clint Miller outside the Max offices and him offering to sell me the Go-Go's just-out "We Got the Beat" album on cassette as he didn't like it, but I already had it on vinyl!
It turned out to be a pretty good deal because Max became one of the best selling brands of BMX pant in the early 80's with Bob Haro and Eddie Fiola wearing them as well as CW, Race Inc, Powerlite and course, Torker race teams using them. The range then expanded into gloves (from the ssme vendor that made Haro's leather gloves, touché Bob) which were super popular, then came seat covers, legaitors (if you don't know what these are, it's a long story!), jerseys and more.
This early black and white ad is from BMX Action magazine, November 1980, before the pants even had "Max" on them. The name came from the Torker advertising tagline "To the Max". Bob Morales - who had his own Dyno brand - bought the rights at the February 1985 auction to the Max name for $300, reportedly just to eliminate a competitor. Bob also bought all the iron on transfers just to get the lettering and sold me the Torker ones after the auction, there is a funny story attached to this, if you know me, please ask me about it sometime... The Max brand now lies back where it should be, alongside Torker in the new Bill Ryan era.
See map here. Torker was at 1889 and Max at 1885 W. Commonwealth Ave.
30/3/24
From a 1984 issue of BMX Bi-Weekly, a combination Tony Holland "5 minutes with" and Torker Magnum 200 test. Towards the end of 1984 we were getting frustated with the situation at Robinson, by now Chuck, like many before brands before, had run up debts at GT and was becoming absorbed by them. Production actually got worse and we were left in a quandry. At this time Torker was on the up-and-up with Mike Miranda and Tommy Brackens on the team and getting magazine covers left and right, finally the the Pro-X frame delivered up-to-date geometry, the Freestylist was destined for great things, tons of Torker parts were in the works, hubs, cranks and more. So we decided to switch all our riders and efforts over to Torker, just in time for them to go bankrupt at the end of 1984 without any notice. I heard this first from Graham Merry at Hotwheels. I did get to speak to Steve Johnson afterwards and he explained everything, they just wanted out. So, me and my dad went to the liquidation auction in February 1985 and bought the stock of all their frames (including a "Targa" of which only 3 or so were ever built), we didn't buy the name but we registered it in the UK and Europe. Anyway, Tony was one of the riders that came over to Torker with us. The Magnum 200 was basically a Taiwan/Japan sourced 280, the 200 standing for $200, the US retail price. The bike was popular and we sold out, but there was only one production run before they closed. Later we spoke to the factory to get a new more "freestyle" model made with Tuff Wheels and built a sample but by then the 80's BMX boom was coming to end and we shelved it...
29.3.24
Keith Wilson: I think this magazine photo was taken at the big NEC event in 1983. Keith was already on Factory Redline, so I'm not sure how we managed to coax him away from that but we did somehow. Keith had a 280X and a 24" then a Pro-X when they came out. Keith ripped for sure and always looked good on the bike. He later went on to be a pioneer in downhill MTB racing and came back to BMX in the 2000's and had a lot of success with Mike Wong's Factory Team Bikes.
Check out Keith's British BMX Hall of Fame interview here.
28/3/24
Nathan Lunn: By 1984 we had expanded the Torker team and had picked up riders from outside the North West and by some good fortune ended up with the Lunn brothers Nathan (pictured) and Jason, two incredibly talented riders that always looked amazing on the bike and were fast as hell to boot. This magazine shot shows Nathan demonstrating that style on a Torker Mini at a UKBMX National. Nathan went on to win UKBMX Champion of Champions at Olympia that year. The multi talented Jason had a career in freestyle and skateboarding.
From Dale Holmes, British BMX Hall of Fame:
1984 was definitely a year when a new breed of riders hit the UKBMX scene. Guys with 4 digits on their plate would get on Factory teams it seemed like their first year of National racing. 10x in '84 was full of new talent like Nathan Lunn fresh on Torker and Jamie Staff new on Factory Raleigh pictured. Nathan already from the school of style and even though it’s 10x it was pretty apparent Jamie Staff was going to be a Powerhouse in racing.
27/3/24
From the pages of BMX Action Bike, this great photo shows Chris Young rubbing elbows with Ammaco Mongoose Factory rider Craig Schofield at the Anglo-American Cup, Redditch, July 1982. As you can see from his plate Chris captured the #1 in his (12) age group in 1981 for us on the Torker UK Team, the first year of National Rankings in the UK. Apart from his speed, Chris was always a rad jumper and went to become one of the best Freestyle riders in the country riding for Skyway and Haro.
From British BMX Hall of Fame:
It’s very rare these days that riders are both good/compete at Freestyle (is it even called that now?) and Racing, as they seem worlds apart. The closest all around riders that shred today at both would be Barry Nobles and Vic Behm in the US. Back in the 80s/90s it was pretty common that guys could do both at high levels especially when Dirt Jumping Comps kicked in during the 90s with guys like Stephen and Martin Murray, Dylan Clayton, Keith Duly, Tony Fleming, Kye Forte, Clive Gosling and Paul Roberts (among others) raced and hit up the KOD events which ran during a National race weekend.
