24" survivor .... please help to identify

[Crank!Basti]

Hi all,

here's my 24" cruiser. Don't know anything about the frame. Is there anybody out there who can identify the frame?

I just purchased the frameset - all the parts are from my collection.

When I got it - first mockup:

almost done:

 

[Chad T]

Don't know anything about it but that's a great looking bike!

 

[RustyGold]

Is it a European or American bike?

The rear dropouts and overall geometry is very Western Flyer Invader...but nothing else is similar to the Invader.

It is also curious that it seems to be without chainguard, kickstand, or coaster brake provisions...which would seem to indicate that it is more likely a serious late 70s/early 80s bmx as opposed to a later dept/hardware store bike.

I'm stumped...whatever it is, its a cool oldschool cruiser now!

Jason

 

[Crank!Basti]

Thanks guys. The seller wrote, that it could be european (german to be precise). From looking at some pics after a short research via google it could also be a Niitaka. Well, whatever it is - I love it and I love to ride it - I guess that's what counts.

 

[Indyjps]

That's a great looking bike, you nailed it. Are the mags skyways?
Love the gumwall red tires.

I'm looking at 24" myself.

 

[sensor]

Mongoose.
Drop outs and the circle stamping on the gussets are a dead giveaway.

 

[RustyGold]

24" geese, to the best of my knowledge, never had headtube gussets and were all looptails through the early 90s.

Jason

 

[Wildcat]

maybe an Australian Cyclops? This is a 26" bike:

 

[RustyGold]

That looks very close...it looks to have a similiar slack seat tube angle as well. It could be, however, that it looks similiar because, as sensor pointed out, they both definitely have some goose styling cues

Jason

 

[nycet3]

As long as you love it is the key.

As for trying to ID it, I can't specifically. But I'm going to say it's a mild steel department store f/f made to look like a race f/f. Though I'm looking on a smart phone the welds around the seat mast appear to be bubble gum welds. (Instead of a nice continuous bead the weld looks like a raised ring.) It is unlikely that a race frame maker would use substandard welds if the tubes were 4130 chromoly.

mongoose Motomag frames used chromoly tubes on the front triangle only. Even so, ALL welds were really well done.

With older BMX bikes the welds rarely lie.

Again, I'm looking on a phone. The welds on your bike may indeed be works of art. Any closeup?
Joe

 

[nycet3]

Another indication that it's most likely a department store bike is the fork dropout. Very few BMX race forks had their dropouts drilled for those steel clips seen in your pictures. They've come to be known as "lawyer holes" and "lawyer clips" because both were added to consumer bikes to help stave off lawsuits by parents of kids who got messed up when their kids tried doing things on a bike not constructed for such activities.

I do have a set of 1980 Cycle Pro forks with lawyer holes, but none of the dozens of other race forks I've owned had them.