I rode for Torker in 84/85,.....I had a OG 79,...then a 280,....a 280x,...then a real PROX till I rode for TITAN,.......I've never seen that frame & fork you have,....all the dimensions are way off,....the twin tubes come far beyond the seat tube,.....the seat tube comes up way too far,.....Real ones only had small welded gussets at the head tube,... on yours where the rear tubes weld into dropouts are all wrong ...the bottom bracket & head tube both had reinforcement bands around the tubes,.....The ProX was never called a 280 anything,...it was a ProX only,..with just a TORKER decal.....there's a real one on the Snakebite BMX channel if you need to see one,.........I'm really not sure what that thing you got is,....could it be a counterfeit?,..I've seen hundreds of different Torkers from different eras....you say its some Taiwanese thing,....i've never seen anything close to that ,....it looks like it trying to be part Haro with that welded "box" at the headtube,...as far as a serial # ,...anyone can stamp a number into metal,...doesn't mean shit,...Sorry friend,...I could be way off & wrong about it all....I would of traded straight across an '84 trickstar for a Real ProX,.....You said you were interested in my mint REAL 1984 Hutch trickstar I've got ,....you never sent me a place to send Pics,....You still want it? you say you got $10K for the same bike ,....I 'll make you one hell of a deal at around $3,000 to $4,000,....its wasting away in my shed,.......sure wish I would of kept my Torkers,...
Take a look at my ebay listing I provided a Pic of this exact frame from a 85 torker ad. There are many twin tube frames non gusseted. Google 85 Torker 280s and you will see many like this,Torker would quickly find its way into the hands of the Marui Brothers, who also own Tioga. At the height of the freestyle movement, Marui reintroduced Torker as Torker 2 with freestyle bike and frames like the 360 Flite and 540 Flite and a newly designed 280X, which were built by Akisu in Japan.Torker operated under Marui until about 1989. The Marui Brothers are the owners of Oriental Boeki Company which ownes Tioga and Mitsuboshimade by Akisu' and these 280X with this type decal was in that transition period when SBS and then Tioga got their hands on it. (and then SBS buying it back in 1990, but they distributed throughout Tioga ownership) But there is some mis-information in that fortyfour16 wordpress.com article. The Tioga owned Torker 2 150X, 240X, 280 Air and 360 Air bikes were made by DOD SUN Serial # number stampings on BB show this on those models. I also know that the 280 Air and 360 Air had Spinner made forks. And that article has wrong Model names. The 540 Air forks are stamped Tange and the frame is made by Tange aswell. The 540 Air has the baseball symbol after the serial numbers which indicate they were made in the Koizumi factory. Haro had his frames made overseas as well in 84. This is a real Torker, 100% legitimate and I purchased based it from a twin tube collector in Burbank California that knows the Johnsons and Bob Haro. You can verify all of this with some effort in the BMX Musuem.
Classic Bruv! Love me some Torker. Building a 280 air right now.
I rode for Torker in 84/85,.....I had a OG 79,...then a 280,....a 280x,...then a real PROX till I rode for TITAN,.......I've never seen that frame & fork you have,....all the dimensions are way off,....the twin tubes come far beyond the seat tube,.....the seat tube comes up way too far,.....Real ones only had small welded gussets at the head tube,... on yours where the rear tubes weld into dropouts are all wrong ...the bottom bracket & head tube both had reinforcement bands around the tubes,.....The ProX was never called a 280 anything,...it was a ProX only,..with just a TORKER decal.....there's a real one on the Snakebite BMX channel if you need to see one,.........I'm really not sure what that thing you got is,....could it be a counterfeit?,..I've seen hundreds of different Torkers from different eras....you say its some Taiwanese thing,....i've never seen anything close to that ,....it looks like it trying to be part Haro with that welded "box" at the headtube,...as far as a serial # ,...anyone can stamp a number into metal,...doesn't mean shit,...Sorry friend,...I could be way off & wrong about it all....I would of traded straight across an '84 trickstar for a Real ProX,.....You said you were interested in my mint REAL 1984 Hutch trickstar I've got ,....you never sent me a place to send Pics,....You still want it? you say you got $10K for the same bike ,....I 'll make you one hell of a deal at around $3,000 to $4,000,....its wasting away in my shed,.......sure wish I would of kept my Torkers,...
Take a look at my ebay listing I provided a Pic of this exact frame from a 85 torker ad. There are many twin tube frames non gusseted. Google 85 Torker 280s and you will see many like this,Torker would quickly find its way into the hands of the Marui Brothers, who also own Tioga. At the height of the freestyle movement, Marui reintroduced Torker as Torker 2 with freestyle bike and frames like the 360 Flite and 540 Flite and a newly designed 280X, which were built by Akisu in Japan.Torker operated under Marui until about 1989.
The Marui Brothers are the owners of Oriental Boeki Company which ownes Tioga and Mitsuboshimade by Akisu' and these 280X with this type decal was in that transition period when SBS and then Tioga got their hands on it. (and then SBS buying it back in 1990, but they distributed throughout Tioga ownership)
But there is some mis-information in that fortyfour16 wordpress.com article. The Tioga owned Torker 2 150X, 240X, 280 Air and 360 Air bikes were made by DOD SUN Serial # number stampings on BB show this on those models. I also know that the 280 Air and 360 Air had Spinner made forks. And that article has wrong Model names. The 540 Air forks are stamped Tange and the frame is made by Tange aswell. The 540 Air has the baseball symbol after the serial numbers which indicate they were made in the Koizumi factory. Haro had his frames made overseas as well in 84. This is a real Torker, 100% legitimate and I purchased based it from a twin tube collector in Burbank California that knows the Johnsons and Bob Haro. You can verify all of this with some effort in the BMX Musuem.