Chris Young is a name you will be more familiar with if you know your early 80s BMX roots in the UK. Chris was National number 1 riding for teams like Mongoose and Torker before crossing over into Freestyle. Chris went onto ride and Tour with Skyway in the UK with Andy Patterson, Billy Stupple and Skyway Team in 83 putting on demos and really promoting the sport up and down the country which was well-documented at the time through the mags. Chris rode in the 1984 Kelloggs, jumped over cars but kind of disappeared from the scene by the mid 80s. Still, so many great images of Chris floating around online today.
26.3.24
Terry Lloyd at the Bradford National 1982 from the pages of BMX Action bike, being chased by Nicky Matthews on Factory Kuwahara. This track had the most ridiculous UPHILL start straight then snaked downhill when it was pretty cool, all built on an old coal slag heap right by a housing estate as you can see in the photo. Terry had a Robinson from Dave at Southport BMX before we put him on the UK Team and he made a few trips to California with us in the early 80’s, he always looked “full factory” 🤙 I’ve kept in touch with Terry over the years and done a few road rides with him and ex-GBGT Scott Williams.
Here we all are in the Team bus at Bradford 1981, just back from Belgium:
25/3/24
Scott Barber photo from Geoff Barraclough's great 1982 book "Riders Ready, Pedals Ready". Scott was one of a few riders we had on Torker from the Ipswich area that included Sean Godbold. Scott was super smooth and stylish, sort of like a younger Tony Holland - and he won the 10 year old catagory in that first year, 1981. Ipswich was a hotbed of BMX back then with Brian Potter, the Scott-Webb family, the legendary Landseer Park track and Coddenham as well. Scott came with us on a trip to California in 1982 with his dad, see photo below of us vising A'ME grips in Anaheim (in the BMX Weekly T-shirts. also in the photo L-R: Terry Lloyd, Jason Ramsden, Alans Woods, John? from A'ME). A bonus if you can get guess what Torker frame Scott is riding in the above photo.
Outwell National 1982: John Bilner (5), Lee Flavin (outside) Steve Gilley (6), Scott Barber (1 Torker).
24.3.24
Mike Pardon was our first ever Torker rider back April 1981. This photo is from BMX News No.2, taken at Partington in Manchester, a DIY track in some woods. Myself and Dave Arnold had just come back from California a few days earlier and brought this Torkflyte back for Mike. He had had been riding a Mongoose and we knew he was fast kid and I had no doubt he was going to be Torker’s first rider. That Easter we raced all the So Cal tracks and got to tour around the BMX industry courtesy of Chuck Robinson, hitting up @amegrips @vans @bob_haro @bmxactionmagazine @flitebmx @premier_helmets VDC and more. At the time we were looking for another brand with an entry level price point bike to run alongside Robinson, so Chuck took us to meet Steve and the Johnson family. This relationship lasted right up to the end and beyond as we remained friends with John, Doris, Steve and Doug years after they left BMX and I have very fond memories of that time. I can’t believe 43 years I’m still as excited to be part of the Torker legacy as ever.
23-3-24
Possibly our best-selling bike of all-time, the Torker 280X on test in BMX Action Bike with Mark “Sid” Salisbury at the controls.
The frames were made in California but the parts kits came from Mori in Japan, so it was always a logistical nightmare for all concerned. The bike was called the 280 because it retailed in the US for $280 (£225 here in the UK). The X model used the LPX frame, which was 3/4” longer. The bike was eventually replaced by the all far-east sourced but short-lived Magnum 200 a year so later and we’ll bring you that in a later T-Day post.
Did you have a 280/280X back then?
22.3.24
From a BMX Weekly ad, the Torker Trick Team Mk2 of Andy Minshull and Julian Parkinson on the Torker Freestylist. Andy and Julian had some big shoes to fill after Terry Jenkins and Andy Irwin stepping straight into the Ford BMX Challenge shows and a hectic freestyle circuit but they managed. This ad was trying to convey the "pulled from obscurity" element of their sudden stardom. Andy's photo was taken at Three Sisters Industrial estate next to the BMX track in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan for a BMX Weekly photo shoot and Julian's was just down the road outside Ashton Fish Bar in the centre of town (which is still there!). BTW Julian did the artwork on the reworked version of the Freestylist stickers.
21.3.24
Our first Torker UK Team rider, the super-talented Mike Pardon, on his Torker LPX avoiding the carnage in the first turn of the Nottington National early in 1982. I still have dirt in my knee from when Mike came over on me out of the gate in one of the motos that day :) Mike of course went on the be one of the best freestylers in the country, riding for Raleigh and then Hutch. Mike is still a good friend today and he is enjoying life Down Under 🤙.
20.3.24
Terry Jenkins airing it out at the Wigan round of the @kelloggs.uki TV series in 1984. Terry and UK Torker Trick Team mate Andy Irwin rode the Pro-X frame but submitted designs to Steve Johnson for what would become the Freestylist.
Special thanks to Anthony Franscina for the scans.
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