3 Bar Looptail - What is it?

[||TheDude||]

Bought this from the Emory factory today from Clayton. Has looptail rear with nearly horizontal dropouts. Clayton didn't think it was an Emory though. Does anyone know what this is?

 

[kingfish254]

I don't recognize that one at all.
Very cool though.
How about you @Bicycle808 ?

 

[||TheDude||]

Surfing bmxmuseum.com and to me it's really close to either a S&S Newport, S&S Rainbow, or Mega California Custom Cruiser. I'll look at it more closely tomorrow too see if I can find any identifiers.

 

[kingfish254]

It does resemble the Mega Cal Cruiser, except for the area just behind the BB and also it doesn't look like they had the integrated seatpost clamp.

 

[kingfish254]

I think you are on the right track with the S&S frames.
They have the same little bend at the uppermost portion of the downtube.
Cool frame

 

[Bicycle808]

I don't recognize that one at all.
Very cool though.
How about you @Bicycle808 ?

I was feeling pretty confident that is an S&S Newport. Looking at the frame details (chainguards, how the rear ends look), I think it could be S&S frame, but TBC (Taiwan Bike Co; I've seen folks refer to the firm as TBS as well...) made some really convincing clones. Some internet sources claim that the TBC guys made the Newport for S&S under contract, and then kept going with the TBC Islander bike after S&S folded. http://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=490486

FWIW, S&S frames are worth a pretty penny. The Taiwanese bikes, not so much... I'm no expert, but it looks to me like the S&S bikes (both the newport and the rainbow) have curved seat- and chainstays, whereas the TBC bikes have straight stays. The stays on the bike from the OP look straight as an arrow, to me.....So, i dunno. Toss that thing on the museum; those guys will tell you exactly what it is, then they'll tell you it sucks, and then they'll argue about the diffrent ways it sucks....but at least you'll get a solid ID on the frame. =D

Cool bike, either way.... How are you gonna build it, @||TheDude|| ?

 

[||TheDude||]

I was feeling pretty confident that is an S&S Newport. Looking at the frame details (chainguards, how the rear ends look), I think it could be S&S frame, but TBC (Taiwan Bike Co; I've seen folks refer to the firm as TBS as well...) made some really convincing clones. Some internet sources claim that the TBC guys made the Newport for S&S under contract, and then kept going with the TBC Islander bike after S&S folded. http://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=490486

FWIW, S&S frames are worth a pretty penny. The Taiwanese bikes, not so much... I'm no expert, but it looks to me like the S&S bikes (both the newport and the rainbow) have curved seat- and chainstays, whereas the TBC bikes have straight stays. The stays on the bike from the OP look straight as an arrow, to me.....So, i dunno. Toss that thing on the museum; those guys will tell you exactly what it is, then they'll tell you it sucks, and then they'll argue about the diffrent ways it sucks....but at least you'll get a solid ID on the frame. =D

Cool bike, either way.... How are you gonna build it, @||TheDude|| ?

Awesome information really. I would hesitate to call it a TBS because if you know Clayton at Emory you know his distaste for Asian made bikes. There's nothing made in Asia in his factory. Because of the Emory - Webco connection I wonder if this frame came through with part of that deal. There were probably about 20 of these frames in the factory all in this same state. Were there ever any connections between Webco and S&S or Webco and TBS?

 

[kingfish254]

Here is some more info on those.
http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/key-west-by-bike-brokers-cruiser-bike.77843/

 

[kingfish254]

Looks like the easiest tells that it's not S&S or Mega are the straight seatstays and this from the RRB thread link above.

"This is not a Mega Cal Cruiser or an S&S due to the Chainguard, Chainguard Tabs, and no holes in rear drop out."​

 

[||TheDude||]

Here's a few more frame characteristics. Noticed that at some point there were probably two stickers on the downtube. The headtube had a riveted on badge of some sort. Did Key West or Bike Brokers use a riveted on badge?

 

[Bicycle808]

Awesome information really. I would hesitate to call it a TBS because if you know Clayton at Emory you know his distaste for Asian made bikes. There's nothing made in Asia in his factory. Because of the Emory - Webco connection I wonder if this frame came through with part of that deal. There were probably about 20 of these frames in the factory all in this same state. Were there ever any connections between Webco and S&S or Webco and TBS?

I hear you re: Clayton's distaste for Asian-made bikes, but I'm thinking it's pretty obvious that Clayton doesn't know what this frame is, plus it also seems like he didn't care for it too much, anyway. If i had to guess, this bike seems like a TBC frame; whoever picked it up and eventually left it at the Emory warehouse may have bought a later model Newport that was badged S&S, but made in Tawian. If that's the case, thy might not even have known it was an Asian import; it's not like they had Google back in the 80s...

TBH, i don't know about any connection between TBC/Webco. There might be one, but i've never heard of it and never looked into it (yet...i'll probably see what i can find out at some point today....) All i know about the Webco 26" is that it's a really hott frame, made by Emory, with a straight downtube, a single 1" midtube, and full-length (as opposed to wishbone) seatstayd. I would really like to own one of those...

 

[Bicycle808]

hold up, wait.... just reread your post....there are twenty of these frames at the Emory factory?!?! THAT's pretty interesting, and kinda shoots my "Clayton doesn't know what that frame is, or where it comes from" theory.... hmmmmmm. Gotta get googling.

 

[||TheDude||]

hold up, wait.... just reread your post....there are twenty of these frames at the Emory factory?!?! THAT's pretty interesting, and kinda shoots my "Clayton doesn't know what that frame is, or where it comes from" theory.... hmmmmmm. Gotta get googling.

Yes that's correct. I spoke with him again this morning and he thought that Bike Brokers or BB racing sounded familiar but he wasn't 100% sure.

 

[kingfish254]

Here is a Bike Brokers thread
http://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=4658083

 

[Bicycle808]

seems promising... another Florida outfit; They might've bought out the remaining stock, or maybe there was gonna be a collaboration that fell thru. I think that TBS supplied the 26" frames to BB....Bike Brokers was a distributor, not a manufacturer, from what i have heard about the firm....

 

[||TheDude||]

Something weird I noticed last night, the rear most chainguard mounting tab is not mounted to the chain stay but rather it's hanging from the seat stay tube. None of the pictures that I've seen of the Key West or the Islander have had this configuration. Something is leading me to believe that this was a very small production run that may have been OEM'd by TBS for another brand that had a custom chainguard hence the unique mounting tab.

 

[Bicycle808]

That's a sound theory... or it may have been an early run (or the last run; BB was only selling bikes for about 2 years, right?) that never saw the retail market, and maybe the emory guys cut a deal on the dead stock. At this point, i have pretty much exhausted everything i know about these bikes, and i'm just guessing/sleuthing. (FWIW, i saw your thread on the museum....) I wonder if you can get a look at the rest of these frames at the Emory factory? There might be some clues there, especially if there are minor differences between the individual frames (eg, chainguard tabs, chainstay bridge, etc...)

 

[||TheDude||]

Thinking of having this frame powder coated Mustang Grabber Blue. Will probably use some 26" BMX Forks with some wide moto cruiser bars. I'd like either polished or chromed wheels, white walls, single rear brake. What do you guys think?

 

[Bicycle808]

sounds hott. love grabber blue. What kinda brake, like a 1080 kinda thing?

 

[||TheDude||]

sounds hott. love grabber blue. What kinda brake, like a 1080 kinda thing?

Yea a 1080, MX1000, Shimano DX or Tourney.